Two[79] of them in congress at the time, and were among the most zealous supporters of Mr.Jefferson, and of that system of measures which he termed republican.

The very letter under discussion contains an assertion incompatible with this construction of these terms.

"The whole landed interest is republican." At the date of this letter there were few if any members of the Cincinnati in the south who were not also land holders.

In the southern region generally, the army of our revolution was officered by land holders and their sons.
[Footnote 79: Colonels Cabell and Par.] But if the writer of the letter could have intended to designate the members of the Cincinnati as "Samsons in the field," could he also have alluded to them as "Solomons in council ?" Were the brave and hardy men who passed their youth, not in college, not in study, but under arms, suddenly converted, all of them, into "Solomons in council ?" That some of them were entitled to this appellation is acknowledged with pride and pleasure, but as a class, it could not fit them.

It is difficult to treat the proposition seriously.
It is impossible for the intelligent reader to concur with Mr.
Jefferson in the conclusion he draws from these premises, when he says,[80] "General Washington then understanding perfectly what and whom I meant to designate in both phrases, and that they could not have any application or view to himself, could find in neither any cause of offence to himself." [Footnote 80: Vol.iv.p.