Because it included several European nobles, such as Lafayette and Steuben, and because it was founded on the principle of heredity the new society was denounced as the beginning of an aristocracy and therefore a menace, by such Revolutionary leaders as Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson, who were ineligible for membership because they had not been in the army. There was perhaps a real fear that it might become a military hierarchy which would appropriate the important offices of the new republic. At any rate, several states adopted resolutions against it and so great was the antagonism at the first general meeting in 1784 Washington persuaded the members to abolish the hereditary feature. In spite of this condition, the excitement did not die, and in 1789 the Tammany Society was founded in N.Y.C. in opposition to the Cincinnati, and as a wherein "true equality" should govern. This was the origin of Tammany Hall, which became conspicuous in N.Y. politics. Alexander Hamilton succeeded Washington as president, but by 1824 most of the state branches of the Cincinnati and the general society itself were dead or dying. For a long time little was left but a traditional dinner held each year in N.Y.C. In 1893 the general society made an effort to revive the state organizations, with some little success. The hereditary feature has been restored and the living members number about 980. The motto is "Omnia relinquit servare rem publicam." (He abandons everything to serve the republic.) [Illustration: Washington's Headquarters at Newburgh An early picture showing American soldiers on guard at the headquarters of Gen. Washington at Newburgh. The house itself was built about 1760 and was occupied by Washington from the spring of 1782 to August, 1783. It is now open to the public as a museum.] Back of Matteawan are seen Beacon Mts., their name recalling Revolutionary days when beacon fires were lighted as signals on their summits. The summit of the highest of the group, Beacon Hill* (1,635 ft.) can now be reached by means of a cable railway, making possible a very pleasant excursion. The Matteawan State Hospital for the Insane is at Beacon on the north side of Fishkill Creek. Beacon's products include hats, silks, woolens, rubber goods, engines, brick and tile; the total annual value of manufactures is about $4,500,000. Four miles to the northwest on Fishkill Creek is the village of Fishkill, notable for two quaint old churches, both still standing, and interesting enough to repay a visit: the First Dutch Reformed (1731), in which the New York Provincial Congress met in Aug. and Sept., 1776, and Trinity (1769).