That  representation  came  to  the  United  States  on  invitation  of  Congress
as  a  result  of  a  resolution  offered  by  the  present  president  of  the  Rhode
Island  Cincinnati  and  unanimously  adopted  at  their  annual  meeting,
held,  pursuant  to  law,  in  the  senate  chamber,  statehouse,  Providence,
R.  I.,  on  Monday,  July  5,  1880,  to  memorialize  Congress  to  invite  the
Government  of  France  to  send  a  representation  to  that  National  Centennial
Celebration.
Under  direction  of  the  Society,  the  mover  of  the  resolution  presented
the  memorial  to  Congress,  and  also  submitted  the  matter  to  the  joint  com
mission  appointed  by  Congress  with  the  result  already  indicated.
The  Rhode  Island  Cincinnati  have  ever  been  mindful  of  the  alliance  of
the  6th  of  February,  1778,  with  France,  which  finally  secured  the  inde
pendence  of  the  United  States  on  a  lasting  foundation.
The  Rhode  Island  Continental  Line  of  the  Revolution  had,  while  at
Valley  Forge  on  the  6th  of  May,  1778,  paraded  under  Lafayette  on  those
bare  Pennsylvania  hills  to  celebrate,  under  Washington's  orders,  the  alli
ance  with  France,  of  which  information  had  just  been  received.
Their  intimacy  with  their  French  allies  was  ever  closer  than  that  of  any
other  American  troops.
When  Lieutenant-Gen  eral  and  Vice- Admiral  M.  le  Comte  d'Estaing
landed  his  cooperating  army  above  here  on  Conanicut  Island,  in  Narra-
gansett  Bay,  after  running  the  target  of  the  British  batteries  in  this  harbor,
Maj.  Gen.  John  Sullivan's  aid-de-camp  visited  him,  and  it  is  a  pleasure
to  know  that  in  the  Cincinnati  delegation  which  welcomes  you  is  his
grandson  and  representative,  Bvt.  Brig.  Gen.  Hazard  Stevens,  an  officer
who  received  the  medal  of  honor  from  Congress  by  reason  of  having
most  distinguished  himself  by  gallantry  in  action  during  the  war  of  the
rebellion.
