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pressed before the United States had secured their 

 independence, and at a time when EngHshmen, both 

 here and at home, believed that the contest then 

 raging would eventually terminate in the success of 

 the British arms. But, be that as it may, soon after 

 the evacuation of the City of New York had been 

 accomplished, a reorganization of the Society was 

 effected, the results of the war were accepted as 

 final, and from that time the Society ceased 

 to take any active part in politics, thence forward 

 devoting its energy and means to relieving the ne- 

 cessities of its fellow countrymen and in promoting 

 the social enjoyment of its members. For many 

 years after the war it may be safely assumed that an 

 Englishman's lot in New York was not a happy one. 

 The animosities engendered by that deadly contest 

 and the spirit in which it was waged naturally crea- 

 ted a feeling of animosity between the two people 

 which time alone could soften, hence the necessity for 

 some such organization as this to bring Englishmen 

 together and enable them to obtain among them- 

 selves that social relaxation and enjoyment which 

 was denied them by others of the community. But 

 the final extinction of the acerbities caused by the 

 war and the renewal of friendly relations between 

 the two countries have happily rendered this exclu- 

 siveness in social life no longer necessary,* and 



*This was exemplified in 1840, when prominent members of the Society 

 assisted in founding the St. George's Cricket Club, and appointed, for several 



