The Trinity times., 1855-09-01
ADDRESS OF MAJ. A. COX,

1cuH OTuCT. at COI DHI "" t''e Wv" /
sion of the Presentation Of a Flag, on
Saturday, August 25th.
BRorHERs Il appear before you this
evening moved with commingled emotions
of JOY and regret. Happy in the enjoyment
of the privilege Of cooperating with, and
participating in, the great political reform
of the Nineteenth Century, and feeling o
deep sense of the fact that this may be the
last time that | will have the privilege of
meeting with the brothers Of this council,
rendered dear to me by so many ties OF
friendship and sociability-young men
whom warmly respect and with whom 1
shall regret exceedingly part The most
Of you have just passed the medium OF
youth and manhood, filled with buoyant
hope, moral ambition, and possessing
liberal knowledge of the necessary demands
of the age in which you live at least
each and every one present this evening
have manifested as much, by your attitudinal
position, in relation to the organization, in
port. purpose, and aim of the purest politi-
cal association in existence. 'Tis true, there
were times in the history of our country
when Americans went hand in hand and
shoulder to shoulder in the accomplishment
of every great national good. Patrick
Henry, in the House Of Burgcsses, in the
State of Virginia, near a century ago, in
his master speech on the memorable resolu-
tons against the celebrated Stamp Act,
broke the sealed lips Of oppression, and
hurled his bold and vindictive shafts Of de-
fiance in the face of a tyrant's subjects, and
in stern opposition to the greatest crowned
head in Europe-Gcorge Ill.
Thomas Jefferson framed the Declaration
of Independence that was signed by host
of the noble great-giantS in intellect and
purity of soul They sent the wise and
fearless document ahead, aud the people
hailed it as a boon from Heaven-a germ Of
liberty sanctifed by patriotic blood-and
| thirteen infant States arose in their might,
and uniting their means, resources and
power, they marched forth one glorious
band of brothers to redress the nations
wrongs, and to strike one desperate blow
| for God, their land, their alters, and their
fires. They marched shoulder to shoulder
against the proud hosts of the tyrant and
struggled for seven long years through heat
and cold, through fire and flood, and through
poverty and want, till the surrender Of Lord
CORVALLIS at Yorktown proclaimed them
free and independent and established the
basis of the great Republic Of the United
states Of America. Aud we, my brothers
| are the descendants and rightful heirs Of the
heroes Of 70; and never should we forget
that our country is our home, the home OF
our parents, aud the home Of our children
and that our glorious land was purchas q
| ---e ItuIi-
ton that liberty draws from the knights OF
her holy temple.
We have'not the time to dwell upon the
events of that period, but, my brothers. VIC
are on the verge Of another war--a great
political revolution. True Americans
like unto our ancient fathers-havc arrayed
themselves against foreign power, parties,
policies, influence and prejudces. Every
where around us, aud about us, we hear the
low murmuring of political disaliecton aud
party divisions; the mania of the hollow
fanatics Of the North has thrown the South
into political convulsons, while the wither-
ing influence of the foreign pollution of
our most sacred rights and privileges has
converted the Union into one mammoth
caldron full of political apparitions and
contortcd isms. The old maxim says that
necessity is the mother of invention, and
surely nothing but the extreme emergen-
cies Of the times ever called our order into
existence the welfare of our country and
the safety Of our institutions demanded it,
hence its origin.
Then, brothers, let me exhort you to be
true to the American party-keep your
holy obligations as you received them, pure
aud unsullied, and you will be true to your
country, true to the Constitution, and true
to the respective rights of each Federal
State vested with the power by the recorded
obligations Of 76--to construct or emanci-
pate their own institutions according to the
demands Of the times or their own indivi
dual interests. You are aware, my brothers.
Of the unbounded sympathy professed by
certain gangs Of hungry and furnishing po-
litical cripples that can barely exist and
carry the weight of their anxieties for their
beloved country-old aspirants after Office.
party emolument, and the wealth of your
trpasurips that havo bonn a,,,rJ;,,. IL p.