The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1857-06-23
From the Charleston MercaTy.
DIR HAWKES. HISTORY OF NORTH
CAROLINA.

The public. not simply of the ''Old North
State" but of all the States of the South
have been, for some time. eagerly anticl-
eating the publication of this history. They
were told. long since, that Dir. Hawks he'd
the subject in hand. aud they had every
guaranty in the learning, experience, prae-
ticc, studies, and general ability OF the
author. that the work would be one of COM
pletenesS, authority and value. 1t r. ac-
,cOrdingly, welcomed in the frSt instaiment'
with drgree of enthusiasm which exhausts
the first edition as published, and
renders a second an immediate necessity
The copy before u j. of this second edition,
and it will soon in all probability, be follow
ed by third. So should it he. We augur
well, from the general awakening f the
South, to the necessity IF providing our
own histories, as a good promise at which
we should expect. in the finul assertion OF
our independence Us sovereign States
Next To the assertion of our mental ana
lnnral character as people, piu>t be the
assertion of our social and political equality
as States.
But this enthusiasm in regard TO this pub
licaton j. not wholly due to the merits of Ks
.author. There is an intrinsic value AID
interest in the history itself, which our Pco-
pie feel, and which readers unquesti"nable
its attractions. North Carolns was the
original Virginia. North Carolina was the
fret region. in this Western World, which
received u British colony. 1t was, in brief
the maternal colony of the whole British
empire in America. 1t is identified with
Walter Raleigh. and that fearless man-wo-
man-sovercign, Elizabeth, of England
The first child of British stock wa. born in
North Carolina. The first seed of Ameri-
gan Independence were planted in her virgin
soil. She. like Virginia and South Carroll
na, has been one of the great national
States, from which has issacd those fearless
swarms by which the Southwest was plant
ed; and more, perhaps, tlIan any other
State. She preserves, with the original
simplicity, the original virtue of her char
.acter. Her history, by the way. is csrc-
cially identified with that Of South Carroll
ma /; the two co,pnies, for Il long season,
having slept in the same bed, under tile
watchfui eyes o. the same government-not
actually twins at birth. but growing together
twins. for long period Of time. If for
no other reason, this should be sufficient to
commend her history to the lovers of our
own.
We should welcome her history for OH
other reason: it is the work of one of her
own sOns-a son of the South-full of en-
thusiastc admiration for his native soil, and
quite as well prepared, by love and patriot
ism, geniality and devotion, Us by intellect,
for the proper assertion of her character
Like South, North Carolina has been dis
paraged by selfish and fraudulent historians,
naturally hostile to the region whose histo-
ries they nevertheless presume to write.-
They have mutilated and fouIed her chron-
icles, as they have mutilated and misrepre-
scented ours. She has been made the butt
of small wits, who have made the very mag
nificence of her Dimensions a matter of dis
arrangement; and it has been the ia, orite
policy of politicians to appropriate her
craftsmanship, while infringing her wisdom
and resources; thus doing "A double wrong
at once, to her rights and reputation. 1t
had become as needful to her as to US, to
Insist upon native historian.
And DIR. Hawks has, thus far, been true
TO her argument. His first volume, which
is now before Us, embraces the period be-
tween the first VOYAGE to the colony in
1881, to the last in 1891. inclusive
+. j. Hale i Son, Fayetteville. Y. c.,
Publishers.