Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1857-06-06
G01gGl 9 IgGAgBD.
For the Register.
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina,
Nav 23d, 1857.

bratl0n oil me ZUlu Vi MAY, "hiIh ID Wv
anniversary of the Mecklenburg Declare
! tion Of Independence, and that all your
readers may understand more FULLY this
celebration | will make a few short ex-
tracts from lecture by Rev. Francis L..
Hawks, d, D. l.. L. D., delivered before
the New York Historical Society, at the
metropolitan Hall, December lO'h' 1892
Il nus, ask you 10 imagine yourselves
I'D among the hills and valleys of which /
have been telling you, and TO fancy your
selves, on pleasant spring morning oil
Il775, in the village of Charlotte, III the
County of Mecklenburg. 1t is obvious
that from some cause there has been
brought together large assembIage, and
that AN unusual excitement prevails. You
are among the same Scotch-lrish of whom
| told YOU before. Ii is busy scene. In
Wonder group may be observed some OF
the clergy with deep earnesness speaking
to the grew haired men around them, no
drink in with greedy ears all that is ut
tered while on the outskirts OF the cir
Gle the sober matrons and young women
stand, hearkening with breathless interest
to what is passing. Yonder again is an
other knot, Of those who are in the middle
ace, and as each one leans on his rife, or
poIses it on his shoulder, he is taking IN
what is falling from some influential midi
viduaI, whose dress belGkens a position
in the higher class Of that secluded COM
mun,v. And yet again another group APP
pears, of young and vigorous men, whose
violent gestlcuIatinns, and earnest tones
among themselves, show that the subject
that so agilates them is cue OF no com
mon interest. Presently, at intervals,
lhev pause, and then may be heard human
tones as in reading, and ten again break
forth voices from the circle as OF angry
men. Hard by may be seen man traV-
ell stained. as if from long journey hasu-
" performed, and at short intervals, one
and another run to him from out ot the
group and holding with him short and
hurried conversation, hasten back again to
listen TO the reader, who holds, as 700.
nav see, a printed handbili before hlm.
Fiat l:avcl stained mau has ridden eX-
press, and yon begin to suspect that ihr
lidingS he has brought may have occasion,
Cd this unusual commotion and so they
have for he has brought that handful,
which contains the account OF the blood
Of Massachusetts men shed by the Brit"
i>h soldiers al Concord and Lexington, on
the 10Th of April l775. Fhey have
just received the lidings on that Thursday
morning, May l9lh, l775 and what you
see is the first outbreak OF the varied emo
lions produced by the startling inteIi-
gencr. Blu: how came they to assemble
rtrre on that day 2 To explain that, !
must carry you back iu!e IN their !nsio-
~.
After the departure Of Tryon, these
people were permitted by his successor,
Martin, to enjoy comparative quiet. They
had, however, learned one lesson on The
i,ld of Alemaree, and prodted according
~ they were disrusiuI, not of them
selves, but of The government, and had
learned that courage was worth twice as
much with discipline as it is without II;
and they had therefore sought, by military
drill, to be better fitted for baule field,
should they ever be called to enter one.
AnG they were shrewd people, and somc
of the better informed among them. who,
watching passing events, felt sure that TOE
time for battle would come. Upper Car
DINA had then no printing press no reg.
uar mail travelled The country then, and
newspapers were scarce. SulI, The edu-
Gated men OF the region continued 10 keep
themselves apprlsed Of events without
and when intelligence of interest arrived
it as usually committed to writing, and
the people supplied the want OF the press
among them by assembling at intervals IN
Charlotte, when these written documents
were read to them. Many of these pa
pers were prepared by their clergymen'
and when the people met for worship on
Sundays, it was easy 10 disseminate lhro
the county intelligence that news had ar
rived, the particulars OF which would be
read TO the people on certain day. This
insured an assemblsge. So, also, when
mere was no special news, tHey "eIe
sometimes convened 10 hear the public
reading of papers, prepared by the innu-
entail men among them, in which were
set forth the prospects before them, and
they were instructed to prepare for The
probable future. Very many Of these
leaders had been educated at Princeton,
and belonged TO the profession Of law,
medicine and divinity, while others were
influential from their social position. 1t
was not less presidential that the mass Of
the people had been taught from childhood
10 respect superior intelligence, and the
ackno wledged and long established char
aciers of the leading uen of the country
induced the people readily TO follow the
Suggestions of their judgement. These