Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1864-04-06
N0rth.C Carolina.
North.C Carolina
Extract from an Grafton delivered in Raleigh, July
81 - 4th, 1866, by WILLIAM W. HOLDEN.


Extract from an Grafton delivered in Raleigh, July
- 4th, 1856, by WILLIAM W. HOLDEN.
cling to the institutions and to the soil Of North Car
Dlina We celebrate To- day the 80th anniversary OF
the independence Of the United States; but this is
the 81st year of the independence of North Carolina.
Let US hope that the STAR which on the Goth dag Of
May 1775, rose midway between the ocean and the !
and "stood over the place. Mecklen.
bufg, where liberty was born,
"Gladdening all heaven with its inaugural smile" -
may never 60 out, nor 60 down, nor cease to dis
pense its benecent influences on the generations Of
mankind. We may deplere the overthrow Of other
systems; We may shed tears Of sorrow and of pa
trlotic anguish over the disastrous darkness which
even now seems to be settling on the star Of Aassa-
chusetts; yet happen what may, let US be true to
ourselves-let US uphold, and maintain, and aug.
ment the honor and the glory, which, dating from
the battle of the Aamance fought in old Orange,
and from the resistance to the Stamp Act in the
Cape Fear country, and from the great deed of
Mecklenburg have become the proud Inheritance of
every son of North Carolina.
Look abroad this day, upon this large expanse Of
seashore, and plains and hills, and mountains Up
the CATTLE the meadows, the rivers, and sounds,
and bays; upon the ships and the steam cars up
Oil tuo CuulCue5s oouu1hS sn0u opueo up iusO tno
pure air above towns and cities, or nesting amid
thousands of groves, still fragrant with the linger
ing breath Of Spring. upon the ripe sheaves, gleam-
ing upon countless acres, and the tall corn waving
over innumerable burrows, giving promise of full
harvest and abundant cheer; upon nine hundred
thousand people, embracing different and most op-
posite races dwelling together in peace, unsmitten
by pes.ilence or plague-with no regular military
organization, and none daring to modest them-with
<o oil s. md u,Sth nnt
price"-with the Bible-with the right of free
speech, of ha5eas corpus, and trial by jury-with
free press, and an able and upright judlciary-with
all liberties and every blessing which rational be-
ings could desire look upon all this and then say,
if our lots have not been cast in good time in the
worlds history, and in pleasant places and if we
have not State worthy Of all our devotion and
afection-richly entitled to our best efforts to i'm
prove her IN peace and to our blood and our trea-
sure if required, in the day of danger3 Consider,
too, her capacities for improvement and the pro-
gress which has been made during the last twenty
years. We ali remember the sacrifices, the expen.
ditures and the earnest and anxious efforts of the
early friends of internal improvements, and the
mingled pride and joy with which we first heard
the whistle Of the steam.car above our soil. Noo,
there are nearly six hundred miles Of Railroad in
the State in successful operation with six hundred
miles more projected, and which will &c ready, at
w
assemb}age who witnessed the labors of CALDWELL
and Bartlett Yancy, and Murphy, and Others, in the
cause of education and Of Common Schools, and
who stood with them and sustained them in those
labors The University was then struggling up
amidst many difficulties, if not against prejudice
and actual opposition 1t is now established on an
enduring basis, and is one Of the best and most
Furnishing institutions Of the kind in the whole
country. Up to $780, when our Common Schools
h,,f fr1nN oI1o -,
the State, but one hundred and fifty academies, and
only six hundred primary schools. Now, there are
fourteen Colleges male and female; over three hum
bred academies; and three thousand five hundred
primary or Common Schools In 1910, there were
not more than two hundred students at Colleges,
not more than four thousand at academies, and not
more than twenty five thousand at all the schools,
Of whatsoever kind, in the State. Now, there are
one thousaDd students in the various Colleges, nine
thousand in academies, and not less than one hum
bred and forty thousand in the primary or Common
Schools. What cheering results are thesel How
they gladden. the heart of the philanthropist and
patriot
1t may be truly asserted that no State in the Con-
tederacy possesses any advantage over North Caro-
lima, whether we consider the extent of her sea-
coast and the value of her harbors her geographic
cal situation or the nature and variety of her re-
sources and productions. She occupies, upon the
which have been most favorable in all past time TO
civilization, to valor to improvement in letters and
in whatsoever contributes most to elevate and re
fine the human race. She is shielded on the one
hand from the protracted and rigorous winters of
the North and on the other from the blasting heats
OF the South. Her soil can be made to yield in
perfection all the great staples, and indeed almost
every article which is produced in any one or in all
OF the thirty.one States Her timber is varied in
0nH olrnnc suavh o,,, IL A.
banks Of her rivers and her eastern plains are we'll
stored with materials for improving the soil her
hills and her valleys are rich in deposits Of gold, Of
IRON, OF silver, Of copper, of marble, Of COAL and
other valuable minerals and to crown all there
IS asprt of intelligence, of enterprise and improve
ment among her people, which will in due time
bring out these resources, to adorn her surface,
to add to her wealth and to the general comfort,
and to raise her to her proper and justrank in the
.Coniederscy Of States. Develop her coal and her
iron, and send them out to the markets ofthe world,
and We shall cease to pay tribute to Northern banks
and Northern capitalists Exchange will then be
in our favor and our State credit, so well main
tanned throughout the recent financial embarrass-
ments and difficulties, will be placed on still higher
and stronger foundations Build up our own mar
ket towns, and let our productions, far as pract
cable, be shipped from our own ports, and our own
people will then reap the benefits realized from
handling, and shipping, and selling them "esnal,
not then see our exports stated in federal commercial
returns at four hundred Thousand dollars when real
" they might be estimated by millions. In word;
fellow citizens let US cut loose as tar as we can,
from that dependence for markets on our sister
States which for half a century has injured our
circulating medium embarrassed anu dr.nsd ~ Of
our resources to enrich Others lowered the tone OF
State pride and State manhood, and .dwarfed our
State independence.
But a, better and brighter day has already risen
upon us. Internal Improvements and Common
Schools have become the established policy OF the
State and the great interests OF anu .ne
islature and Of the people generally. The steam
car now thunders along from the mountains to the
seaboard freghted with the productions Of the in
terror counties and bearing back for consumption,
for use, and for ornament the commodities Of other
and distant regions. The mind of the capitalist is