Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-07-19
IN FzEMORIARI.

IN MEMoRIAM.
In nothing is the influence Of the disas-
trous crisis through which our country is
passing SO marked rs upon the spirits and
health Of our venerable citizens. The
Young may become accustomed to the great
changes in the social and material condition
of the country-may look beyond the hid
eous mockcries OF government set up, like
grinning skeletons, throughouts the land,
and see some reality upon which to base a
hope. But not 50 with the old-those who
have grown up with the country, and have
been the founders of its wealth, its customs,
! its social and moral retinements. The
shock has proved too great for their wasted
strength, and they are rapidly passing
away, amid the wreck of the great works.
social and material, which their wisdom,
their .Iberality and their industry had be
| slowed upon Il grateful and happy people.
In the death of General WILLIAM Angus
TUs BLoUNT, of Beaufort County, there is a
most striking Illustration of this fact
Naturally of vigorous frame and strong
constitution, he bore, both mentally and
physically, the weight of increasing years
and accommodating cares with wonderful
ease, until the disasters of 1864 and 1866,
eliminating in the defeat of the Confed-
crate forces, which rent from turret to
foundation stone the structure of Southern
perity, the customs, the social life and the
refined habits and ambitions of the people,
From that time until death came as relief
from further cares and SORROWS, the change
was most evident. Those of younger years,
or less firm in their convictions, or less we'd
ded to the proud and honorable associations
of former times, could mould their DISPOSE
tions and incline their tastes to the new
and disorganized order of things, but he
was all unprepared to yield to the political
storm which swept away SO much of the
glories of the past, spread broadcast present
ruin, and made gloomy the prospects of
the future. The hurricane will sweep by
the plant reed without harming it, but the
sturdy oak will be torn up by its roots, a
victim of its own nobility.
! General BboUNT, at the age of eighteen,
entered the army of the United States as a
/ Lieutenant in 1912, and served with dis
! tinction during the continuance Of hostili-
| ties, having been promoted to Il Captaincy
! in the meantime. Shortly after its close
when only twenty-five years old. he was APP
pointed, through the influence of those who
were familiar with his services in the army
Major General of the Sd Division of North
| Carolina Militia, a position at that time, in
! the then unsettled condition Of affairs, of
no little distinction and great RESPONSE
bility.
His next public service WAS as a member of
the House Of Commons, from Beaufort
county, in 1925, to which he was returned for
the two following years. His first appearance
in the Legislature in December, 1925, WIS
some days after the beginning of the scs-
sion. \ Bill of considerable importance,
affecting the interest of his section of the
State, had been introduced previous to his
appearing i'll his seat, and WAS laid upon
the table in anticipation Of his arrival. He
had not been III the House an hour before
the Bill was taken up and he called upon
to address the House in its favor. His eff
fort ut once secured for him the acknOwl-
edged position as one of the ablest dobatcrs
of the body, and showed him to BIO one of
the most ardent advocates Of Il general sys-
TEN of internal improvements, which at that
time had but few friends in the Legisla
ture and had not met with general favor in
any part of the State.
He represented Beaufort for the fourth
time in 1888, and declined public service,
for which he at any time had little predilec-
ton, almost entirely afterwards. He was
for some years member Of the Board of
Internal Improvements, a trust which he
accepted froll the hope of being able to
give efficient aid i'll ei1ecting an enlarged
scheme Of internal improvements, connect
ing a system of railroads in the Middle and
Western sections of this State, with canal
extending from Norfolk to Beaufort in the
East
Next to the prosecution of his favorite
scheme of internal improvements, the adop-
ton of a liberal system of education by the
establishment of Common Schools and the
proper endowment of the University was
an object of the deepest interest. AS the
Inauguration and completion of our great
works of internal improvements was the re-
suit of the efforts of himself and co-labor-
ers so, too, was the system of Common
Schools, which had attained such honora-
BILE and beneficial success in our State pre-
yious to the war, indebted to the same men
for its firm establishment and proper sup
port.
Appointed a Trustee of the University in
1926, he was always its fast friend and sup
porter. Of the sixty-fye Trustees, who
constituted full Board at the date of his
appointment, but single member, Hon.
JNo. II. BRYAN, of Raleigh, survives, who was
appointed in 1928. The venerable Presi-
dent of that Institution, in his addresses
TO the students, frequently referred to