Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-07-03
From the Fayetteville Presbyterian
VALEDICTGRY GRAFTON.
DELIVERED BY
FABIUS H. BUSBEE.
OF RALEIGH, N. C.

CumStanCeS or WITH deeper sense OF DIS
inability to do justice to the occasion.
stand the representative of the last regular
Senior class; the last Valedictorian of sew,
enty years. To-day the President of the
University, who for more than thirty years
has bent all his energies to the task OF build
ing up this Institution. and 10 whose labors
under God it has been so greatly indebted
for its past success-to-day he lays down
his office. To-day the Faculty, his able
coadiutors, cease to exist as regular
BODY. Aye, by a recent vote OF the Board
of Trustees, even the tlme-honored Univer-
sity itself to-day was to bid last farewell
to the system of instruction under which it
has fourished for three quarters of CEN
fury. Surely it Is an occasion of more
than ordinary interest.
/ Our class enters upon the active duties
of life in a time especially demanding their
purest integrity, their highest exertion. In
the words OF Burke, The great high ways
are broken up, and the waters are out. -
Ia every department of thought, whether
educational, scientific, moral or political,
the everlasting conflict between new opin-
ions and long established theories is raging
with unparalleled fury, The advocates of
educational reform justly rise In opposition
| to the exclusive attention paid to classical
studies, and demand for the physical scien-
ces a more important place in the systems
of instruction. The startling theories of
Darwin, of Spencer and OF Balm are shaking
to their very foundations the old hypOthe-
ses OF science. Against the pure religion
Of the lOWl y Jesus the poisoned arrows Of
ratiOnailsts are flying thick and fast. La
the political and social world the infusion
of new ideas is marked and encouraging. A
glorious revolution of opinion is now ac
lively going on in Europe. Upon every
hilltop the Signatures OF progress are
brightly cleaning. The watch word of
Reform, rising from the gathering work
shops of Birmingham, and resounding
along the vine-clad hills OF France and OIL
ive-groves of Italy, is re-echoed from the
wintry shores of the Baltic and the banks
of the dark flowing Danube. In America
the advocates of impetuOus progress con-
troll the counsels OF the nation.
But while, on the other hand, ii is of
vital importance to the people of the South
that, with their minds free from prejudice,
they acquiesce in the stern logic OF events
and join heart and hand in the work of
restoration; on the other it is equally es-
sential that they strive to restore and per-
petuate the safeguards of freedom. The
sacred landmarks of civil liberty, which
have stood through SO many generations,
the priceless Inheritance of the race in
Saxon blood, stand in imminent danger of
being submerged in the swelling tide of
Legislative despotism. Despite the fatter-
ing encomium upon the progress of the
United States, which we have just be ard,
l cannot close my eyes to the fact that here
in my native State the great writ of ha6eas
corpus is pOwerless at the will of the shout
der strapped despot, and it is greatly to be
feared that a people whose birthrights are
thus endangered will witness with the
apathy of despair, or perchance even
welcome with the hope Of ameiOration,
the Capitalization of the supreme power in
one man.
"The Tyrant of the Chersones
Was Freedoms best and brayest friend
That Tyrant was Miltiades-
Oh that the present hour would lend
Another despot of the kind
Such chains as his were sure to bind.'
But brave men will not despair of the
Republic. That the liberties of the whole
country are now trembling in the balance
must soon be apparent to the public mind.
We of the South entertain no vain yearn-
ings for the
sDays that are over, dreams that are DONE
We honor the gallant soldiers VINO fought
under the star-spangled banner, and weep
in sympathy with the heart stricken suffe~
ers of our common country. But we ask,
in all humanity, that sectional luminosity
be forever laid aside, that the flag of our
country, in its silken beauty, drOOp pity
ingly over Southern dead-that the sur
viving brothers of an afflicted nation clasp
hands over the countless graves where the
brave men of both armies sleep.
EsThese in the robings of glory,
Those in the gloom of defeat;
All with the battle blood CORY,
In the dusk of eternity meet:
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judEm day;
Under the laurel, the Blue,
Under the willow, the Gray
I am reminded by the expectant chances
Of my fair auditory that [ have neglected
to characterize in fitting terms the progress
of I'll nineteenth century toWard-1D0D10n
safrage / crave their forgiveness. Yes,
in the halcyOn days to come, the baiiOt-bOx
will be haunted by orinolne and chignon.
Oh who would not then be a politician, to
enter with delight upon the canvass Of
county, Or be an undecided voter to be
swayed by the convincing arguments of
lovely candidates. Yet for frail masculine
humanity-if not for the future existence
of the race-it may be al interesting ques-
ton as to who will perform the domestic
duties in that approaching era. Hear the
prophetic vision Of the poet, proud lord of
creation, and tremble for the future
"a forlorn looking man in a rocking. chair dozes
A h 4lt-written letter the secret dscloaes-
"'Dear Joe. having finished by little boys stock
ing,
write few lines while the cradle Pm rocking :;
MY wife in the Senate, my daughters at sea,
find Pm as lonely well can be-"
In greater degree, perhaps, than any
class which has preceded us, we have formed
friends and acquaintances among the cltl-
zens of Chapel Hill. I assure them that
we will ever cherish the most grateful and
agreeable recollections of their kind hos
pitalty-and to ell, III the name of the
class, tender our heartfelt adieux.
Gentlemen of the Trustees When con-
slider that your venerable body, comprising
| the most honored names of North Carolina,
is soon to be overwhelmed by the reaistless
surge Of i1nov alton, began to realize, in
all its bitter meaning, that new order of
things has arisen amongst US. We may
we'll dread to speculate moon the future