National Republican., 1873-11-20

u In print OF any such paper claiming 10 nave
Ience worth noticing that the memory Of any
nan ever contained the fact OF such an utter
nee. Besides, IL was not the fashion OF lIlo 10
sui in i,io. neishbors, when they wished to eT.
,ress their opinions, met together and passed
resolves"
But il by "a declaration Is meant an express.
lion, by "resolves" or In any other form, Of the |
act of findependence-or OF determination 70 |
ecure it-then there was, most certainly, |
declaration OF Independence issued a. Charlotte
n May, lIio. one might as well deny the n2ht
II Charlotte in September, 1ISo, or the death of
Davidson ut Cowans ford In February, Isl.
According to one OF the papers claiming to have
Nee cklenburg resolved 'that we do hereby declare
to be free and Independent peopltf"
TO the paper OF May u, lIIo, they 70
solved that the inha6itsnI Of tnis % county 20
several powers by virtue OF this choice, and u.
Of the Grown OF Great Britain And
former constitution OF this province. Tnere
iTTn. which promised independence, or one
which assumed, announced aud provided for IT,
Was there more than one such declaration
script or memory-no utterance by any witness
living or dead, no antecedent probability, and
no subsequent necessity requiring US TO believe
that there were two soon os snou
one time. So, then, Whatever paper u estAb-
lished as declaration OF independence At Char.
lotte becomes the declaration Of Charlotte; y
excludes every other claimant. This
conclusion Ia enforced BY an examination OF the
documents proposed. Neither OF the three pAr
pers which claim TO be the veritable declaration
rival Claimant for its honoTs. one Of the papep
OF the a0th 10 evidently the competition Of
scholar who was skilled In the aru Of rhetoric,
the other Is the work Of plain man. Intent uPos
people, the other recalls those ths, are past.
One NOT only in its resolves slludes 70 iaes
which are not found In the other, but u has more
resolves" than the other. Again, on compArlng
either OF the two papers Of tre 20th with the one
OF the 3ist, we observe that one justiues itssli
our rights by Great britain" while the other ap-
peals TO "the address presented to his Majesty
by both Houses OF Parliament" The one pledges
lives, fortunes and sacred honors 70 msintaia ~
on quietly to make provision for an independ
ence which began .ln February last
The one hopes that the people will become
some time past. The one retains every military
officer, although he has been appointed by the
king, In his present command, and declares that
which passed those .'resolyes" shall be Q justice
OF the peace. This Is the fashion OF Q French
General Assembly, which can at pleasure declare
other other srranses the details of : future election,
by the people, OF all their oficers, both civil aud
military. This would be the fashion OF intelli.
gent and well-dsciplined Pres6yterisns; The
dence and Hopewell knew that liberty means
law and that independence must not be intro
duced by arrogance. so also, the one paper
ity; it resolves that "we" the people Of Meokien-
burg, thus gathered and represented In Charlotte,
are free from King and Crown. The other de-
cl.Ies independenee for all & ihs colonies re- e;
these colonies 10 for the present wholly sus.
pended, and that the Provincial congress- OF each
province, under the direction Of the Great Con
tinental Congress, IL invested with All leglsla'
tive and executive powers, within their respcc-
tive provinces, and that no other legislative o.
executive power does or can exist at this time 10
This one and only declaration was made May
n, lI56. That o Declaration OF Independence
was made at Charlotte on that day Is as induoit
able a. any contemporaneous TACT Tne wnoi,
| OF the paper, by which It was made, was printed
within fortnight In Charleston, 3. e., and
part OF 1t not long afterwards In some news
papers In New York. 1t was forwarded TO tn,
Georgia, and was evidently the paper remem
| bered by several Of the survivors, who have no
only testified to the fact Of the declaration, but
to Sas yes
to cast the slightest suspicion on ine genuine
ness OF the paper Of the sist Nay. liIe.
As 70 the two papers ascribed 70 the aoth MAY
within forty-nve years Of that time. The oldes
known manuscript copy Of one Is dated saptem
ber ,, 1900. The other paper appeared for "a.
nrst time In 1879, In Martina History Of North
Carolina. The advocates Of the paper for the
2Oth admit that there was also q paper issued OF
the slst. But they Insist that u was issued 4
SsasTs y sno% n,a NE sn.s ah IA was
such moment the Presbyterian preachers an
editors round about Charlotte did not resoly
with more deliseration, SO that they would no
be forced In few days to undo what they hAt
done, assign different reasons for Independence
and take back all their assumptions rs 70 Justice
OF the peace, &c. But II IL be true that thel
what they made on the sist must be taken Al
| mature. So, then, as there arc no similar re
solves OF q later date the latter must be substi
tuted for the former. Therefore one Of the PAGER,
| 81, while the one paper OF the slst prevailed
from that day onward. These two sets OF re
solves never, even In this theory OF haste, co
existed. Any attempt then TO resurrect th'
earlier and enable II 70 take the place OF TIT
| later ought to be resisted ~ tending to replac
the mature by the "prematnre" and immature
earlier crude, and repudlated utterances for IL
later, well-digested, and deliberately sanctione
declarations.
WHO, THEN, MADE THESE THREE DEcLARAfossf
The men Of Mecklenburg made one OF them IL
Charlotte on the 3lst OF MAY, lIIo. IL Is probA
Bile that the others were made a follows: In tn
| fall OF 1900 tho venerable and yerAcious Johi
McKnltt Alexander, thinking that no copy Of tn
resolves Of IT'S were in existence, OF his owl
accord, or moved BY suggestions from others, %
substance nee and the form Of the declaration G .
May, lTI5, without assigning 1t to any psIticulA
day Of that month. This honorable and patr
otic work he closed with the following ceriln
cate, which was published, possibly for the nra
time, in the North Carolina "University Mags
zine" for May. 1853:
at may be worthy OF notice here to observ,
tally correct, may not literally correspond witt
the original record Of the transactions OF sale
delegation and court Of inquiry, as all those re
Aprii q. is6o but previous 70 that time Of $500
full copy Of said records, at the request OF Dr
Hugh Williamson, then OF New York, but foi
merly Representative IN Congress from thi
In order that those early Transactions might OIL
their proper place In history OF this State, the
writing 6y said Or. Wuliamson, in New York.
"Certi1ed to the best OF my recollection an
| ~. NICK. ALkxASDER.r
Y This certificate shows that the author neye
1 claimed for the paper with which his name
ment. lie warned all who read it that he wrot
II from memory, and he did not claim for TIL
memory either native accuracy or tenaclty &C
quired through frequent perusals Of what we
now lost. What he wrote from memory he hon
estly declared needed confirmation BY compai
ison with what he had given 10 Dr.. Williamson
the only copy mentioned ~ given from the orig
lnal and without memory.
This paper, which at best Ia but "the best Q
the recollection and belief" OF Mr. Alexander
was published for the irst time (it Is believed)
the Raleigh Register, In April, 1919, but withou
the certificate. Thus mutllated It was widel
circulated, causing astonishment all over OF
country. Some received both the fact and III
paper with ridcule. The most OF our country
men received both with sincere qualification.
few, however, while they accepted the fact, ,wer
In doubt as to the authenticity Of the paper n
duced for 1t. In order TO silence all ridicnle an
| to secure universal assent to both fact and doct
ment, pamphlet was published In 1881, b
North Carolina, containing this paper OF Nj
Alexander, together with the afiidaylts as /
lls authority given by ancient and honorabl
men. This testimony was given by men VIII
had been assured for several years that in IN
| Raleigh Register for 1919, and In other paper
/ they mad read Tor themselves all that Col. Thol
| Polk had read TO them in iiI5. As was yer
natural, knowing that they were In Chariot
/ when q declaration was made, and bein
assured that this was tho paper then and ther
issued, some OF them asserted that they hear
| this paper read. The wonder Is that they all di
/ not assert the same thing. because some e1
hlblted this self-respect-because some In thel
anidayits inserted what was entirely lncor
slstent with the contents Of this paper. and bt
cause Of other circumstances, the incredulity 0
some to whom this State pamphlet came was bu
| incrensRl They RuaDectel that another pane