Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1875-05-28

MECkLENRURG VI &c CENTENNIAL.
Our correspondents have endeavor.
ed to keep our readers fully posted in
the recent Centennial Celebration ol
the Mecklenburg Declaration of Indie
Eendence. 1t was in every respect a
grand success. From every portion ot
the State, and from many of the other
States of tho Union, the people fiocked
to Charlotte. 1t is difficult, nay. it is
impossible to form any estimate of the
numbers present. 1t is enou h to lay
! that the little city was filled to over
flowing. While its hospitality was
tried to its utmost, it proved alto
! gether equal to the occasion.
/ All seeIaed impressed with the i'm
/ p"rtaHce of the ceremonies. Those
who had recently met each other in
/ battle array, on the one hand in the
Federal ranks and on the other fol-
lowing the fortunes of the Lost
! Cause" forgot, i'll their common de-
Votlons the recent troubles, and recol-
lected only the sufferings and deeds of
their ancestors. Speakers and ban
ners and motoes and fire works COM
memorated only such deeds and
brought to memory only such recollec-
| tions as shed honor upon the State
and upon the whole country. It was
III every respect national celebra-
ton, wo- thy of the day and worthy of
the generous, noble people in memory
OF whose ancestors it was observed.
AS North Carolinians We feel proud of
it; as American citizens we take even
more pride in it.
Yet this celebration is not without
It's defamers. There are those 80 lost
to every patriotic impulse who cannot
lose any opportunity to turn every
thing to effect a political result. Not
only is the authenticity of the cause of
The celebration denied, but the very
purposes OF the celebration misrepre-
sented and maligned. While the inau-
gural ceremonies began with the raising
Of the National Fag in Independence
Square, amidst the shouts of the multi
t1lde and the firing of artillery, and
the first speaker was the Republican
Governor of .he State, yet the whole
affair has been denounced as a politi-
cal and Confederate jubilee. The
Washington Rcpublicu,s, the official
organ of President Grant, makes a
venemous attack upon the whole cele
bration, and 1t prefaces it's vile slanders
with the following head lines in bold
type, from which the character of the
whole article may be easily inferred:
Meckleburg Great Rebel Fraud
The Truth of History
ates at harlotte-The Latest Tar
Heel mbug-Treason made Re-
special able-Democratic Mutnal Admi-
ration Meeting g-President Grant de-
ltberately Insulted-A Ku- nlux Ora
tor to be Heard from-Opinions of
General Hill and Governor Vance
imputed Nacillations of the so-called
Horuets-Captian Jack as a new Paul
Eevere-FrOm His Grave the True
StOry-May Twentieth aud May Thir-
ty-frst-The Latter Date the Correct
One-Attcmpt of the South to Steal
the Glory of the Nation-An Array of
Facts to Disprove an Independent
Rebel Assumption-Jr rfferson Vindi-
Gated from the Charge of Plagiarism
The way North Carolina Makes His
tory from Gravestones.
1t matters not what our people do,
we are always misrepresented i'll some
quarter. Our religious convocations;
our business assemblages; our public
meeting of all kinds; our silence even,
are all fashioned into disloyalty. And
now when we meet around the affairs
of liberty which our fathers erected
one hundred years ago, our celebra-
ton is denounced as "rebeI fraud"
and our patriotic enthusiasm is stig-
matized as treason.
In this, as in other matters, we have
gone forward and done our whole duty
without regard to our calumniators.
The celebration at Charlotte will have
a marked effect upon the whole coun
try. The patriotic enthusiasm there
evinced shows that in the hearts of our
people the love for the Union pre-
dominates. We have given anew the
pledges which our grandfathers gave
III 1775, and stand ready, as they
did then, to risk honor and fortune III
behalf of common country.