Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-10-14

conduct was equally heroic.
On the 9Th Of October, one hundred year.
ago tomorrow, at Gilbert Town, Col. Williams
of South Carolina with four hundred men
joined the patriots. The final council was held
We of North Carolina, are glad this day t.
welcome our brothers from Virginia, Soutf
Carolina and Tennessee; but with how mucf
more fervor did our ancestors welcome your:
upon the eve of battle.
In regard to the battle, shall say nothing
That task has been assigned to ADLER hands
Look for yourselves and see what daring ant
courage was necessary for nine hundred mel
to successfully assail, defeat and capture clever
hundred men encamped upon the summit OF
yonder natural fortifcation.
We are told in history, that in the battle
the gallant Col. James Williams, of South Car
olina, fell at the head of his command, and was
buried on the field of battle. We are further
told that Maj. VIM. Chronicle, of Lincoln, and
Capt. John Mattocks, also yielded up theil
lives, willing sacrifice to Liberty.
But, my cOuntrymen, there were twenty-five
other patriots who fell and died that day
They were privates and no mention is made in
fame is enrolled the mighty deeds of these
gallant leaders but let us to-day do honor to
the simple heroism of those private soldiers,
who gave their lives for the land they loved SC
well. They obeyed the call to arms, because
they loved their native land and were deter
mined that it should be free. They occupied
an humble place. The consciousness OF duty
well performed was their only reward. They
gloried in the honor and renown Of their dis
tinguished leaders, and with unknown graves
were themselves content They died for their
country. Their life's blood was shed for her
and for us, and now some of their humble
names have even been forgotten. Upon these
forgotten heroes let especial honor be this day
bestowed. One hundred years have passed
since then, and all the actors in that conflict
have returned to mother earth but the spirit
which animated them is immortal.
Love of country has, in all ages, been the
theme Of the orator, whilst devotion to ones
home has inspired the sweetest lays which
ever fell from poets lips. But there is a prin-
eiple higher and nobler than these. Love OF the
immutable principles Of liberty is the grandest
of all the virtues. The one is local the other
general. The one is bounded by geographic
al lines the other has the universe for it's llm-
it's, and all mankind are embraced within its
benehcent purposes Our ancestors had their
holmes upon the banks Of the Severn, the
Thames and the Mercy. They loved them
with that strong regard which has ever marked
that particular branch of the Anglo-SaXon
race from which we are descended.
But the time came when they were called
upon to choose between home and the proper
enjoyment of liberty. They gave up, their
homes. They left the spot where their ances-
tors had been rooted for centuries, and where
their own boyhood was passed, and crossed the
stormy Atlantic and built their cabins in the
Western Wilderness They still entertained
their devotion to their mother land, which
they claimed as their country. So strong was
their attachment to Old England, that in her
wars against the French and Guardianship
which they had no concern-they shed their
blood as if it had been water. But the time
came when they had to choose between de-
votion to the mother land and liberty, and
again they chose liberty. 1t was the grand
dream of our fathers to build in this West
ern Hemisphere a federated Republic, IN
which liberty should be forever sacred, and to
transmit to us, their descendants, the grandest
heritage ever given to free people.
When success crowned their efforts in the
field, that dream found expression in the arti'
cles of faith by which the Union was, cement
ed-the Constitution of the United States.
1t was the work of pure patriots and sagacious
statesmen, and is, by far, the best model OF
civil government which human virtue OF
wisdom has ever devised. The lovers of his
tory will find nothing in the past-nothing
in the highest speculations upon Govern.
ment of Aristotle or Plato or Locke, to
equal it's conceptions. In the words of Daniel
Webster, it was fashioned according to nc
existing model-ikened to no precedent-and
yet is founded on principles which underlie all
free government, wherever such government is
found to exist. 1t is equally removed from
confederation and despotism. 1t has not the
simplicity of deSpotism-neither has it that
sc o1, oNfry
lent changes without danger to the whole edl.
flee. 1t is system of checks and balances
admirably adapted to secure personal liberty
to ensure public prosperity and promote ma
tional glory. Under it our country became
great, prosperous and powerful and so long as
It is faithfully administered, so long may We
hope for increased and increasing blessings
Its conception was the grandest creation since
the universe itself was made. Like that it
has it's central luminary around which the at.
tendant spheres revolve, even whilst each is
turning upon it's own axis. From time to
time discOrdant ideas, like meteors, cross
it's orbit, but they are as powerless to effect
it's progress as the meteors the worlds. by
establishing here an asylum for all races
it has founded nation embodying within it.
self the vivacity of the Frenchman, the ear
nestness Of the German, the irrepressible buoy.
dllCy VI Glle SollS VI Illl, Vic vi
the Scotchman, the heroism of the Anglo
Saxon. This blending into a common stock OF
the Caucasian races, has produced the grandest
type of man, which, thus far, has appeared
above the horizon Of history; and if we are
true to ourselves and the principles of our
fathers, the greatness of Imperial Rome, OF
the grandeur of modern England, will sink
into insignifcance, compared with the might
and power of this great Republic.
AS the beneficent effects of the constitution
were being felt, and the eyes of the whole
world were turned to America as the possible
home of the Nations, before our country had
reached single centennial anniversary, the
spirit of discord made itself apparent and final
ly eliminated in civil war. For four long
years these Southern States continued the une.
quail strife with the power of the government
of the United States.
+ The late civil war was an incident merely in
the life of the nation. 1t had its origin in
economic differences, not affecting, in any way
the principles upon which the government was
founded With the Southern States the con
test was for independence and independence
alone. They believed that liberty was secure
in the Union and that it's preservation entered
not into the controversy. They, therefore
carried with them the constitution Of the Uni
ted States and reatfirmed it's glorious utter.
anceS.
During the days of war and bloodshed which
followed, they were ever true to the teachings
of the Father of the Republic. Regarding
personal liberty as the very foundation of fret
government, throughout the great struggle
the consent of the Southern people was never
given to the infringement of private rights
In it's darkest hours, when the declaration OF
martial law was regarded by many as a necessi
ty, North Carolina signalized her devotion tt
principle by declaring, through her legislature
that ''the General Assembly of North Carolina
doth not consent to the sacrifice IF the vita