The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1889-05-16
DEPEW'S GRAFTON.
TRIBUTE TO THE MEM
DRY OF GEORGE WISH
INGTON.

1
lNGTON.
Thoughts Suggested by the Centennial
of the Inauguration Of Our First Pres
ident Reflections Of an Historical
and Economic Nature.
The following is synopsis of the
Grafton delivered by Hon. Chauncey |
M. Depew, Ii. D., at the Centennial
of the Inauguration of George Wash |
ington, first president Of the United
States, from the steps of th- Treasury
Building, New York, April 80, 1889:
We celebrate to-day the Centenary
of our Nationality. One hundred
years ago the United States began
| their existence The powers OF gov
ernment were assumed by the people
of the Republic, and they became the
sole source of authority. The solemn
ceremonial of the first Inauguration,
the reverend oath OF Washington, the
acclaim of the multitude greeting their
President, marked the most unique
event of modern times in the develop
ment of free institutions. The occa-
sion was not an accident, but result.
1t was the elimination of the working
out by mighty forces through many
centuries of the problem of self-gov-
ernment. 1t was no. the triumph Of
system, the application of theory, or
the reduction to practice of the abb
stractions OF philosophy. The time,
the country, the heredity and envi-
ronment Of the people, the folly of its
friends, gave to liberty after ages ofde-
| feat, of trial, Of experiment, of partial
success and substantial gains, this in-
mortal victory. Hencetorth it had d
refuge and recruiting station. The op-
pressed found free homes in this ia
vored land and invisible armies march
ed from it by mail and telegraph, by
speech and song, by precept and ex-
ample, to regenerate the world.
Puritans in New England, Dutch
men in New York, Catholics in Ma
= ryland, Hugenots in South Carolina
had felt the fires of persecution and
were welded to religious liberty. They
had been purified in the furnace, and
in high debate and on bloody battle
fields had learned to sacrifice all ma
terial interests and to peril their live:
tor human rights. The principles 0
:. constitutional government had beer
+" impressed upon them by hundreds o
''i years of struggle and for each princl
pie they could point TO the grave o
an ancestor whose death attested tn
ferocity of the fight and the value
the concession wrung from arbltrar..
G ipower They knew the limitations o
. authority, they could pledge their live
1 and fortunes to resist encroachment
's upon their rights, but it required tn
!, lessons of Indian massacres, the lnva
:. sion of the armies of France from Can
4, ada, the tyranv of the British Grown
:, the seven years war Of the Revolution
I'd and the FIVE years of chaos of the Cor
federation to evolve the idea, upo
which rest the power and permanenc
Of the Republic, that liberty and unlo
. are one and inseparable.
These men were not revolution'st
they were the heirs and the guardian
5, of the priceless treasures of mankln'
The British King and his Ministe
were the revolutionists. They we
reactionaries, seeking arbitrarily
,nr turn back the hands upon the dial
we we time. A year of doubt and deba1
per the baptism of blood upon the battl
hy fields, where soldiers from every colo1
fought, under a common standar
and consolidated the Continent
,,, Army, gradually lifted the soul al
,est understanding of this immortal 20
red gress to the sublime declaration ''N
eS> therefore, the representatives of
United States of America, IN gene
ing Congress assembled, appealing to
re, Supreme Judge of the world for
',ns rm rectitude of our intentions, do, in
name and by the authority Of the 81
beobIe of these colonies solemnly p'
lish and declare that these united c
onies are, and of right ought to
) 4! free and independent States.
To this declaration John Hanco
\ prescribed and threatened with dea
affixed signiture which has stood
century like the pointers to the No
pc 7 Star in the armament Of freedom,
Charles Carroll taunted that amt
many CAROLS, he, the richest man
'si.v America might escape, added desc
v n ton and Identification with "of {
~. rollton.' Benjamin Harrison, d.
gate from Virginia, the ancestor
=. the distinguished statesman and
b Is. dier who to-day so worthily fills
- chair of Washington, voiced the
alterable determination and deha
of the Congress. He seized J
Hancock, upon whose head a
was set, in his arms, and placing
in the Presidential chair, said:
n will show Mother Britain how
we care for her by making our P
y dent a Massachusetts, man, who
has excluded from pardon by p'
k and proclamation and when they
- "a signing the Declaration. and the s