The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1890-10-09
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
A MONUMENT TO BE ERECTED
In C0mmemoration of the Signers of
the Mecklenburg Declaration of In
dependence.

In Commemoration of the Signers OF
the Mecklenburg Declaration of In
dependence.
| CHARLOTTE, N. c., F.
Sep. 30, 1890. !
1 Mr.: Ihad r. Manning, Editor
| Gold Leaf Henderson, n c.
/ DEAR SIR:-Attherecent meet
ng of the Press Association of
North Carolina held at Durham,
the purpose of. the Meek knburg
Monument Association to prop
erly commemorate the Mecklen-
burg Declaration of Independ-
ence by the erection of a suitable
monument in honor of the inn
mortal signers of that instru-
ment, was enthusiastically en-
dorsed by rising vote of the
Association; and the undersigned
were appointed by it's President
a committee to prepare an adj
dress to the editors of this State
to invite their cooperation,
through the columns of their pa
pers, with the Mecklenburg Mon
ument Association in order that
the public may be fully advised
as to the greatness and worthi-
ness of the object sought to be
accomplished.
The committee feel that in adj
dressing you individually, their
! ! work is superfuous. Your pa
triotic pride is already inflamed,
and needs no spur to it's exercise
in the line in which we would di-
rect it. But with the conviction
that you are not only ready, but
enthusiastic in the work, there is
also the conviction that upon
the great public to which your
appeals shall be addressed, lies
the weight OF a great apathy, or
the cloud of a dense ignorance;
at best, only ly a faint appreciation
of the signal honor conferred up
on the State of North Carolina
by the intelligent and heroic an
ticipation by the signers of the
declaration Of all other publica-
ton in the cause of national lib
erty, by the transcendent great
ness of their act, the personal
peril they invited, the sacrifices
certain to be encountered, and
the doubtful character of the re-
compensc they were to receive;
all of which is now recalled with
ungrateful reluctance when the
Mecklenburg Declaration of In
dependence is named. We appro-
pirate with laudable pride the
honor claimed for North Caro-
lima of being the first of the colo
nies of Great Britain to declare
openly and defantly for indie
pendence. But we have quail
fed our boast-we have made it
of little effect-when we seem to
distrust the authenticity of the
great Declaration, by refusing or
delaying to confirm our belief by
such public memorial as may de-
monstrate our own faith, and
challenge or defy the admiration
or criticism of the world.
1t may be that we obey u
North Carolina instinct of disre-
gard to heroic memories; it may
be that, with us, the practical
sentiment Of oblivion of the past,
'Let the dead bury their dead,'
rules supreme; it may be that
North Carolinians prudently con-
tent themselves with the rehec-
ton that upon the community
Or upon the section in which the
noble deed was done rests the
responsibility of proper com
memoration. If any one, or all
of those motives have retarded
those long delayed honors, let
the candid compunction of an
awakened public conscience make
haste to retrace the wrongit has
done. These heroic memories
should be cherished; for they as
sociate themselves with all the
freedom, prosperity and national
happiness now diffused, as on no
other people On earth, among
Americans. These illustrious
dead, men of no common clay,
cannot be consigned to the OBJ
.livion of obscure humanity as
long as the influence OF their
courage, their wisdom, their sac
rifice remains among Us in the
heritage of itsfruits. And though
the peal OF liberty was FIRST rung
in Mecklenburg, it's sounds awoke
the spirit of liberty throughout
the whole of North Carolina, and
was echoed back in ringing re-
sponse, that the spirit of Neck
lenburg, had found an echo in
every North Carolinians heart.
1t is not therefore the sole
work of Mecklenburg, to honor
the memory of the immortal
Signer in the move that is pro-
posed. 1t is not the purpose OF
the rest of North Carolina that |
it should be SO, if only the call |
for cooperation is made to their
Dride and their DatriOfiSm. What