The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-02-14

/ revolutionary fathers. AMI answer whether the
{ perretuation Il the memories Of the men who
handed down an inheritalce so ilusirious. 50
s1blimely positive in its reality, IS founded in q
/ sentiment Of unsubstautial value and not 10
/ lofty trnths as immOvabe from the hearts Of
| men as the seated hills.
/ PUBLIC INHERITANCE.
/ This grand Inheritance Is wholly pnb,ic-en IN
/ hcritance in VII Cd al the people II this II at
country are coperceuers. But the mem bers Of
this society have an inheritance peculiarly their
| own, as the blood descendants Of the men OF
the revolution. Enough has been said Of their
achievements but il seems as Of course, that
the duty OF gathering ami perpetuafiug the rec
ords OF their careers, whether public private,
should devolve upon their descendants, where
ever these records are as yet unsystemat.zed
and uAwTitteD-a duty a attaching to all classes.
whether eminent or humble Il is in vain TO
assert THAI history contains all that is necessary
or interesting 70 be known. History deals with
facts pertaining to nations, seldom with those
relating personally 70 individuals. while IL is
true, that civil or military bodies are but aEgre-
cations Of individuals. It must. therefore, be
also true, that the conduct Of such bodies will
depend upon the motives, character and actions
OF their Individual compOuents. If there Is any
thlng true or good, anything great or
exalted In the motives and actions OF the re-
YolutionaFy sires, their sons have a right to
claim them. nos with misplaced OF iEsaleut
ooasting, but with secret Joy" and q grateful
sense Of potent obligations TO recognized good
examples. We well know and sadly deplOre the
difficulty Of securing such records-a difficulty
which began with the revolution itself: when
even the public records Of our own state were
secretly moved from successive hiding places
until at last they found refuge in distant Mary
land; when such private records as were not
destroyed by the torch Uf the ecomy were ran
sacked and hung TO the winds, il they contained
no eviderce Of sOcalled treason. II IS impossible
70 estimate the ravages OF this nature. when
Provost made his raid into South Carolina in
lTi9; when pictures were the special objects Of
destruction, aud 80 the portraits Of many dis
FHHnnrs aaksa MI.
difficulty will increase with advancing years,
Rnd now. before the worm and the damp. those
ste8lthy assasSlns Of time and death, shall have
obliterated them forever. let us rescue the too
long hidden records OF our sires. that we may
prove TO the world not who or what we are, but
who and what they were, and the illustrious ex-
amples they have bequeathed to succeeding
generations.
RIGHT TO BE PROUD.
L must be ackno wledged that the descendants
OF revolutionary sIres have some right TO enter
tain 1usCpride In their ancestry as the founders
of American independence and as the eldest
tenants OF American soil; but it should be
clearly and enphaticalv understood, that the
Sons OF the Revolution are not tainted with the
aspirations of eristecracy. In examining the
membership rolls OF the Sons of the Revolution
in the state of New York it was. therefore. not
surprising to find, that Of 707 members 1883. or
over - per cent. we're the descendants OF non
commissioned officers and private soldiers. OF
those, four we're fterB, who have the same
equal rights WIN descendants or gem
erals and signers OF the declara-
zion of Independence. No democracy
could be purer, none more leveling, and so the
descendants OF Apollus Austin the fifer, of
Philip Schuyler the general and William Floyd
the signer, of John Jay and Alexander
Hamilton, all claim alike the honors and privi-
leges of THO Society of the Sons Of the Revolu-
ton"
And now, gentlemen, a few words in conclu-
sion The last and browning injunction OF the
constitution of our society is the promot on OF
a feeling Of friendship among ourselves When
the great bard Of Chios chanted the challenge
Of heroes, he sang:
Each others race and parents well we know
From tae of ancient days; altho' by sight,
Ncr mine to thee, nor thine to me art known
and SO, although ne have never la the flesh be-
held our terefathers, yet in the minds eye we
may conceive of their llneameuts nd If there is
the heredity, in which we may indulge a rea-
sonable belief, feel that we see something at
east of their lineaments in the members of
their honorable company. They we're com
rades In the times that tried mems souls, bound
together by ties Of singular sacredness, and
even now, when a century has passed over the
scenes of their trials and their triumpbs, and
their bodies are bat dust, il is well for US aot
only TO cherish their noble memories, but to
feel that they have also handed down to us and
TO our posterity the tender heritage of their
friendship