The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-05-21
HILL AT CHARLOTTE.
He Delivers the Grafton at thu Meek
lenbur9 Celebration.

Senators Ransom and Gray, Representative
| Alexander and others of prominence. Th
signing Of this declaration has always beef
| celebrated in Charlotte. On NAV &C. 1875
Thomas a. Hendricks was the orator of thu
day. Amos j. Cummings was here then, a
! were also the governors OF eight or ter
southern states. The next largest celebra
ton was on May 20, 1882, wher
Thomas +. Bay ard was the orator and Sena
tors Hampton, Vance, Ransom and other
distinguished men made addresses. Or
May 20. 1884, Hon. George H. Pendletor
was the orator. and a delegation Of promi-
nent men accompanied him. The celebra,
ton of 1875 attracted the largest attend.
ance ever known in the history of the town
but the assemblage gathered here to-day
was considerably larger than that one. The
city is profusely decorated, and a stately
arch that spans the four corners of the pr1n-
cipal square Of the town Is a particularly
handsome object. Thirty thousand visit
ors were on the streets. The day opened
| with the firing of salutes. A sham battle
| was the feature Of the morning exercises,
and was participated in by 1000 troops.
Senator Hill and party reviewed the mill
tary parade from the Central hotel balcony
at IL O'Clock. At o'clock Senator Hill de-
livered his Grafton in the auditorium build
ing, which has a seating capacity Of s 200.
SENATOR HILLS ADDRESS.
| AO-udys Juls GOLu udy Vi Nay III Inc llOCl
| year of American independence we come to
| celebrate the li7th year Of North Carolinian in
| dependence. We stand upon historic ground
A birthday of liberty, The birthplace of liberty
Your historians nRrrate that here the first
declaration of independence was promulgated.
1t is simple story, and is briefly told.
The patriotic citizens of this county of Meek
lenburg IN this grand old state Of
| North Carolina, restless under the yoke Of OPP.
| preston, impatient of the injustice of foreign
| rule under which they had long suffered, and
aFNakNN
sembled together at the court house over thir-
| teen months before the memorable action of
| the continental congress, with the startling
| news of the battle of Lexington ringing in their
ears, renewing their devotion to the inherent
and inalienable rights of man. bravely and SOL
EMMY resolved, in substance, that they were q
| free and independent people and that the
| political bands which had bound them to the
| mother country were dissolved.
1t was sublime and heroic action. 1t was
without an example In the history of the world.
| What page in the history of these United
States Of America!
One OF your later statesmen, and among your
greatest, the Hon William A. Graham whose
memory will be ever cherished and whose name
will be ever honored by the sons of North Caro-
lima, has recorded for all time to come IN his
centennial and memorial address at Charlotte
in 1875, the thrilling story of that immortal
deed.
Not only was North Carolina the first colony
In which independence was declared but IL is
confidently claimed-and history seems to con-
HTln tn6 SCaG6nenU-LndC here IN your tate the
first blood spilled in the United States in re-
sistance to the exacUions Of English rulers at an
| engagement between the royal forces and the
| North Carolina militia, known as Regulators, a."
| so early as May 10, III, at the battle of Ala
nance.
1t is not denied that these facts have been uues-
| toned. am well aware that the settled YER
diets Of history are appealed from in all direc-
TONS Historical criticism is making formid-
able reprisalS where the faith of many genera
tions had never wavered. gentleman in the
r,@F
plays and sonnets spelled his name with the
| correct assortment of letters of the alphabet
Nobody now thinks worse OF Bolingbroke for
his attainder than of Andrew johnson for
his impeachment. People live and pay taxes
who think John Adams was quite right when he
coupled Hamilton and Burr as dangers to the
republic and its freedom.
The Swiss are told that no such person ever
lived among their mountains as William Tell.
Aud now the historians are not content with
saying that Christopher Columbus sought
western passage to the Island OF Japan and the
Asiatic mainland, was interrupted by a little
archipelago of Florida. made his crew take an
affidavit that one could march on foot from
Cuba across Asia to Spain, but never landed
upon North America nor suspected the exist
ence Of the Pacific Ocean
These terrible historical critics go further
still, and wflt read you what the last of them,
Justin Winsor, librarian Of Harvard University,
says in this very quadricentennial year which
we are about to celebrate by the Chicago fair
| upon the death OF Christopher Columbus.
death. Hardly a name in profane history is
more august than his. Hardly another charac-
| ter in the worlds record has made so little of
! its opportunities. His discovery was blunder,
| his blunder was q new world. the new world is
| his monument. Its discoverer might have been
| its father he proved to be its despoiler. He
might have given its young days such benig-
| nifty as the world likes to associate with
| maker; he left it a legacy of devastation and
| crime. He might have been an unselfsh pro-
| moter of geographical science: he proved a
hid Seaker of and viz Ha
might have won converts TO the fold of Christ
by the kindness Of his spirit he gained the exc
| crations of the good angels. He might. like
| Las CaSaS, have rebuked the tlendlshness of
| lis contemporaries; he set them an example of
| perverted belief. The triumph of Barcelona led
| down to the ignominy of Valladolid. with every
| step in the degradation palpabe and resultant 9"
Does anything survive in all this wreck of
| famous regulations:
| Yes. There is a tomb at Mount Vernon where
one of the mighty dead lies in peace, with
honor.
The historians have now done their best and
| their worst. Thank God, we know at last that
| the Father of his Country has left to the chill
| drsn and the children's children of this great
| nation through all generations the priceless
| legacy Of a pure. unsullied name. George
| Washington, John Adams and his son, Thomas
| Jefferson. James Madison (to name no more)-
| all these among the great founders of mighty
state all these, the first leaders of still con-
tending political parties, retain their title to
reverence as 10 our pride, to our esteem as to
| our admiration. The whole record of their long
laborious lives has been exposed. upturned, pub
| lished, and not one syllable of shame
II Is the SANDER of envious or ambitious
rivals which the record has exposed-to their
shame. 1t is the hideous revilings, the cease
less calumnies of some partisan newspapers, on
both sides. which have been shriveled up and
burnt away in the glare Of modern investiga-
ton.
1t is the crsdulity of opposing partisans,
| sectarians, bigots, which the muse of history
now mocks with her wise smile.
x
Senator Hill closed his address as follows:
But it is unnecessary to repeat In your pres
ence the story Of the American revolution. be-
cause you are as familiar with 1t as household
words. Next to the story of the Savior it is the
first one you teach your children 10 read It
sounds like a romance. 1t partakes of some of
the features of alegend. 1t is a tale OF resist
ance TO unjust exactions; Of opposition
of a brave people of thirteen colonies
seeking to be free; of the effort to establish the
right of revolution for just cause; of an unequal
contest OF right against might for seven long
years; of numerous bloody battles and serious
defeats; of many privations, hardships and
woes; IL is the narrative of a cause which pro-
| duced Washington to lead its armies; young
Lafayette to bring succor and assistance from
/ across the waters; Franklin to give counsel;
Jefferson to defend with mis- voice and pen; it is
| the account Of courage, heroism and fortitude
| unsurpassed in the annals of time. 1t
| tells OF an army crossing the Della
ware amid snow and ice, and of the
retreat Of halfstarved patriot soldiers with bare
| feet and bloody tracks; of the capture of
| Ticonderoga in the name of the great Jehovah
I and the continental cOngrezS" Of tha iptraric