The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-07-28
AT GU1LFoRD BATTLE GROUND
and Incidents at the Annual
CeIebration--Senator Butler the Orator
of the Day.


ESPECIAL to the Caucasian.l
GREENSBORO, N. O., Jvly 4, 1896,
At sunrise this morning the booming
of the cannon announced the advent
Of the 9th annual GuilfOrd Battle
Ground celebration. The report of the
n could be distinctly heard in
Greensboro, five miles from the battle
ground, and, in fact, all over the ad
joining country. Early in the morn
ing, special trains began to u from
Greensboro to the battle ground, and
continued to run every half hour all
day, transporting immense throngs OF
people. Senator Butler, the orator OF
the day, and the distinguished visitors
were driven over from Greensboro, ar
irving at the grounds at II o'clock
when they were escorted to the large
and elegant auditorium. Dr.. Egbert
Smith, Captain of the Guilford Battle
Ground Company, offered an eloquent
and earnest prayer for deliverance
from certain national evils, among
which he named anarchy, organized
seii5hness, and craftsmanship. Judge
D. Schenck, the venerable and distin-
guished President of the Guilford Bat
tie Ground Co., introduced Senator
Butler, the speaker of the day.
The speakers subject "The
part played in North Carolina for civil
and religious liberty during Colo
NAL and Revolutionary period"
He first reviewed briefly the struggle
made for civil and religious liberty in
England, and showed the source from
which u ancestors got their ipde
pendent spirit, and their determine
ton to fight oppression.
He said: 1T was in the 18th cen
fury that our English ancestors re
belled against the weakness aud tyr
amy of King John, and wrested from
him the Magma Charta, the great char.
ter of liberty and the corner stone
of Anglo Saxon freedom" He also
sketched the struggle made for religious
liberty, showing how the reformation
OCSo44 LIZ u4CL JILL ANNnO1 0L4O LIS az
sociates rebelled against the abuses of
the Church, and the tyrannous x
lions of the Pope at Rome. But, in
this connection he called attention to
the fact that the civil and religious
liberty which the people of England
enjoy to day vas largely acquired and
established after the American Revo
luton, and that it was the patriotic
example Of the American colonies that
taught the mother countries what true
liberty was. He said that there was
much oppression in England from the
Church and State during the 17th and
18Th cen uries that the highest ty pc of
che Christian and the patriot were
forced to seek larger civil and religious
liberties in the wilderness of the West
ern hemisphere.
He showed how the very evils from
which u colonial ancestors fed from
England to escape, followed and con-
tinued to Cypress them here in Amer
lea, until the time of the Revolution.
Ia this connection he referred to a
spanish colony almost in sight O! our
stores, that had been suffering for
over three hundred years, and s still
suffering from greater oppression from
Spanish tyranny than we ever suffered
from the English crown This colony,
he said, was to day in the throes of a
mighty revolution, defying unjust
taxation and struggling for the same
boon Of liberty hat we achieved over
a hundred years ago, and yet this gov
eminent stands by with stolid inditfer
! ence and refuses to lend a helping hand.
i He said that if the voice of the Ameri
can could be heard through their gov
eminent, that it would be d ferent. He
He declored hat Cuba oug1t to be free
and that it was a shame on the Amer
lean Republic that we allowed such Cd
preston and 6utchery to go on right at
our doors.
Returning to our colonial history, he
spoke of the restless nature Of the early
settlers of the Carolinas under oppres
siou and religious intolerance. He
called attention to the fact that our
Colonial ancestors frequently protested
against the oppression of the Royal
Governors, placed to rule over us by
the British Grown, and how, on more
than n occasion, long before the R "
olution, Royal Governors of the Caro-
liues were driven from our quarters ;
how not only the first protest against
British oppression came from the col