The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-02-27

NoIth oi man with heart so cold
/ VIZ s. ds,es not beat with patriotic
,..;4a ~ he contemplates the grandeur
- oar country? OF our fifty-one
states and Territories, twenty-seyen
are each larger than England, while
our area would contain England sixty
times. Ten of our States and Terri
tories are each larger than England,
scotland and Wales. Thirteen of the
German States might be laid down in
Connecticut. and Colorado would con
tain Connecticut twenty times.
Well might Mr. Gladstone declare
that we "haye a natural base for the
greatest continuous empire ever estab-
lished by man" Superior to all other
nations in territory, invention, manu-
featuring, agriculture, climate, coal,
silver and iron, unshac<led by religi-
Gus intolerance, and blessed with free
institutions, are we not ready TO say
with DR.. Strong that 1.-THE worlds
sceptre passed from Persia to Greece,
from Greece to Italy, from Italy to
Great Britain and from Great Britain
that sceptre is now departing. Like
the star in the East, which guided
the three kings, until it stood over the
cradle Of the young Christ, so the star
of Empire rising in the east has ever
| beckoned the wealth and power OF the
nations westward, until to-day 1T
stands still over the cradle of the young
empire Of the West, to which the ma
tions are bringing their offerings!
In contemplating the grandeur OF
my theme. and as the panorama Of her
| greatness sweeps before my vision, /
am thrilled by the ecstacy, and in the
| language Af the immortal Sir Walter
Scott, with pardonable pride, can say;
ssBreathes there a man with soul so
dead
| Who never to himself hath said
| This is my own, my native land;
| Whose heart has neer within him
| burned
| As home his footsteps he hath turned
| From wandering DER foreign strand?
| If such there breathe, go mark him
well,
For him no minstrel raptures swell,
High though his titles, proud his name,
| Boundless his wealth as wish can
| claim,
Despite those titles, power and pelf,
| The wretch concentrated all in SELF
Living shall forfeit fair renown
And doubly dying shall go down
| TO the vile dust from whence he
| sprung
tTnswept, unhonored and unsung."
Let us stand for this principle, Our
country, may she always be right; but
our country, right or wrong"
/ Commenting upon this sentiment,
one of our greatest jurists said: I'm
| derstood correctly, it is equally true,
patriotic and beautiful. With the adj
mission that she may be wrong, comes
the earnest prayer that she may be
right, accompanied by an emphatic
announcement of devotion to her posi-
/ ton, whatever it may be, when by her
councils she has determined it, 1t is
grand abridgement Of the national
/ compact"
King Henry the ~ at the great bat
tie of Ivry charged his troops to re-
member ''Seine's empurpled food, and
good Coligny's hoary hair, bedaubled
with his blood, then facing the enemy,
he shouted to his followers:
Press where ye see my white plumes
wave,
/ Amid the ranks of war,
BE this your orifiame to-day,
| The helmet of Navarro"
Let us teach our children the story
| Of Washington, and Jefferson, and
| Patrick Henry, and Andrew jackson,
and Robert H. Lee and they viii labor
| for the highest welfare of the Republic,
and if the press OF conflict with for
eign nations should ever come, they
will rally around the Stars and Stripes
| like the hosts around Navarro.
A GREAT STATE.
But it is not principally of our Re
public that / purpose speaking, but of
the splendors and resources of North
Carolina. There are some, / fear who
do not sufficiently appreciate the
honor of being citizens of this Com
monwealth.
For myself, if there is a fibre OF my
nature that does not love every crook
and crany of her fifty thousand square
miles, from where the restless ocean
combs her disheyeled locks upon the
sands Of stormy Hatteras where our
grand old mountains cast their morn
ing shadows across the line into Ten
nessee, then / am frank to tell you !
am mistaken in my makeup.
A prominent divine, and one of the
greatest thinkers Of the world, has
said: s"The heart is made for surprises.
When I found Saturn myself and first
turned the great telescope upon it;
when + saw a sunrise from the Matter
horn. I had ecstacies of a revelation in
a moment" j am prepared to sympa-
thize with this beautiful sentiment,
because. + remember when just coming
10 years of manhood found my
self at the beautiful Capitol of
this great Republic, and as |
strolled through those marble cor
ridors. I remember at the head of
splendid stairway to have found
magnificent allegorical picture repre-
senfing this sentiment, Westward the
| Star Of Empire takes its way" | re-
member to this moment how my boyish
heart swelled with patriotic pride as J
| stood there thinking of the future and