The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-02-27
TT077 7T7oTI17 * 1KxIT ITO"lNI C1I@1o

/ shadow Of his palace, was won't to sit
upon n throne of gold, canopied by
| vine Of the same precious metal, bear
| ing clusters of precious gems. 1t was
his triumphal tablet, Craven with the
| figures and history Of himself and
| predecessors in three languages Per-
sian. Scythan and Bablyonian--tha it
| might be understood by all his sub
| iects.
| Here, we have no towering monu-
| ments craven with the deeds OF
our fathers and the glories Of our
| State, but they are recorded in the
| hearts of our people, and are reflected
| by almost every object that greets the
| eve. OF the forty-fve stars that IL
| lumine our flag, the brightest there,
is the one that glitters to the name Of
| North Carolina.
BIRTHPLACE OF LIBERTY
In grand Old North Carolina the
/ spark Of Civil Liberty was born, and
on her sacred soil originated the move
ment which eliminated in the Declara-
ton of Independence.
From the time whereof Bancroft
wrote, when he said, North Carolina
| was settled by the freest Of the free,
| by men to whom the restraints OF 9TH
| err colonies were too severe, to the
| present hour, the people have ever
| shown the fiercest love for liberty.
From the very beginning she has
| maintained the cause of the weak
against the strong. Her Blount, Dayie,
| Martin. Speight and Williamson, not
only helped to lay the great foundation
| stone of the Constitution, but cut out
and shaped it's very corner stone. Her
| representatives left the great State and
| saved the Constitution by vote Of
4 to5.
| With a population animated by the
best blood of the globe Scotch Irish.
| English. Swiss, German, French and
Dutch-feeing political tyranny and
| religious persecution, it is not sur
| prising that every encroachment upon
| their guaranteed rights was met by
| stubborn resistance. The fundament-
/ al Constitutions of the celebrated
John Locke expressing the people and
| enriching the crown and aristocracy,
were repudiated by the colonists, and
the scheme abandoned. When under
| the stamp act of 1865 the sloop Dill
| gence entered the Cape Fear bearing
! the obnoxious stamp paper, by means
Of which the colonists were to be taxed
the citizens, headed by Col. John Ashe
| and Col. Hugh Waddell, forced the
| Captain to refrain from landing the
| stamp paper, and obliged the stamp
master to swear in the public square
| that he would not execute the duties
of his Office.
This open defiance of Great Britain
occurred nearly ten years before the
Boston tea party, when citizens dis
guised as Indians, threw the imported
tea into Boston harbor.
Says another, while both acts were
meritorious, that at Boston was like
the act Of the cautious fox, while that
of the North Carolnians done in open
day, without disguise, against the Gov
ernor in his palace, resembled the act
Of the lion whose defiant roar sends
challenge to all who would oppose his
way" The aggressions of the Colo
NAL Government continuing, the Reg
ulators sprang into being to correct
abuses, and upon the field Of Alamance,
North Carolina struck the first blow at
Great Britain, and poured out the first
blood OF the American Revolutions;
Immortal youth shall crown their
deathless fame,
| And as their county's glories still
advance,
Shall brighter blaze Ger all the earth
thy name,
| Thou first fought field Of freedom.
/ Alamance."
| Tie spirit Of oppression and resist
anee continuing, on the goth Of May,
| 1875, fourteen months before the De-
| claration Of independence by the Con-
| tinental Congress. the famous Neck
| lenburg Declaration was adopted by
the Scotch-Irish settlers, in and about
/ Charlotte, in which all honors and com
missions by authority of the King and
| Parliament were declared "annulled
| and vacated. Thus North Carolina
| was fully ripe for combined resistance,
and the first OF all the colonies to in
i struct her delegates to the Continental
| Congress, TO vote for formal indepen-
dence of the British Crown
THE FIRST VICTORY.
| As North Carolina had shed the first
/ blood Of the Revolution, she won the
| first victory at the battle Of Moore's
Greek, on the upper Cape Fear And
| soon her patriot heroes converted
! Kings Mountain into a monument to
| their yalor, to be followed by the bat
| tie OF 1rHilfOrd Court House, from
which field, broken and shattered, the
| English army fed TO lay down its arms
| at the feet Of Washington at York
| town. For the perfect refutation OF
the Islander heaped upon some of the
/ North Carolina troops engaged in this
| battle, as well as for the reclamation
| Of the historic spot from oblivion, we
i thank that great lawyer and worthy
citizen, Judge David Schenck, who re-
sides in the beautiful city that bears
/ the name and fame of General Greene
| down TO posterity.
Yes, ] love dear Old North Carolina
| and stand before her pantheon with
| uncovered head, as ! read the honor
! roll Of her illustrious dead Badger,
| CASTOR, Morehead, Graham, Mangum,
/ Swain, MeTimon, Pettigrew, Peter
| Doub, Wingate, Craven, Vance and
1 hundreds of others of her noble sons