Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-07-03

county and the British crown are dis solved.
 Third.-That we do hereby declar, ourselves free and independent peo pie under the control of no other pow CT than that of our God and the gen eral government of the congress, t the maintenance of which independ ence we solemnly pledge to each othel our mutual cooperation, our lives, oul fortunes and our most sacred honor. , Fourth.-That we acknowledge tht existence of no law or public officer but readopt the former laws in so fal as they do not recognize the authority
 .--~ crown, thus vacating all civil and military commissions granted by the crown.
 Fifth.-That all military officers of the county are retained in their former commands and that every member of the convention be hereafter civil of fcer with power to issue process, hear ahd determine all matters of contro- versy, preserve peace and harmony and endeavor to spread the love of country until more generally organized gov ernment be maintained in the province. Although the precise words of this much disputed document may never be known, and even though formal dec laration was never made, nothing can detract from the patriotic attitude as sumed by the Old North State during the period antecedent to the breaking out of the Revolution and the part talk en by her in that never to be forgotten struggle. For nearly 200 years before the severance of the ties which bound her to the mother country Carolina had been developing into freedom loving and despot hating colony. At an early day an elaborate scheme of govern ment had been formulated by the phi. losopher John Locke. It provided for three orders of nobility and four houses of parliament. It was altogether too comprehensive for the Carolina plant CTS. and they declined to accept it. Not to bubble, the population was sturdy and self reliant and inclined to be critical of any system of government which interfered too markedly with its own ways and wishes. When they were given a governor who attempted to be more loyal to the mother country than to their interests these undaunted colonists were in the habit of sending him home. Many of the early settlers were Scotch-Irish. and Germans from the Palatinate. After the battle of Culloden dT46) many Scotch families made homes for themselves on both sides of the Cape Fear river, and they were sturdy, independent folk with ideas of their own and strong wills to back them.
 Many of the royal governors found It no easy task to keep these free spoken pioneers to their allegiance. Many of them came into direct con fiict with the inhabitants. The first provincial congress of North Carolina met in defiance of Governor Josiah Martin in 1I14 and sent delegates to the Continental congress. The state was the first to authorize her delegates in congress to vote for independence. When the Revolution broke out North Carolina went into the struggle with all her might. Her troops were in all the important battles of the early campaigns. and in 11S0-S1 the state was invaded by the British.
 The Old North State was decidedly averse tO leaving the Union at the out break of the civil war and opposed SC. cession as matter of expediency. When her position seemed no longer to he tenable. she reconsidered and passed the separating ordinance Once committed. she threw herself into the cause with all the energy she could command. She furnished over 10000 soldiers to tine Confederacy. more than twice her proportion She also lost more men than any other southern state. and during the last year of the war practically fed General Lees army
 There ought not 10 be patriotic soul in all America so ungenerous and so unmindul of the past as to refuse to . join with this digniiied old common wealth in tine veneration which she maintains for those intrepid militia men who went boldly into Charlotte no matter when. less matter how-and declared themselves absoIved forever from further allegiance to the foreign oppressOr. Peace be to their spirits.