The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-05-29

ANa@c ~ tonC OoSh SCoI "ACA II
ONE to history of the American
Revolution. for her ons were fore
most in oratory, in statemenship and
in the field 1t is high time hat we
were seeing to it that they are fore
most il the histories which our chill
dren read. Notwithstanding Jobs
exclamation. "Oh, that mine adver-
sary had written a book" | say 20
any young man Or young woman who
hears me this day, If you desire to
render our people an inestimable
service and at the anne time to lay
hold of earthly immortality, give your
days and nights tt writing the history
and biography of North Carolina worth
les. Surely there could be no more
grateful task: for Lord Bacon, who
possessed the most equisite brain ever
housed in a human skull, places State
builders, "Conditores Imperiorum,' as
he calls them, in the front
Long, long ago Sir William Jones
voiced the same idea wnen he said:
What constitutes a State?
Not ~high-raised battlement or labored
mound,
Thick walls or moated gate;
Not cities proud with spires and tur-
rets criwned;
Not bays and broad-armed ports
Where, laughing at the storm, rlcn
. naVies ride;
Not starred and Spangled courts,
Where low-browed baseness waits per-
tune to pride.
No: men, high-minded men.
: Men who their duties know
But knoW their rights, and knowing,
dare maintain.
: Prevent the long aimed blow,
And crush the tyrant, while they rend
: the chain:
These constitute a State"
MR.. WEBB's HISTORICAL CONTRI-
i TION.
North Carolina as we'll as the South
in general a always been rich IN
: such men. Not long since your most
excellent Representative, and my VAL
ued friend, Hon. Edwin Yates Webb,
rendered a splendid service to history
and to truth by making in the House
a speech On the battle of Kings Noun
tain. which in an epic in prose and
! which stirred the heart like strains OF
: martial music. When he had concluded
and members crowded about him to
congratulate him. I did not tell him
that he had delivered a magnificent
Grafton, which he had AOne, but [ did
tell him that I felt under deep person
al obligations to him, which l DO. L
am happy to obsedve that his speech
is attracting widespread notice IN the
public press and perhaps the heroes
of Kings Mountain may after the
lapse of more than a century anu d
quarter receive something like their
lust modicum Of fame.
XENOPHON AND DONIPEAN.
was lead into this train of thought
in this way; In my speech on oena-
tor George Frisbee Hoar, IN taking
of the wisdom of writing books. al
ter discoursing on the contributor
which Caesars Commentaries maze
TO his fame. | ran the following br1e1
parallel between Xenophon and Gen
Donipan, of Missouri; "Others nave
marched as strenuously and fought as
hravelv as Xenophon and his lei
Thousand only to vanish into oDllV'
) ion. but he and his band are anon
the immortals because he wrote tne
Anabasis which has delighted ant
instinct millions of ambitious ~bCy:
and which will delight and lnstruc
succeeding millions till the earth shall
perish with fervent heat.
1.-THE triumphant expedition or zen
Alexander W. Doniphan and MS ne
roic Missourians into the heart U
Mexico..bv way of Santa Fe, traVefs
ing a vast wilderness fui; oI i'os'li
E eavaees: subsisting on the enemy
country: winning numerous Vi~torle
8 over the very flower OF the descend
l ants of the Knights Of CASTLE an
!, Araeon: never losing a gun OF na
l or prisoner or skirmish, thoug
:, f~renuentlv engaging ten times thel
:, number never drawing from III
:. Government a dollar, a ration, a pee
= of clothing or an ounce OF
: | tion from the InOlIeur they lett foI
4 I,eavenworth, Kans., till ragged, star'
y inc hut inyincible, they reported to Ge
, zachary TAYLOR in the red field {
Z Monterey. havi1., added another en-
L nire to the Union by their valor an
D their rowes is the most astoundln
= martial achiev ment in the entire nls
4 tory of the human race IN olnicui.:
- in courage. in fortituGe, in glory 1
- results. It's GC1luScS u11SiA'
\ famed retreat which &enophon mas Ell
= balmed in immortal prose.
d Every school boy hE..'Si BY hea'
20 the fascinating story OF the creek
j. but few remember the o wonde
ID ful performance of the M~issourian
" Miracle dictu. The glorious nam
ID Donophan, the conqueror OF Ne" Me-
w ico Arizona and Chihauhau does n
j. even appear in some OF our mo
if nretentious encyclopedias. The reast
10 is that Gen. Doniphan, OF Missouri, q
In not emulate the laudable
10 Cen. Xenophon, of Greece, by writil
a history of his own campaign, con
ouently he and the brave
who followed his all-conquerlng pa
ner are to dumb f~orgetfulness a pre-
to 'Tis true; and pity tbs true VIII
Id am not general counsel for the st
to actors in the worlds drama [ ma
1g hold to uggest to the that. IL tn
| - Stor fh