The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-04-30
JAMESTOWN"

~
leans and at Atlanta were necessarily
sectional 10 a degree, jamestown Is
distinctly national. AT h same time
ii is as equally emphatic of the South
as OF the history and traditions OF the
Nation. The event which IL
orates-the first white settlement In
North America that escaped destruc-
tion-marked the conquest of a CONT
uent for the A~nglo-Saxon and marked
the beginning of the b in the ude
of Latin civilization. jamestown was
an augury of America; its establish
ment marked an epoch IN the history
Of the world.
The scope of the exposition VIII
justify it's meanings. 1t has been con-
ceived in the spirit of its Importance
to the world and a been ecognlZeo
in that relation. The government Of
The United States and that of Great
| Britain combine in appreciation of its
inheritance as an event. The other
countries of the world, that have long
ago recognized the supremacy of the
| English tongu come to aid IN Is
| success in a kindly and generous spirit.
From the relic of that Spain whose
ambitions the young colony defeated
IN 1907 to the new Japan that the
! country of which it was the mother
spirit brought out of darkness TO
| light. the nations are gathered around
| the splendid celebration of the old
| spirit Of adventure which lay the foun-
| dation stone of the newest and greae
| est of empires.
AS for the exposition city itself it
will compare favOrably with the great
events of the kind with which ths
| world pauses occasionally to measure
| progress-it can hold up its head with
Paris, with Chicago, with st. Louis!
In itself this is a remarkable achieve
| ment; one in which the whole South
| may take the deepest prideNas indicat-
ing it's virility and it's enterprise. To
| Norfolk the undertaking is a valiant
! thing. The burden is a heavy one;
| the responsibility ~measureless. The
| city has met the call. and the South
| has rallied to her help. The return
| will be a vast one. but it is incOn-
| siderable in comparison with the les
i SDu dIIDItSt. y "@A'
! said recently of North Carolina. the
| jamestown Exposition avs to the
| world for the South: 'Possumus!'
Yesterdays event was a brilliant
| one, inaugurating what we believe will
! prove an unmiXed triumph. OF course
the exposition is not yet complete.
| BUILDINGS are unfinished, exhibits de-
layed in many instances and not yet
| placed. Work has been pushed unre-
mittingly, yet the magnitude of such
work is always underestimated No
great exposition opens prepared. But
the undertaking has been launched
and it will find itself. The thing is
on"
What happened at jamestown OH
April 26th, 1907, when the "Sarah
Constant" the Good Speed and the
"Discoyery'' entered Chesapeake Bay,
is well epitomized by Thomas Nelson
Page in an article on jamestown in
the current issue of Coliier's:
This happened at jamestown. And
unless this had happened at James
town, the destinies of the Nations
might have been changed, and under
the pusillanimOus James, who even as
late as 1913 sacrificed Sir Walter
Raleigh to the enmity of the Spain
lard, Spain. who was ever plotting the
overthrow of. the colony, might have
established herself with her civiiiza-
ton so firmly IN the shores o Vir-
ginia that no English settlement could
AVE taken root.
"By the time the next colony was
planted in 1920 the colony of Virginia
first rooted at jamestown, and fer
L <;l;on1 with tho nChnC of nVar CiY
thousand English settlers, had spread
until it had become a commonwealth.
, with settlements extending almost un-
brokenly over a hundred miles into
the interior; with several towns. at
least enc of them with houses maintv
of brick; with forts guarding the
mouths of the rivers; with a charter
which secured forever to all colon.sts
IN Virginia, and their pOsterity, from
sea to sea, the rights, privileges and
immunities of native born citizens "s
Great Britain; with q Nicercgal court;
a legislative assembly, composed of
twenty-five burgesses elected by the
people, who had asserted the rights
of the British IN of Commons;
with az established church; monthly
courts; a university. projected an.:
endowed with ten thousand acres o.
land, ami a college, already begun. for
the education of the Indian popula-
ton under a competent master, en-
doWed with a thousand acres of land.
for which over fifteen hundred pounds,
equal to ten times the amOunt now
had been subscribed. and with a hos
pital containing fourscOre lodgings
and beds, sent to furnish it. In fine,
with a civilization which,, though at
the time it lacked the comforts and
the expansion which it later attained.
possessed the substantial principles of
the later civilization which throughout
her entire colonial period. and for
over a half century afterward. made
Virginia the first colony in America
in influence. as she was in time, and
more than any other contributed 10
the making of this Republic"
Such is the history of the "exposi-
tion'-a history foreshadowing the
present racial conformation of the
world that pauses to commemorate
the destiny it carried.
The Springfield Republican thinks
sit is difficult to remember that
1 tn an1nrn Dnnroy.alt 1870 h41A~a1l -