The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1908-06-11

glorious us you men Oh the NOTUu
have. When we were fighting Great
Britain for the esta blishment of this
government, we find that North Car
DINA was the first State to make a
Declaration of Independence, and
every schoolboy is familiar with the
Mecklenburg Declaration of indie
pendence, thirteen months before the
Declaration at Philadelphia. At
Halifax, on April IL, 1776, North
Carolina was the first State as an
organized government to declare for
independence from Great Britain,
and right nobly on many a battle
field did we maintain the stand we
had taken. At Moore's Greek, Kings
Mountain and Guilford Courthouse,
which last made necessary the sur
render of CORVALLIS at Yorktown.
When Washington crossed the Della
ware coming south, discouraged and
detected, he was met by General Nash,
with his six regiments of North
Carolinians, and with them Wash
ington turned about and gave battle
to the British at Germantown and
Brandywine. In the Revolution
North Carolina was the great
recruiting ground of the South, and,
although we had only 5000 troops,
on the pay rolls, nearly $1,000 men
in North Carolina shouldered their
muskets for independence.
The South as | have said cOntribu-
ted largely to the establishment, as
we'll as the development and perpet-
uation of this Union. Peyton
Randolph, the first president OF the
Continental Congress, was a Southern
man. Richard Henry Lee, the father
and the mover of the resolution for
independence was Southern man.
The organizer Of the navy of the in
FAINT United States was a Southern
man, Joseph Hewes, of North
Carolina. The first commander-in-
chief of the United States Navy;
James Nicholson, of Maryland was a
Southern man. The commander-in-
chief of the armies of the United
States and the first President of the
Republic, was a Southern man.
Thomas Jefferson the author of the
Declar alton of Independence, the
greatest statesman of America, and
the man who did more to gnide the
steps of the infant republic than any
other man, was a Southern man.
James Madison the author of the
Constitution, was a Southern man.
Upon the high seas, he who did more
to make the Stars and Stripes known,
feared and respected all over the
world, and the greatest naval hero
of the century, was John Paul Zones,
a North Carolinian and Southern
man. In all the great developments of
our country those men who have
added most to it's expansion were
Southern men. Thomas Jefferson
added the great Louisiana purchase;
James Monroe added the Florida
territory; James K. Polk, the North
Carolinian, acquired Texas and all
that great western part of our
country; more than an empire in ex-
| tent, that belonged to Mexico. South
ern States have been generous in
their donations to the Union. Vir-
ginia gave the great Northwest ter
ritory to this government. In the
war of 1912, which was necessary to
firmly establish our independence
from Great Britain, Johnston Blake.
ley, of North Carolina, carried the
Stars and Stripes to victory in foreign
seas. And that sturdy old North
Carolinian, Andrew Jackson, com.
handing North Carolinians and
Tennesseans hammered the life out
of the British at New Orleans.
| | say this flag is as much our flag
as it is yours. We have made as
many sacrifices to maintain it az
you have. You love it and we love
it, for it is the flag OF our common
country, the greatest country or
which the sun shines.
Time will not permit me to tell O
the glOries OF our State; but in the
great Civil War, although We loved
the Union and were loath to leave it
when our constitutional rights as W.
saw them were overridden, we sprans
to arms, and we found that tn,
State of North Carolina could raise
an army in less time than she could
call a convention. Wemade the frs
sacrifice at Bethel and laid down ou
arms at Appomattox. Out of a mil
itary population of lis, 900, we pu
l27 900 troops in the field, and los
rs, 275, Or thirty-five per cent. of GU
male population-the very flower o
our manhood. After four years O
bloody strife, we surrendered at Ap
pomattoX, amid the bitter tears o
bronzed veterans unwilling to be sur
rendered. The war was over; we ha(
appealed to the sword. to the grea
high court of final arbitration, ant
when the decision was against us w
accepted it in good faith and as men
We surrendered our armies and sur
rendered what we thought were ou
constitutional rights, even if we die
not surrender our convictions. Nor
than forty years ago, when you wer
here before, you found our beautiful
homes desolated; woe and povert,
and sorrow were everywhere; but to
day when you come to US, the seem
is changed. Instead of scowls O
hate, you are greeted with smiles O
friendship. We sre still a great agri
cultural State, as we were then, bu
we are also a great manufacturing
State, rivalling New England in tn
wealth and greatness of our manu-
featuring interests We are glad t,
have you, men and women of Maine
come down and be better acquainte,
with our people. Here is the land Q
inexhaustible resources; here is
land with magnificent climate; her
are some of the worlds creates
water powers; here are growth an,
prosperity everywhere. We are ricI
in all these but richest in our men an,
women. To this land of plenty, t,
our prosperous homes, to our beau
tiful Sunny Southland, our own fai
Carolina, we love to have you come
Salisbury's new passenger depot
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