The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1909-05-27

the Republic, those members of the
Daughters of the Revolution, that
ditinguished lady, the widow of
Stonewall Jackson, and all the other
charming and delightful people who
exposed themselves to the elements
this morning to celebrate this day.
and in part. | hope, to give me wei
come.
wish TO express also to the COM
mittee OF arrangements my deep re-
greet that Mrs Taft was not able to
represent to share the welcome which
your committee was good enough to
tender her. | assure you don make
near so good show when the bet ter
half of my firm is not with me.
I'VE are here TO celebrate a decla-
ration OF independence. There are
some unregenerate persons Uaughter)
who live in South Carolina Qaughterl
aud elsewhere that COR various mo-
tlves have cast doubt upon the
claim. Now anybody that comes to
Charlotte who is not willing to admit
IN the full the Declaration of indie
pendence made in Mecklenburg, is in
the position OF a man of whom lord
justice of the Court OF Appeals of Ire
land told me. l met him i'm Canada
He had a good deal of experience in
courts, and he was redolent with Irish
stories. He said that he was holding
court in the County of Tipperary, and
that a man came before him and a
jury charged in the Indictment with
manslaughter, and that the evidence
showed that the deceased had come
to his death by blow from black
thorn stick in the hands OF the de-
PENDANT; but the evidence also showed
that the man who died had a paper
skull, as it is called in medical par
lance - unduly thin. The verdict
brought in was that of guilty of
manslaughter,' and his lordship
called the man before him, and asked
him whether he had anything to say
why the sentence of the court should
not be pronounced upon him. The
defendant, turning to his lordship
said, NO, your lordship, | have moth
lug to say, but l would like to ask
one question: What, my man. is
that?' said he. Il would like to ask
What the divil a man with a head
like that was doing in Tipperary?'
(Laughter) l would like to add in ex-
PLANTATION of my position, what the
divil a man who does not believe in
the Declaration of Mecklenburg is
doing in this presence? daughter
and applause.)
THE claim is that more than II
months before the members of the
Continental Congress declared that it
was necessary to have n separate
and independent government i'll this
country, free from British control,
that Declaration was made in the
court house in thiS>fown of Char
lOtte by q committee of the county.
of whom there are defendants living
among you entitled to your respect
and to your congratulatiOn on such
ancestry. There is n controversy as
to what the exact words were that
we're used in that Declaration. | am
not going to enter upon any such
discussion, but | am going to point
out what seems to me to be. whether
YOU take one version or the other
the very important part OF that Dec
laration, viewed from the standpoint
of practical patriotism and practical
craftsmanship.
THE IMPORTANT PROVISIONS
'The general declaration as to the
rights of man | do not count nearly
so important, looked at from the
standpoint of the responsibility o
the people who made it, as the prac
teal provision contained in that
Declaration for IL government which
was to succeed the British govern
ment, and to accept all the respOn.
sibilitiaS, to maintain ~ government
of law and order, and II government
which should have a military force
to defend itself My friends, these
general declarations unaccompanied
bv some sense of the responsibility OF
self-gOvernment, are worth little Oh
nothing. 1t is the men who 90 for
ward knowing what they are doing
when they are cutting of their rela-
tions to the government, and under
stand that the only jurisdiction for
so doing is the preparation and the
practical preparation OF n new gov
eminent. That is what makes Anglo
Saxon liberty; that is what has dis
tinguished our race for "a thousand
wears, that we dealt with what was
practical and not with what was
poetical and oratorical and rhetori-
cal
Il want to call your attention in
enforcing what | am talking about
to the guarantees of life-the guaran-
ties as we know them in the Constitu-
ton, of life, liberty and property
They consist in general resolutions,
that we believe in liberty, and we be-
lieve every man ought to be free. and
we believe that he ought to be treated
Justly, and we believe he ought not
to be imprisoned except lawfully. j.
that all? No. That is not all we
have in our Constitution. II that
were all We had. it would not be
worth the paper it is written ON; II
would not be worth more than the
hundred constitutions that have
been made in various countries. u
would be invidious TO mention which
constitutions have gone down and
haven't made a ripple on the ocean o
| civilization.
WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS.
What is it III the Constitution 0
| the United States inherited from ouI
British ancestry that makes that ia
strument and all the instruments o
the State constitutions so valuable
1t is that each guaranty is "a practl
cal method of procedure by which
the liberty and the rights OF the indl
vidual are secured. What are they
The writ of habeas corpus. What Il
that? That is method OF procedure
1t is a method by which a man wheI
he is imprisoned has the right to 70
to any Judge and say to that Judge
L wish you to call my captors her
and have them tell you whether an
lorF,,iIv- ;ypprisonad or not and