Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-07-11

Following Is the address delivered Dy
Hon. John L. McLaurin, at the Fourth
i Of July celebration at Elloree, as re-
| ported In the Pee Dee Daily, of Ben
nettsville: a.
Ladies' and Gentlemen: The 4th of
July, 1776 was the date Of the Declara-
ton of independence, but the 4th OF
July, 1901, was the date upon which II
was carried into full effect by the es-
| tablishment of our national capital.
Then we were but thirteen states
struggling along the Atlantic sea-
board, with a population Of three mil
lion: today Union and Independence
are watchwords for 80 million people;
continent teeming with industry, and
| then stretching across the Pacific to
| the far off Orient where millions live
under the stars and stripes. 1t was no
empty jingle of words when the revo-
tlutionary fathers, pledged their lives,
their fortunes and their sacred honor
| In defense of young republic. This
was peculiarly true Of Virginia and
South Carolina, the favored, petted
children of the mother country, settled
with her best blood. Every one OF
these self-sacrificing leaders who so
nobly broke the way for higher CIV
ilization could have aligned himself on
| the side of English rule and gained
wealth and high position. Marion and
| Sumter, Washington and Patrick Hem
ry, could have been sharers In the pro-
fit which comes from England's oppresr
sion. 1t would not have touched them,
for all It's exactions would have fallen
ON the working masses, just as the
burden Of the present unjust taxation
and currency system falls upon pro-
ductive labor. .... &c.,. r
It was not with these men a ques-
| ton Of money, but Of principle, voiced
in these words give me liberty or give
me death" and mo taxation without
representation" .s ...
+ Foundation Of Republic. Il
The American republic was founded
by two classes working together har-
| moniously to a common end.
| One was made up from the large
landed proprietors. professional and
commercial men.
The other from small farmers, me-
chanics and laborers.
The first named, were the dreamers
gifted with political vision. Nation
| builders, whom God sends to the earth
when his mighty tasks are to be done.
washington and Jefferson, Franklin
| and Thomas Paine. these had eyes t.
see "the pillar Of fire by night" and
lead a chosen people" dry shod
through the depths of a Red sea into
the Promised Land"
The beautiful unselfishness Of these
grand men was even more sublime
than their heroism. Our internal trade
amounted to very little, because Eng
land had prevented manufacturing de-
yelopment so as to force the colonies
to buy from her. We were absolutely
dependent upon the sale Of our raw
products abroad. This was peculiarly
true in the south, where indigo, rice,
| cotton and tobacco were sold exclu-
sively in London. The rich planters
around Charleston and the city itself,
| were dependent for all the comforts or
life on these products, and rebellion
meant poverty and hardship. Yet
Charleston was one Of the first to re-
spond by sending supplies and words
of announcement to Boston. South
Carolina in proportion to population
| contributed more in men and money
than any state in the Union. The rec
ord shows that at the end of the war,
the general government owed her
more money advanced for the common
cause. In the north, New York, Phila-
delphia and all of the large cities were
i'm the hands Of the British, and were
crying out to stop the war, but Marion
and Sumter kept it alive, and hanging
like wolf hounds on the flanks of the
enemy, from Eutawville to Camden,
until at Cowpens and then at Kings
Mountain the brave men Of the hills
gave him such a staggering blow that
the surrender at yorktown ended the
war.
England seeming to be more deter
mined to hold on to South Carolina
than any other colony, and concentrat-
ed more effort in men and money. Not
only in war, but in the insiduous form
of creating a sentiment for the crown.
She had been so kind to this colony,
that the Tories were formidable In
number. They played not only upon
greed, but also fears, for the lesson OF
the Scotch outbreak Of 1745, with In
glorious death at the headman's block,
was there to illustrate to our leaders
the kind Of bloody justice that Eng
land meted out to so called traitors
who opposed her iron rule.
England's great anxiety to hold
South Carolina, was no doubt on ac-
count of the Edisto river, for the Brit
ish general wrote home that II they
lost every other colony, by all means
to retain South Carolina, because there
were no such fish on the habitable
globe as in the Edisto.
You know Sumter and Marion never
let the British stop long enough to eat
fish out of the Pee Dee, which Is a
good thing, because If they had found
the robin and the blue-bream OF the
Pee Dee, I am afraid that South Car
olina would today be British colony
for they would have concentrated ev-
cry man and gun to hold territory
through which flowed two such rivers
as the Pee Dee and the Edisto.
The World Republeanized.
In the year 1900, there was not ma
ton on the earth where the masses
8 had a voice in its government. They
: were subjects not people. In one cen
, tury the example and influence OF
8 these United States, has been such
!, that there is not a nation in the affairs
of which the people have no voice
: They have now a constitution and 9
i vote in cruel Russia.
: Furope has six republics, and the