Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-08-23
THINGS THAT CONE
DOWN MY CREEK
BY HARRY STILLWELL EDWARDS
HISTORIC PARALLEL

HISTORIC PARALLEL
! RCHIBALD BULLOCK, who was to eX-
| ~ ert powerful influence over the peo-
pie of Georgia by his eloquence and ex-
ample, and through his posterity affect the
destinies not only of America but of the
whole world, came into this state from
Charleston, S. c., supposedly in 1870, and
purchased a plantation on the Savannah riv-
err. The name Bulloch is Scotch He had
acquired the best education the times af-
forded, in law well in letters. The
quality Of his mind as reflected in his re-
corded utterances, his lofty morality, indi-
cate fine heredity.
Bulloch resided on his plantation until the
beginning of the Revolutionary struggles,
when, feeling the call of duty, he removed
| to the city Of Savannah and Joined the band
| of patriots who opposed the aggressiOns of
| the English parliament. He at once took
! the lead and in a very short time was the
dominant force in Georgia. new note had
sounded in the far southeast-a ringing de-
| fiance of England Here, spiritually we'll
as physically, was the ancestor of Theodore
RoOsevelt-the ereat-grandfather. AS this
narrative proceeds the reader will be in
| terested in the historic parallel. And the
parallel will prove all the more interesting
when it is known that Roosevelt was gov
| erned by heredity only, so far as Archibald
Bulloch is concerned; for, born in 1856, cut
off from Georgia by the great Civil war
| geographical distance then almost prohibit
| tive, and reared in an environment totally
different, he was a stranger in toto to his
| Georgia kin. These kin were related in only
| the third and fourth degree and Archibald
Bulloch had been dead sixty years before
the birth of his Roosevelt descendant.
But there was another and a greater gap
| between them. The latter, in his early
youth, was at spiritually with the po-
litical and domestic tradition which diferen-
| tiated the south from other sections. Espe-
cially was he opposed to slavery, against
which his Dutch blood rebelled. 1t was the
Dutch of Pennsylvania and not the New
England Puritans who started the fight on
slavery. His want of sympathy with the
south is evidenced by his early writings and
! these are proof that his imagination was not
| affected by his great progenitor nor by the
ideals for which he stood. 1t is doubtful if
he had ever heard the history of Archibald
Bulloch. at twenty-one years of age-the
time when he began to write And 1T was
natural that he should side against the
| south; as natural that his two Bulloch
uncles should espouse her cause. And to go
! one step farther, it was natural to the kind
of man INFO which hereditary forces devel-
| oped him, that, later in life. he came to love
/ the south. especially Georgia.
BullOch'S name appears in call puDllShed
| in the Georgia Gazette of July 14th, l774,
| to the people of Savannah to take into
consideration the prOpriety OF resisting the
| expressions of England by force of arms, and
he was on "a committee to confer with outly-
| ing parishes On the 5th of July, 1775, he
was appointed delegate to represent Georgia
in the congress at Philadelphia. An on the
! 10th of January, 1776, he was elected presl-
/ dent of the executive council of Georgia,
| position which corresponds to the governor
/ ship of this day. He served in congress with
distinction, as letter from President Adams
| shows, but did not return there, the Georgia
| office appearing to him the more important
at that time. This swift rise marks the
man. He had been in Georgia but six years
and in politics but two. This aggressive
| leadership was a prophecy of Roosevelt.
| From this time Bulloch became tremen-
! dous force. The Georgia colony was weak;
| the people, as a rule, politically ignorant and
| timid, and the friends of the dawning lib
| erty were few in number. Agents of Great
Britain were plentiful and threatening, and,
| as elsewhere in America. there were the
| Tories some genuinely devoted to the king
| but all relentless in their opposition to the
| republican heresv In true Rooseveltian
| style Buloch plead with the weak and timid
and denounced the strong who hes1tated. He
! wrote 10 that patriot, Henry Laurens, after
| wards the president of the colonial congress
! (who was to be taken from a Dutch ship
| later by an English cruiser and made pris-
oner), these vigorous words: There are few
righteous souls among them; panic seems
! to have run among the people; assistance is
| wanted from Carolina to overawe such men
as would sell their birthright for mess of
pottage!" How familiar sounds that word
"righteous?"
| BulIoch's speech, when after election he
! appeared before the council, sounded call
to battle. Read now, one hears again the
Armageddon challenge of Theodore Roose-
welt:
| THE people OF this province in opposing
| the designs Of a cruel and corrupt ministry
have surmounted What appears insuperabIe
| difficulties, and notwithstanding the artifce
and address that were for long time
| ployed to divert their attention from the
common cause they at length by impercepti-
/ BILE degrees succeeded and declared their res
! Olution to ASSERT their liberties and to main
| tain them at all events in concurrence with
! the other associated colonies. For my part
l mast emphaticaly declare that from the
! origin of the unhappy disputes, heartily ap-
| proved the conduct of the Americans.
! This is time to talk of moderation; in
| the present instance it to be virtue.
| An appeal, an awful appeal, is made to
! Heaven, and thousands of lives are in
| jeopardy every hour. Our northern brethren
| point TO their wounds and call for our most
vigorous eXertions; and God forbid that so
noble a contest should end in infamous
conclusion. Remember in all your delibera-
lions you engaged in a most arduous
undertaking; generations yet unborn may
owe their freedom and happiness to your
determination"
When the intelligence of the great events
of July 4, 1875, reached savannah, Archibald
Bulloch, who had sounded the clarion call to
battle, read aloud the Declaration Of indie
pendence to a crowded assembly. 1t was its
first reading in Georgia.
Bulloch was a man of such personal mag
netism that all who came into contact with
| iva nnn ip1oo nj h.