USA > North Carolina > Guilford County > Greensboro > The history of the first North Carolina reunion at Greensboro, N. C., October eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth, nineteen hundred and three > Part 5
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On behalf of the Board of Managers I desire to thank every citizen of Greensboro and every North Carolinian, resident and non-resident, and all others who have contributed in any way to the success of this, the first North Carolina Reunion.
The purposes of the Reunion are three:
First. To furnish an opportunity for North Carolinans, at home and abroad, to renew and strengthen old friendships and to form new ones.
Second. To secure for North Carolina from those who, in the fortunes of life, have left her borders and made their homes elsewhere, the inspiration and instruction that their varied experience and wider view make them capable of giving to us who are actively engaged in the work of upbuilding cur mother State.
Third. To advertise to the country North Carolina's contribution to American citizenship, and to so organize her sons and daughters, resident and
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non-resident, that whatever of good there is in the character, traditions, and history of the sturdy old commonwealth may be impressed upon our national life.
Naturally, this first meeting has been regarded by many as an experiment, and the Board of Managers has met various difficulties. It was impossible, for instance, to secure from some sections such railroad rates as it will be easy to secure after one successful Reunion. Indeed, it was impossible to secure the liberal rates finally accorded to us in time to advertise them properly in the territory where they were given.
Another great difficulty, which, in large measure, has been overcome, was the idea in the minds of many people, in the State and out of it, that this was to be a meeting of only local significance.
The hardest task, perhaps, has been to arrange a program, sufficiently representative, and not too long, that would leave opportunity for personal intermingling and individual greetings. The formal program upon which we are about to enter includes the names of many who, by their service, have brought honor to their native State, their adopted States, and to the country.
In order that we may hear from as many of these as possible, we have arranged for only one address-that of our Governor-to be as long as thirty minutes, and for no other address to be longer than twenty minutes. We have asked that the length of most of the other addresses shall be from five to seven minutes. We hope that some whose names do not appear upon the official pro- gram, and especially citizens of those commonwealths not represented on it, may, as spokesmen for their respective States, make impromptu five-minute speeches.
It is the purpose of the management to print a Reunion volume, and if any speaker has not already prepared in manuscript what he is going to say, I take this opportunity of requesting him to write out before leaving Greensboro at least the substance of what he has said, or what he intended to say, or what he ought to have said.
It now becomes my pleasant duty and honor to present to you to preside over the sessions of this Reunion, a North Carolinian who has been eminent in civic service to his State and country for nearly a half-century. The Board of Managers considers itself fortunate that his knightly presence is one of the many attractions of this great occasion. The soldier, statesman, and diplomat, Matthew Whitaker Ransom, will be our permanent presiding officer.
The address of Honorable Matthew Whitaker Ransom on assuming the chair as Presiding Officer of the great Reunion :
Ladies and Gentlemen-North Carolinians:
I approach with a profound seuse of its dignity and honor, the eminent position of presiding over this distinguished convention-this ever-to-be-remem- bered Reunion of the Sons and Daughters of North Carolina from all parts of the Union, with their fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters. family kindred and friends, around the sacred altars of our beloved and honored mother State.
It is impossible to express our emotions on beholding this unnumbered multitude; this countless throng of intelligent, happy, hopeful, expectant faces from every section of this boundless Republic; all animated with one sentiment
Honorable M. W. Ransom Presiding Officer of the Reunion
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of fervid interest and affection for the "dear old home"'. Here, right here, are united throbbing hearts, from all the divisions of our country, in one patriotie aspiration for renewed and continued brotherhood and association. One hope, one purpose-for the oblivion of every painful memory. It is an oceasion for universal congratulation-not a cloud, not a shadow on the day- the whole horizon beams with promise and hope. It is a day of destiny; of power and patriotism. It is a day in history, of glorious life-a day without a discord. We can almost see the bow of peace with its covenants in the eternal skies.
The first words tliat come to my lips. are "All honor and gratitude to the noble and patriotic authors and promoters of this great, good deed"; this now hallowed consummation. Pardon me, Doctor MeIver-to you and your associates belongs the honor of originating, organizing, designing, and bringing to its present development, this magnificent undertaking. It is now a great reality. The State and the country will cherish and continue the benefaction with undying thankfulness to you and your fellow workers. This day will live as a monument to your wisdom, patriotism, and philanthropy; to your energy and high purpose. We are beginning to realize the magnitude of your achievement. You are this day planting an olive tree of perennial beauty, beneath whose shade future ages will find repose and happiness. Today, when I shook the hand of the venerable and venerated journalist from Ohio, in sight of the battle- field of Guilford Courthouse, I felt, indeed, that sectional troubles were buried and that we are one country and one people united forever.
What memories! What histories, does this scene revive! We can almost behold the beautiful myth of tradition and history, and see the gallant, gifted, glorious Raleigh springing from his proud ship and planting the standard of England and the Cross on the shores of the New World near the Roanoke. We can almost hear the echoes of the great Atlantic beating its "alarms" on "deathly Hatteras". We ean watch the first colonists on their frail but faithful vessels-with nothing but the love of liberty and the love of God alive in their hearts. We see colony after colony lost, and nothing left but the dismal romance of a tragedy. Finally, a settlement is established, the first permanent beginning of a free civilized government in the Western Hemisphere, destined soon to become the greatest, grandest, best, the sun has shone on. The forest is subdued-the savage is overcome-a chain of settlements from Plymouth Roek to Georgia follows.
Agriculture, Commerce. Trade. the Arts succeed; the New World flourishes; the Mother Country menaces her liberties. Resistance, united resistance is made. Mecklenburg-glorious, immortal Mecklenburg-on the twentieth day of May, 1775, lights on the streets of devoted Charlotte the first fire of Ameri- can Independence. North Carolina consecrates herself to liberty and free government. A free State is organized at Halifax, "heroie Halifax". Her constitution deelares for a university of learning, and for education of the people. The Battle of Moore's Creek is won. The victory of King's Mountain strikes the British with dismay. Cornwallis "staggers back" from Guilford Courthouse, wounded, crippled, sick, to finally surrender at Yorktown. The sword of Washington is everywhere triumphant, glorious-but greatest and best when his own great hand resigns it to the laws of his country. A united free government is founded by the States and people, and North Carolina after deliberation adopts her Constitution, and demands admission to the Union. Washington, the Father of his Country, then President of the United States of Ameriea, hails her coming into the Union, and pronounces her the "Important
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State of North Carolina". History says of her that she has always defied and destroyed oppression; that tyranny lies dead at her feet; that she has never worn the yoke of power: that her people may rightfully be called " The Children of Liberty". No stain of fraud, cruelty, persecution, or shame darkens her fair name; but her whole life is the unsullied record of a brave, houest, upright people, devoted to liberty, law, order, and to God. My countrymen-for one moment let us coutemplate a few, a very few, of the thousand names who have honored, adorned, blessed her history.
The Revolution records no brighter or truer uames than those of Caswell, Davie, Sumner, Nash, Davidson, Ashe, Cleveland, MeDowell. Moore. Waddell. Time forbids us to name but few, very few, of those to whom we owe our free- dom and our homes. A more faithful, noble, illustrious, modest line of patriots. heroes, martyrs, can not be found, than our beloved State presents in our Revolutionary History. Their ashes sleep in deathless memory and gratitude among the deliverers and benefactors of their country aud mankind.
Among the heroes of the Revolution is the name of Nathaniel Macon- born in the county of "Bute" (now the counties of Warren and Franklin). History says "there were no Tories in Bute". The Federal Government was barely established when he appears in Congress as a representative from North Carolina. He remained in the House and Senate for thirty-seven years. Three times Speaker of the House, and twice President of the Senate. His history is known to the world. If the Senate stands for a thousand years, he will continue to stand as its model figure of honesty, and devotion to the people's rights. For two generations of men he was a landmark and lighthouse to the people. No Roman vestal ever watched the sacred fires on her altars with more vigilance and courage than Macon watched and guarded the purity of the Constitution and the equal liberties of the people. He spoke the wisest words of an American statesman aud prophet when he declared that "the President should have none but honest men around. I repeat the President should have none but honest men near him." No greater truth can be spoken.
Then comes the able, learned, eloquent Gastou, the proved superior of Henry Clay in parliamentary debate. Next Badger, the Master of Law; "Webster's Superior and Story's Equal"; to whom the Senate of the United States accorded the unmatched honor of unanimously declaring in solemn reso- lutiou recorded in its annals, its sincere regret at his leaving the Senate, and the admiration and respect of the Senators for his ability and courtesy.
Time and the proprieties of this occasion, forbid me to pursue the subject. The record of North Carolina in Congress, with one broken link, has been one line of continuous ability, virtue, and patriotism, from the beginning to this hour, and constitutes in no small part the nation's fame and her own enduring inheritance of renown. As a Nortn Carolinian, let me ask, what State in the Union-what country in the world, in any age of its history, can present a prouder and juster title to the admiration of mankind? Cousider her contribu- tion to the character, wealth, influence, strength, intelligence, and virtue of the whole country. It is an old story, but always beautiful. For more than two thousand years it has commanded universal approbation. When Cornelia was asked by the Roman matrons to display her jewels, she proudly pointed to her two brave sous, the future Gracchi, and said "these are my jewels". North Carolina repeats the example, and improves on it. She shows her own brave sons and fair daughters, and she points to the thousand sons and daugh- ters whom she has bestowed on other States, and calls all of them the jewels of sister States and a common country. These jewels are countless.
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Let me but touch a few of the tallest oaks in the grand forest. See Daniel Boone, monarch of the woods and riffe. Look at Audrew Jackson, the one conqueror without a defeat; the crowned hero of New Orleans. the greatest battle ever fought; the invincible president and statesman, who crushed all opposition under his feet. James K. Polk, the able, just, and wise President; chief actor in the annexation of Texas; President when the Mexican War was fought; and who extended our territory and power broadly to the Pacific. Thomas H. Benton, the Hercules of the Senate for thirty years. Wm. R. King, Vice-President with Pierce. The patriots of Mecklenburg carried their unwasted fires to the planes of Illinois, and in Adlai Stevenson, Vice-President with Grover Cleveland, our country had no straighter or more erect statesman. General Joseph Hawley, Senator from Connecticut-New England has no more loved or honored man-he deserves it. Joe Cannon; honest Joe Cannon; universally respected; Speaker of the House of Representatives in Congress, standing for eighty millions of people.
Turn your eyes in any direction and behold your distinguished country- men. Seven beloved Bishops of the churches at one time from North Carolina. Sce Dr. Hawkes, the most learned and eloquent divine of the age in which he lived. Bishop Greene, of Mississippi, the gentlest, mildest, tenderest, most lovable man you ever saw. His aim and desire seemed to be to walk in the footsteps and follow with humility the example of our Savior under the cross. Chastened by bitter afflictions he never paused in giving consolation and com- fort to others. I have often thought of the calm impression he must have had on the fiery, impulsive, impetuous, but manly temper of Mississippi. How he must have been beloved by this people, as he was when pastor of his church in North Carolina, and Professor of Rhetoric at the University. I then thought him the most accomplished gentleman in the land. I now know that he was. From a heart full of gratitude and love, I drop a flower and a tear to his memory.
Examples crowd on our attention. Three Presidents of proud Universities and Colleges from three great States-Texas, Louisiana, Ohio. The Chairman of the Faculty, head of the University of Virginia, all from North Carolina. The General and Lieutenant-General of our Army in the South. Bragg and Polk, both sons of our great mother.
In New York, today, two young North Carolinians have by merit, and very high merit, forged their way to the front and head of the New York bar. From the rising shores of the Pacific and the teeming cities on the Atlantic. young, bright sons of our State are "rising iu the ascendant", and planting their colors on the very battlements of victory. In the great center of the world's finance and commerce, we have seen the captains of industry, from plain, honest, modest North Carolina, with unconquerable genius and euter- prise, push their lines of trade to remote Asia, to far-off Africa, to the distant shores of South America, and on the very Exchange in Liverpool and London, meet, defy, and baffle the proud princes of English finance and trade.
Nor can we forget the old patriot from Iowa, Judge James Grant: the eminent lawyer, whose nephew and adopted son, bearing his name, having been a boy soldier in the Southern Army, was then the popular and exemplary Governor of Colorado, returns himself to North Carolina, and by his large donation, secured the endowment to the University of the Chair-Great Chair of History, now so ably filled by Dr. Battle.
Nor must we forget General Thomas Jefferson Green, who helped to lay the foundation of three States in the Uuion-Florida, Texas, and California;
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then returned to North Carolina to give her his legacy of deepest affection in his son, the chivalrous and venerable Colonel Wharton J. Green; the devoted representative of the Cape Fear District in Congress, respeeted and esteemed all over the South for his manliness and independence; the bosom friend of Jefferson Davis.
I wish that I could preserve in imperishable caskets the lives of the noble sons of North Carolina, who have achieved fame and fortune in other States. It would be a priceless legacy and monument to the State, but would take a lifetime to perform the work.
But a year ago. we witnessed the Daughters of Salem Female College on the Centennial Anniversary of that time-honored institution, returning to lay their offerings and their homage at the feet of their beloved mother. I saw that grand, beautiful array. It was a spectacle worthy the contemplation of statesmen, philosophers, heroes, and divines. Noble, worthy, Christian women, educated, intelligent, pure, coming from happy homes, crowned with virtues, bearing with them the trophies of dutiful, good lives; the world made better and brighter by their lovely deeds, with grateful memories of their sacred debt to their Alma Mater. I saw them in the great hall of the Academy. I saw them joining the teachers and the students in singing the holy hymn of the school, and when the chorus arose like a great wave in all the dignity of music, and ascended to the height of the great ceiling, and resounded in echoes of pathos as deep as the human soul over the vast audience, I felt as if in a better world. The majesty of women, with the power and charm of music was before me, and I could but think what must be the influence of an army of educated, moral, patriotic Christian women upon society and the world! How infinite, how sweet, how good! I thought of how much these noble and cherished daughters of Salem had done for reforms, for improvement. for homes, for grace, refinement, and human advancement and betterment all over the land. Their influence has been like the serene light and glory of the stars dispelling the shadows and darkness of night from the heavens. May I illus- trate the truth of which T have spoken ?
My countrymen, it is my duty, sacred to truth, to history, and to our whole country, to remind you of the conduct of North Carolina. our mother State. in that memorable war of the States. It is a history without a thorn. Far from reviving bitterness and cruel animosity, its exalted influence is to compose strife, to bury differences, to reconcile a people, and to strengthen fraternal union. There is nothing, literally nothing, in the history of North Carolina to give one pain to the people of any part of the country. It is as clear as a sunbeam. Not a shame en the record. Not one sinister line on her bright page. It is as direct as a ray of sunshine from the skies. She sent to the field one hundred and twenty-five thousand men, one-fifth of the Southern Army. The world knows its history by heart. In indomitable courage, for invincible fortitude, for heroic sacrifice, it has never been surpassed. For magnanimity in triumph, dignity in defeat, serene equanimity in surrender, it is without a parallel. It left its animosity with the ragged fragments of banners and arms on the field of Appomattox. It buried all hostilities in the beloved graves of its glorious battlefields. It returned to its home in peace with all mankind. Its heart did not retoin a resentment, a malice, or a revenge. It was too full of sorrow, too full of honor for hatred. Its part was too great, too brave, too noble, to cherish a discord. The guns had been stacked, and its duty was peace. It had met its fate, and there was no stain ou its sword. It would not perpetuate fire and blood. It would cultivate the arts of peace, of patriotism.
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Honorable John H. Small, of North Carolina Representative in Fifty-Eighth Congress
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The war was ended. The sword had settled the quarrel, and forever. North Carolinians returned to their wasted homes, to rebuild, to cultivate, to improve them, to revive her industries, to preserve her honor, to raise patriots and Christians to take their places; to preserve liberty and do their whole duty to their country and to God. They went to work, and today we behold the result in restored prosperity, in secured liberty, in increasing happiness, in sacred love to country. and in the national hope of all the enjoyment of citizens in a comuon brotherhood.
Three years ago, a war broke out between this country and Spain. With the first call of troops, North Carolina was at the front. The great State sent her sons to the army, and the first victim of the war was the brave, beautiful, heroic Worth Bagley. In the flower of manhood, with the blessings of his beloved mother on his brow, he gave his young promising life to his country on the deek of the Winslow in Cardenas Bay. The young hero fell a noble sacrifice to his country, and poured out his lifeblood for the honor of the Union, and died with its flag in his hand. Beloved North Carolinian!
The tears of his countrymen were still flowing when the wires brought the sad news that Captain Wm. Shipp, of North Carolina, the pride, the hope of his house and State, had fallen, in the front line of the charge at Santiago, bravely doing his duty.
North Carolina wept over her gallant, devoted sons; she had proudly given them to the Union, and their blood had been hallowed in its defense. May it forever cement its bonds, and remain the eternal sacrament of love and peace of all the States. Let fanaticism hide its hideous head before the encircling, glorious spectacle of renewed Union.
Think of the brave, heroic, bright, young Bacheler deliberately dying for his duty in the burning air of the Philippines!
My countrymen. it is a great thing to know that North Carolinians are always to be found in the front line of dauger and anty.
North Carolinians who live out of the State, you can uow understand how happy we are to see and have you here with us. It gives us real, rational joy. It is with deep. sincere affection and confidence that we receive you with open doors and open arms. You see there is nothing in the history of your great mother which can bring a blush to your cheeks. We are proud of her, we are proud of you; and it is with our whole souls that we welcome-thrice welcome -- - you all to our homes and our hearts. What a joy, what a glory, what a bless- ing, to know that no son of North Carolina, wherever his lot has been east, has been known to forget to love and honor his mother; aud she ever responds with her whole heart to that affection!
I come now to perform the high duty which has been assigned to me. I undertake it with very great pleasure and unqualified pride. It is eminently appropriate that the gentleman who has been chosen should address you. The Committee could not have selected a fitter speaker. He wishes to see every acre of our soil blooming with harvests and animated with workshops. He is a true, genuine, thorough North Carolinian; born, educated, and living here; a representative of our character and sentiments, of our habits aud cus- toms; one of our people. He is able, learued, aud wise. There is nothing false in his nature. He is affectionate, devoted, grateful. He loves his country, his friends, his home. He never forgets there is a God who rules the world with justice and mercy. He is endowed with the destiny to do good and to make happy. He is gifted with eloquence to vindicate the truth which he loves. He is inspired with the courage to defend the right to which he is devoted.
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He is blessed with all the qualities and faculties which constitute a Christian statesman. He is the fearless defender of popular education, because he knows that intelligence is the support of liberty. IIe is the manly exemplar of public and private morality, because he knows that virtue is the shield, health, and ornament of a free people. He loves labor, because he bas learned that work, labor, is the foundation and necessity, the first law of human happiness and prosperity. He approves all publie improvements, because he desires the improvement, progress, and elevation of the State, and wishes all the resources developed as a field for the energy of her people, and an opportunity for their genius, talent, and efforts. He is confronted by the dark problems of the age, and has determined to confront them with intelligence, justice, and benevolence; to exhaust all rightful means and ways to save the colored man from degrada- tion and utter worthlessness, and to raise him to usefulness and comfort; but never, never to put in peril the solid foundation of white society, and the organic and cardinal principles-the lights and life of white free government. He loves the people-can not do enough for them; is always trying to do some- thing more. He is sincere, faithful, diligent. His simplicity, without arro- gance or pretensions. without vanity or deceit, without pride or ostentation, is the charm and excellence of his life. He prefers the plain, simple home of Nathaniel Macon-the home of purity, of industry, of frugality, of Christian life-to the palace of a prince. He abhors luxury; he knows it is the deathbed of liberty and virtue. He can never forget that liberty perished in the palace of the Cæsars; and the vestal fires and the virgins themselves were lost and obliterated in the splendor of Imperial Rome. His heart, life, and soul are devoted, dedicated to North Carolina; but his heart is large enough and mind great enough to comprehend in its grasp the whole Union-from ocean to ocean-from the Arctic circle to the equator. He is the worthy countryman of Washington, Franklin, Adams; of Webster, Clay, Calhoun; fit successor to Morehead, Graham, and Vance. He wishes the country to love North Carolina, and North Carolina to love the country; and he rejoices with patriotic eyes to behold the star of North Carolina, unerased and unobscured, blazing on the star-spangled banner of sister States and a perpetual coustitutional Union. His daily prayer is that all discords between the people of the United States may perish from the earth; and our prayer is that the laurel wreath may continue to crown his brow, and that his last hours may be cheered by the benedictions and blessings of his grateful countrymen.
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