3.

CAROLINA AND MECKLENBURG.

It is believed that the first Englishman ever landed upon our shores was sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to Roanoke Island, on the 4th day of July ("prophetic coincidence"), 1584, before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth or Jamestown was settled. The first blood shed in resistance to British oppression was at Alamance, May 7, 1771; and the first Proclamation looking to Independence was made at Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, May 20, 1775. The following tribute to this beautiful and patriotic State is in harmony with the facts.

Her feet she plants on Ocean's plane;
Her arms the hills embrace;
In mountain's snow, or mist, or rain,
She laves her smiling face;
Turns then to greet Aurora's dawn,
Ere yet on sea the day is born;

And stars that die at birth of morn

Kiss her "good-by," and then are gone!

Fair Ceres smiles o'er waving fields,
On hillside and on plain;

The generous soil abundance yields,
With sunshine and with rain.
Tell me, ye rivers, creeks, and rills :
Know ye a land the farmer tills,
That larger barns and granaries fills
Than Carolina's vales and hills?

Beneath her soil, just hidden, lie

Treasures of priceless worth,
Which in their value well may vie
With richest mines of earth.
Then list, as blithe Hygeia sings ;

"Long life and health are in our springs!
Drink deep; each draught new vigor brings;
Backward old Time shall turn his wings,
Death lose his stings!"

On Mecklenburg's historic ground,
All hail our Charter Tree;
Where Freedom's voice was first to sound
The watchword, "Man is free!"
That clarion note the nation caught;

Our sires, emboldened by the thought,
All that they had and were they brought,
For altars, homes, and honor fought,
And freedom bought !

JAMES A. DELKE.

4. THE FOURTH OF JULY.

Extract from Address delivered by DANIEL WEBSTER, July 4th, 1851, at laying the corner-stone of the new wing of the Capitol.

THIS is that day of the year which announced to mankind the great fact of American Independence! This fresh and brilliant morning blesses our vision with another beholding of the birthday of our Nation; and we see that Nation, of recent origin, now among the most considerable and powerful, and spreading from sea to sea over the continent.

On the Day of the Declaration of Independence, our illustrious Fathers performed the first scene in the

last Act of this drama, one, in real importance, infinitely exceeding that for which the great English poet invoked,

"A muse of fire, a kingdom for a stage,

Princes to act,

And monarchs to behold the swelling scene."

The Muse inspiring our Fathers was the Genius of Liberty, all on fire with a sense of oppression, and a resolution to throw it off. The whole world was the stage, and higher characters than princes trod it. Instead of monarchs, countries and nations and the age beheld the swelling scene. How well the characters were cast, and how well each acted his part, and what emotions the whole performance excited, let history now and hereafter tell.

On the Fourth Day of July, 1776, the representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, declared that these Colonies are, and ought to be, free and independent States. This declaration, made by most patriotic and resolute men, trusting in the justice of their cause and the protection of Heaven, and yet not without deep solicitude and anxiety, has now stood for seventy-five years. It was sealed in blood. It has met dangers and overcome them. It has had detractors, and abashed them all. It has had enemies, and conquered them. It has had doubting friends, but it has cleared all doubts away; and now, to-day, raising its august form higher than the clouds, twenty millions of people contemplate it with hallowed love, and the world beholds it, and the consequences that have followed from it, with profound admiration.

This anniversary animates and gladdens all American hearts. On other days of the year we may be party men, indulging in controversies more or less important to the

public good. We may have likes and dislikes, and we may maintain our political differences, often with warm, and sometimes with angry, feelings. But to-day we are Americans all; and all, nothing but Americans.

As the great luminary over our heads, dissipating fogs and mist, now cheers the whole atmosphere, so do the associations connected with this day disperse all sullen and cloudy weather in the minds and feelings of true Americans. Every man's heart swells within him. Every man's port and bearing becomes somewhat more proud and lofty as he remembers that seventy-five years have rolled away, and that the great inheritance of Liberty is still his, his, undiminished and unimpaired; his, in all its original glory; his to enjoy, his to protect, his to transmit to future generations.

5. THE FIRST AMERICAN CONGRESS.

THERE never was, in any age or nation, a body of men who, for general information, for the judicious use of civil and religious liberty, for true dignity, elevation, and grandeur of zeal, could stand comparison with the First American Congress.

Whom do I behold? A Hancock, a Jefferson, a Henry, a Lee, a Rutledge! Glory to their immortal spirits! On you depend the destinies of your country; the fate of three millions of men, and of the countless millions of their posterity. Shall these be slaves? Or will you make a noble stand for liberty against a power whose triumphs are already co-extensive with the earth; whose legions trample on thrones and sceptres; whose thunders bellow on every ocean? How tremendous the occasion! How vast the responsibilities!

The President and all the members of this august assembly take their seats. Every countenance tells the mighty struggle within. Every tongue is silent. It is a pause in nature, that solemn, awful stillness which precedes the earthquake or tornado. At length one arises, and one equal to the occasion,- Patrick Henry, the Virginia Demosthenes. What dignity! What majesty! Every eye fastens on him. Firm, erect, undaunted, he rolls on the torrent of his mighty eloquence. What a picture does he draw of the horrors of servitude and the charms of freedom!

At once, he gives full rein to all his gigantic powers, and pours his own heroic spirit into the minds of his auditors. They become as one man, actuated by one soul; and the universal shout is, "Liberty or Death!"

This single speech of this illustrious man gave an impulse which probably decided the fate of America. His eloquence seized and moved the assembled sages, as the descending hail-storm, bursting in thunder, rending the forests, and shaking the mountains!

God bestows on nations no greater gift than great and good men, endowed with the high and commanding powers of eloquence. Such a man as Patrick Henry, may, on some great occasion, when the happiness or misery of millions depend on a single decision, render more important service to a nation than all the generations of a century.

JONATHAN MAXCY.

If we are not this day wanting in our duty to our country, the names of these American legislators will be placed by posterity at the side of all those whose memory has been and will be forever dear to virtuous men and good citizens.

RICHARD HENRY LEE.