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Show 3 'ft ' V&V'1 Am fc'Afrr?''.' ""' ": ' If 1930 Is notable for Its anniversaries of even itiWy '. "7" y'"" i n connected with the founding of the nation, It LMmW f:jTX- V7f l'Jgv h;',) also notable for Its anniversaries of events coi S:: rj ti'K I ' ' 'ZXJ' nected with the preservation of the nation. Ar LJ fe- of these, none Is more outstanding than the famot GtVL. O. O. HovTard. - r)a P "::'';': :"':; ':miCi'"l ' Webster-Ilayne debates. o . , r t, o. -i In the tlrst congress which met under the ne statue OI VWOTL OXCUDen. administration of President Andrew Jackson, tl By ELMO SCOTT WATSON ni LTHOUGH New Year's da; Is easen- Atlally a time for looking forward to the future. It Is also a time for look-; look-; tng backward to the past, especially when that pust Is an Inspiring one. A ft" Certainly such Is the case on the ivCLi dawn of the new year of 1930, for lOfSn It Is rich In anniversaries of historic J ajfj Importance and pluna have been under Nffjjal way for some time to celebrate these vwr anniversaries in a fitting manner. ubmJ None of them has more general interest inter-est than the Massachusetts Bay Tercentenary Ter-centenary celebration which will be a sort of a "homecoming" for the whole United States. For there Is scarcely a state In the Union which does not have 8 large number of citizens who have ome abiding tie with this New England state and who will participate in the festivities celebrating cele-brating It 800 years of history. According to present plans, a new mode In observing notable anniversaries will be set. Instead of having a world'a fair, with a central exposition, the whole tate of Massachusetts will become a "fair grounds" with fifty or more centers of attraction, - Each city and town taking part In the observance observ-ance will reconstruct some part of Its own history his-tory to fit Into the general historical picture. Nearly every Massachusetts town has Its well-preeerved well-preeerved historic house and these houses with pageants to depict the life and customs of former times will be opened under the auspices of historical histor-ical societies to welcome the visitors. That these visitors will total more than ten million Is the belief of those In charge of the tercentenary and when one considers the number of "transplanted New Englandere throughout the nation, as well as others who will be Inclined to make a patrl , otic pilgrimage to the sources of American hi tory and the lore of the colonial times, that figure fig-ure does not seera to be an exaggeration. The Interest of the nation in the tercentenary lies In the fact that the charter granted by Charles I of England to the "Governor and the Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England," Eng-land," en March 4. 1629, won enduring value as a model for constituted governments, first because It provided for stated elections, and secondly because be-cause it Introduced the use of the bnllot. Technically, the charter enabled the Betting up f Independent civil government in America, It contained the germ of later independence for other colonies. It helped to establish the legislature of -Massachusetts and, because of the character of the company which came under it, marked the arrival of "big business" on the hitherto unsettled aide of the Atlantic The chronology of the settlement of Massachusetts Massachu-setts Bay, which will be reflected In the 1930 celebrations. cele-brations. Is as follows: On March,. 29, 1630. four hips set sail for America from Cowea. England, bearing the colony of which John Wlnthrop had been elected governor, and its precious charter. On June 12, 1630, they arrived at Salem where they were Joined the next month by the remainder of the colonists who had arrived on seven more ships. In August they moved to Charlestown and the first meeting on American soil was held there. But as the water 6upply proved to be poor, Wlnthrop Wln-throp moved his colony to the peninsula which lay to the south and west of Charlestown. a place of three bare hills, called Shawmut by the Indians, very uneven, and abounding In small hollows and awampa, covered with blueberries and other bushes." This was on September 7 and ten days later they gave the name of Boston to their new om In remembrance of the old city of Boston in England, from which many of the colonists had come. Next in importance to the tercentenary celebration celebra-tion during the coming year will be the sesqul-centennial sesqul-centennial observances of some of the stirring events of the Revolution which took place during 17S0. It wus a year of dark despair for the patriots. patri-ots. The British hud transferred their active military mili-tary operations to the southern colonies which were weak, divided In their sentiment, far from, the main sources of troops and supplies and. In general, a fruitful field for a successful campaign which might put an end to the Revolution. Savannah Savan-nah had already fallen and early In the year Sir Benry Clinton and Lord Cornwall Is laid siege to Charleston, which was defended by Gen. Benjamin Benja-min Lincoln. On May 12. 1780. Lincoln was compelled com-pelled to surrender the city and Its garrison of about 8.000 men. Encouraged by this success, Clinton returned north, leaving Cornwallls to carry on the campaign. Alarmed by the news from the South, Washington Washing-ton sent Bnron De Kalb to take charge of tbe situation sit-uation but congress insisted upon placing Gen. Horatio Gates, the victor at Saratoga, in command. com-mand. Gates soon showed how foolish this move was, for on August 16, 1780. with a force of some 3,000 men he attacked Cornwallls' force of 2.000 at Camden and the American army waa routed with a loss of 2,000 men. De Kalb was killed. This disaster in the South wus followed by an even worse one In the Nortlu For Benedict Arnold turned traitor, plotted to deliver West Point to the enemy and thus place In their bands the line of communication to New England. Fortunately the plot was discovered In time, but the . traitor escaped and the gallant Major Andre puid with his life the penalty which Arnold so richly deserved. de-served. This stunning blow was soon followed by another. Washington went into winter- camp at Morristowa and there, suffering even worse hardships thun they bad at Valley Forge, some of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey "line" mutinied mu-tinied because their pay was not forthcoming. A less man than tbe great Washington would have despaired utterly at the turn of events. Beset by treachery and mutiny In his own army, there came troin the South the news that Cornwallls was ravaging Virginia and planning a campaign which would definitely conquer North Carolina. And then there came a gleam of light amid the gloom. Down In North Carolina a detachment of Cornwallls army, led hy Mujor Ferguson, had been trapped by a force of frontiersmen who had rallied under the leadership of "Nolichucky Jack" Sevier, Shelby, Campbell and other bonier leaders and on October 7. 17S0. defeated Ferguson at the Battle of King's Mountain and raptured his whole force. Plans are now under way for a sesqui centennial celebration of this buttle on a large scale, as It may well be. for this victory proved to be the turning point of the war In the South and a forerunner of the successful culmination of the struggle for liberty. Cornwallls was forced to fall back to Wlnnu.shorough, S. C to await reinforcements from Clinton and the disheartened patriots In the South, cheered up by this unexpected unex-pected turn of events, took up their arms again. Washington then sent Gen. Nathanael Greene to take charge In the South. He arrived at Charlotte. Char-lotte. N. C, on December 7, 1780. to take command of a "shadow of an army." But In the hands of this master strategist, second only to Washington as a military genius, the "shadow" starred out upon that brilliant series of retreats, maneuvers and engagements which baffled Cornwallls, exhausted ex-hausted him and finally forced him to retreat to Xorktown where the end of the struggle came th j next year. If 1930 Is notable for Its anniversaries of events connected with the founding of the nation, It Is also notable for Its anniversaries of events connected con-nected with the preservation of the nation. And of these, none Is more outstanding than the famous Webster-Ilajne debates. In the tlrst congress which met under the new administration of President Andrew Jackson, the question of the sale of government lands came up. Unexpectedly this precipitated n discussion which went to the very foundations of the government Did the Constitution create an Indestructible nation na-tion or did It simply form a leugue between sovereign sov-ereign states who could break up that league if they so desired? That was the fundamental question. ques-tion. On January 25. 1S30, Senator Robert Y. Hayne of South Carolina addressed the senate on the subject and enunciated the doctrines of states rights. The opposite view was presented by Senator Sena-tor Daniel Webster of Massachusetts but the climax cli-max did not come until the next day. Then, before a senate chamber whose galleries were packed with visitors In anticipation of Webster's formal reply to Ilnyne. the Massachusetts senator, already famous as an orator, rose to the heights of hi career with his now-historic reply, When he had finished, ending with "that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and Inseparable," he had not only delivered one of the world's masterpieces of oratory, but "patriotism had a new birth and thousands were made to feel that the American republic rested on a foundation which could not be shaken." Although It took the most terrible catastrophe a nation can know, n civil war. In which thousands shed their blood In defense of their beliefs, to settle the question which these two men debated a century ap 'be principle then and there stated now seems destined to endure forever. The year that is about to dawn Is rich In anniversaries an-niversaries of great events In American history. It Is also rich In birthday anniversaries of great men whom Americans should delluht to honor. On November IS, 1730. there was born at Magde-burg, Magde-burg, Prussia, a hoy who was destined to "win fame as a soldier on the staff of Frederick the Great And American history might have been different If Frederick .William Augustus Steuben had not crossed the Atlantic to offer his services to George Washington, to Join the Continental army at Valley Forge and there give It those necessary nec-essary lessons In tactics, organization and discipline disci-pline which was to make him forever famous as the "drillmaster of the Revolution" and make It an efficient fighting force which finally won a long struggle for freedom. In 1780 there came Into the world three boys whose names were to become famous In the history his-tory of our nation. On February 1 there was born David Porter, who was to he one of ihe greatest of AmerUan naval officers: on May 4 there was born John James Audubon, traveler and naturalist; natural-ist; and on August ! was born Francis Scott Key, who was destined to write n song for inll- lions of Americans to sing ns they stand with uncovered un-covered heads "The Star Spangled Banner." The roll call of famous Americans who might well be the Inspiration for centennial birthday observance is a long one. On It one may read the names of Paul Hamilton Hayne, poet, born January Jan-uary 1; James G, Blaine, statesman, "The Plumed Knight." and the outstanding example of a "Man who missed the Presidency," born January 31 ; Eugene A. Carr, commander of the "Fighting Fifth" cavalry and famous as nn Indian fighter, born March 20; John Qulncy Adams Ward, sculptor, sculp-tor, born June 29; William B. flazen, soldier and Indian fighter, born September 27; Harriet Hos-mer, Hos-mer, sculptor, born October 9; Noah Brooks, author, au-thor, born October 24 ; John Esten Cooke, novelist, born November 8; Oliver Otis noward. Civil war commander and one of the greatest Indian fighters this country has ever known, born November 8, and Emily Dickinson, poet, born December 10 all were born in 1830. |