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Show ' - !'..''''' .... 11 y & vJHTnntvfcrsaHtes f - '- - A AptjAl 1 fjTrft "i ,.vs -"I "( "' ' ? If It's 'Hi " If-''- 4 A'l - atuc of Daniel WebJter f f? -f? C&ISiP W fTf X" ' ' ' " Vfi J Washington then sent Gen. Nathanael Greene to XXwn ! j rtOrrPI V t J take clmre ,n tlle South. He arrived at Char- VO1? J Z W r n - J""". ""' lotte, N. C on December 7, 1780, to take command i ' -f .Jy ' - .' x t-w -rtrr of "shadow of an army." But in the hands of vVi jr' z " ' ""'t 'J this master strategist, second only to Washington yfv' r-t Ur '1 x ft"-? 'a'- "t'ZlCr-i as military genius, the "shadow" started out CT' ' 1 1 r" xL JLJ upon that brilliant series of retreats, maneuvers f"iVrL O. O Hov?ar. !'".! ""' ' "" ' "-;-v jlcu"t"'"''y-J and engagements which baffled Cornwallis, ex- WCiu v. it wc. ' , I'lT I hausted him and finally forced blm to retreat to S'tatuC o fOH StCVlbcn. Torktown where the end of the struggle came the By ELMO SCOTT WAT80N next year. 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" started out upon that brilliant series of retreats, maneuvers and engagements which baffled Cornwallis, exhausted ex-hausted him and finally forced blm to retreat to Torktown where the end of the struggle came the 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 Websrer-Hayne debates. In the first congress which met under the new administration of President Andrew Jackson, the question of the sale of government lands came up. Unexpectedly this precipitated a 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 league between sovereign sov-ereign stutes who could break up that league If they so desired? That was the fundamental question. ques-tion. On January 2.r, 1830, Senator Robert Y. Hnyne of South Carolina addressed the senate on the subject and enunciated the doctrines of states rights. The opposite view was presented by Sena tor Dnnlel 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 Hnyne, the Massachusetts senntor, already famous as an orator, rose to the heights of his career with his now-hlstorlc 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 thousand were made to feel that the American republic rested on a foundation which could not he shaken." Although It took the most terrible catastrophe a nation can know, a civil war. In which thousands shed their blood in defense of mouth and these, with the other settlements near by, later became the state of Massachusetts. According to present plans the culminating scene in the tercentenary celebration will take place In front of the statehouse In Boston about the middle of July. According to a recent news story In a Roston paper: On th brood terraced steps leading to the pillared pil-lared balcony the real scene will be enacted. There Governor Allen, with Preeldent Hoover, Ex-Preal-dent Calvin Coolldge, Chief Juatlre Taft of the United State Supreme court, the governor of the New England atatea, and the governors of Virginia and Maryland, the member of congreaa, the tercentenary ter-centenary coinmlHslon and other notable will receive re-ceive the ambassador of all th nation and will review a parade headed by th Ancient and Honorable Hon-orable Artillery company and the American Legion, Le-gion, followed by the British and American admiral ad-miral at the head of a proceulon from their battleships bat-tleships In the harbor. Then will follow th exercleea. After the muilc and th singing by banda and choruae will com th oration by an eminent Britlah htatorlcal scholar, schol-ar, Prof. H. A. U Fisher of Oxford university. And near th speaker's stand will be representative representa-tive In cap and gown of Harvard university nd Yale and other educational Institution; a group of famous historian, th Judge of th Massachusetts supreme judicial and superior court and member mem-ber of the legislature, alio th mayors of all Massachusetts cltle. Kext In importance to the tercentenary celebration celebra-tion during the coming year will be the sesqul-centennlal sesqul-centennlal observances of some of the stirring events of the Revolution which took place during 1780. It was a year of dark despair for the patriots. patri-ots. The British bad 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 mmmm LTHOUGH New Tear's day Is essen- Atlaliy a time for looking forward to the future, It Is also a time for look- Ing backward to the past, especially """B when that past Is an Inspiring one. A j Certainly such Is the case on the JicLi dawn of ,n Dew lfar 1S)30 or lj?n It Is rich In anniversaries of historic Importance and plans have been under way for some time to celebrate these anniversaries In a fitting manner. None of them has more general Inter-4 Inter-4 est than the Massachusetts Buy Ter centenary celebration which will be a sort of a "houiecouiing" for the whole United States. For there Is scarcely a state In the Union which does not hsve a large number of citizens who have some abiding tie with this New England state and who will participate In the festivities celebrating cele-brating Its 300 years of history. According to present plans, a new mode In observing notable anniversaries will be set Instead of having a world's fair, with a central exposition, the whole state 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 his tory to fit Into the general historical picture. Nearly every Massachusetts town has Its well-preserved well-preserved 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 rhnrge of the tercentenary and when one considers the number of "transplanted New Englanders" throughout the nntlon, as well as others who will be Inclined to make a patriotic patri-otic pilgrimage to the sources of American history his-tory and the lore of the colonial times, that figure fig-ure does not seem to be an exaggeration. The Interest of the nation in the tercentenary lies In the fact that the charter granted by Charles 1 of England to the "Governor and the Company of the Massachusetts Bay In New England," Eng-land," on March 4, 1029, 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 ballot. In 1G30 men used grains of corn and black beans for ballots and thus they marked the beginning begin-ning of a system which was to result In the paper ballots of our own time. Thus, perhaps, the charter char-ter granted to Governor Winthrop and bis men Is the most significant document of those connected with the founding and development of American Institutions. Specifically framed for the government govern-ment of what was then a business corporation, it proved so workable that not only did other colonies colo-nies Imitate it as time went on, but It became, with the American Revolution, the model for the state constitutions of the thirteen colonies. Technically, the charter enabled the setting up of 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 side 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, SO, 1G30, four ships set sail for America from Cowes, England, bearing the colony of which John Winthrop had been elected governor, and Its precious charter. On June 12, 1630, thej 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 supply proved to be poor, Winthrop Win-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 swamps, covered with" blueberries and other . bushes." This was on September 7 and ten days later they gave the name of Boston to their new home In remembrance of the old city of Boston In England, from which many of the colonists had come. Some 60 years later this colony absorbed ab-sorbed the "Old Colony" of the Pilgrims at Ply- a " ' 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 Henry Clinton and Lord Cornwallis 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 3,000 men. Encouraged by this success. ,Cllnton returned north, leaving Cornwallis to carry on the campaign. Alarmed by the news from the South, Washington Washing-ton sent Baron De Kalb to take charge of the 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 Cornwallis' force of 2.000 at Camden and the American army was routed with a loss of 2.000 men. De Kalb was killed. This disaster in the South was followed by an even worse one in the North. For Benedict Arnold turned traitor, plotted to deliver West Point to the enemy and thus place in their hunds the Hue of communication to New Englund. Fortunutely the plot was discovered In time, but the traitor escaped and the gallant Major Andre paid with his life the penalty which Arnold so richly de served. This stunning blow was soon followed by another. Washington went Into winter camp at Morristown und there, suffering even worse hardships than they hud at Valley Forge, some of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey "line" mu tinled because their pay was not forthcoming. A less man than the great Washington would have despaired utterly at the turn of events. Beset by treachery and mutiny In his own army, there came from the South the news that Cornwallis was ravaging Virginia and planning a campalgD which would definitely conquer North Carolina. And then there came a gleam of light amid the gloom. Down in North Carolina a detachment of Cornwallis' army, led by Major Ferguson, had been trapped by a foroe of frontiersmen who had rallied under the leadership of "Nollcbucky Jack" Sevier, Shelby, Campbell and other border leaders and on October 7, 1780, defeated Ferguson at the Battle of King's Mountuin and captured his whole force. I'Ihiis are now under way for a sesqul-centennlnl sesqul-centennlnl celebration of this battle on a large scale, as It may well be, for this victory proved to be the turning point of the war In the S.mth and a forerunner of the successful culmination of the struggle for liberty. Cornwallis was forced to fall back to Winnesborough, S. Cm to await reinforcements from Clinton and the disheartened patriots In the South, cheered up by this onex pected turn of events, took up their arms again their beliefs, to settle the question which these two men debuted a century ago, the principle then and there stated now seems destined to endure forever. The year that is about to duwt. 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 delight to honor. On November 15, 1730, there was horn at Magdeburg, Magde-burg, Prussia, a boy who was destined to win fame as a soldier on the staff of Frederick the Great And American history mliit 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 be one of the greatest of American naval officers; on May 4 there was born John Jnmes Audubon, traveler and naturalist natural-ist ; and on August 9 was born Francis Scott Key, who was destined to write a song for millions mil-lions of Americans to sing as they stand with uncovered un-covered heads "The Star Spangled Banner." The roll call of famous Amerlcons 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 81 ; Eugene A. Carr, commander of the "Fighting Fifth" cavalry and famous as an Indian fighter, born Slarch 20; John Qulnoy Adams Ward, sculptor, sculp-tor, born June 29; William B. Ilazen. soldier and Indian fighter, bnrn September 27; Harriet Hos-mer, Hos-mer, sculptor, horn October 9; Noah Brooks. u-thor, u-thor, horn October 24; John Esfen Cooke, novelist born November 8: Oliver Otis Howard, -Civil war commander and one of the greatest Indian fighters tills country has ever known, born November 8, and Emily Dickinson, poet, born December 10 oil were born In 1S.'!0. And that list would not be complete were there not added to It the name of George G. Vest, born December 6. Some may know him ns a senator j from Missouri, hut thousands more know blm ns ; an orator and the man who uttered the greatest j tribute ever paid to the friend of mnn the "Euln-gy "Euln-gy on the Dog." |