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Whole No. J32.
Tarborongh, Edgecombe County, N. C. Saturday, March S, 182?
FoL 111. No. 28.
THE "FREE PRESS,"
By Geo. Howard,
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Letters addressed to the Editor must be
ost 1 1 aid.
" J7Jaiiies Simmons, Esq. postmaster at
Halifax, is our general agent for that vicinity.
Domestic.
The Speech delivered by Mr. Potter,
on the 22d ultimo, (in the House of
Commons.) on the hill introduced by
him to establish a Political College in
this State, having created great excite
ment, and lead to much conversation, in
order to correct misrepresentations, and
procure- a fair construction of his mo
tives, he has thought proper to submit a
copy for publication. Raleigh Star.
REMARKS OF MR. POTTER.
Mr. Speaker In submitting the
proposition contained in that bill,
a proposition so novel in its cha-
tune of the people, and the lasting
shame of those who have hereto
fore occupied the places which
we now fill, that duty has never
been performed, though occasion
ally reminded of it by adventurous
individuals of their own body, and
sometimes casually invited to it
in the annual messages of the ex
ecutive, until our present Chief
Magistrate, in his recent ctfmmu
nication, has pressed the subject
and her thoughts should be raised
from the habitual contemplation
of low and subordinate objects,
and fixed upon her manlier and
more exalted interests. Would
you ask how this is to be done
would you ask how "a consumma
tion so devoutly to be wished," is
to be accomplished! I answer,
educate the people yes, let in
upon their minds the light of sci
ence and of truth confer nnnn
them them the capacity of think- upon us with a snliritmln nnd ,.nvi
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nig enable them justly to appre-jCty, characteristic of his well
ciate their relation to their coim-j known deep and virtuous sensibi
llT give them to see and under-1 lity to the best interests of his peo
stand their rights and intercsls,: pie. The Legislature from time
and the prevailing instinct of na-; to time have sported with the sub
ture will impel them to assort ami! ject, by adopting a barren rcsolu
pursuethcni. If this proposition,! tion in its favor; but as yet they
bearing, as I conceive, upon itsjhave done nothing decisive in re
very face the impress of beauty lation to it. They did, indeed, at
and of truth, should yet bedeem-jthe last session, set apart some
ed to require the sanction of au-j trilling branches of the revenue,
thority, I would direct you to the 'which they were pleased to style
sentiments of those chiefs and sa-"The Litem ry Fund; " but if not
ges, whose valor won, whose wis- added to, t he present generation
doin established our liberties. jat least must pass away before it
1 he mail wIllV ivlinil liririfr irwwii Mcriiiniilit c-nf!i..I..t l.r ..4l 1
meter, and, it adopted, so impor-. ved the homage of all hearts, and I effectual aid to the people. Sir
taut in its consequences, I trust, whose name like a charm still m-i this is not the way to treat this
mt iiouse will bear Willi me a nu- chants the world whose form,! matter it is a subject not to be
meat, while 1 open to them some shadowed forth upon the wall, in 'dallied with. 1 would seize upon
oi the arguments in favor of it, the altitude of entreaty, would it with the determined eueiW
and declare to them the motives seem to beckon and persuade vou with which, if drowning I would
winch have impelled me to oiler it., to the adoption of his lavoiite .grapple a plank in thesure. I
lo say that the object of this mea-; maxim. That sainted sajfe, in the would embrace it as a measure, on
sure, is to elevate and dignify the last words addressed by him to which depended our last, our only
character ol North-Carolina, and his country, in lan-uaire'tho most hope, of social improvement, or
provide lor the continuance of her earnest and emphatic, invited her political exaltation; and if the mea
safcty,and the enlargement of her attention to this subject. These sure 1 now tender vou. be not ac
happiness, by enlightening and li-t arc his words: "lis substantially copied, or some efficient system
berahzing the faculties of herpeo- true, that virtue or morality is a. for disseminating education a
ple that its ultimate scope is no-, necessary spring of popular gov- mono; our people "be not adopted,
thing less than the diffusion of od-j eminent. The rule indeed1 ex- I shall set down in despair, over
ucation among the mass of her tends with more or less force to the irreclaimable degradation of
children, is at ce to announce every species of free government, inv country. But, by heavens,!
the magnitude of its importance. , Who that is a sincere "friend to it,, will not believe it 1 cannot be
vir, if it be mind which gives to!can look with indifference upon j lieve you will turn away your fa
muli the dominion of the world .'atteinOts to sIlJlK-n tllM f'min.l.Hlnn! fi'ml rnfnJn w.'iiw.t f., ,l
" it be that which distinguishes jof the fabric! Promote, then, as'approvo this measure. I cannot
him from the brutes that perish, j an object of primary importance believe, you will thus impliedly
and almost exalts him to an equa-'institutions for the general f diff'udveido that our people are inca'-
v uu iiccivuii, men me process, ston or Knowledge, in proportion pabie oi virtue or excellence, and
as the structure of a govornmentjthat thev are only
jives force to public opinion, it is! Born to cat, and be despised and die.
by which its mighty attributes are
developed and harmonised, is ob
viously an object of paramount
consideration, lint forcible and
undeniable as is this truth, and
tilled noon us from snnrcns rif
essential ih;t public ojriiiionshoidd
be enlightened.
The Congress of '76, whose de
liberations were conducted in the
oracular sacrcdness, North-Caro- borough which I have the honor
nna seems ever to have remained
most sadly insensible to it; while
niuny of her sister States have ad
dressed themselves to the subject
with a degree of energy and zeal,
which indicate their sense of the
vitality of its importance; while
they have most liberally devoted
their best resources to the deve
lopment of the moral and intellec
tual energies of their-people, N.
Carolina, in this, as in every other
eful improvement, has continu
al to stumble and flounder on, at
a lazy and a lagging pace, behind
very other member of the Union.
'lr it is time she were disen
chanted it is time she was bro't
trj a just and full sense of 4ier de
flation it is time that the spell
which has so long scaled her en
ergies in death, should be broken,
to represent, some of whose mem
bers were then iresh from the bat
tles of their country, and yet reek
ing in the blood of her enemies
whilst the fierce and furious din of
civil discord shook this mighty
continent, and the echoes of the
ball and the sabre were sighing
and shivering in their ears resol
ved as fate calm and unmoved
as gods, deciding on the destinies
of mortals even amidst those
terrible convulsions, they were
not unmindful of this important
subject; and, in the charter fur
nished by their deliberations, un
der which wrc arc now assembled,
thev introduced a provision, en-
joining it as a duty on the Legis
lature which they then created, to
provide for the general education
of their people. To the misfor-
Kv'n as tbe brutes that perish, save that
they
Have a more noble trough,and wider sty.'
I would invoke the genius of
my country to my side, and aid
me in persuading you to the adop
tion of this measure. Sir, if she
were indeed to appear among us
if the genius of North-Carolina
were now to present herself to
you, who are charged with the
destinies of her people, instead of
the majesty of a guardian god
dess instead of a radiant brow,
and an eve flashing li xlit and di'
mty on this assembly, you would
mark her with a pallid front, and
"sad and shrouded eye," and in
the hollow accents of despair, she
would demand of you, in the lan-
meet you here from year to year,
to scuflle over subjects, unimport
ant to the public, and trifling in
themselves, or to squabble about
the disposition of a clerkship or a
judgeship, whilst the peoj)lc, for
whom all this is intended for
whose benefit government was es
tablished, laws enacted, and judg
es appointed whilst the people
are left to rust in primeval igno
rance "rotting from sire to son,
and age to age," deaf as the ad
der, and dark as Erebus? She
would tell you, you were a degra
ded and despised community; but
only so, because you would be so.
She would tell you that North-Carolina
was a lion in the net, an
eagle without his pinion, fixed up
on the earth and gazing at the sun
in despair, and she would conjure
you to make one generous, one
manly effort, to redeem and disen
thral herto take, at this mo
ment, a firm and noble stand in
support of the most sacred rights
of humanity- to silence in your
hearts the suggestions of every
selfish passion, and act with a sin
gle eye to the honor and the inte
rests of your country. She would
remind you of the frailty of life,
and the immortality of virtue. She
would tell you, that time scoffs
and hisses tit the grandest achieve
ments of man, and crushes, and
crumbles, the proudest monuments
of his power; but that fate itself
had no control over virtue; essen
tially eternal, it should live, like
a cherub smiling above the storm,
when the frail forms from which
it sprung, should have returned to
the clod of the valley. She would
warn you that the flight of time
was rapid and irrevocable; and
with a voice, like the music of the
spheres, she would implore you to
seize upon the passing hour to
make it vour OWll. fill I rinrlrji ii
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immortal, by consecrating it to
patriotism. Cheered and elated
at the effect of her admonition,
her form now buoyant with hope,
her brow brightening and flush
ing, and her eye dilating tearing
the shroud from her face, and
stamping with an emphasis that
should wake an echo in every cot
tage of Carolina; in a lone of en
couragement and command, she
would exclaim to you, as she reti
red, "Arise! thou can'st and must."
Yes, to be great, North-Carolina
has only to will to be so. She has
moral and intellectual energies,
which, if put into action, would
command for her an honorable
and an enviable elevation in the
Union an elevation, where the
proudest should conceive them
selves honored in her smile. She
has, indeed, thouuh all unknown
to the world, names dear alike to
inius unu 10 science names,
sruace of admonition and rrnrnof. i which the all.nnrlnrinrr lmu! r
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"why sit ye here, all the while fame icill inscribe upon the proud
idle!" why assemble here from ; est pillar of her temple, and over
session to session, and expend which the most approving smiles
your time upon ephemeral ob- of virtue have hr.on nonred. Tim
jects, while you neglect the very virtues of Henderson alone, might
salvation of the republic: why atone for the errors of a vicious
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