1916- Mayor Kirkpatrick delivers speech

Mayor T. L. Kirkpatrick addresses visitors to Charlotte at the parade.

The Charlotte News 5/20/1916 Sec. 2, p.1

WELCOME ADDRESS BY MAYOR OF CITY  

Mayor T. L. Kirkpatrick Delivers Ringing Words of Greeting to Distinguished Visitors, His Speech Sparkling With Eloquent Utterances and Prophetic Truths About Nation.  

Mayor Kirkpatrick arose after the parade had passed, and in happily selected words, eloquently extended a hearty welcome to the governors present, the distinguished visitors from far and near and his excellency, the president of the United States. Mayor Kirkpatrick’s address of welcome was as follows:  

“My Fellow Countrymen: “We have gathered here today to celebrate and commemorate the one hundred and forty-first anniversary of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. You stand upon the birthplace of America’s liberty; you are around the cradle of America’s Independence. You are among a people who have contributed their full quota to the real worth and merit of America’s life; the compatriots today of a folk who have ever dared to maintain their religious and political views and principles, at the point of the bayonet and to the music of musketry and shell.  

“My Countrymen, I scarcely believe we appreciate the priceless legacy which has been given us by the fathers to bare their bosoms to the sword in liberty, and dedicated to the cause of humanity. And to establish it, was required that our streets be strewn with ashes, and drenched from hill top to vale with the blood of your sires. It was necessary for your fathers to bear their bosoms to the sword and face the gibbet. May the ashes from their urns enkindle in your hearts a spirit of patriotism, and ever keep aglow on the altar of Liberty those burning fires. “We dare not discount the cost of political righteousness. No punishment can be too severe for him who lifts a vandal’s hand to destroy the possibilities of our destiny. This republic, its mission, its traditions, which has been builded by the fathers out of their thoughts, their aspirations, their ambitions and their gold, is theirs not ours, ours to enjoy and preserve, not to destroy.  

“We all agree that the dominant note in American history has been self-government and internal betterment. The paramount question in the mind of every thinking American today is – how shall this republic of ours discharge its highest functional duties to itself and the nations of the earth? – and the answer comes: Adequate Preparedness.  

“In the highlight which rests upon the New World, in the mysterious gloom which enshrouds our present understanding because of the awful bloodshed and strife now engulfing the world, we must prepare to render justification of our faith in democracy, and be able to clear the way for our superiority. A nation with grimed hands is a noble picture; but if such a people is to fully realize on hopes attained, and fully protect the comforts thus secured, it must be prepared to support and maintain those principles for which it has labored, against all unwarranted attacks and unlawful interferences.  

“Great questions may be debated in the forum but great principles, when necessary, must be sustained on the battlefield. Your country may demand your life, to maintain the principles upon which it was founded. Our forebears loved peace, order and law, they loved manly obedience and constitutional authority; but they loved freedom and their country more.  

“We meet here today as American citizens, upon a spot that is sacred to thought and to God, to keep alive the spirit of patriotism and rebuke the indifferent and lawless. With patriotism in our hearts, and the flag of our country in our hands, there is no danger of anarchy and no danger to the American union.  

“Our flag is the embodiment of the purposes and history of the government itself. It records the achievements of its defenders in every hour of its existence. It heralds the heroism and sacrifices of our fathers who planted free government on this continent and dedicated it to liberty forever. It attests the struggles and undying glories and valor of our citizens in all the wars of the republic.  

“It bears witness to the gallant death of Worth Bagley and William E. Shipp. It has been bathed in the tears of the Puritans and dyed in the blood of the Cavaliers. It has been glorified by the men who followed the fortunes of Sheridan and Grant, and forever immortalized and made sacred by the Southern heroes who worshipped the cause of the Confederacy and yielded up their lives under the immortal Lee and Jackson.  

“Under the leadership of him who has stamped his character on the Pillar of Ages, and by his untiring efforts has poured his life-blood into the channel of public weal, let us hold on with an unswerving faith in the soul. Steered by the chart of a clear conscience, anchored by a firm belief in the principles of democracy and actuated by the desire for right doing, we must advance instead of lowering the standard and character of democracy, unless it proves to be the most disastrous of political failures.  

“This occasion is second only to the hour when our fathers wrote the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, preceding the immortal document drafted by Thomas Jefferson and his compatriots, declaring that we were free and independent people under the power of God and the general congress, and further, sanctified by the moment when those brave boys from Virginia and the Carolinas challenged the power of the oppressors at Kings Mountain and said to them – ‘Thus far and no further shalt thou go.’  

“To his excellency, the governor of North Carolina, who by his faithfulness to duty has placed our people under the obligations to him beyond computation: To his excellency, who has come from a sister state to help us celebrate this notable event, which was only made possible by the blood of South Carolinians poured out as a holy oblation for the cause of liberty under Marion and Sumpter: To the president, who by Divine wisdom has exercised a full comprehensive consciousness of the duties reposed in him to our sister republics and to the nations of the earth: To Her, who is the silent power behind the throne, who so graciously honors us with her presence: To our distinguished friends gathered here today, we are commissioned to welcome you to the warm throbbing heart of Queen Charlotte, with the express hope that every moment of your stay may ripen into hallowed memories.  

“We welcome you each and all to the home of the Hornets’ Nest, with all the warmth of a hornet, with its sting left out. We greet this throng of American citizens today with a hearty welcome, and trust the honor that they have done us and the help that they have given us, in celebrating this our One Hundred and Forty-first anniversary of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, will be links of steel to bind the great American people together in bonds of inseparable friendship and brotherhood forever.”