Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1856-03-26
Presentation Address.

The following address was made by r. III.
COLLIER, Esq, on presenting Rev. CHAs. f.
DEEMS with an elegant silver service, at Pc.
tersburg, ON the 18th instant. We publish
it for two reasons. 1st, As piece of news
which many of our readers would be glad to
see; and secondly, because it is high trib-!
ute to one who has been the Grand Worthy
Patriarch of our Order in this State, ard
whose voice and heart has always beenon
the side Of our Reform. In publishing it,
however, we disclaim identifying ourself,
much less our paper, yanss& difficulties
which gave rise 20 the pressEzarsse. .-EDIroR
AGE.
Rev. DR.. DEEMS: I have the honor, on this
occasion, to be the organ Of the citizens of
Petersburg who have contributed to purchase
the gift which [ am about to place in your
possession.
l feel it due to all concerned to say that il
is not my purpose nor theirs, to identify our
selves with the personal alterations Of 9th
ers. | must distinctly declare ourselves
aloof from any such complications. We do,
nevertheless, feel ourselves at liberty, and it
is our intention, to express our opinion in
support of the principle of puLlic justice,
which can find its exemplifcaions only in
individual cases.
We must confess that on recent occa-
sion, full of interesting issues to yourself and
to public justice, we were profoundly pene-
trated with the belief that you we're not fair
ly dealt by. We do not say that you were
Intentionally treated amiss by the venerable
tribunal before which you presented yourself
as an accuser, privileged as you were to pre-
fer accusations aga st any Of its members
whom you judged justly obnoxious to char
ges; but this, and only this, in that connex-
ion, we do undertake to assert as our opinion,
that numerous circumstances conspired to
repress those aspects of the position you oc-
cupied, which a more propitious and a luster
combination would have exhibited in bold
relief and in brighter colors, inviting the
praise and admiration of all beholders
1t is not for me, nor does it come within
the province Of this occasion, so far as am
an actor in it, to bring in review the promi-
nent features of the trial in which you filled
so conspicuous position. 1t will please US
to have you bring those matters in review, if
1t please you to do so, especially in view of
certain late events. Yet, / may not proper
ly forbear to declare that it is our firm per-
suasion as respects the christopher Duncan
letter, that it was your policy, for sufficient
reasons which impartial intelligence cannot
fail to perceive and appreciate, to treat the
authorship of that anonymous fugitive
essay as an act which you might admit
to be yours, or refuse to admit, Just as
yourselfjudged proper. That letter publish
ed no mans name-and you did not give its
sarcasm personal application. That logic
is too refined for common sense, which seeks
to show that you did not have a perfect
right, even if you were the author to admit
it to whom alone, and when only, twas your
pleasure to make the admission. AS you did
not apply the animadversons of that anony-
nous letter to any one, it was your perfect
right to refuse to admit its authorship. Yet,
you had no right to deny it. if you were in
fact its author. We do not believe that you
ever did deny it. That erroneous differences
were drawn from your remarks about it, we
are assured. You may have sought to avoid
the troubles which by admittingit to be yours,
you were likely to incur-and we believe
you did no more. We believe that your gen.
eral course ON the subject was in conformity
: to the policy you thought proper to observe
: during the late session Of the Methodist
7 Conference, which was to treat the author
ship of that letter, as an act not denied, but
still notacknowledged, to be yours. Wedonot
: adjudge your honor to have been tangled and
: tarnished in that complexity We believe
your integrity is untarnished-your former
: spotless character still unstained. We fear
/ that your fair name may have been injured
J, in the estimation of some, it may be of many
: who are under the influence of those whose
individual interest it is that your reputation
/ should suffer. Nevertheless, we reckon thai
l. your character adorned by your genius, viii
a remove the mist which has been ingenious
Il ly, but disingenuously, gathered about your
g reputation. Combinations having their ori
gin in envy or malice, to crush virtuou
citizen, cannot have success in this age o
u intelligence. The sun outshines the continu
ance of the clouds. And as the sky is al
l. the brighter when the storm that has dark
r. ened it is overpast, SO the rainbow of you
!. virtues and abilities blended, shall gild you
career with lovelier radiance, when tn
murky strife which angry ambition latterl,
= evoked from its stormy caverns, to beset you
e shall have hushed its rafting thunders an,
$. retired before the shining strength of you
1t excellent character.
D. We present to you this Plate under all tn
it inducements to make the gift, which the in
scription on it indicates. That inscriptio
is: PRESENTED
W BY CITIZENS OF PETERSRURG~YA.
&c Men and Women, old and young,
CHAS. F. DEEMS, DocToR OF DIVINITY
Sin the dew of his YOUTH"
AS AN EVIDENCE OF THEIR
appreciation of
HIS VIRTUOUS LIFE & EXALTED WORTH
and, especially,
'o as memento of their admiration of
y HIS MORAL COURAGE,
ne HIS POWERS OF SPEECH,
y HIS CHRISTIAN SPIRIT,
y as displayed by him, on the trial of
ne VIM. A. SMITH, D. D.
" before the Annual Conference of
g the Methodist E. Church,
80 80 in Petersburg, Va.
un W in 1885,