The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-04-17
CENTENARY OF MErHoD1sM.

ADDRESS OF CHIEF JUSTICE CHASE CIVIL
AND POLITICAL RIGHTS FOR THE FREED
MEN
In New York on Monday evening, at a
meeting in st. Pauls Methodist Church,
held under the auspices of the Ladies' Cen
trail Centenary Association, being the second
of series of meetings which are to be held
during the present year, which is the hun
dredth year of the existence of the Method
ist Church in America, Chief Justice Chase
presided and delivered an address, from
which we extract the following in reference
to the freedmen:
A slave, represented upon Roman stage
in play written by Roman who was him
self slave, uttered eighteen hundred years
ago this sentiment standing in front of a
Roman audience 81 reckon nothing that is
human as alien to myself" Think of the
force of those words in that day. Roman
citizenship embraced all that there was that
was considered valuable in the world, and
here was man outside of the pale of Ro-
man citizenship standing up and saying, 81
reckon nothing human alien to me-" and
thunders of applause greeted that sentiment
from Roman lips. Now, then it was a mere
sentiment; it was not principle, as all his
tory attests. 1t was nothing in which men
thoroughly believed-nothing for which any
man was willing to die; but now that prin-
ciple comes down from heaven; it comes
from Him who died to redeem mankind;
and He who shed His precious blood for ali
men, now has breathed upon the heart of
this great nation that sublime thought that
it counts nothing human alien to it. and that
it is willing and ready to do all its duty by
the humblest and the poorest of mankind.
Applause.
Now, then, shall never forget with what
sentiments I learned that one great act
b %I,o,,
of the American people by him who, through
an assassin's hand, has been sent to his home
we trust in Heaven, and will be perpetually
remembered among men for his kindness of
heart, his consciousness, and his goodness
He resolved, as he told me himself, one night
lying in his bed, meditating upon the state
of the country, that if it should please God
to drive the army of Lee from Pennsylvania
that he would proclaim freedom to the slaves.
Lee was driven from Pennsylvania, and Mr..
Lincoln said to me, L wish he had been
driven further; but 1 have got to do it, and
will issue the proclamation" Applause.
And the proclamation was issued, how eau
tiously and guardedly, you know, at first;
but the ninety or one hundred days arrived,
and the first of January came, and the proc
lamation was made the great fact in Ameri-
can history. [Renewed applause.
Every human being throughout the whole
length and breadth Of this land received
from the American nation, through its hon
ored head, the pledge that they should be
maintained in their freedom, and so now
this proclamation has been consecrated as a
part of the American Constitution by the &C
ton of the same American people. But
there is more work to be done Slaves eman-
cipated are but half men. They must be ed
ucated; they must have the gospel preached
to them; and we have missionaries going
abroad, throughout the length and breadth
of the land, preaching to them, and every
where noble women and noble men are con-
secrating their energies to the work of their
instruction. But this is not all that is ne
cessary. The faith which has been pledged
to them by the nation that they shall be
maintained in their freedom must he redeem
ed, and to day we have the intelligence that
the Congress of the United States represen-
ting the heartfelt sentiments and the fixed
resolves of the whole of the American loyal
people, have declared that these emancipa-
ted slaves shall have equal civil rights. APP
plause.
A step further remains among the steps,
for it is long work this raising a whole
people but one of these steps, as count it,
is that they to whom you have given freedom
lot Loud applause.l And, speaking here
between the two centuries, I should be I'M
faithful to my own convictions if I RETAINED |
from uttering that word before you. But, |
then, let us look forward. This work is all
to be done; civil rights are to be secured,
political rights are to be secured, fraternity
is to be established, and we are to feel that
every man who wears the image of God is
entitled to all the rights which God has
given to his children. [Applause.l