The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-03-23
RECONSTRUCTION.
Universal Suffrage and I'm
limited Kindness.
Eenry Ward Beecher's Lecture at the
Academy Last Evening.

After the hattering enthusiasm that followed his
Introduction lad suoslded Rev. Henry Ward
Beecher spoke substantially as folows:-
For eleven months not gun has been hled in the
who southern States IN war, so competeIy has re-
belnon been des royed It is the marvel of foresn
spectators, and may we'll be. Our own fears prog.
nosncaed u ong-continued war; but since asst May
there has been conflict in that way, and were Ut
not for he blacks so perfectly things CHANGED
within the year there could be scarcely the shadow
of a reason whv all the lately seeded States should
not be represented in Congress to day There is no
Just reason why, in the whole people of the
South concel ed and their relations aud Feelings
TO the Government they should not be included in
their representation in Congress.
It is just and right, also, that these freedmen should
be efectualy guaranteed in their libertes, before
the country dlsmsses this question from the people
and ADOPTS system Of representation for them IN
the halls OF Congress This should be done for the
sake OF humanity, and because, aso OF this-t that
Providence has put the future regeneration of the
South ana the North upon thus question. IL is just
on both accounts, that we soud insist on settle.
ment OF the condition of the blacx man-that he
should have his liberty-for that which works for
the lowest class in the community works for every
class. II you justice the middle classes 1t
must not be but you benefit IA classes
But III the nature OF things you cannot adopt
pow er the bottom OF society that shall not carry up
with them every rank and degree IN society. When,
therefore, we demand that there shall be liberty
and citizenship the least aud the lowest, 1t is
effect plea, not for the bottom but for the whole of
society which stands upon It's foundations. Allow
me, then to consider the substance OF that liberty
which our amended Constitution has given to all
those who were in bondage. That liberty is not to
De merely name; II is sacred ark with contents,
IL s matter OF importance that we should to 1t
that we have got something better than tte-a
name. And when we look at the contents Of liberty
we are not TO take foreign manifest; they select
and pack the contents of their wOld liberty different
in France from what we do IN America We de-
mand that liberty here shall be American liberty.
1t is to contain rights of person, rights of labor,
nights OF property, rights of civil hfe, rights of
suffrage.
When our amended Constitution gave to the black
man liberty, 1t declared that he was erected into
manhood out OF chattehood; he was conveyed from
nj n tIDfn q 0f a m
and that must be secured TO him, and all that which
belongs to the man in the social economy of liberty,
that which makes love q ministerlng angel of God,
and parentaRe and the family -'Iod's best church
upon eaIth-that must meet IN him His rights of
person are to enable HIM to stand for The first time
in his life and say to the one best beloved, Chou
art mine and am thine Tor all Their life long four
millions of men had power of love thus to
Declare 1or between heart and heart forever lowered
the dark shadow OF one tnat owned BOTH and every
body Tree TO own the other.
is there any scene on earth that is more trans
cendent than That which sees by the Grad side
when the mother reads strange prophesies IN the
face of the child and says 1T is mine 1T is his; 1t is
ours" And yet IN ali this generation there have
been millions OF mothers sitting by the sioe of their
cradle with bitter pangs to think that they must
rear the daughter to feel "Moher is not mine there
mine; master is higher than father" When liberty
came for the first time the mother could say to her
daughter, "Obey me as God, as in his place and
none oth9r for mother1s now more than mistress,
and iather is more than master throughout the
The next clement that must be in liberty, lift is to
the rights of free laborg Tell ye me what they
and will echo them back and say what they
are to you here that they 10 be IN Geor sia in
Alabama, in Florida-everywhere We hear much
OF the rights OF aCor and the necessities OF labor
Whatever laborels in the North claim as part OF
black men of the South, To work or not to work is
the night Of men North; to work or noe to work is
the nEht OF the men OF the South. Ii you say
these men must be burdensomc to society, reply,
'Wait till they are before you meddle with them -
1t Is not considered a necessity for a man work
himself:
and if man can find food in roots as squirrels do
though it may not be bet for him. yet he is 10 be
the judge, and not me nor you. / demand that
work shall as free to the black man there to the
white man here. You may work as you please for
whom you please, as long as you please, aud Tor as
much little as you please. should like to see
the audacious man that hoped to live in public lie
ture that man should work for one year for any
one foundry, or Tor one man at stipulated prce
agreed upon by another. it's mockery to say that
those workmen OF the South are Tree If their labor is
not fTee
says they won't work. Not they who are best &C.
quainted with them. say that the men who know
the least about the negroes the SOutherners We
have had abundant evidence that they lived near
to them that they could not see them We know
that opinions in the North have been substantially
correct for we based our opinions on our know
ledge of human nature at large, whereas they were
perpetually IN commerce with black men in the ad.
mlnlstration OF a system that mIsinterpreted human
nature and contravened Gods greaE laws; conse-
quently they were continually administering Gov.
black man was cruel Oh what oratory have heard
what streams of blood have run down platforms in
Democratic speeches for the last twenty years! We
have gone through a war that has tried mems
manhood. Professor WocOmb told me that
within the sound of horn were four thousand able
bodied slaves and not twenty able-bOdied white men
in that REGION and the slaves knew IT. yet neither
you, nor l, any can point 10 an instance in
which, duTlng this terrific struggle, there was one
single case of insurrectiOn, violence, or untem-
pered Judgment There has been none; they have
conducted themselves with forbearanee and with a
prudence that think scarcely less than a divine
inspiration in this much suffering people. But they
were declared 10 be less than men, unfit for liberty
towards; and we were laughed to scOrn when we
proposed to make soldiers of them Not those men
that ever received charge from them after they
were In battle will again deny the courage of the
black man.
Again; they say they won't work. Well, they
won't If they can help It, That is the best thing
ever knew OF them Would you work under such
circumstances as they hitherto have been in--cir.
cumstances upon which judgments have been formed
against hemY Would you work if every dollar you
earned were taken from your How hard would you
work. How early would you get upI How late
would you toll, If you did not get q cent tor iii
Would you work If your family were not 10 be bet
tered by it4 Ould you work If there was no posi-
bltV of hdng yourselves in the civil status Of thu
YOU found themI When lad, though not cruel,
was sometimes needless and thoughtless.
recollect on one occasion TO have taken an limo
cent fly and puled off one wing, another wing, oni
leg, another leg, another, another another, anC
another aud laid him down on the table and won
dered he did not 20. Here are these black men WI
null of their wings aud their legs and then say
s'The lazy nigger won't work" But experience \
now showing that they will works In TACT tney d,
Work--for wages 1t s the concurrent testimony
impartial men in the South that for wages they ar
working better than before they worked under IN
lash. call the attention OF those who are dspo Jog
TO be despondent to TINS EXTRAORDINARY Iast tna tl
since the last Christmas holidays Ebe total ndustTa