The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1867-05-02


after the old flag went down on Fort sum
ter, she drew the Old North State reluctant
ly into the contest Now, slavery was the
cause of this rebellion. 1t poisoned the very
air; it perverted human reason; 1t maze
the Southern people hate the old flag ana
despise the nation. Slavery, then, was the
traitor-the giant criminal that plunged US
into the fires of civil war,-and slavery mas
died traitors death, leaving criminal
name behind it. [Cheers. 1t has gone
down to the hell from whence 1t came, and
shame shall sit by its side forever. Cheers
The white working men of the South were
DEGRADED by slavery Carlyle said that if
a savage on the great lakes strike his
dusky brother, the world feels the blow
And so it is with labor. You cannot de-
grade any portion of it without degrading
all. Slavery set mark on the brow of the
poor Nottingham. and the laboring men,
| the world over, felt it. But here the white
laborer seemed content. He was put upon
and degraded, and, in turn, he put upon the
poor bondsman-the negro. He was con-
tent because there was Il class below him.
But such things have passed away. No
more shall the cOlored man be bought and
sold the wife torn from the husband, the
baby taken from the cradle; or the strong
father tied up and lashed, or letters put upon
his limbs, for the negro is free-free as any
man who walks the soil of this State to-
night. [Rapturous applause.l In order to
protect this freedom, you have been invested
with the ballot, my fellowcitizens. No
body can take that from you hereafter-it is
your possession for all time to come. Keep
it, use it in the fear of God, for your count
try. for those who made you free, for the
liberty of every man who walks Gods green
earth, for justice to the poor and dependent
and humble, to establish schools and
churches, and to dissemenate education, and
| above all, to sustain your country and your
countrymen. [Applause.l 1 know you will
use it in that way. l have faith in you. l
had faith in you when the Copperheads said
''if you put Il musket in the Negroes hand,
he wont fight, for he wouldn't if he could,
and he couldn't if he would" Laughter.
But we did arm you, and you fought heroic
ally. l remembered that in the days Of the
first revolution, that it was black man who
shot Maj. Pitcairn of the British army on
the field at Bunker's Hill that it was
black regiment which five times repulsed the
English at the battle of Rhode Island, which
LAFAYETTE said was the severcst fight of the
war: that it was % black regiment which
stood ut Red Bank on Delaware river, and
that the colored man did fight bravely
through the seven years war. remembered
that in the war of 1912, your blood flowed
in defence Ct this country, and remembering
these things we offered you liberty, put the
musket in the hands of 10000 of your col
or, and sent them forth to battle. They
fought as we'll as any other men in our army,
or any other army, and this night $4,000 of
them sleep beneath this Southern soil. Sub
dued cheers.) And while these brave col
ored men were fighting their way to you, I
thank my God that your race here behaved
so well-that there were no instructions
that You bided your time and trusted in
God. But many poor federal soldier run
ming from Andersonvile or Salisbury. re-
ceived help from you-they bless your name
to-day, for your hearts were ever with U.s.
and we knew it. (Cheers.)
Those same individuals, who opposed
your freedom, opposed your right to vote
they said you did not know how to VOTE
Now they are running you down for votes.
(Chcers) They say you must trust your old
friends. Uaughter.) tell you to vote for
liberty and education, for men who are COM
mitted thoroughly to the Republican party
those who go in for equal and exact jus
tice to all men, for the preservation of your
liberties, your right to vote and be voted
for, (cheers,) and in favor of making the
Constitutions of these States read so that no
man can tell whether there is any difference
of color at all among the citizens of these
States. (Appause.) When they stand
squarely Oh that platform, and unfurl the
banner of the Republican party, inscribed
with such glorious truths, then trust them,
and not before. wish to call your particu-
lar attention to those, who say we are Con-
servatives, trust us. Where have they been
for the last seven years? What did they
do towards securing the inestimable privi-
leges of freedom to your down-trodten
race? One of them who ran for Vice Presi-
dent in 1860, Mr.. II. V. Johnson, of Geor-
gia, said in Pennsylvania seven years
ago that capital ought to own labor" now
he says to the colored people, l am an old
friend, trust me. daughter and cries of new
existed down here its poison spread beyond
the line, and impregnated the hearts of
Northern men. Some of them learned to
hate the negro, to deny him any right what
ever to liberty, and in 1885 they mobbed
your friends-a meeting of anti-slavery
men and women was suppressed by men
of property and standing in Boston-in
Connecticut school house was once remov-
ed because the mistress received colored
children therein. Loveioy was shot in Hi
nois-in New-Hampshire a clergyman on
his knees praying for your elevation was ia
ken hold of and dealt with. Thus you see
the Northern people sinned with the South
ern people in expressing the colored race,
and we have been punished together for that
sin. 1 am not here to defend such of my
people as were guilty of these things. But
[ Will tell you there are some of them there
now. Dnring the war they II, obbed the ne
groes in New York city, beat and murdered
them in the streets. 1t was the spirit of
slavery that perverts human re ason, which
impelled such en- to such actio IS.
Now when Abraham Lincoln was elected
President there were four and ha If millions
Of you in slavery, who toiled with out wages,
and had the weight of the authority of State
and National governments on our necks.
Now you are lifted up. (Cbeers) The Re-
publican party, and its head, that great and
good man, Abraham Lincoln, did this.
Cries of yes, yes) So when Hell per's I'm
pending Crisis was written the D emocratic
party undertook to hold US respon sibe for
that book They strobe the halls of Con-
gress. dared US to elect a man in favor of
The abolition of slavery, and said in that
event they would shiver the Union fl ON tur-