Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1868-01-01
Wendell Phillips Last Lee
ture.

the Republic. In a country like ours
where OF six millions ballot wielder:
Providence filings every generation
new Issue, keenly and angrily dividing
| society, it is manifest that the first con.
Germ of every patriot is education in
the broad sense of this term ; that i
he knows any duty most incumbent
upon him. II is to hasten and see that
he puts intelligence upon n side aud
morality on the other of the baby and
adult footsteps which lead up to this
great national power. It is manifest,
there must be some medium or vehi-
| Gle of thought, for those who have no
immediate plan to carry. no candidate
to elect, but who are bold enough, and
d~Isinterested enough, to tTsmple on
preiuoices, to offend the community,
and 10 drag forward an angry question
and chain It in the very midst of the
people, and to force them to let the
| light through it to become acquainted
with it, to grapple with 1t, and to be
prepared for the duties which Bnowl-
edge enioins. The pulpit is no place
for this. Politics of its very nature, re-
members to forget this duty. 1t would
not allow me to 60 u atom into the
discussion of any new question beyond
the line, this would be absolutely nee
essary to secure the greatest amount of
political support tomorrow. The same
is true of the Press, which has a natu-
raj and inevitable limitation, in q
country like OURS. The only plan that
for twenty years has been able to utter
its bold thought, and grapple with
what questions it pleased, preparing
the country for duties ten years ahead,
regardless of the shortcomings and the
grudges that its cause excited, has
been the grand fulcrum and pedestal
OF agitation-tho lecture platform
throughout the loyal States.
Today we seem TO be verging 10 the
close of an epoch. God has chained
this generation to the one great duty
of eliminating from American politics
the idea of race. Whenever an Ameri-
can Observation-Disclosures an American
magistracy is color-blind, unable to
discern white from blsck,-when that
day comes, the duty of this generation
IS done and sealed, and this epoch Is
closed. But hanging yer the horizon,
ready to come down and occupy the
vacant arena, and demand fair discus
sion and a fair settlement, are equally
great and momentous questions close
at hand as, woman's position, capital
and labor, cooperation, and the great
underlying principles of that mystery
of mysteries, finance. The next gen.
Grafton is to grapple with these ques-
tons. and from no lips of so-called
statesmen-from no types Of crippled
and gagged presses-from no pulpit
taking its voice from its pews-are
they likely to hear the truth, the
whole truth, necessary to prepare these
millions. Our fathers when they came
away from Europe repu6iated hier-
archy and nobility. all class and dis
tinctions. and undertook to found a
state on simple unconditional man
hood. Ii was not the rich man, 1t was
not the educated man, it was not the
well-born man-it was Nan. The unit
for American calculation was to be a
mar without regard to his actions
this was the theory of the North, and
if it did not realize it, it at least &C
knowledged it. If it did not practice
IT,. it at least believed in it. 1t theor
ized on that basis. Meanwhile, south
of Mason & Dixon's line, there had
gone I'D a civilization as distinctly un-
American. and as essentially European,
as Vienna itself. 1t was a civilization
noble, divided by caste, recognizing
- II J,gt;1nfiopc ranudia-
ting manhood, acknowledging its &C
cidents. In 1889 God offered to our
fathers the problem Of putting these
two antagonistlc elements into n
government. Our forefathers took q
cannon. filed it half full with powder,
filed up the rest with lighted Goals,
plugged it, and hoped it would not
burst. Well, in '6l it did burst, and
then commenced the great divergence
of American craftsmanship as it is call
ed. Look back to 1861. To-day there
IS not a Democrat or Conservative
man of any mind-who does not &C
knoIWedge that we wasted 1861 and
1862; that we wasted Sl,000,0 O0, 900,
and a quarter Of a million lives. Do
YOU not remember how we tottered
along spending blood and treasure,
and all the time when the cloud grew
blacklist at the end of 1862, we began
to ask, "Will the negro fght?" Aud
so we drifted on until 1868, but the
moment we touched the talisman JUS
Tee. the moment we dismissed our
doubts, and became regardless, ~ofrace,
we moved through Gettysburg and
Antietam to the crOWning victory at
Richmond.
A singular spectacle is presented to
US to-day. There are two great
branches of the Anglo-SaXon race. the
one here and the other in England,
and God IS claiming them both to the
performance Of the same wholesome
duty. There stands England to-day,
reduced TO a second rate power, in the
affairs of Europe, because she holds
Ireland; and after the injustice of
three hundred years her Saxon pride
will not acknowledge the civil equality
of the Celt. We repeat the picture
line BY line. We stand with the abso-
lutte and inevitable necessity of elimin-
ating the race from the statute book,
and putting the negro on the basis OF
civil equality, and we have the same
Saxon prejudice hat blindsfolds US and
endeavoIs TO persuade US to get rid Of
this disagreeable duty.
Phil. Sheridan spoke the exact
truth when he said 10 the Boston Al
dermsn. $50 far as my opinion goes, |
have seen no loyalty at the South,
which was not covered by a black
skin" But we do not need the testi-
mony of Sheridan, or of any ONE
Capital isthe most sensitive thermom-
J eter in the world. Go to Wall Street,