The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-11-26

Republic. and it viii become, like Cain,
fugitive and a vagabond in the earth" In this
work there is no room for prejudice, timidity
or despair There is smoothing of aspiration for
universal man which is not within the reach
Of well-directed effort; no matter in what dis
tant island of the sea, no matter in what un-
known recess of continents, wherever man
exists there are the capacities of humanity,
with that greatest of all, the capacity for inn
provement. All the civilization we have
reached supplies the means. Here is the
necessity Of knowledge. Man must know
himself, and that law of unity appointed for
the human family. Such is the true light for
our steps. Here is guidance and safety. Who
can measure the value of knowledge What
imagination can grasp its infinite powerf AS
well attempt to measure the sEn in its glory.
The friendly lamp in our streets is more than
the police. Light in the world is more thaR
armies or nsvies. Where its rays penetrate
there has civilization begun.
Great powers are at hand, ministers OF
human progress. / name two only--frst,
the printing press, and secondly, the means
of inter-commun cation, whether by railway
or navigation represented by the steam en-
CINE. BY these civilization IS extended and
secured. 1t is not only carried forward, but
fixed so that there can be no return. Through
these means knowledge is made coextenslve
with space and time on earth. Thus every
achievement in thought or science, every dis
covery by which man is elevated, becomes
the common property of the whole human
family. There can be no monopoly. Sooner
or later all enjoy the triumph.
And now, my friends, in closing this dis
cussion, which know have opened SO in
adequately, let me confess again my sense of
its grandeur. 1t concerns our best interests
abroad and at home. Let caste prevail, and
civilization is thwarted. Let caste be tram
pied out, and our republic becomes more than
ever an example whose pulsations will be felt
on the Temotest shores. There is not nation
that will not feel it just in proportion to its
necessities. Above all, Africa will feel it,
and this vast continent, where man has SO
long degraded his fellow man, will begin to
receive the payment OF that debt which ciyili-
zation has so long owed.
But among these great interests abroad, let
me not forget the practical interests here at
home This great pending question has too
long sent its darkening shadow over our
country, and now again it begins to lower
from the Pacific coast. 1t must be settled.
How often have said in other places, ''No-
thing can be settled which is not settled
right" And now do l say that this great
pending question: whether applicable to the
African or the Chinese, cannot be settled
except in harmony with the promises of our
fathers and with universal law.
To the strangers now seeking our shores
from two opposite quarters, across two great
oceans, from the east and the west, there
can be but one word of welcome. Let them
be no more strangers. If the Chinese come
for labor only, then have we the advantage of
their wonderful and doce industry. If they
come for citizenship, then do they give the
pledge of incorporation In our republic,
filling it with increase. Nor can there be
peril in the gifts they bring. As all rivers
are lost in the sea, which shows no sign of
their presence, SO will all peoples he lost III
the widening confines of our republic, with
an ocean-bounded continent for its un-
paralleled expanse, and one harmonious
citizenship; where all are equal in fact, for its
gentle and impartial sway.