Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-07-07

HOWARD.

Hon. J. W. Forney, editor of the Phil
adelphia Press, in that paper of the 4tll
inst, in an article concerning Howard
University at Washington, said;
General O. o. Howard and Howard Univer-
sity are terms synonymous. They have both
been grieyously slandered, and they both
promise to outlive their enemies, though by
no means their benefactions. The General,
after whom the Howard University is called,
has passed through two great wars-one OF
them headed by Robert L. Lee, in which he
lost an arm, and the other headed by Fernan-
do Wood, in which he was threatened with
the loss of something dearcr than his arm
viz: his reputation. Well, the loss of his
arm saved his lite in one war, and the saliva.
ton of his reputation will save his life in the
other. We are glad to say that if Robert f.
Lee could not kill .. .. Howard at the head
of the Confederate army in the South Fer
nando Wood could not kill his good name at
the head of the Confederate party in the
North.
sAnd we really think no better thing could
happen to the District of Columbia than that
this good man should be saved from Islander.
He has been rare benefactor to the District;
and now that he has escaped the brand, we
shall look to see his fine sense and his bold
enterprise doing yet more to vitalize the en-
eryies of the people OF tine Nations Capital.
1--WE attended the Law School of the How
ard University, closing its second year on
Friday evening last, and We felt, in listening
to the students, all colored people, one of
them a lady, that there were some discover
les as useful as the telegraph and the steam
engine, If not so wonderful, and among these
the capacity Of the freed people for all the
duties Of the highest citizenship deserves TO
be enumerated.
at was five years last April since Robert
E. Lee surrendered to U. S. Grant, and now
We have University for the education of the
coIored youth of America in the city Of Wash
ington, and a colored law school larger than
any known in the South composed of white
students in the century before.
'Of the ten papers, four were read and six
spoken. The longest did not cover fifteen
minutes-a rule that compelled condensation
on the hardest of subjects. There was not
mistake of taste; no pretence of oratory
DO atfectation of style. All was quiet, mod
crate, and constrained. The old lawyers
present, Horace Maynard, of Tennessee, and
A. G. Riddle, of Washington Formerly OF
Ohio, were surprised at the decorum OF the
Saxon and the severity Of the logic. There |
was a negro who talked in The Scottish dia-
lect, and whose legal lore seemed to have
been learned under the direction of the old |
Edinburgh professors. There was a Hebrew,
not SO dark, who recalled by his manner the
graces of Benjamin in the Senate, of Memin-
ger ut the bar, and of Disraeli in Parliament.
There was a colored woman who r. ad to us a
thesis on corporations, not copied from the
books, but from her brain-a clear, inclsive
analysis Of one OF the most delicate of legal
questions. We rather think if jeremiah s.
Black, George Sherwood, Charles O'Conor,
and George Ii. PendletoI had been asked to
listen to these arguments without seeing the
faces of the speakers, they would have gone
into raptures over logic and learning worthy
OF any white mans country or party.
"Our good friend the Dean, the Professor
John NJ Langston, made no loud parade over |
his pupils. and that was best. He seemed to
feel that they were simply vindleating great
truth-that any of Gods creatures who choose
10 nroft by the blessings OF civilization are
sure 10 succeed
ard University. The coming vindication of
liz gallant founder is suspicious of its own
vindicstion. In twenty years it will be to the
District of Columbia a far greater thing than
the Smithsonian OF the Coast Survey. The
intellectual success of its students will be fol-
lowed. N indeed it is already accompanied
nv the money success of its managers The
colored youth of South America will no longer
be sent TO Paris TO gather learning without in
cult. They will rally to the capital of the
only really free country on earth. Scholastic
superiority will ~ hand in hand with financial
confidence, and many a rich anti-slavery man
and woman will provide in their wills for the
most generous maintenance Of the Howard
University. If we had been secessionists we
would say:
.Let Us, then, moderate our censures of
the gallant soldier, however bitterly we may
hate the cause for which he fought, as we re-
member how he indicated his own integrity,
how he helped the Nations Capital, and hos
he sided the deserving colored man and
woman"
Negotiations for new postal treaty
have been reopened by the French Min.
lister, under instructions from his Govern
ment. Postmaster General Creswell hal