The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1870-04-29
SPEECH OF SENATOR REvEIs AT THE
NEW YORK CELEBRATION.

bondage, so patiently that many though
they had no desire to be free; but thi
was a mistake. /, who had every op
Eportunity during my ministering
among them to sound the depths of thei
hearts, know how earnestly they yearn
ed for freedom; but they prayed ant
waited, strong in the conviction that HI
who orders all things right would, IL
the fullness of time, effect their deliver
ance in such manner as to His wisdom
should seem meet. Their faith was I'M
wavering, and when the time came fol
its exertion. the keenness of their per
ception was admirable, and their con
duct such as to merit the highest praise
Isolated as they were from the world o.
action, of events; cut off from al
sources of information of that world by
means of their inability to read piled
| constantly with the most frightfn
stories about the yankees" as our sol
diers were termed-they yet had the
discrimination to know and appreciate
their true friends. As many 8 Northern
man can testify, when fleeing from s
| Southern prison, the sighf<of black
face was hope and joy /; his sole reliance
under God, for escape from a dreadful
death. When we take into considera-
| ton the numerous instances in which
the Union soldier had no choice between
death from starvation and exposure on
the one hand, and implicitly trusting the
first dark-visaged stranger he might
meet with, on the other hand, and the
certainty of much reward to the slave
| for the betrayal, and the greater certain
| ty of terrific punishment if discovered
assisting the fugitive, together with the
fact that no such betrayal did take place
think you must allow, my friends, that
history has few parallels, on so gigantic
a scale, of such combined courage and
| fidelity as was displayed by the negro
throughout the whole course ofthe war.
! tApplause.l
There was, then, surprising beauty in
| a black face, for therein was beheld res
cue, safety, friendship. [Applause.]
| Where can there be a prouder record
throughout the whole course of the war
Not single instance, not solitary case
wherein the black man or woman be-
trayed trust. And doubly faithful
| while succoring the distressed invader
| they at the same time gave service, sup
port, and protection to the feminine and
juvenile family of their absent task
master. A little more free of tongue
and pert of speech they may have been
but that was all the revenge they sought
or took for their manifold wrongs.
Soon after the commencement of the
war the question was mooted, "Shall we
employ black troops 2" The replies were
various. "They will not fight" said
one; 'the sight of their masters will SC
intimidate them they will throw down
their arms and fee" Said another
''They are barbarians and savages any
how; their psalm-singing and CONVEX
sion to Christianity is all pretense
Once let them imbrue their hands in
blood and their savage instincts will be
| aroused, and scenes such as will make
humanity shudder and bring a blight
| upon our cause, will be the conse-
quence." "Under any circumstances,
said others, ''it would be improper and
degrading to put arms into the hands Of
the blacks to butcher our white breth-
rem, misguided though they be-" And
yet again others said, allow shall we
remit the blacks to slavery when the
war is over, if we make soldiers of them
now ?" And the various replies resolved
| themselves into one comprehensive No
and Fremont was ordered to disband his
black troops. But "Man proposes, God
disposes."
Who does not remember the COM
plants, the loud, sorrowful, bitter COM
plants prior to the Emancipation Proc
lamation, of the want of trustworthy
information, of false intelligence, of the
audacity and success of Confederate
spies, of officers high in command of the
Union army suspected of completely
with the enemy? Who does not re-
member the feeling of utter despair
which at that time crept over the ma
ton! Families got ready to flee the
national capital, and in many places in
the North the assertion was loudly made
that the success of the Confederate arms
was foregone conclusion. A British
minister in the British House of Com
mons declared ga nation born ;" and
arrogant foreign Intervention was inn
ninent.
But the Proclamation of Emancipa-
ton went forth in its majesty, with a
power and blessing, and all was
changed. Negro couriers brought in
formation; negro scouts guided along
the by-path, over rocks, across rivers,
through brush and brier, partaking OF
the tolls and dangers of the Union SOL
der, ever faithful and unflinching. Ne
gro friends concealed their tracks,
warned them of rebel spies and sympa-
thizers, succored their sick and wound
ed. And soon victory, (which seemed
to have bid us last farewell, returned
once more and perched upon our ban
ners, never again to quit them. And
Grant, our Grant-our beloved Grant,
Wdo " ~ .UHIt u OuL OU GCtS
Liae, IT it takes all summer" But it did
not. The rebels had On enemy in their
camp, and we had friends there. Sher-
man achieved his grand march to the
sea, and the backbone of the rebellion
was broken; it collapsed, and died at
AppomattOx. Applause.]
The final result of our triumph, the
cap-stone of the temple of Liberty, the
browning glory of the edifice raised to
Freedom, was the ratification of the
Fifteenth Amendment, which we now
celebrate. The sacred amendment now
welded in and become part and parcel
of our glorious COnstitution-bone of
it's bone, flesh of its flesh-which strikes
down the last hope of the rebellion ;
which abolishes so far as the statutes can
abolish, the last civil and political dis
tinction between different classes Of our
citizens, uniting the entire nation into
one harm onious whole. 6E PluTibaes
Unun," is the glory of the hour. This
amendment, which firmly places the bal
lot in the hands of the male adult MEN,
bers of a race numbering from four to
five millions, had become political ne
cessity as imperious as was the military
necessity which placed the bayonet in
the same loyal hands.
The Democratic party predicted that
colored men would not fight; but South
ern soldiers and Governors have told us
better. They acknowledged that drawer
men were never met on a battlefield
than they found the smoked Yankees"
as they called the colored soldiers, to be.
A rebel Governor of Louisiana said :
1--WE know from painful experience that
negroes win fight" The bravery of col
ored soldiers being everywhere admit
ted, this prediction has failed. And so
their prediction as to the uprising of the
people against the Republican party will
fail. The work in which the Republi-
can party is engaged is the work of
christian benevolence, mercy, humanity,
the work of God, and it viii stand.
Some of the Democrats are predicting
that the colored people will finally leave
the Republican party and vote and act
with them. o, what follyl Do they
who make this prediction believe Il?
The coIored people know that the Re-
publican party freed them, protected,
assisted and encouraged them, and that
| they have done all these things for them
against and despite of Democratic OPP
position, from beginning to end, and
they viii never desert their Republican
tried and true friends to cooperate with
their ingrained Democratic enemies
tApplause.]
A FATAL MIsrAKE.-Bishop Heber
said eft Is n fatal rnietake To sr1ppnaa