Daily national Republican. (Washington City [D.C.]) 1870-1872, 1870-04-04
THE GREAT AMENDMENT.
sPREcH OF HON. B. RUSH PLUM.
LIZ, OF TEXAS, IN RESPONSE
TOA sERENADE. arsr

@-
The following report, crowded out Of our
columns on saturday, will be read with the
greatest interest, especially by the eolored
people Of the District. ...
The oolored men Of W aahinEton and George
town, friends Of the Hon. d. Rush Plumly,
member Of the Texas Legislature, now on a
visit to Washington on oiholAI business, ten.
dered him on Friday night Last eompllmen-
tary seronade. A meeting was held at Union
League Han, apd q COMMITTEES composed Of
Meshrs. Isaiah Lemon, l.. williams, Robert
Cornell and John n. Ferguson was appointed
to invite Major Plumly to the hall, the 10.
olemouey Of the weather alone preventing the
serenAde at the Metropolitan Hotel as otigi-
nally intended.
| Accordingly the committee proceeded with
the Columbia Band TO Major Plumly's quar-.
tiers, and escorted him to Union League Hail,
where the meeting was called TO order BY Mr..
Isaiah Lemon, who introduced Major Piumiy
with a few complimentary remarks,
In response to the eompliment MAIot Plumiy
said fI. .s.
Mn. PREsIpHST AND uEnrLnnaSi thank
| you heartily for this manifestAtion OF your
| confidence and good will. An the more thank
YOU because realise that you mean BY this
lion OF my long advocacy Of the prineipie Of
Impartial fresdomI pIlneiple that, now
triumphant, eusblen you thus publicly 70 A..
| temble and approve, and allows mo TO heaF.
When, In lss5, our army was movinE through
Louisiana, u halted ono night At 0pelousaa.
In the morning the Generals boots could not
| be found, An orderly 10 search OF them dis
covered them In possesslon Of an old white.
headed black man, who was slttiug on log,
soSlkiSg saSkE.ra ,fS S forward singing 70 HIN
Olive me them boots old "nlg," said the Or
Derby. The old man still rocked ADD sang and
log Himself up sad !,i siiSs fs n 70 the soots
he said as u speaking 70 some unseen pres.
snes, "Hel heir black 'emi black 'smI Hei
sral'S boots Sbsf since Iss7," tLSushter.f .
| My friends, that IL much our case. IL was
not exactly to black the boots but not to black
| them BY o0mpulslon that we have been walt
/ ing. The sublime faith OF that old slave OF
| Louisiana brought to him, at last, the boots
that covered the feet that made him ftee;
Our faith aud labor and patlenoe aud long
suffering have brought to US ,hia hour Of
lamation OF the President on the nfteenth
| amendment IL being read, not only by our own
people but throuEhout the civilized world,
guAge OF the President himself, sis Of Erander
| Importance than any other one act OF the kind
from the foundatlon OF our free Government
Then let US rejoice together. To night We
may rejoice over the completion Of our work,
No more bondage. No more caste. All are
The aboiitioo OF American slavery liberated
me as II liberated you. The hfteonth amend.
he sooSd % $sS .hd Il. white GPSSG' tho
| right to travel all over our oountry, II gives
the right to think, to speak and TO Aet, to
share not only the burdens but the fespoasl
bIliiles and the honors Of the aovernment
| But above allindlViduAl or narrow considers.
lions 10 the one majestic fact, that to-day our
| consistency as q nation exceeds that OF tho
best individual, for as = nation our theories
| and our practices agree. Truly We mar be-
come an example to All peoples. =.
men Hitherto called fanatics. As q fanatio, /
may have believed that At some remote time
| men might arise In the capital Of our country,
and truly and proudly announce that the pro.
fession Of this nation had become Its practice,
that freedom was the law Of the national life,
msn" was no longer "slltterinS Esnsrsiiiy,"
but solemn fact, But, sir, never In the mo.
ment o. my highest hope Of the future, dld l
here, In this city, once the BAStlle Of bondage,
| TO SEQ that BAstlle become the citadel Of human
freedom, and the bondmsn thereof Its free
keepers. Sir, had ever any such vision, l
should have prayed, with Abou Ben Alden,
| "write down my nAmeP, let me be there TO zee.
N. Pfesidsnt' whsS ls sS Tia hsd ne honor
| to speak In the Joint meeting OF the Senate and
Legislature OF Texas, took occasion to say,
men live to SEQ the opinions which they &c.
poused In weakness so advanced In power as
IT, Sos S ne sS 60 Of sThole EeSsTa
| by millions OF bayoneta and by tho intelli-
| genee and vast resources OF an Industrial aud a
martial people, especially when such oplnions
were leadIHG to revolution, to a civil conyuI.
! sion without preeedent wherein the sooietaFy
snbatratum has become the superstrAtum. Tue
slave has become the master, tho transformed
ehattel 10 pushed to the topmost round OF eitI.
Eenship.
eyolutions, we do not realize how stupendOus
they are, any more than, standing as We do on
ths ss5,h,s s sS, w arc not seosslou, OF
when the grand events OF which we are a
part shall have Teesded Into history, or We
ourselves shall have been removed TO anoihsE,
comprehend the gtandeur OF this time,
In the Koran" there appears frequently
| Of the occasion had suspended In the Prophet
the powers Of utteranee. Mr.. President, we
may say "assuredly," The place and the
Iseeness Of this city and Of Its men.
Among them 10 one OF thAt time, quarter
Of century $50, when petinops were present.
remember the fate OF those petitions. Mr..
h Ae wa, ,hsn our only friend 70 o?GgrssI.
nation 10 send him there. Another memory
az ne SGS,s R
virus which then poisoned the warm red veins
Of Ohio, came here and established tho Ne.
ffonaI Ira, and gave to US, In spite OF the peril
to his property and life, a Journal for freedom.
By his bitle stood tho courageous and honest
Nlddlngst OF Ohio, senator Hale, Preston
portion, and 10 vNSs powers, the HOn. SALMON
Here also, at that early day wa, Whittier,
Staging Aonsa that we're moulds for bullets
AID here was the Authoress qrAso Green.
wood, alive with genius and heart, deVotinE
| log ksT faith by leaving the doing table Oh
| Western steamboat because FredeFiok Doug.
lass was driven rom II, aAyipg she would take
T 10 90 AZ fsr s1S Ss "a no act iva,
the Capitol AhnihilAtiag distinetioss, and
| iorco alike to the stomAchs and the heads on
Congress. lLanghter.l -.'Hy
BY and BY there came TO that small but
Eoodly company, embodied MAssAehuselts Ia
the form Of Sumnef followed by Horace
Mann, and N. r. banks, and RAntonl and
Others ~ Of them in the vanguard Of that
the civilization might make the world feel,
that 10 America the mountains had taken to
At that tIms under tho very shadow OF the
Capitol there were slaye'pous, and human
auction blocks and shAokles and chains and
So"i Ffoddsn S under Not BY tSas vsss SS.G
never more to be seen Oh the Western cont.
nent, Then came tmo after sumtei when
"WillaIda" to protect the city from in side enc
Your distinguished iournaii.t Colonel For.
nayi Will Iemsmbor II we'll. He Vouohed for
the recruits. Presenting me to MI, ClAys COL,
forney said, Here IL a PhilAdslphlA Q1akef
Abolitlonist ready TO hHhL" 90 Ia, said Mr..
CLAY and take Eun, Hhas come to that now !.
didnt know much about guns, but / took
one. remember that the next day the Hon,
Simon Cameron, then Secretary OIL War, said
pee % eo1id S .ss A AZ 5S Lees war wi'hour
He wAs right A. We passed over the road
o. MassAohuSstts still Teddonsd the streets OF
Baltimore. =
Another memory Il Of the Baltimore Cos
yention aud the renominAtioh Of Preaident
Lipooln. had the hoaor- 70 be one OF the
ueleggiaA IRON Louisiana, Our delegation
called 70 eonkIAtulAte the President on hll
nomination, And II was said TO him that We
meant TO nOminAtb and elect him, until the
nation was restored, so that II should never
be said that there was al lntefregnnm In our
government, wherein any one President did
not Tula oVeF ali tho Stkloa. He replied that
be supposed We thought Il WAI not we'll TO
swap horhea swimming river, aud 90 we !
held on TO him mn the nation gets oVer.n
Mr.. President, II 10 six years since that dAy |
have not been here until now. Prom that
tins until this have been steadily lAboFInE |
In the South to rebuild our shattered nation
allty and 70 festore the waste places, stand.