The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-05-07
Rauers Maiden Speech.


The population of Washington as curiosity
mongers have no equal on the face OF the globe
In spite of their familiarity with startling events
and persons, they take to a new thing as eagerly
as the veriest provincials. For several days they
have hung around the Capitol on suspicion that
the negro Senator was to make his maiden speech,
and on Thursday they were gratifed in hearing
him. They crowded into every nook and corner
of the Senate Chamber, and waited with breath
less interest for the words of wisdom that should
fall from his lips. The sight was certainly novel
but it lacked many elements OF the picturesque
or the sensational. 1t was simply interesting, as
the attempt of 4 plain man to do a plain and
simple duty to his constituents and his country.
There was nothing heroic III it, and nothing that
required Senators TO half embrace him. when his
hour was up, or for the enthusiastic Morton to
exclaim that the Senate had lost nothing in the
intelligence by the exchange of Mr.. Revels for
JEFF. Davis, and had gained much IN patriotism.
/ 4 rather good looking mulattO, dressed in solemn
black, his nose with eyeglass bestrid, his hair
and beard close cut, his manly form in the place
of Fenton, his speech IN manuscript, a delivery
nervous at first and at no time marked, senti-
ments familiar and trite and made significant by
the color of the speaker-these were the salient
features of the spectacle, and these invest the
same with some degree of interest as it goes upon
the canvass of history. Had the Representative
negro been a Douglass, then might the occasion
have lowered up into somewhat of grandeur.
Mr.. Revels made a neat apology for so soon
breaking silence in the imposing Senate chamber.
His term is short, and the issues TO which be
addressed himself are mOmentous to his race.
These must be bis excuse, and moreover the
safety of the lOyal blacks and whites in States
lately in rebellion is in question. The Senator
remarked upon and denied the statement that the
blacks were inteut upon gaining power at what
ever cost. The men who make this charge were
those who predicted a servile war in the South.
Mr.. Revels then showed how patient the blacks
,,o,o 1910 - ,or, xrhiob rroS ra-aI 70 r.ro3 -on
chains upon them. Southern women were left
defenceless, but the blacks evinced no malignity.
The Senator said "They knew if the gallant
corps of national soldiers were beaten back, and
their flag trailed in the dust, that it was the
presage of still heavier bondage. They longed,
too, as their fathers did before them, for the
advent of that epoch, over which was shed the
hallOwed light of inspiration itself. They desired,
too, with their fathers, to welcome the feet of
the strangers, shod with the peaceful preparation
of good news. Weary years of bondage had told
their tale of sorrow to the Court of Heaven. In
the councils of the Great Father of All they
knew the adjudication of their case, albeit delayed
for years, in which patient suffering had nearly
exhausted itself, would in the end, bring them
the boon for which they sighed-God's most
blessed gift TO his creatures-the inestimable
boon of liberty They waited, and they saved
the land from horrors unparalleled. To-day these |
blacks entertain no hatred of the whites. They
ask only for common rights, and for no exclusive
Mr.. Revels made a strong appeal to Congress
for the protection Of the lOyalists, and came out
very strong against the Bingham amendment to
the Georgia Bill. This amendment declares that
the bill shall not yacate any of the Offices now
filled in the State. either by election or appoint
ment, and shall not extend the official tenure of
any officer of the State beyond the term limited
by the State Constitution, dating from the cleo
or appointment Of such officer, nor to deprive
the people of Georgia Of the right under their
to elect Senators and Representatives
Of the State in 1870, either on the day named in
the Constitution, or such other day as the present
Legislature may designate by law. This amend
ment is obnoxious to the Georgia blacks, and is
likely to be voted down in the Senate. Yester-
day a large delegation of Georgians waited on
the President and protested against the Bingham
as calculated to place the colored
people where they were before the war.
The speech of Senator Revcls may not have
any marked influence on public events, but it
have an influence upon popular thought.
The blacks may well pay heed to his words, for
hey tend to check some of the warm impulses
n which their ardent natures have INDUCED, and
"hlte men may be assured that sensible negroes,
ike MIR. Revels, are content to make progress
Y. Spectator.