Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-07-11
THE RED MEN.
Grafton OF Hon Edvs ard L. GoIIIday,
Delivered at Mount Juliet, Wilson
County, Tenn.. July 4. fS7I-

PASPAAO oSAh PANRSAtJ Ia eh ONSooAOAA
of this sort, ask your attention to some
thoughts which l have been enabled to
prepare within the last few hours, regard
ing the interesting and attractive associa
ton known in this country as the I'm
proved Order of Red Men.
That was grand idea which Csperni-
Gus gave the world, in the 18th century,
as the result of twenty years profound
study and ref .ction, upon all the knowl-
edge of the heavens, which Chaldaic ira
dition had brought down through long
and misty generations, and of all the
learning which the Ptolemaic astrologers
had contributed to the science of astrono-
my, when, he taught US, at last, the sun,
is the centre of our system, around which,
in grand ellipses the earth, moon and
stars, go cnoiring in immortal harmony.
In this one focal idea, he mapped for us,
by his genius, the floors. of the sky, and
taught astronomers and philosophers of
later times, to measure and weigh the dis
tant star of evening, and the moons of
Jupiter, with the same accuracy and ease
that the marketer measures and weighs
bis commodities at the doorway
of his customer. Acting upon
Capernican skill and principles, the now
unseen and rowing comet, beyond the
confines of space, has been cyphered for,
and counted in the list of certain knowl-
edge, with all the regularity of the seasons
| in their annual round; and he may now
be seen stalking into our heavens in the
very moment when astronomic caleula-
ton announces his fiery train as due.
Guided by Capernican wisdom, we are no
longer frightened at the eclipses of the
sun, but promptly at the time foretold US
upon the dial-plate, we turn our eyes to
behold the wonder, and shivering in the
chill and darkened air, as it comes over
| US, fairly feel ourselves resolved into that
| primeval dawn when first the morning
stars of God sang together, and the grand
machinery of creation, for the first time,
commenced its mysterious AMI wonderful
evolutIons
But, methinks, geography on earth
| hath no less her greatness and wonder
than that of the heavens; its grand ideas
| and discoveries, its practical wisdom and
Importance, of more useful avail, per-
haps, than the mysteries of astronomy.
And, surely, the idea which possessed the
brain of Columbus in that same fifteenth
| century-himself the neighbor and
cOuntryman of Capernicus been
attended with no less great results than that
| of Capernicus himself, the idea that far in
the West existed vast and UNEMPLOYED
continent upon whose fair lands no East
ern eye had ever rested, and whose wa
ters had never been vexed by an European
craft. Acting upon the grand conception
of a new world, day in and day out, the
great navigator, danced attendance at
the Court of Isabella, the Spanish Queen,
beseeching her to fit vessels and COM
mand, that he might go into the dropping
West and find another continent. At last
generous and noble queen heard him
for his much speaking. His little feet
was ordered and rugged. Guided by the
mariners faithful needle, with the Span
ish banner at the masthead, the bold
adventurer set sail in search of Western
world. How dreary was that voyage on
the seas Days and weeks came and
went, and still the same wide expanse of
water and sky greeted the anxious and
despairing eyes Of thst adventurous crew.
Now and then the great sea serpent came
floating by as il to warn Columbus he
was sailing in forbidden waters. The
monsters of the deep glared from out the
depths of the sea upon the frail barks
which sailed above their beds.
No lands, no friendly ports.
no living intelligence cheered
the weary mariners on their journey to
the West. No friendly sails, of return
ing vessels hailedlthem, in that vast ex
panse of water, to tell of news in dis
tant potts. All hearts sickeued anG
sighed for an European return, save tht
hopeful and dauntless heart of Columbus
He alone, with prophetic ken, saw q
western shore. At length hope bloomeC
anew. Strange birds came twineriIe
through the sky-the air became changed
from the salt and breezy smell of the sea
and was laden with the rich aroma
waited from Indis's isles-and soon tht
sailor, looking out from his rigging, behelC
the land-the blessed land, wherein he
hoped to set his foot once more. Aud
now, as neared the coast, who shoult
| greet himf No European-nO Asiatic-nC
| AfTic's sOn-but there rose up to startl
his vision, the strange and mysteriou
Red Man! Yes, upon that newly found
shore, stood the Red Man of the forest
the most solemn and mysterious child OF
the Great Spirit. Who is hel Whence dit
he comet What of his history and desti
nyl Who could answer these ques
tionsl None! No not one of tina
Spanish crew-nOt even Columbu
himself with his far reaching
wisdom, could give any account of tn,
Red Man of the West. The Jewish Bibl
contained the history of the twelve tribe
of Israel, and furnished much knowledge
of the Gentle nations, with whom the.
had been in cOntaC:. The Egyptian AM
Babylonish records had left much infor
nation of themselves, and the nations
with whom they had lived in peace, ant
strove in battle. Alexander the Grea
had marched across Asia, and upon thu
Ganges, and beside the Indusshad cap
tured the Monaghan and the heather
Chinee, and exhibited them to the aston
ished jewellers upon the Hellespont. Roma
and Grecian history had spoken of strang
nations and curious people,-but in a
this vast record Of time, of which Colum
bus could well speak, there was no rec
ord of the Red Man of America, no type
no generation from which he could b
traced. Into the history of the then ex
listing world, he had never been ineorpo
rated. His squaw, dear to his forest
heart, had never danced to the music 0
, | an Andalusian minstrel, in the sunny elm
Of the olive and myTtle-his papOOSe
! swinging upon the back of its mother
: had never vexed the nerves of SPANS
} beauty, as it whimpered for themilk whicl
flowed in the breast of its dark eyed an
| ! red-skinned mother. In all Europe
| all Asia-in all Africa-even within tn
, lids of Holy Writ, was found no accOun
of the American Red Mani The shining
: big sea water had severed him from tn
East, as an impossible gulf-the. ice
bound regions of the pole had sealed a
entrance by the North, while the tori
South, with its vast expanse of waite
: shut him iu-and thus he was found sol
dweller, and lord of the western hemi:
, phere.
And now, nearly four centuries late
than when the Indian was first found
: taking the Mosaic account of creation
biblical chronology, all historical account
= | extant. and the MANY and delightful speC