Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-09-22

rllpted with enthusiastic applause. He
Clay.
ine party were then conducted througl
Inc throng TO their carriages aud then {,
Tue, dalt House, where the streets wers
iihea with people awaiting bin. A larg'
Sohcotrse followed along the way. Bon
nfes were built in the streets, numbers oi
buildings decorated and some illuminated
Platform was erected at the solIthwes
corner OF the Gait House, and few min
utes aIter bis arrival Mr.. Greeley appeared
ON the platform and was introduced by MFR
henry Watterson, of the COVieT-J Journal
and spoke as follows:
Oitlzens of Louisville: Standing on thi.
soil OF Kentucky, | ask you, who are nv
associates IN the great Liberal movement OF
tile DAY, to bear testimony with Gle to GER
tam truths: First, is it not true that we
desire a government of Just and equal laws,
winch shall extent eqdsl favor and equal
pfotectlon 10 every American citizen?
SUreat applause and cries of That's SOL Is
u not true That while we demand repeal
OF all dlsiranchisement, of all prescriptions
oi americans because of the part they
oore In our late struggle, that we desire
tllat no man shall be disfranchised. that no
nian shall be prescribed, but that every
man shall stand on an equal platform with
ourselves? Is not that the fact? (Cries Of
yes, Thst's SOP b it not true that we
have no expectation no purpose, no. nm
derstanding, that the Rebel debt shall be
paid, or the Rebel soldiers pensioned, or the
slaves emancipated by the result of the war
paid for? Is it not true that we have 10
purpose or expectation or understanding
that any Of these things shall be done?
(Great applause and cries OF You are right
Now fellOw-citizens, l wish TO call your at
tention to an aspect Of this struggle which
has not yet been presented. There is no
class of our citizens, no part Of the Ameri-
can people who have so real and great an
interest in the success of our movement as
the colored, people of this country, for
though they knew that We all admit that
their rights are perfectly secured by the
Constitution, and that none can GO back of
that, it is still their real interest that those
rights shall not be merely accorded bat
that they shall be cheerfully accorded; that
there shall be no opposition, no
objection TO their enjoying Just
the same political and civil
rights that we do. 1t is their interest more
than yours or mine, that all contention con
corning black men or white men should
cease; that every individual shall he Judge
and estimated according TO his worth, with
no respect whatever to color or condition.
IL our movement succeeds, there is no
party, there is no considerable faction.
there is really nobody, left in the field op-
posing or Objecting to their standing on "a
platform Of American nationality.
[Great applluse.l l say, then, 1t is their
clear interest that our movement shall
be welcomed, and ratified and approved
by the entire American people. And yet
it is very discouraging fact presented to
Us, that there is no other class so generally
aud 50 bitterly opposing us as they are.
There is no other class, as class, who In
sist so thoroughly on misapprehending aud
us. say not this TO ex-
cite prejudice against them. They are ig-
lorant and their ignorance is not their own
fault, though it is their and our misfortune.
They are misled and We are illuminated
n their ears. Why have been repeatedly
asked to contradict assertions that | have
been 4 negro trader. Even on my way t.
his place ono quadrOOn girl after hearing
ne speak, said, 81 would stick knife into
his heart: he sold my mother in Richmond
(Great laughter.) | can imagine q
'eaSon why lies like that should be told.
AN imagine no reason why good men and
women should not everywhere discounte-
lauce and refIIte them. Ii is, l say, a mis-
Iortnne of the colored people, misfortune
Of our people, that they as a class are
steeled against as. They will not
hear us. They do not believe us. They
lre told That this movement is contriv-
ance to get them enslaved again, virtually
# not absolutely, and that all the preten-
,iOns OF the Cincinnati platform and il S
Baltimore endorsement in favor of equal
rights are frauds, are lies. t''If this party
/" says Mr. Wendell Phillips, ''yOn
must conceal your property and take care
1f your arms Now felloW-citizens | state
.hese facts here, not that l would have
YOu think any worse Of this misguided
people; | state them because | wSnt you
10 realize that ignorance is a
public peril, that you cannot well afford to
have any part of your people growing
I'D in the dense unacquaintsnce with public
men and affairs that they can be deceived
and misl9d as this people are. You want
10 take care thai they shall be too wise, too
well inform d, to be thus deceived anu ms
guided Fellow-citiZans, if our movement
shall prevail, as l trust it will prevail, We
will sweep away all this refuse of lies in
three months. We will say to the colored
men, we proffar you nothing except the
of the laws, the same for YOU as
Tor US. You have your living 10 earn as
well as We. You viii have to use all your
abilities, all your energies, all your faculties;
and make the most of them You
can. The laws do not favor you,
but they will thoroughly protect you. In
5hree RmOnths, If we succeed, the cOlOrad
people will be so disabused that the same
men can never deceive them again, never
again. But suppose we tail, and we may
fail, IA voice, We are not going to fall If
the c5iored men did not believe that the
power was against us, that the money was
against us, iftheS did not realize that the
Treasury, the army, the navy, The
one hundred thousand office
holders were all banded against us
in force which they believe
we cannot overcome, ,fthey certainly would
not be so universally hostile to US. They
.hink we cannot succeed and they want to
be on the winning side. That is a part of
il. But they are also deluded in re-
gard to our purposes. We say, we are not
your enemies, we viii not be your oppres-
sors. We viii not, though you have done
Us injustice. We will try as well as we
can to have your children educated, en-
Iightened, so that the mistake you have
made cannot be made over and over again.
That is where we stand.
Now, fellOw-citizens, why do we con-
Iemn prescription? They mistake who say
that there are only two or three hundred
eft now forbidden TO exercise the common
rights Of American citizens. 1t is not so.
There are thousands. There are five thOus-
and disfranchised in the State OF Arkansas
alone, and the men who hold them disfr4n-
chised expect to carry that State against us
by virtue of that disfrancliisement. But dc
not numbers of other men, who are not un-
der this ban, feel themselves pros
,ribed because others are for an of
Tense which was their Ofi1nse
as well? So long as you have a
prescribed class in the country, men all
around them, honorable, generous men will
frel 81 ought to be prescribed the same as
that man; the difference was only by acci-
dent; he happened to take an oath or fill an
office before the struggle that did not, but
his yrriif ffNar,