The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-07-05
gallant sons. Sir, this is not the spirit that
anin,ates the people Of this great North.

animates the people Of this great North.
This spirit of hate that these men breathe
finds no resting-place among the people Of
New England or the people of the Northwest
This spirit Of hate and vengeance is not the
spirit which animated the brave men and fair
women of this great city, who but day ago.
on yonder sacred heights of Arlington, paid
their tributes of respect and love to valor, nor
asked whether the grave their offerings beauti-
fed held within its icy arms one who wore the
Federal blue or one who died in gray 1t is
not the spirit Of hate and vengeance that per-
vades in this country: but it is spirit OF
love and devotion and good will and good
wishes to the suffering and struggling people
of the South. Thank God, only here and
there in this broad land we find men who for
selfish ends and sordid purposes seek to mis-
lead the people of the North as to the hopes
and aspirations Of the people of the
South. They are men who for
get that in presence of the dead
the eye of anger should lose its baleful fire,
and fill with the warm and holy light of kind
ness. They are the men who forget that VEN
geance should doff its casque of steel, take of
its shoes of mail, and tread with reverent foot
steps and uncovered head beside the graves
where brave men sleep They are the men
who forget that while it is possible to crush
the armies and bury the banners of a people,
it is not possible to entomb their memories.
Memory, sir is monarch who holds UNI
bounded sway i'll enchanted realms and when
he waves his mighty wand bolts and bars and
all the contrivances of human ingenuity to
stay his progress are of no avail At his be-
hest, all that is grand or beautiful or worth re-
calling in the history Of people, marching
with noseless footsteps to music unheard of
mortal ears, sweeps by his throne i'll grand
procession.
Let it not be written. let it not 60 down in
history, that We struck chains from the limbs
them upon the limbs of eight millions of
white people. / believe that the black race Of
this country should have every right that
we possess But l do not believe they
should have any more Not for them as has
been the case in Louisiana, should armies be
invoked to destroy the sanctity Of the ballot
and to silence the voice Of the people. Not
under the pretense that it is for their elevation
should eight millions of people, in whose
hearts to-day throbs the same blood that
throbs in yours and mine, be made to pass
under the yoke and be smitten with thongs
all the law gives for their equality. But their
supremacy, if supremacy they achieve, should
be the result Of their own efforts, net enforced
ny TeutIdl UaNOueiS. I1IlultS IL uetu NC W
sustain them in their rights, but no arms to
sanctify their wrongs and give them force
of law.
For myself ask nothing. Ispeak for Lou
isiana. l claim for her the justice which is her
birth-right Clothed in the garments of woe,
bending her queenly head in sorrow, suffering
such oppression as never before fell to the lot
of any State in the Union, she yet maintains
her faith in the Federal compact, her belief in
the justice of this great nation. Weak and
tottering as she is, her hand would. be
among the first to seize the sword if wars
alarm were sounded in the land; if danger
threaten, side by side, shoulder to shoulder,
the men who live beneath her tropic skies
would march with the men Of the North in de-
Tense of this nations honor.
I ask such judgment at your hands as l am
entitled to expect. ask no Republican votes
because have been a Republican. ask no
Democratic votes because have in the Last
election affiliated with the Democracy. I sim
ply ask you shall do the people justice in the
person Of the representative they have sent
here.