New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1874-05-21

of every State and Territory, and were com
missioncd by the Executive of the nation
The Centennial is to be held "under the aus
pices OF the National Government" Its
officers are to report regularly to the National
Government, and finally, when "all is made
ready for the festival, the Executive of the
nation is TO proclaim the fact to the nations
and to communicate the regulations that may
be adopted for its control to the representa-
tives of such nations.
Inc construction which to me seems the
only proper one of all these dOings and say
lngs, is, that all does, in the ordinary signii-
canoe OF the words used, means that the va
rlOus nations Of the earth are formally and
officially informed of these doings; and that
they may take special means by distortion of
words to consider themselves by all means
TO absent themselves, but that they were in
vited by their representatives to be present
and participate in this National and Interna-
tiOnal Festival, and in an exhibition of natu-
raj resources, in the products Of the shop and
the mine, and in the evidences of the adj
vanccment made in social, educational, SCI
entific and mechanical progress within the
Republic of the western continent.
And finally, am constrained to a hearty
support of the Centennial from a conviction
that whether the effect of the Exhibition be
great or small, whether it be entirely bcnc-
ficial or not upon the Northern or Eastern
States, its results upon the Western, and par
ticulary the Southern States, will be prolific
in great and unminSled good.
With n climate of uneXamplcd mildness,
and yet, with the exception of extreme cold,
existing in various sections, almost every
conceivable grade of temperature, between
the mild temperate and the tropical; with
every known description of soil, the various
kinds being intcrminglcd in all desirable ways
and i'll large proportion of character for
fertility cqnaling the best; with a range of
vegetable production, extending from the
lime, the cocoa, and the coffee from the fer
vent climate of the Tropic, to the green, the
forage, and the fruit of the Temperate zone,
the South, as a distinct division of our COM
mon country is worthy of vastly more attcn-
ton, relatively, than she has vet received.
In no part of the world that has for an
equal length of time been occupied by civil
lied men, can be found so great a wealth of
mineral resources, that is so little known and
has received so slight a comparative develop
mcnt.
For more than half century, the South as
whole has been given so exclusively to az
rlcultural pursuits and those of the ruder
kinds alone, which were involved in the
raising, by unskilled labor the usual crops of
corn, cane and cotton, as now in the time Of
an entire revolution of her whole system of
labor, to find herself utterly destitute
OF those higher agricultural and mechanical
cmploymcnts which have proved 50 lucrative
in the North and West.
Again by the abolition Of slavery, in which
mainly by her own fault but also partially
through the consenting federation of the
North and West, the South was instantane-
ously deprived OF an incalculablc amount of
capital actually invested, which has operated
as a similar destruction of what stood for
property and represented capital, would have
operated elsewhere in the world, and has re-
duced the whole section to comparative, and
it may be said, actual poverty.
With all her great variety of valuable pro-
auctions, and all her great wealth of mineral
resources; with her abundance of cheap fuel
for the operation of steam machinery and
plenary water power abundant through her
whole extent, the South, may be said to fur
nish a vast, rich field for profitable develop
ment OF MANUFACTURER industry, but as vet
almost entirely unoccupicd.
The patent sources of untold wealth re-
main dormant, because first, this existence
is only known to small proportion of the
world, who never dream of the advantages
there offered: and second, because of q wide
ly prevalent notion that the introduction of
capital would not be safe and immigration
would not there be welcome.
Knowing personally that in my own sunny
State, as fair and promising fields for asri-
cultural labor, mechanical skill and manufac-
turing capital, are offered, with as much of
sale, as hearty welcome, and rs good a
prospect OF success as can be found any,
where, in the North or West, OR indeed in
the world; and having reason to believe that,
in these respects, what is true Of Florida is
true of the South as whole, 1 am anxious
that she should be better known to our pco-
pie and to the nations Of the world.
Seeing, then, in the proposed Centennial
Exposition, an opportunity not likely soon
to recur, to exhibit to the widest observation
the manifold capacities and resources of the
Southern States, and to make fully known to
the sensible appreciation of the largest num-
Der of discriminating observers, the thousand
rare and valuable inducements to immigra-
ton, have in addition to that general inter.
est so proper for all, an interest which is, 1
trust, of a pardOnable sectional character,
that my own State, and her sisters of the
South may have a chance to be more fully
and more particularly known, for then know
they will be more highly considered.
ANU nUWs tiIilOSJ L leave LIllS
subject with closing remark:
l desire to say, as of my own personal
knowledge, that in my own State very much
of the not ineXplicable bitterness and hos
tility of feeling between the different classes
not, as it strikes me, unnaturally so, has now
for several years been gradually and rapidly
disappearing until now, it would not be easy
for Northern or Western man to discover
the fact of his being in former slave State
from any popularity of the treatment that he
as a stranger, would there receive.
AS rapid and as extensive progress towards
homogenity of feeling and unity of inter.
est, rs could possibly have been anticipated
by the most sangu.ne anti-slavcry man oil
ten years ago.
From this, as a natural result, it has fol.
lowed that very much more of feeling OF
acceptation of the startling results of the late
war is actually felt, than is by any one pub.
licly acknowledged.
The sanctity Of the Union is tacitly con.
coded, the majesty of the inherent power Of
| free government is felt and known, so much
| so that If, IN the future, any strong tendency
| to increasing the power of the Government
| by concentration should ever be manifested
| it will, in my opinion, first develop itself in
the Southern States.
While something of remaining bitterness
still rankles in the breasts of small portion
of the "irreconcilable," it docs not indicate
the general feeling.
| With the many, and the best of the whole
the old Government and Constitution o
the Fathers have received an increased sane
ton from their baptism of blood.
| The streaming folds of the Flag of thu
Free" have received an increase of force ant
an added significance.