American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-02-05
d. L1HiRS SPEHCH on TIE CEN
TENNIfL BILL.

est orator, and to succeed to the
glor.ous title of the % Pacilicator'
Last week, while the men of the
two sections were glaring angrily
at each other-their dormant preju-
dices aroused by the bitter acrimony
of tho ili-timed and ill-advised de-
bate on the amnesty blll-Mr. Lat
mar arose to speak in favor of
granting Government aid to the
Centennial Exposition, and his pa
triotic ntterances fell like "uil upon
the troubled waters:'
In discussing the Constitutional
ty of the appropriation, Mr.. Lamar
said the Constitution Was no eng
ma it was grand, august, impOs-
ing reality. He favored the cele-
bl alton, in order that the people of
the North should become satisfied
of the longing desire of the South
ern people to live with them in per.
peiual union, and before that PAS
sion all others siuk into tSsignifi.
canoe. He deprecated an allusion
made by Mr.T0wrseud, of New DIRK,
last week, to Preston Brooks, and
intimated that the inevitable effect
of the ailusion was to excite pas
sion, inhame animosity, and awaken
the hatred of sectionalism.
He advocated this scheme because
it carried out the spirit of peace and
reconciliation. 1t was something
like the image of the feeling of the
people, who demanded that the ali
enatiOn and distrust which had
heretofore existed between the two
sections of the Union should no
longer obstrmct the glOries of the
Republic or the prosperity and hap
piness Of the American people. AS
God was his Judge. he did not be-
lieve that that alienation existed
any longer. Never, slnce Jefferson
was first inaugurated, had the ell.
tire mass of the American people
been animated by purer, intensei,
broader, more universal patriotism,
looking to universal brothei Ia God
and affection. lie knew that that
sentiment had not found its full
expression here that it had been
kept down and smOthered in the
mesles of an intolerant political or
gahization, and that its voice had
not been heard amid the clamoss
and appeals of impassioned parti-
sans. Bat, in the political as well
as the natural world, the agencies
that were most powerful were not
the most noisy. Violence, passion.
fana.ieism, anilaosity, could always
find voices and fill the air with their
factions clamOrs, while the deep
and earnest feelings of Il great peo-
pile lay unspoken i'm their hearts.
The currents of passion and feeling
might flow hither and thither.
dashed by eXtraneOus agencies, but
there was, in the great sea of un-
sounded depth, a common humani-
ty, a common hope, Il common in
terest and a common patriotism,
which lay uuspoken. (Applause.)
From the Washington Correspondent Of
the Chicago Times.l
Although Lainar's purpose OF
Joining in the Centennial debate
was an after-thought, suggested
and urged by friends of the bill, he
had hardly risen in his place ere the
hall and galleries, which had become
empty and demoralized, filled up and
Quieted to almost painful intensity.
A scene almost as passi0nateiy sen
satiOnal as that which MAI ked the
first two days of the amnesty de-
bate, followed. 1t was known that
impulsive efforts had been made to
debate, and give him an opportuni-
ty 10 put his Southern brethren in a
less antagonistic position to North
ern sentiment than that i'm which
the speeches of Hill aud Tucker had
left them. He was known to have
deprecated all revivals of that dis
cussion, and to have counseled his
own folks to bide their time, so that
their acts might show the world
that Hill had not spoken the South
ern sentiment. When, therefore,
Lamal's slim form and pale face
appeared among the Republican
benches, profound silence fell upon
the House. All signs of iGattentiou
and WEAKNESS were swept from the
faces on the floor and in the gallery
There was no occasion tor the
Speakers gavel. The audience could
fairly hear itself breathe. as his
splendid e'oquence forced itself
forth. In the vigorous crystaIiza-
ton of law and logic by which his
faith was justified, he appealed only
to reason. There was no claptrap
invoked. Blaine had been heard
with gIistening eyes, clenched
hands and grinding teeth, with re-
pugnance, Indignation and inered-
Utility but this man, nursing almost
lhe same themes, asked only the
; rational Judgment of his hearers,
and resorted to no surprises, OF ar
guments, or tricks in expression, to
recommend his reasoning to the
House. A House which had heard
with hostile liberation, but without
surprise, the foolish State rights
issue of the Virginian Tucker, who
argued with the accuracy of a law
yer and the readiness of a proies
sor-for lie had been boih-lIstened
with amazcment to an argument
against it by IA typical Southerner.
The Republicans listened III stupe-
! faction. Had wisdom finally come