National Republican., 1883-04-17


rebellion was in the fullnoss of its strength,
bold, defiant, victorious and confident Of ul-
innate success. The great man on horseback
had not then become visible along the western
horizon Sherman had not begun his trium-
phant march 20 the sea- But there wero
moral and intellectual giants in the councils
of the nation at that time. We saw in the
senate chamber the towering form of the la
mented Sumner, the earnest aud practical
Henry Wilson, the honest and courageous
Benjamin f. Wade, the strong and fear
less Zachariah Chandler, the man who
took the unsuccessful general from the head
of the army of the Potomac In the house
we had an array of brilliant men, such as
Thaddeus Stevens, Owen Lovejoy, and A. q.
Riddle, the first TO advocate in congress the
arming of the negro in defense of the union.
There, too, was Thomas ID. Elliott, Henry
Winter Davis, William ID. Kelly, Roscoe Conk-
ling, than whom there has appeared in the
senate of the nation no patriot more pure,
no orator more brilliant, no friend to liberty
and progress more sincere. l speak all tho
more freely of him since he is now out
of politics, and in some sense, under
the shadow of defeat. / cannot forget that
these brave men, and others just as worthy
of mention, fully comprohended the
demands Of the hour, and had the courage and
the sagacity to meet those demands. They
saw that slavery was the root, the sap, the
motive, and handspring of the rebellion, and
that the way to kill the rebellion was to de-
stroy its cause. Among the great names
which should never be forgotten on occa-
sions like this there Is one which should
never be spoken but with reverence, graft
tude, and atfection-the one man of all the
millions Of our countrymen to whom we are
more indebted for united nation and for
American liberty than to any other, and that
name Is Abraham Lincoln, the greatest states
man that ever presided over the des-
TIMES of this republic. The time is too
short, his term of Office is too recent
to permit or to require extended notice Of his
craftsmanship or of his moral aud mental
qualities. We all know Abraham Lincoln by
heart. In looking back to the many great
men Of twenty years ago, we find him the
tallest figure of them all His mission was
to close up chasm opened by an earthquake
and he did 1t. 1t was his to call back bleed
ing, dying, and dismembered nation to life
and he did it. 1t was his TO free his country
from the crime, curse, and disgrace of slavery
and to lift millions to the plane Of humanity,
and he did it.
Never was statesman surrounded by greater
difficulties, and never were difficulties more
ably wisely, and firmly met.
Friends and fellow citizens, in conclusion,
l return TO the point from which l started,
namely: What is to be the future of the
colored people Of this country Some change
in their condition seems to bo looked for by
thoughtful men everywhere; but what that
change will be no one yet has been able with
certainty to predict. Three different solu-
tions to this difficult problem have been given
and adopted by different classes of the Ameri-
can people. First, colonization in Africa
second, extinction through poverty, disease,
and death third, assimilation and unifica-
tion with the great body Of the American
people. Plainly, IL is matter about
which no man can be very positive. In
scanning the social sky, he may fall into
mistakes rs great as those which vexed
the souls of q Virgins and Vennor and other
weather prophets. Appearances are decep-
tive. No man can see the end from the be-
ginning. 1t is, however, consoling to think
that this limitation upon human foresight has
helped us in the past and may help us in the
future. Could William the Silent have fore
seen the misery and ruin he would bring
upon his country by taking up the sword
against the Spanish inquisition he might have
thought the sacrifice too great. Had William
Lloyd Garrison foroseen that he would be
hated, prosecuted, mobbed, imprisoned, and
drawn through the streets of his beloved Bos-
ton with halter about his neck even his
courage might have quailed, and the
native hue of his resolution been
sicklied Ger with the pale cast
coin have foreseen the immense cost, the
terrible hardships, the awful waste of blood
and treasure involved in the effort to retake
and repossess tho ports and arsenals and other
property captured by the confederate states,
could he have foreseen the tears of the widows
and orphans, and his own warm blood trick
ling at the bidding of an assassin's bullet he
might have thought the sacrifice too great.
In every great movement men are prepared
by preceding events for those which arc to
come. We neither know the evil nor the good
which may be in store for us. Twenty y-fve
years ago the system of slavery seemed i'm
pregnable. Cotton was king and tho civil
lied world acknowledged his sway. Twenty
five years ago no man could have fore
seen that in less than ten years from
that timo no master would WELD a lash, and
no slave would clank chain in the United
States. Who at that time dreamed that
negroes would ever be seen, rs we have seen
them to-day, marching through the streets of
this superb city-the capital of this great
nation-with eagles on their buttons, muskets
on their shoulders, and swords by their sides,
timing their high footsteps to the "Star
Spangled Banner" and the Red, White and
Blue?" Who at that time dreamed that col
ored men would ever sit in the house of rep
resentatives and in the senate of the United
States2 With knowledge of the events of
the last score of years, with knowledge of
the sudden and startling changes which
have already come to pass, l am not
prepared to say what the future will
be. But ] will say that l do not look
for colonization, either in or outside of tho
United States. Africa is too far off, even IL
we desired to go there, which we do not.
The navy of all the world would not be suf-
fcient to remove our natural increase to that
far off country. Removal to any of the terri
tories is out of the question.
ehave no business to put ourselves before
the bayonets of the white race. We have
seen the fate of the Indian. As to extinction,
the prospect in that direction has been
greatly clouded by the census Just taken, in
which it is seen that our increase is 10 per
cent. greater than that of the white people of
the south.
There is but one destiny, il seems to me,
left for us, and that is to make ourselves, and
TO be made by others, part of the American
people in every sense of the word assimilation,
not isolation, is our true policy and our nat
ural destiny. Uni6cation for us is life. Sepa-
ration is DEATH We cannot afford to set up
for ourselves separate political party or
adopt for ourselves political creed apart
from the rest of our fellow citizens, Our own
interests will be best subserved by generous
care for the interests of the nation at large
All the political, social, and literary
forces around us tend to unifcation.
am the more inclined to accept this solu-
tion, because have seen the steps already
taken in that direction. The American peo-
pie have their prejudices, but they have other
qualities AS we'll. They easily adapt them
selves to inevitable conditions, and all their
tendency is to progress, enlightenment, and
to the universal.
It's comm yet, for a. that,
That man TO man. the Ward DER,