The Russellville Democrat., 1888-06-28

people cannot forget or reno unce their past. The contempt of civiliz. ed mankind would be the just pen atty of craven race who could re- pudiate the memory of an honorable ancestry. Should the people of the South cease to honor their past, should they ever sink so low as to teach their children that they are the offspring of a race of traitors, should they ever so far forget them. selves as to adopt the estimate put upon them by those who misunder- stood and misju them, they would deserve to be hissed from this plan ets There is no race on earth base enough to be the associates of peo- pie who would degrade themselves. Self-rcspect was all that was left us by the cyclone of war; and to this invisible sentiment is due that rapid recuperation which has astonished the world. But, while we honor our past and ever will, we do accept, in good faith and as final forever, the settlement of It's controversies. Brethren, I am Mississippian, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, represen- tative of the new generation that have come on the scene; and l de- clare to you that we have accepted the settlement of the war with no expectation and no desire of ever re opening in any way the issues which it closed.
 Do you fear that the spirit of se- cession still lives ln the Southern heart? You are mistaken. It has departed forever. It was extingulsh- ed by the storm of war. The politi- cal cult that sustained it has been swept away by the march of events, and the abolition of slavery destroy ed the only conceivable occasion of it's application. Instead of the spir- it of secession, SIT, we behold the un- exampled spectacle of brave people who staked and lost their all in a desperate struggle for their convic tions, and who look without blush upon their past, grateful for the de feat that overwhelmed their hopes
 Do you fear that we would restore the old order of things? You do not understand the South. A more pre- posterous dream never disturbed a patriots sleeping or waking thoughts! As soon, sir, expect New England to sell slaves agaln, as she once did, or burn witches at the stakel The South could not, if it would--aud I call heaven to witness that it would not if it could-roll the chariot of it's progress backward a single day.
 Do you insist that we shall adopt your method of dealing with our race problem in the South2 Mir. Presi- dent, there is no problem before the American people more difficult to solve than this one. Sir,it is easy to theorize; to construct an ideal social State: to create Utopia and people it with beings of our imagination. But circumstances limit the appli- cation of our theories, and in our practial dealings with men we are obliged to make large allowances for theIr surroundings. We do not differ so much about the theory of negro elevation, but about the policy by which it may be realized. We be- lieve as firmly as you do, that the negro is man, redeemed man, a freeman; and, as such, IS entitled to all that manhood confers. Perhaps we have not done all that we might have done to help our "brother in black" but you will permit one whose father gave the best years of his life to missionary work among the negroes of the South, and who is himself the firm friend of all wise measures for their advancement, to tell you that we have done more than you give us credit for. But, sir, we believe that it IS impractic- able to ignore the differences between the races at the South that the at tempt, to do it will retard the pro- gress we desire to promote.
 
 Sir, we may differ on the great his toric questions of social polity, we may differ on the questions Of po.lti- cal administration; but there are two questions about which the South and theNorth will never differ again. One is, that this Union is one and indissoluble forever. We are
 "One flag, one land, one heart, one hand,
 One nation eyermorep
 The other is that the name "Amer- ica" shall be the very synonym of freedom
 fsFor 10 the fuIlness of the time has come,
 And over all the exile's Western home,
 From sea to sea the flowers of freedom
 bloomr'
 Henceforth and forever, America and freedom are the same.
 Mir. President, l have thought it appropriate to refer to the consensus of conservative public opinion in the south on the subjects which have af- fected our relations in the past, be cause l firmly believe that we only need to understand each other better to love each other more. l will not deny that there stlll exist in the South a few who hold other senti- ments. There are extremists on both sides. There are irreconcilables in the North as we'll as in the South.
 There are good and true men who seem, at times,to have forgotten that the war has long been over, and that a new generation have come upon the scene of action, to whom their vindictlve words are strangely out of keeping with the peaceful spirit of the age. But, sir, we must not judge the course of the river by the