The national leader., 1889-04-27
THE TIME TO REJOICE
THOSE ONCE In BONDAGE NOW
ARE FREEMEN.
An Anniversary That Brings Glad
ness to Many Hearts.
REV. w. B. DERRICK, D. D., TALKS
ABLY TO HIS RACE.

Immense Gathering at the Fourth Bap-
tist Church-The Emancipation
Day Celebration Has Fit
ting Close.
The celebration of the anniversary of
emancipation day had most fitting
and enthusiastic closing in the meeting
held last night at the Fourth Baptist
Church on r. between Twelfth and
Thirteenth streets. northwest, and the
immense audience present amply testi-
fed how deep seated is the colored
peoples love for the day and reverence
they hold for it. Standing room could
not be found, and it was thought that
half as many people were compelled to
remain outside and be shut out from
participating in the exercise.
REV. w. B. DERRICK, D. D..
the orator of the evening, was then
introduced and spoke as follows:
Mr.. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GEN
TLEMEN: 1t affords me the greatest
pleasure to participate with you in this
the twenty-Seventh anniversary cele-
bration of emancipation in the District
Of Columbia, an act written as with
the sunbeams of heaven, that has no
resting place in oblivion, but will be
handed down each succeeding genera
tiOn to be read aud studied by states
men, philanthropists. historians, and
the future men and women OF our
country.
The immortal Lincoln's bill of 1862
for the abolition of slavery IN the Dis
trict cf Columbia, hotly discussed on
the one hand and c0ntemptuously
ignored and denounced on the other
by senators in Congress and slave
holders outside. but nevertheless per-
sistently agitated, was the Keynote
heard all along the line, arouslng the
conscience of the country. and re-
suited in the downfall of that gigantic
system of evil in 1862, when from
Washington city went forth the clarion
notes of Lincoln's trumpet: Liberty
to the captives and the opening of the
prison doors to them that were boundl"
And with that blast ''four millions
we're enrolled as citizens of the United
States" but not until "blOOd' was
freely shed and the flower of the north
was sacrificed in
THE DEATH STRUGGLES OF SLAVERY,
as the emancipation Of the negro was
a great question on earth and in
heaven that could not have been other
wise settled than by blood.
All honor 10 Lincolnl Though dead
yet his voice is heard at every ami
versary. ''Go tell it in Saith, publish it
in the streets of Askelon, and tell the
Philistlnes that Lincoln lives IN the
affections of down-trodden race
whom his proclamation has made citi-
zens of the great republic.
To-day, with hearts of gladneSS,
Our bosom filled with praise
Let not note of sadness
Be mingled with our lays.
We chant a hallOW'd story,
The theme of freedoms birth,
Yes, Lincoln'S act of glory
Shall echo round the earth.
But, Mr.. Chairman, ladies and gen.
tlemen, IN the words OF an lmpassioned
speaker: My heart grows glad, my
soul thrills with pleasure, my hopes
grow brighter, my ambition scars
higher, my respect for my race grows
deeper, and my thanks to God more
grateful" AS stand here my mind
incircling the past and all that proves
my people to be a race too long Op-
pressed, people who have suffered
the most cruel persecution, but by our
energy, constancy, courage, and valOr
have succeeded in acquiring our lib.
erty, our constant solicitude has been
and still Is, to gain place among the
intelligent and Christian people of this
and other lands.
This can be done by incessant labor
only, full comprehension Of our du-
ties and responsibilities and all that &C
toward making
A PEOPLE vIRTUOUs, HAPPY, AMI
BRAVE.
Now, when healthy and liberia
opinions appear to efface the memory
of those dark and disastrous times ii
which the race grOaned under the
most harsh oppression, we cannot ind
words to describe the deplorable con
dition into which we were plunged
before the epoch of our emancipation.
While the story of our woes. and The
horrible tOrtures we endured under
the hell born system is relegated to the
historian. yet, in the words of Victorif
Earle, II may safely say history does
not tell of single race, who, in like
period evinced so many features o1
progressive development which it ha:
been the privilege of the masses tC
witness In the negro" and with hel
will emphatically say, ''that if The
white American people at large car
afford to bequeath such a page te
future history as their present treat
ment of the now helpless American
born negro, whose only disqualification
is the color of his skin, then in the
future they must expect not only tt
have the sincerity of their Christianity
but the parity Of their patriotism ques
toned