The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1889-12-19

races ia peace and honor to the end.
Never, sir. has such task been given
to mortal stewardship. Never before
in this Republic has the white race oi-
vided on the rights of an alien race.
The red man was cut down as Weed
because he hindered the way OF the
American citizen. The yellow man
was shut out of this Republic because
he is al alien and inferior. The red
man was owner of the land. the yellow
man highly civilized and assimilable,
but they hindered both sections and
are gone.
"But the black man, affecting but
one section, is clothed with every prlvl-
lege of the Government and pinned 10
the soil, and my people are commanded
to make good at any hazard, and at any
cost, his full and equal heirship Of
American privilege and prosperity. 1t
matters not that every other race has
been routed out or excluded without
rhyme or reason. Wherever whites and
blacks have touched, in any era Or in
any cline, there has been an irrevoc-
able violence. 1t matters not that no
two races. however similar, have lived
anywher", at any time, on the same
soil, with equal rights in peace. In
spite o: these things we are commanded
to nuke good this change Of American
policy, which has not perhaps changed
American prejudice; to make certain
here what has elsewhere been impossi-
BILE between whites and blacks, and to
reverse, under the very worst condi-
tions, the universal verdict Of racial
history.
And driven, sir, to this sup rlunlan
task with an impatience that brooks no
delay, rigore, that accepts no excuse,
and suspicion that diScourages frank
ness and sincerity, we do not shrink
from this trial. 1t is so interviewer
with our industrial fabric that we cam
not dissentangle 1t if We would; so
bound up III our honorable obligation
to the world that we would not If we
could. Can we solve it? God, who gave
it into our hands, He alone can know.
But this the weakest and wisest OF us
do not know. We cannot solve it with
less than your tolerant and patient
sympathy, with less than the know
ledge that the blood that runs in your
veins is our blood, and that when we
have done our best, whether the issue
be lost or won, We shall feel your strong
arms about US and hear the beating of
your approving hearts. The resolute,
clear-headed, broad-minded men of the
South, the men whose genius made
glorious every page of the first seventy
years of American history, whose cour-
age and fortitude you tested in four
years of fiercest war, whose. energy has
made bricks without straw and spread
splendor amid the ashes Of their war-
wasted homes-these men wear this
problem in their hearts and brains by
day and by night. They realize, as you
cannot, what this problem means,
what they owe to this kindly and
dependent race, the measure of their
debt to the world, in whose despite
they defended and maintained slavery,
and though their feet are hindered IN
its underground, and their march
numbered with its burdens, they have
lost neither the patience from which
comes clearness, nor the faith from
which comes courage. Nor, sir, when
in passionate moments is disclosed to
them that vague and awful shadow
with its lurid abysses and its crimson
stains, into which pray God they may
never 60, are they struck with more of
apprehension than is needed to COM
plete their conservation.
"Such is the temper of my people,
But what of the problem itself, Mr..
President? We need not go one step
further unless you concede right here
that the people | speak forare as honest,
as sensible and as just as your people,
seeking as earnestly as you would in
their place to rightly solve the problem
that touches them at every vital point.
II you insist that they are ruffians,
blindly striving with bludgeon and
shotgun to plunder and oppress the
race, then I shall sacrifice my self-re-
spect and tax your patience in vain.
But admit that they are men OF
common sense and common honesty,
wisely modifying an environment they
cannot wholly disregard, guiding and
controlling as best they can the vicious
and irresponsible OF either race, COM
pensating error with frankness, and
retrieving in patience what they lose in
passion, and conscious all the time that
wrong means ruin.
"Admit this and We may reach an
understanding tonight. The Presi-
dent of the United States, il lis late
message to Congress, discussing the
plea that the South should be left tc
solve this problem: asks:
Are they at work upon it: What
solution do they offer? When will
! the black man cast g free ballot? When
will he have the civil rights that ,re
his?i
| Il shall not here protest against the
partisanry tuat, for the first time il
our history, i'll Il time OF peace, has
stamped with the great seal Of oul
Government a stigma upon The people
! of great and loyal section, though
gratefully remember that the great
dead soldier who held the helm o1