Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1889-12-28
MR.. GRADY's BOSTON SPEECH.


impressive and entertaining. He has
poured forth his liquid measures IN.
der the Southera sun, and has spread
his eagle wings in Northern climes,
aud 10 every instance to the delight
of his immediate auditors. But
there remains one triumph yet to be
added to his lanrels. If he will re-
peat in Boston what he says in At.
lanta, and proclaim in Atlanta what
he declares in Boston, he will reach
the highest achievement he has thus
far attained. II he will make
Faneuil Hall resound with his apos-
trophe to Jefferson Davis, and per-
fume the atmosphere of Georgia's
capitol with the incense be burned
on Plymouth Rock, he will take a
long leap in his mission OF making
the sections better comprehend each
other.
Let us not be misunderstood. We
do not impeach the consistency or
the sincerity of Mr.. Grady. On the
whole be has put forth his great
talents for peace and concord and
fraternity, and has exercised a salu-
tary and beneficent influence. We
gladly recognize and applaud him as
one of the chief evangels of modi-
fed if not a new dispensation at the
South. We appreciate, too, the EN-.
barraSsments and the difficulties un.
der which he labors. He faces all
around him habit of thought set
by the traditions of generations and
fixed by narrow vision and restrict
ed opportunities. If he reserves his
apotheosis of Davis for the
sympathetic audience at home and
lets loose his liberalism 10 the North,
it is his tribnte to the different ten
denotes of the sections. 1t is not
that there is one Grady in Atlanta
and another Grady in Boston, but
that the mountain peak takes its
hue, whether it be the frowning
black or the mellow purple, from the
varying atmosphere about it.
Mr.. Grady draws a fine picture of
the peace and good will which pre-
vail at the South. Whites and
blacks work side by side in the fields
blossom under contented labor the
unparalleled harvests show willing
hands and Joyous hearts every ave-
nue is open; there are relatively
fewer blacks under duress than at
the North ; spirit OF sympathy and
helpfulness sways both sides. True,
there is disorder and violence, but it
is sporadic and exceptional. All
this, as Mr.. Grady paints it, is very
pleasing. And yet it Is scarcely
three months since Mr.. Grady said
in his editorial columns that there is
deeper feeling of unrest between
the races in the South than there
had been for twenty years. How
such disQulet seen from Atlanta and
such peace seen from Boston !
Louisiana was in the midst of spec.
ial election where the midnight
REGULATORS "rode the district, and
terrorized and obllterated Repub-
lican majority of thousands. Allan
ia was burning Republican post.
master in efligy because he obeyed
the law IN the appointment of a
colored clerk. South Carolina was
scourging black man because he
dared TO ask for a rural post-otfice.
Mr.. Grady'S paper was warning a
colored leader that he would go on
in his agitation at his peril. 1t was
then that Mr.. Grady spoke the por-
tentous words that sounded like a
fire alarm at night. Have three
months wrought such miracle of
changes We wish we could fully
accept the Grady of Boston, but,
alas, the Grady of Atlanta is still
ringing in our ears!
Mr.. Grady sought to disarm and
silence the North with bis peculiar
array of figures. They were crafty
and specious, but as delusive as they
were cunning. Take those relating
to the vote as specimen. Virginia,
said Mr.. Grady, cast 70 per cent of
her vote; Massachusetts only 60.
The sixteen Southern States cast 81
per cent of their vote the six New
England States but GO. Was it
intimidation in the one and virtue
in the other? triumphantly asked
Mr.. Grady. But see now how care.
fully, while Jumping the Southern
States and picking out a small Sec
ton of the North, he suppressed the
fact that the six cotton States where
the blacks are chiefly massed cast
45 per cent of their vote !. His own
State OF Georgia cast but 81 per
cent and South Carolina but 80! Ii
it is a simple matter of figures the
record is turned against him. But
vital truth and living history, known
of all men, rise above the bloodless
figures. New England voters are
neglectful, but it is neglect and not
terrorism. Does Mr.. Grady pretend
to assert that any Vote in New Eng
land is suppressed or that any class
is deprived of its rightful share in
determining the government On