The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1890-01-02
HIS MISSION OF RECONCILIATION.


HIS MISSION OF RECONCILIATION.
Henry w. Grady had mission if ever
1ss .ss4s1 had. And since the apostolic days
few men have realized their mission so
clearly or entered ON it with such oo,lr-
age and perseverance,. But fourteen
years old when the civil war ended, he
entered on active life with none of the
old hatreds and prejudices TO handicap
him. AS soon as he could secure hear
ing he declared the true policy for the
young men Of the south substantially in
these words:
I'VE honor our fathers for their BRAY
cry and respect them for their unfalter-
ing devotion to their conception of duty.
We refuse to apologize for or belittle
them, but with all our hearts we accept
the settlement of the war and devote our
selves to the restored Union. Slavery is
forever done with, and secession will
never again be attempted, but our rights
as American citizens remain, the south
remains and we will make it more glori-
Gus than ever. We dedicate ourselves
anew to its upbuilding. AS to the
negroes, we will do all that justice and
humanity require; we will guarantee
their freedom and insure them an edul-
cation, but we cannot submit to their
rule. Civilization and progress impera-
lively demand that the whites shall re-
main the ruling power
Such, with minor variations, has been
the refrain of all his speeches and adj
dresses; and it is no small proof of his
ability that he spoke these sentiments to
applauding thousands In the north and
south alike. In Georgia affairs he was
a progressive of the progressives. Proba-
bly, no other man in the state had 80
much influence; and certainly no state
is moro liberal and progressive than
Georgia. In the common schools Of that
state, sustained by general taxation, are
more than 100, 900 colored children, and
the colored people Of the state are the
owners of over $50, 00O, 900 worth Of prop
erty. Commenting on facts Of this ma
ture in his recent speech in Boston Mr..
Grady said:
roriZing the people from whose willing hands
comes every year g. 600 600 900 OF farm cropsY Or
have robbed people who, twenty five years from
unrewarded slavery, have amassed In one state
S2no0ooO Of property Or that we intend to OBJ
press the people we arrling every dayS Or
deceive them, when we are educating them to the
utmost limit OF our ability Or outlaw them when
we work side by side with themI Or re-ensiave
them under legal forms, when for their benefit
we have even inpsadently narrowed the limit OF
felDnics and mttigated the ceverfty of lawy NV
fellow countrynen as you yourselves may some
times have to appeal at the bar OF human tudg-
mcnt for Justice and for right, give to my people
tonight the fair and unanswerable conclusion OF
these incontestable facts.
piauded long and earnestly Mr.. Grady's
happy faculty of presenting unpleasant
truths was shown by the cordial recep-
ton given to that part of his address
in which he apportioned the blame
for slavery. The slave ships; he said,
sailed often from New England's ports,
the south OF the olden time took the
slaves; and even as New England does
not now defend the traffic so the New
South does not defend the system. Bv
as much as New Engianders know that
they are glad to be quit of the traffic and
would not dream of renewing it, by so
much Mr.. Grady claimed that they
should realize that the south dreams not
Of restoring slavery.
BE ADGIrs THE EVIL FEATURES
Nevertheless, he did not seek to hide
any of the dark features of the race
problem at the south or disguise the fact
that the whites are fixed in their deter
mination to remain substantially unit
and rule the blacks. The conditions, he
added, are indeed appalling. Two ut
terry dfSsimilar races on the same soil
with equal political and civil rights
almost equal in numbers, but terribly
unequal in intelligence and response
biiity; each pledged against fusion one
for century in servitude to the other
and freed at last by desolating war
the experiment sought by neither, but
approached by both with doubt-these
are the conditions. Under these, adverse
at every point, We are required to carry
these two races. in peace and honor to
the end
The people of the south, he added,
carry this problem ever with them; they
are necessarily far more interested in
its correct solution than tire north can
be, and they know the absolute neces-
sity OF political unity in facing it. There
is vast ignorant and purchasable vote,
the possible prey Of the cunning and I'M
scrupuious of both parties. It's credulity
is imposed ON, its passions inflamed. it's
cupidity tempted, ITS impulses misdi
rected, and even its superstition made to
play its part in a campaign in which
every interest of society is ieopardized
and every approach to the ballot box
debauched. 1t is against such campaigns
as this-the folly and the bitterness and
the danger of which every southern COM
munity has drunk deeply-that the white
people of the south are banded together. ("
HIS MOST FAMOUS SPEECH.
Here is report of his speech before