The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1901-05-02
FREDERICKSBURG, Va. THURSDAY, MAY g 1901.
HUGH GORDON MILLER.
He Speaks on Grant Night in Boston.

fact that the principal speakers came
from Virginia and Maine. Hon Hugh
Gordon Miller came from Virginia and
Hon. Charles X. Littlefed from Maine 10
address the gathering of $50 Of the most
prominent men OF Massachusetts,
Ex-Gov Brackett, president Of the club,
presided and introduced the speakers.
Congressman Iittlefeld was first intro
duced, and he received n warm welcome.
Mr. Miller, Of Virginia, received a gen
uine Bay State welcome, exceeding in
warmth even that accorded to the pre-
yious speaker. lie said, in part:
What Of old Yirginia's political and
commercial status today? Commercially
she is in the very van Of the onward
movement of the young new South, the
South Of 1901; a South where youreast-
ern and New England capital il not only
developing our resources, but every day
il building up for us new Industries; a
where the very bowels OF the earth are
giving up their untold and hitherto unde-
yeloped millions; n South where old King
Cotton lately has been ~ high as II
cents n pound. and still agoing; South
that has risen from the ruins and the
ashes left by the war, and is proving to
the nation and To the world the blessings
and benefits of public confidence and n
sound financial rule.
Politically, where will the South Of
the 20th century stand? The principleOf
free suffrage does not seem to be ap-
plicable to the section OF the country
from whence come where not only the
electoral, hut all the rest Of the votes of
the people, are held and east by the ma
chinery OF trust that is more powerful
and oppressive than any other trust to-
day in all this world, the Democratic bal
lot trust. 1t is illustrated only too well
by the Goebel law of Kentucky, which, |
assure you, was not one whit worse than
the election law now in force in Virginia
the Kentuckians simply being the first
to have the hardihood to rebel. With
that question out Of the way, the solid
South will be broken, and my generation
in 1904 will show you where the South
of the 20th century stands.
"This question of the franchise in the
Southern States is now the greatest Of
them all, for it is necessarily and vitally
connected with all other public ques-
tions. Without the protection and the
fearless use of that ballot there can benO
proper settlement of any of the issues
that confront the people of a republican
government like this. 1t lies deeper, in
deed, than any political party, for it is
the very bulwark of all our liberties.
" Help us by your sympathy and your
good will, if nothing else, while our com
ing Constitutional Convention grapples
with it, to settle right and forever this,
the greatest OF all the great problems
that confront us-the problem of the
franchise and of the races. Help us to
settle it az you have settled it in Massa-
chusetts-upon some basis of enlighten-
ment and qualification, but with refer
ence, after all, to those racial laws and
conditions that are az fixed and immut-
able as the very orders of the seasons.
"As came through Hampton Roads
to be the guest of your club in this
famous city, and while crossing the very
spot where the Monitor and the Merrimac
fought their great naval battle nearly 40
years ago, over in the distance, at New
port News, could see where they were
building that frst-class battleship that
will bear the name Of Virginia. They say
that there is nothing in a name, but it
gave me a thrill to recall that that name
was given her by Secretary of the Navy
John d. Long, of Massachusetts,.
"Let, then, these two new battleships
of the American navy, that shall bear the
names of these two grand old Com
monwealths across the oceans, into the
tempest-tossed seas OF the Orient and
throughout the world, be to us the in
spiration OF our voyage of the future,
and, rebuilding and repairing them wher-
ever they need repairing, let us sail the
originals back to the place they once held
so proudly and so long. You and as
the gallant young tars who will be man.
ming them, will crowd their decks, while
their white sails, spread full and fair to
every wind that blows, win carry US
around the lightship of ofAmerican liberty,
out into the whitefoam and silyery spray
of the worlds new era, and, standing
thus abreast OF each other, and abreast
of any ship OF state that shall with them
go sailing out over thesurging billows of
time, let us sail the Massachusetts, and
the Virginia into the open seas Of this
Goth century together; let us sail them
out, il possible, upon greater mission
and a grander destiny than ever before"