The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-04
Hon. John B. Knox De-
 liverS the Grafton. DEGREES ARE CONFERRED AbercrOmbie Abolishes the
 Military System. Board of Trustees Appropriate S2, 800 for the Holding of Summer
 school-Report of the Land
 Commissioner Received.

Commissioner Received.
 Tuscaloosa, June g. - (SpeciaI)-The graduating exercises of the University of Alabama took place this morning in Clark Hall President Abercrombie presented Hon. John B. Knox of Anniston. who de- livered the baccalaurcate oration. Mir. Knox spoke as follows.
 Mir. President, Students of the JJniyer-
 sity of Alabama, Ladies and Gentle
 men:
 Since receiving your invitation to make some remarks on this occasion, many subjects have crowded into my mind, but It nas occurred to me that. in addressing the students of this institution, all of whom are now about to assume the du- ties of citizens of this commonwealth, to be numbered among those who must prove the prop and support of the State, that could not. perhaps make better use of the time allotted to me. than to say something in reference to the duties and obligations of citizenship, especially in view of the changed and improved conditions under which we are now en- abled to approach a discussion of this question.
 The people of Alabama, and, I may say, the people of the South stand to- day redeemed from the evils of negro suffrage. and have established. with the approval of the better thought of the North as well as the South, such con. stitutional safeguards as will forever pre-. clude him from exercising the privilege. until he equlps himself to discharge the duties of citizenship.
 Standing, as we do, upon the thresh- hold of new generation, untrammeled by the passions and the prejudices of the past to consider our duty to the pres ent and future. it may be proper to in- quire. first, what is our duty to the gen. eration that has gone or, is rapidly pass ing from us? It has often been a ques- tion of anxious concern with me- in what esteem will the generation which has passed or is passing, be held by the sons and daughters of this. and the genera tion which is to follow?
 I would not have the men of the South be behind hand with the men of the North in taking broad views upon. the great questions which have divided the two sections of our now common country.
 In the recent Educational Conference at Richmond, which 1t was my privilege to attend. it was an inspiration to hear such men as Dr. Lyman Abbott, Dr. McKelway. MT. Hamilton Mabie, MT. Robert c. Ogden and many others from the North, and Chancellor Hill, Dr. All derman, and Chancellor Kirkland. and many others from the South, preachl the gospel of peace and good will between the sections emphasizing the thought that the union between the States. and the union between the people of the States. could not be restored. or placed la trw hMo rfae1- ditions which would reserve to each his own self-respect. anf t thich do not tn- volve a surrender ot any of the prin- ciples maintained on the part of either, that led to the war between the States. .
 AS pr. Abbot well said. We cannot for get the past. We ought not to want to Forget the past, with all its memories. and It's great achievements in valor, in in love and sacrifice for coun- try which, upon both sides of that great struggle. astonished and challenged the admira ton of the civilized world, and showed the stun of which an American citizen was made. --- .... ..-...
 But there is a phase of this question from the Southern point of view. which presses upon us with great weight. The inquiry is practical and pertinent, not only in what esteem the heroes. public men, and statesmen of the South shall be held by other peoples, but in what es- teem they will be held by their own chil dren in the generations to come.
 The late Dr. J. L. M. Curry. in his rec cent work which is an able and eloquent plea for the establishment of truth and the recognition of the undoubted facts of history, says, in earnest protest against the views presented on the other side. that, history as now written, from that int nF Hyin if fT1 ftIt1lrA will consign the South to infamy."
 This is a strong statement, but 1t is made by a true son of the South, after a careful study of the authorities he and against which he raises a note of warning.
 A gentleman who found a mother we'll nigh prostrated with nursing three sons. asked her how she could give so much of her vitality to this service. 70 sir" she said, my life lies all behind me- but their lives lie all before them. In speaking to you. my young friends, whose lives lie all before you. I will consider that I have not spoken In vain. if I can say something to remove wrong impress sions. and lead you to hold in proper es- teem those true and great men. who made such sacrifices in the cause of the South. and who in doing se did only what they felt to be right, and for the protection of their interests. and the in- terests of their children.
 The indictment by those who condemn them Is two-fold:
 First--That they were siave-owners.
 Second-That they upheld and main- tained the Right of Secession.
 I propose to examine. both counts of the indictment as briehy as may be.
 Slavery in the North.
 We know that the men of the East did not become philanthropists with ref erence to the negro. until they had sold him to our ancestors. In Mrs. Earle's Customs and Fashions in old New Eng land" 1t is stated that Rev. Peter Thatcher bought an Indian girl for ten pounds. and, a ''very kindly gentleman and good Christian" as he was, took n good walnut stick and beat her" until she promised to offend no more. Bur dened in their condolences. the owners exchanged Indian slaves for negro slaves. A French refugee wrote home, You may here also own negroes and negresses, and there is not house in Boston, however small may be It's means that has not one or two" MT. Earle says: ''I have never vertisements of negro sales. that sur pass in heartlessness and viciousness the in our New England pa- pers of the Eighteenth Century. Negro children were sold by the pound as other 
 New Englanders were willing 10 buy slaves fin order that the poor heather might be brought up in a Christian land"