The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1904-08-27

Henry GasshWdy IdNls, ia'iN
nominee for vice president of the United
States. on August II was notified Of the
homer conferred upon him by the party
at White Sulphur Springs, w. Va, by the
committee appointed by the st. Louis
convention. Hon. John Sharp VIII
liams democratic house leader, deliv-
cred the notification speech, which was
All outburst of historical and political
sarcasm unique In campaign oratory
Opposition critics pronounce II one OF
the strongest arguments ever made
Among the salient features of Mr. VIII
lams' talk the following appear to be
the most interesting
"As soon as learned that was to be
the mouthpiece of the committee for the
performance of this pleasant task be-
gan to look about me in order to see
how the duty had been performed by
others. ] found that for notification
speech a historical essay is altogether
the proper thing, absolutely necessary
for the emergency. We shall therefore
entitle our notification address: A
Brief Historical Disquisition Upon
Some of the Blunders of Our Ancestors,
as Viewed from the Str,Tiidpolnt of the
Wisdom of Repuh lican Statesmen Who
Hay1e embraced the Strenuous Life.
..TAe first of these consisted in dis
eliminating against the red man-oE
account of the race and color and previ-
Gus condition, supposed incapacitles, @
which his color was but the outward
sign. Be that claim pretense or SIN
certify. we found, to our astonisnment'
that the door of opportunity and hope
in the way of office-holding and voting
had been closed to, 10! the poor Indian
| This first violation in America OF the
| divine right of manhood suffrage ano
of the cherished fundamental dogma
| that all men of all races are equally
capacitated to govern themselves, ana
especially to govern others, has douDt-
less been the Iliad of all our woes
Plainly, it was what the Boston iran
script so eloquently calls 'colorphobla.
THE next great blunder in our early
history consisted in taking up arms
against King George and his forces
when the latter were actuated, as they
themselves confessed, only by the kind
est designs of 'benevolently assimilat-
| ing to themselves our sources and our
| opportunities.
Talks of Increased knowledge.
1--WE know. now, of course, that al
our ancestors talk about inalienaDic
rights of self-government. no taxation
without representation habeas corpus
and right of trial by jury freedom OF
the press, freedom Of speech and free
dom of assembly were only a preteX'
resorted to by ranting insurgents in
order to throw off the 'civilizing influ'
| ences' of the best government when thf
world had that far witnessed.
Coming on down the current of time
we found another period of popular
mysteries that is incomprehensible t6
us of a wiser generation, in view of some
| enlightening facts in our recent history
| Some men in the troublesome little
| town of Boston, masquerading as lndi
ans. seized and threw into the sea Ger
| tain cases OF Tea ueloHSlHS " Noi ''ii
merchants of the East India company
The consequence was that the entir'
population of Boston, men, women ant
children, observers of the law as vel
as law-breakers, were punished and thu
Boston port bill was passed, thus in
fashion royalty communicating thu
little town. commercially and indus
trially Our ancestors could not b.
ouieted but got worse and worse, unit
their misguided counsels led to the fool
ish result of resurrection and a fire.
and independent American govern