The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-03-08

80 ava innious modern Italy, has
there ever been found a people So iost.
co blind. so callouS to every sense "
~instice and humanity as the people
of the South are. II one-hali tnat Ilas
been charged in this Chamber be true.
And vet we behold that people sur
rounded by and possessed OF all the
incidents Of the highest type Of cIV1il-
cation.
sPerhaps there is something in the
history of this Southern people that
iustiies this frightful suspicion and
fills the minds Of Senators with alarm
and dread. That cannot be. For they
are the children Of the brave English
ancestors who for w Of civil and
religious liberty left the shores Of Eu-
rope and settled the New World. They
are the immediate descendants OF the
bold and wise men who helped to eS-
tablish American independence and to
frame this grand and magnificent Gov
eminent. Their il1uStriOuS fathers
have certainly handed down to them
the passion for liberty and the prin-
ciple Of constitutional freedom. We
have inherited it for eight hundred
years from our ancestors; but those
ancestors have not transmitted q
faint Of or example for secret trea-
sons. In the English heart the spirit
of conspiracy never found a congenlal
home. 1t is the growth of other SOILS.
But have not recent events, you VIII
say, furnished reasonable grounds for
these apprehensions Of a secret coios-
sal organization hostile to the Gov
eminent? Has not the South just
emerged from a gigantic war which
menaced the very existence Of the
Union? That is very true; but remern
Der that it was open, bold, defiant war
threatened for years, proclaimed
here, published to the world: declared
- ~ ~i
the hustings: the opinion Of mankind
and the blessings of Heave nvoked
in its behalf, and the lives of d PEG
pie offered to vindicate it's justice. 1t
was no concealed, hidden, mysterious,
masked conspiracy. Had it been,
never, never could it ave enlisted the
devoted hearts of the noble people
who sacrificed everything but honor
around its shrine. It's
We're spoken here; they were never
concealed or denied. It's councils We're
in the light Of HEAVIER It's lines of
battle stretched across the continent.
Brave hearts in broad day were its de-
lenses, and around it clustered the
hopes n pride of a pure and patri-
ouc people. Are courage, truth, hon
or, constancy, fortit1de, and unsulIied
virtue evidences that the people who
possess them will descend from that
high estate, ard, forgetfuI of all duty,
resort to the lowest practices of cow
ardice ano crime? If this be true. HUI
man character is indeed worthless, ma
t1Onal honor a mOckery and an impos-
ture.
Senators, if you will think for a
moment; if you will reflect upon the
character of the people whom you de-
nounce, their history, their assOcia-
tons, the language they speak, their
great ancestors, their brotherhood
with you for nearly q century, and
their position now, you cannot believe
this calumny. Do you, can you. be-
lieVe that q people from whom have
sprung IN each succeeding generation
Tor one hundred years a line Of states
men, d1Vines, scholars, and heroes in
terror 10 none IN any portion Of the
Union nave suddenly descended un-
der the shadow or your civilization
20 the depth Of barbarism? Does his
tory or human experience justify any
such conclusion?
And yet you call now upon the
pupIc opinion of the world to believe
That one-half of your whole nation
brothers in blood with you. sharers
Oh the same inheritance Of our faith
ers. honored American freemen ed,-
Gated, E~irtuous. and associated with
you-yOu call upon the world 70 he
ileFe mat they are now guilty and ha-
bltually guilty of darker crimes thar
nave ever been committed in human
history. ana instead Of deyoting orr
energies, our patriotism. orr intaI1i
sence, n our virtues here to de-
Velop' reform, and improve this great
COUNTY, We are now carrying on a
war on the floor Of the Senate WITH
zen other almost as bitter. and I
Leai not quite as manly, as hat in
which we were engaged . "a, &C.
ago upon the Potomac and the S1s-
quehanna. =
= senators this is wrong. Before Cod
: micked; Cannot we stop it? An
nle!ueht IN history occurs to me now
Hnlcn l 90 not know that [ have
lnought OF for twenty years. [ remem-
Der the story, told l think bv Tine
uloes' OF the two Greek generals who
a nao not spoken for years. A bitter