Year: 1864




At the Brown University centennial celebra-
ion in Providence on Tuesday, ex-Secretary
Chase was called out and responded as follows;
We quote the report Of the Providence Journal -


''Nfr. President and Gentlemen II hardly feel
hs IL had a right to speak IN this assembly Il Is
gathering of brethercn around the family
ALTAR Another reason why ought not to make
b speech is, that have none to make. It is true
sIal for several years / have been making notes
but the spcC ch is not yet ready


al have seen several faces here which remind
me of the early scenes OF 1861. In February of
that year l met number of patriotic Rhoie
Island men IN the city Of Washington, upon the
invitation of the Governor and We put our heads
tOgetherto see If we could not contriye some basis
OF peace. We were not as fortunate rs peace
|makers ought to be. II might have been other
wise had those brethren of ours in the South
whom we expect 20 call brethren hereafter,
though we now unfortunately are obliged to
term them Robels-been willing 10 listen 10
.sOund reason.


"But remember one thing said by the Rhode
Islanders was-they were Oyeriowing with deyo-
tiOn to the Union, as we all were, but their
patriotism struck me as a little peculiar-thcy
said the people In Rhode Island were SO patriotic
that no earthly induCement could drive them out
Of the Union, 50 that 1t followed logically that
Rhode Island would be the last in Il, and she
would be obliged to pay the national debt IL
added to the extreme aggravatOn of the case that
they were able to pay IL II would not have mat
tered so much If they had not been able.


"Well, | think by the blessing of God this
Union will stand. There Is not heart in all this
presenOe which does not invoke from the Divine
Being the perpetuity of this Union. Differ how
we may, we all agree in that and let me say to
my friends here IN Rhode Island, as the Union is
TO stand, no matter what clouds may lower, the
sun will yet shine, and centennial anniversary
after centennial anniversary will come round,
long after the existence and permanencc of this
Union is established and allow me to say that of
course Rhode Island will not have TO pay the
md af L. n.ion
the same amount, or at least quarter Of it, be
paid over to Brown University.


"While you have been here indulging in mu-
tual condolences, you have called for stranger
from foreign land to say TO you some words aS
to the sentiments that exist on the other side of
the water, and you have called upon a citizen Of
Rhode lsland-for as citizen of the Union am
citizen of Rhode Island, to say few words
expressive of American feeling.


al had the misfortune myself last fall 10 be
somewhat quoted in England as the author of
some expressions which were not altogether kind.
said then that l thought our mother England
had not been precisely just in her dealings with
us--a little less than magnanimOus, great deal
less than kind, and that when the iidbdDid went
forth upon the ocean, built in q British port,
armed with British cannon, manned by British
soldiers,


'Frelghted with curses dark upon the sea"
l could not help thinking, old England, l should
like TO get hold of your hair and give you good
shaking.


"Anu II is never DeSt TO disguise your real SEM
timents. We did receive the Prince of Wales
here we received him with gush of genuine,
earnest American feeling. Our hearts went forth
TO him as the representative Of a great branch of
the ADglC-Saxon family beyond the water. Every
heart in America was thinking of the time when
we should be great people, if not under one
government, and one great people, animated by
the same IDEAS, and standing before the whole
world as the representative Of constitutional lib
erty.


"That is the way we felt when this Rebellion
broke out and when men in the madness OF their
devotion to slavery sought 10 pull down the pill
lars Of the republic, and in return for that love
and gushing emotion, which went forth to the
heir of the English Grown, we find cold and
averted looks, unkind and ungenerous sentiments
tauntng us in the hour of our calamity, pirates
sent forth upon the sea, how could we feel other
wise than hostile to Engand-we did feel SO,
and we feel so yet


"But we hope for better days. We hope the
time will come when England will sec that she
consults neither her true interests nor her true
honor in untraternal sentiments towards America.
And we rejoice that there are some men on the
other side OF the Atlantic who dare to speak in
Iebuke of unfrNtcrnal sentiments,


"Among those who have thus spoken, those
upon whom we rely for returning amty and
sentiments of Christian and fraternal love- is the
hOnored man who has spoken to-day. In your
name, in the name OF my own tellOw-citZens OF
the great city beyond the AueghcneS in the
name of all the loyal men of America, thank
him.


"Among the other names is the name of the
man TO whose letter he referred, John Bright. lie
knows we hate war as much as he does we do
not make war because we love il, but because we
love peace. We long for the return of peace. We
go into the war because we must, if we would
rescue this hope of mankind. The same senti-
ments l have heard from their great colleague
the great Richard Golden, trinity of names for
the honor of our country. Let them be assured
that we appreciate them.


"There is another class of men that we do ap-
preciate, whose voice has been heard in our favor,
the Lancashire workmen, who cannot be per
suaded into infdety TO freedom by the aristoc-
racy OF England. God bless the workingmen of
England!


"Let us hope, then that after this storm of war
shall have blown over and our country stands
once more united, redeemed, regenerated in all
the vgor of universal freedom, in all the strength
of resuscitated energy, then we may have Il
communng with the workingmen of England, or
their repre- sentatiyes, with the intelligence and
worth which loves and honors freedom wherever
il is seen, and that we may be united together in
! building a new great confederation of the human
race; when from all clmes in some future day
there shall meet and gather round some centre,
the representatives OF the parliament Of men from
the confederation of the world, then while we
number our own illustrious men in that parlia-
ment, men who have founded and men who have
saved the republic, in that parliament of the
world, in that confederation of men, shall Bright,
Golden, and Goodwin Smith be freshly remem-
beIed."