Year: 1861




Although it is notorious that the ne
gro has not added a single trophy to the
brow Of fame, nor shed q solitary ray to
light mans dreary path, yet my friend
from Lake, the other day. grew more than
usually eloquent in narrating the great
exploits Of his African brother; and II it
is really true. as the gentleman AYERS. that
the negro built the city OF Nineveh. raised
the pyramids of Egypt, and originated
the arts and sciences, and handed them
down successfully, first to the Greeks and
afterwards to the Romans, these are strik-
ing events in the faded volume of the past
in which the world has long been in dark
ness and in error, and we should ind ed
feel truly grateful to my friend for bap-
tizing us with new food Of light. do
not entertain the exalted opinion Of the
African race that the gentleman from
Lake does. Unlike him, am unwilling
to acknowledge the negro my equal. /
believe in diversity in the human race. /
believe that the noble Anglo-Saxon stands
at the head, with more exalted genius,
and susceptibility Of a greater degree OF
moral and intellectual development, than
that of any other under Heaven. And TO
ask him to compromise these powers and
come down on level with the negro,
would be to commit fraud against the
sovereignty of intellect, and to cast an in
suit upon the dignity of his Species
'Twould be to defle the purity of onr
homes, our hopes for posterity, and all
for which heroes lerished and patriots
bled; to insult the mighty dead, and tar
nsh the lustre of those glorious deeds that
will blaze down the hillside of ages as they
stand recorded on the shining tablets OF
enduring fame. Were proof needed to
attest the superiority Of the Anglo Saxon
race, we have it too plain to be misunder
stood in his brief but impressive history
two and half centuries, and behold {
) little band ofpious pilgrims, through per
secution exiled from their native home
trusting their destinies TO the tempestu
, Gus pillows of the main, and after having
braved the dangers of an unknown deep
t landing in mid-winter upon barrer
rock, surrounded by solitary wilderness
unbroken except by the fierce bowling o
wild beasts, or the fercer yell of merci
less savage. and there amid that scene o
solitude and desolation, they planted the
germs of this free and noble republic, that
by civil conquest has arisen and taken its
mighty and majestic march along the
, great highways Of freedom, prosperity and
glory.


Such, Mr.. Speaker. was the origin OF
the republic that boasts of having the no
less distinguished parsonage than that OF
the immortal Washington for its sire, and
of which you and |, and all of us, should
feel truly grateful feF the privilege we
this day enjoy, of being nsiled among its
truly devoted, its free and prosperous
sons.


Who that has watched the onward
career Of this Republic, within the lapse
of two and half centuries-transform
ing solitary wilderness into fruitful
garden, swelling its population from one
hundred and one individuals to over thirty
millions of free and prosperous people,
stretching its domain from the great chain
of Lakes on the North to the Gulf Of
Mexico on the the South, and expanding
until its eastern and western borders are
washed by two of the mightiest oceans
on the globe; whose granaries are amply
capacious to feed earth's furnishing mil
lions. and after the repast turn around
and clothe them whose ships of com
merce whten every sea, aud with agricul-
ture and manufactures all in the highest
state of prosperity, that is not compelled
to admit the superiority of the Anglo
Saxon race? That the unexampled pros
perity of this republic is not alone attri-
butable to the fertility of its soil, the rich
ness and variety of its productions, the
serenity of its sky, or its situation in the
north temperate zone, thereby enjoying
every variety of climate, is demonstrated
by the fact that all these splendid attri-
butes of wealth and prosperity lay unfold
ed to the unmeaning gaze of the aborig-
ines for centuries unappreciated and un-
improved, and who, instead Of develop
ing these rich resources, went about clad
in their mantle of skins, and like the
negro in the iungles of Africa, carried on
a system of predatory and exterminating
warfare-now contending with the wild
denizens of the forests, now fishing in the
pearly streams, and now in simple devo-
ton bending their knee, to the setting
Sun, till the period when the inventive
genius and the indomitable energy of the
Anglo Saxon were destined to develop
these rich resources, and unfold those
argosies of wealth and prosperity for the
benefit of earth's teeming millions. No
clearer demonstration, not only of the
perfection and purity of our civil institu-
tons, but no noble proof of the exalted
genius and superior intellectual develop
ment of the AngloSaxon race can well
be presented to an intelligent universe,
than that of the mighty transformation,
his giant hand and more giant intellect
have brought upon the face of this conti-
nent since he first sat his foot upon its
shore. From that illustrious period till
the present, have the great springtides OF
his science and his civilization advanced
with an irresistible energy. Freighted
with the moral as we'll as the physical
interests of our species, they have ever
rolled onward in one parallel course. dis
closing to man new sources OF happiness,
providing him with new instruments OF
power, and introducing him into new and
hitherto unexplored fields of intellectual,
moral and physical enjoyment, till now,
in the middle of the nineteenth century,