1865 Washington, D.C. Celebration by the Colored People's Educational Monument Association in Memory of Abraham Lincoln

1865 Washington, D.C. Celebration by the Colored People's Educational Monument Association in Memory of Abraham Lincoln

Celebration by the Colored people's educational monument association in memory of Abraham Lincoln, on the Fourth of July, 1865, in the presidential grounds, Washington, D. C

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1865.DC-07.04.WASH

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Celebration

BY THE

Colored People's

Educational Monument Association

In Memory Of

Abraham Lincoln,

On The

Fourth of July, 1865,

In The

Presidential Grounds,

Washington, D. C.

Printed By Order Of The Board Of Directors.

L. A. Bell, Recording Secretary.

Washington, D.C. :

McGill & Witherow, Printers and Stereotypers.

1865.

Celebration

BY THE

Colored People's

Educational Monument Association

In Memory Of

Abraham Lincoln,

On The

Fourth of July, 1865,

In The

Presidential Grounds,

Washington, D. C.

Printed By Order Of The Board Of Directors.

L. A. Bell, Recording Secretary.

Washington, D.C. :

McGill & Witherow, Printers and Stereotypers.

1865.

The Fourth Of July, 1865.

The Fourth of July, 1865, was indeed a memorable day, being the first time that the colored people have attempted any celebration of a national character. The celebration was gotten up under the auspices of the Colored People's National Lincoln Monument Association, whose efforts have, in this respect, been crowned with the full measure of success. Thousands were present on the grounds throughout the entire day. The Washington City Sabbath School Union were present in great numbers, with many banners, flags, mottoes, and devices, forming one of the chief features of the celebration. Many distinguished persons were present; including senators, representatives, members of the judiciary, officers of the Government and officers of the army and navy. Promptly at twelve o'clock, Mr. J. F. Cook, who presided throughout the day, called the vast assemblage to order and introduced Elder D. W. Anderson, pastor of the Nineteenth street Baptist Church, who opened the exercises of the day, with the following impressive prayer:

O Lord, we have assembled here to day, to celebrate the Eighty-ninth Anniversary of our nation's Independence. We have sinned against Thee, O Lord, for the past eighty-five years, until thy wrath kindled hot against us, and confused the councils of this great people. At length the thunderbolts of war were hurled by one portion against the other of these once united States. And now, Lord, for the past four years, we have been butchering each other, until now that the backbone of the slavemongers' rebellion is broken, we stand before Thee, O God, a nation redeemed by the commingled blood of the Anglo-Saxon and the Anglo-African races, poured out like water upon many battle-fields. Remember in kindness, O God, the widow and the

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orphans of our martyred President; and, O God, place thy finger upon the heart of his successor; and give him light to see that there are constitutional rights for loyal men who are so by nature, as well as for those who are made so by the taking of an oath which they hate. Fold thy wings, O Lamb of God, around the great American Statesman, whose heart is now bereaved of his loved one, who has fallen another victim, whose tender soul could not bear the shock, caused by the ring of the assassin's knife, trying in fury to murder her dear husband. May the echo of her heavenly song fall with comforting accents upon his soul through all his useful life. O Lord, there are with us, before Thee today, wise and tried senators, generals of the army and officers of the Government. Bless them, O Lord, with the desire and hearts to perform all the duties devolving upon them well. May the wrongs committed on the weak and defenceless of all colors be speedily redressed. May thy blessings be abundantly poured upon all the schools, Sunday and weekly. Make them, O God, potent engines for this long oppressed people. Fold thy wings in peace around this vast assembly, this day. Lead our common country by thine own hand in the path of her duty; and when she has accomplished her mission among the family of nations, receive all her prepared children into the Paradise of God. AMEN.

The Declaration of Independence was then read by John F. Cook, in a loud and clear voice.

Mr. Cook then announced that the committee had received a number of letters, which he read. They are as follows:

Letter of Gov. Andrew.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts,

Executive Department, Boston, July 1, 1865.

Messrs. Wm. Syphax and John F. Cook, Committee of Colored Citizens, Washington, D.C.:

Gentlemen: Your invitation of the 28th ult. has been gratefully received, and I should be happy to accept it, if it were possible for me to be in Washington on the occasion of the anniversary of our National Independence. I trust your meeting will be an honorable exhibition of the intelligence, good taste, and good judgment of those by whom it will be conducted, and will tend to increase the confidence of all Americans in the capacity of their colored fellow-countrymen to share in the duties and all the rights of citizenship. For myself, I am sure that equal right and impartial liberty will yet be accorded to all who own this for their country and home. I am sure that no rule or doctrine less fundamental will be tolerated by that grand, conservative sense, always prevalent at last. Let despots and slaves demand despotism or submit to it - there is logic in their doing so - but let freemen accept no place nor franchise as an order of privilege, nor permit it to another.

I am, respectfully, yours, John A. Andrew.

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Letter Of Rev. Joshua Leavitt.

New York, June 30, 1865.

Messrs. William Syphax and John F. Cook, Committee, &c.:

Gentlemen: You are right in the belief that I feel a deep and long cherished interest in everything that may aid my brethren and fellow-countrymen of African lineage in developing their patriotism and promoting the spread of intelligence among themselves. Your invitation to be present at the great Lincoln Monument meeting on the 4th gives me great pleasure, as showing that I cannot be forgotten in my old age; but unfortunately it came after I had engaged to be present at a meeting among my native hills in Massachusetts; and the request for a notice in the Independent comes too late, as the paper for this week was already printed.

I wish you much success in your laudable undertaking. The Anglo-Africans of this country have now their destiny in their own hands. The struggle, if brave and persevering, is the very thing to develop their manhood, and their very hardships train them to be worthy of freedom. It is the way my Pilgrim Fathers were made what they were, and they bore cheerfully all their trials for the sake of preparing what we enjoy. A race of people that can live for their children and for posterity cannot but become great.

I remain, gentlemen, your true friend, Joshua Leavitt.

-

Letter From Frederick Douglass

Rochester, July 1, 1865.

Messrs. William Syphax and John F. Cook:

Gentlemen: Accept my best thanks for your note of 28th June, inviting me to be present at your proposed celebration of the 4th, in Washington. Had your note come a few days earlier, I might have been able to mingle my voice with those who shall participate in the commemoration of the birthday of freedom at the Capital. As the matter now stands, I can only send you the assurance that I shall be with you in spirit and purpose.

The one thought to be emphasized and deeply underscored on that occasion is this: the immediate, complete, and universal enfranchisement of the colored people of the whole country. This is demanded both by justice and national honor. Besides, it is the only policy which can give permanent peace and prosperity to the country. The great want of the country is to be rid of the negro question, and it can never be rid of that question until justice, right, and sound policy and complied with. I hope the able men who will speak on the occasion of your celebration will show that the prophecy of 1776 will not be fulfilled till all men in America shall stand equal before the laws.

Yours, very truly,

Fred'k Douglass

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Letter From Gen. Fremont.

New York, July 3, 1865.

Messrs. Wm. Syphax and John F. Cook, Committee, &c., Washington City:

Gentlemen: I have to thank you for an invitation to take part in your proceedings of to-morrow, and regret that I am unable to accept it.

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It is of great public interest just now to know what your own opinion and purposes are, and what you yourselves think it expedient and practicable to do in promoting the welfare of your people. Apart from this, old acquaintance with a number of your best citizens in the District would have made it very agreeable to me to be present upon an occasion of so much interest to yourselves and your friends. You may feel assured that it will give general satisfaction to learn that you propose to make education your corner-stone on which to rest the social and political standing of your people. United and comprehensive effort will give you an equally comprehensive success, for which I use the occasion to offer you my best wishes.

Yours, truly,

J.C. Fremont.

-

Letter From Rev. Wm. H. Channing.

Washington, D. C., U. S. A.,

The Jubilee of Freedom, July 4. 1865.

Rev. H. H. Garnett, President: Messrs. Wm. J. Wilson, Louis A. Bell,

Secretaries of the National Lincoln Monument Association:

Gentlemen: You have done me the honor to elect me as one of the Directors of your Association. On this Sabbath day of our nation's freedom - the day consecrated to the principles of universal brotherhood - the day which is the pledge of equal rights and privileges in human society on earth for all who are welcomed to be co-heirs in glory together in our Father's home in Heaven - my first act shall be to accept the office which you have conferred, and to promise you my cordial, fraternal cooperation.

Trusting that the National Lincoln Monument Association may be one effectual means of enabling the colored people of the District of Columbia and the whole republic to prepare for and to fitly use what God and the Gospel of Christ, and the spirit and the essential principles of this nation assure their perfect right and duty to claim, namely: Peerage In All The Privileges Of Christian Citizenship, I remain, with cordial regard and respectful best wishes, your friend and brother,

William Henry Channing

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Letter From Hon. Gerrit Smith.

Peterboro, July 1, 1865, Saturday, P. M.

Messrs. Wm. Syphax and John F. Cook:

Gentlemen: Not until now do I receive your esteemed letter of the 28th instant. I wish I could be with you on the important and interesting occasion which you invite me to attend, but I cannot be.

Suffrage for the black man! Our nation cannot be saved so long as it is withheld.

With great regard, your friend,

Gerrit Smith.

-

Letter From Wm. C. Bryant. Esq.

Roslyn, Long Island, July 4, 1865.

Gentlemen: Your obliging invitation of the 28th of June did not come to my hands until last evening, so that my answer could not reach you until some time after your celebration. I cannot, however, allow the

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occasion to pass without congratulating the colored race on being able to celebrate the Fourth of July as freemen and citizens of this republic, and to express my confident hope that the day is near when they will be admitted to an equality of political privileges with the white race, throughout the whole extent of the United States.

I am, gentlemen, with great regard, your obedient servant,

W. C. BRYANT.

Messers. W. SYPHAX and JOHN F. COOK.

LETTER FROM COLONEL FORNEY.

PHILADELPHIA, July 3, 1865.

Gentlemen: Your letter dated June 29, sent from Washington to this city, only reached me yesterday, the 2d of July. My presence here will prevent me from being in Washington to-morrow. I cannot, however, after thanking you for your kind invitation, refrain the expression of my gratification that the colored citizens of Washington intend to celebrate the coming Independence Day on the grounds of the Presidential Mansion, with the free consent of the Chief Magistrate of the Republic. It is a fitting finale of the great struggle in which your race displayed such noble valor, and a fine illustration of the long-neglected pledges of the Declaration of Independence, that you should commemorate emancipation in the Capital of the nation, and that that Capital is no longer the rendezvous or the citadel of slavery. May your meeting at the next anniversary of the 4th of July, 1776, find you as free to vote in the city of Washington as you were ready to fight for it.

Your friend and fellow-citizen, J.W. FORNEY.

Messers. W. SYPHAX and JOHN F. COOK, Esqs., Committee.

LETTER FROM JUDGE KELLEY.

PHILADELPHIA, June 30, 1865.

Messers. WM. SYPHAX and JOHN F. COOK, Committee:

DEAR SIRS: Your favor of the 28th instant, on behalf of the colored citizens of the District of Columbia, came to hand to-day. I am rejoiced at learning that President Johnson, who is no less a lover of mankind than was his illustrious and lamented predecessor, has given you permission to again assemble, and celebrate our country's natal day, on the beautiful grounds appurtenant to the Executive Mansion. I shall never forget the emotions with which I looked upon you from the windows of that building, on last 4th of July, and contrasted your condition with what it had been when I first took my oath as a member of Congress, precisely three years before. Many of you were then slaves--things to be bought and sold and scourged by capricious and irresponsible masters or their agents--and all were subject to the infamous provisions of the "Black Code." Now, outside of Kentucky and Delaware, no slave cowers beneath freedom's flag; and you may rejoice that millions of your kinsmen, whose position was doubtful, but a short time ago, are in the enjoyment of assured freedom.

The determination of the colored citizens to erect and endow an institution of learning, as a testimonial of their regard for the memory of President Lincoln, is wise and commendable. Let your liberal contributions

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LETTER FROM HON. SALMON P. CHASE, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES.

WAKEFIELD, R.I., Aug. 16, 1865.

GENTLEMEN: Your letter, of the 28th ult., reached me here, after some delay. Idid not receive your invitation to the celebration on the 4th, or I should have thanked you for it earlier. I enclose a letter which expresses my sentiments.*

Tomorrow morning, I shall be in Washington, if nothing unforeseen shall prevent.

Yours truly, S.P. CHASE.

Messrs. WILLIAM SYPHAX and J.F. COOK, Committee.

LETTER FROM THE HON. CHARLES SUMNER.

BOSTON, MASS., July 16th, 1865.

Gentlemen: Owing to my absence from town, I did not receive your letter in season to answer it, for your celebration; but I am unwilling to leave it unanswered.

You are right in commemorating the memory of the late President, and I am glad that you are turning your attention to an institution of education. The idea, alone, in honorable; but I trust you will be able to reduce it to practice.

The time is at hand when your rights will be universally recognized, and nobody will venture to assert any difference in political privileges, founded on color. You must prepare yourselves for this condition.

Meanwhile, I counsel patience, and confidence in the President, who has told you that he will be "Your Moses." The people of the North

New Orleans, June 6, 1865.
GENTLEMEN: I should hardly feel at liberty to decline the invitation you have tendered me in behalf of the loyal colored Americans of New Orleans, to speak to them on the subject of their rights and duties as citizens, if I had not quite recently expressed my views at Charleston, in an address, reported with substantial accuracy, and already published in one of the most widely circulated journals of this city. But it seems superfluous to repeat them before another audience.

It is proper to say, however, that these views, having been formed years since, on much reflection, and confirmed, in a new and broader application, by the events of the civil war now happily ended, are not likely to undergo, hereafter, any material change.

That native freemen, of whatever complexion, are citizens of the United States; that all men held as slaves in the States which joined in rebellion against the United States have become freemen through executive and legislative acts during the war; and that these freemen are now citizens, and consequently entitled to the rights of the citizens, are propositions which, in my judgment, cannot be successfully controverted. And it is both natural and right that colored Americans, entitled to the rights of citizens, should claim their exercise. They should persist in this claim respectfully, but firmly, taking care to bring no discredit upon it by their own action. Its justice is already acknowledged by great numbers of their white fellow citizens, and these numbers constantly increase.

The peculiar conditions, however, under which these rights arise, seem to impose on those who assert them peculiar duties, or rather special obligations to the discharge of common duties. They should strive for distinction by economy, by industry, by sobriety, by patient perseverance in well-doing, by constant improvement in religious instruction, and by the constant practice of Christian virtues. In this way they will surely overcome unjust hostility, and convince even the most prejudiced that the denial to them of any right which citizens may properly exercise, is equally unwise and wrong.

Our national experience has demonstrated that public order reposes most securely on the broad basis of universal suffrage. It has proved, also, that universal suffrage is the surest guarantee and most powerful stimulus of individual, social, and political progress. May if not prove, moreover, in that work of re-organization which now engages the thoughts of all patriotic men, that universal suffrage is the best reconciler of the most comprehensive lenity with the most perfect public security and the most speedy and certain revival of general prosperity?

Very respectfully, yours, S.P. CHASE.

Messrs. J.B. ROUDANEZ, L. GOIS, and L. BANKS, Committee.

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which fastened the black slave to it; and he arising unhurt, for the first time walked the deck of a free man.

Our ship of state, the Union, has for eighty years gone careering over the billows; our slave has been chained to our mast in the open daylight, and in the focal blaze of the eighteen centuries gone by, and we have hurried on in our crime regardless alike of the muttering of the thunder and the flashes of the lightning, until in one devoted hour the thunderbolt was sped from the hand of God. The mast was shivered; the ship was saved; but, thank God, the slave was free. The monument we rear, therefore, to Abraham Lincoln is a monument to liberty. Here will it stand on the edge of fathomless waters, a beacon forever. Rising up against the dark sky behind, it’s burning light will cheer many a home now desolate; and, reflected across the dark waste around us, will be crystalized by hearts there into solid joy. Thus we shall gather in the youth, and thus, copying this Institution’s effective example, we may each do duty for a race. We may not be a life-boat to go out upon the billows to save, but, in the language of my Scotch friend, Rev. Dr. Guthrie, we may each be a bell-rock tower, standing erect amid the stormy waters, where, during the day, the bell was rung, where during the night the fire was kindled, so that men are not saved from the wreck, but saved from being wrecked at all and

“Your name and praise,

Which, in these slavish days,

So many vainly dream are soon to perish,

As in the coming age

They shine on history’s page,

The proud shall envy and the good shall cherish.”

At the conclusion of the oration, which was received with frequent bursts of applause, the venerable John Pierpont, whose name is so dear to every intelligent household in America, rose and delivered, with great effect, the following spirited poem, abounding with real rare gems of thought, and with racy humor.

LET THERE BE LIGHT.

From the beginning, the Eternal Cause

Hath wrought according to eternal laws—

Laws on himself imposed; and His almight

Gives and obeys his law— “Let there be light!”

His great antagonist, the Evil One,

Says, as his first command, “Put out the sun!”

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As poor Othello, jealous of his wife,

Loving, yet goaded on to take her life,

Steals in, his hand upon his dagger’s handle—

But finds himself unable while the candle

Its beautifying beams upon her throws,

Showing such loveliness in such repose,

Steps back, o’erpowered, as with most other men—

And, shaking, says, “Put out the light,” and then—

“I cannot kill her when I see my mark;

But I can do it if the room is dark!”

So it is with all servants of the devil:

They shun the light because their deeds are evil.

‘Twas thus with Booth. The murderer came by night,

Skulked up unseen, though all around was light,

And, when the deed was done—the warm blood spilt—

Plunged into darkness, friendly to his guilt.

Thus hath it been since man first slew his brother:

Darkness and wrong have courted one another.

The courtship ends in wedlock; thus begins

The large and fertile family of sins.

The lazy loafer, when nought else is left,

Must “stay his stomach upon fraud or theft;”

The swindler will, of course, the fraud deny;

And every theft is pregnant with a lie;

Then lie kills lie whene’er they meet abroad

And fraud expires, stabbed by a sharper fraud.

The burglar cuts his brother burglar’s throat,

And picks his pocket of a spurious note,

Which he palms off to pay a gambling bet,

Or bilks his butcher of an honest debt.

To such expedients knaves resort, to shirk

God’s first commandment— “Thou, to live, must work.”

Thanks for God’s word to Adam when He said,

“Thou with a sweating face, shalt eat thy bread.”

Many there are who deem this word a curse,

Thinking, than labor there is nothing worse,

A blessed curse, if curse we can it call,

That in this sentence, followed “Adam’s fall.”

Yet man, short-sighted man, has madly striven

To avert this blessing of benignant Heaven.

Has sought the pleasures and the power of wealth,

By crafty artifice, by fraud, or stealth,

To get his bread by some ingenious plan,

Or by the sweating face of some more honest man.

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The stronger savage, aye, his task will shirk,

And make the weaker woman do his work.

The conquering soldier came, in time, to yield

Part of his trophies of the battle-field;

Money, not mercy, prompted him to save

His captive’s life, and sell him as a SLAVE !

Hence feuds were fanned to flame, and wars were waged,

Hosts rushed to conflict and the battle raged,

Not that each chief his foeman’s blood might spill;

His aim to capture, rather than to kill.

The victor spared the foe he might have slain,

Tied him with thongs or bound him with a chain,

And kept him toiling in his filed or fold,

Or to another gave him up for gold.

Thus Slavery came, by God and Man abhorred,

Its ugly parents—avarice and the sword.

Its only office, that hard work he shun,

Whereby all glory, all true wealth are won.

To real greatness man is never born.

Nor yet do idle hands fill Plenty’s horn.

The leaky craft, just on destruction’s brink,

Says to the seaman, “Work your pump or sink !”

The frozen field, beneath whose surface lie

Undug potatoes, says “Root hog, or die !”

And the first law by God imposed on man

Which, we have seen, in Paradise began,

Imposed to shield the race from want and vice,

And which, obeyed, makes earth a paradise,

Is clearly stated by the Apostle Paul,

In terms that must be understood by all;

And which, in one line we will here repeat:

“Who will not labor, neither let him eat.”

Slavery, reversing this divine command,

Lifts to insulted heaven her lily hand,

Waving her sword or brandishing her dirk,

And swears that she will neither starve nor work;

And hence has striven this ordinance to fix,

For all the last four thousand of the six

Of our bright planet’s periods around the sun,

Since man on earth his race began to run,

Namely: “Regardless of the right or wrong,

“The weak shall labor to support the strong.

“Who labors not shall live on finest wheat,

Who labors not shall feast on fattest meat.

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“Who fats and kills the ox, his bones may gnaw;

“Who sows and reaps the wheat, may eat the straw;

“The idlest hands shall stuff the busiest jaws;

“These are my fixed, my fundamental laws.”

What is the good wherewith this code is fraught?

What are the blessings slavery hath brought?

Ay, where, in the wide field that she has trod,

And o’er it plied her shackles and her rod,

Hath not this fiend left traces of her hand,

Diffused her blight, and pressed her burning brand?

Where hath she brought a single blessing? Where

A sweeter flower, or a more balmy air?

More richly robed the earth in golden corn,

Sung holier hymns to heaven at even or morn,

Or with more fruits filled Amalthea’s horn?

Ancient Dominion, where the bondman’s tread,

First on our shores was felt, lift up thy head !

Thy loving arms were first around him thrown,

In thine embrace he loosed thy virgin zone.

Closest and longest to thy bosom prest,

Thou’st held the laboring bondman to thy breast,

Lift up thy head—once proud,—and show thy race

What are the fruits of that long, close embrace !

What did the bondman find thee when ye met?

What hath he left—he hath not left thee yet.

He found the fairest of the sister train:

Thy broad deep rivers rolling to the main;

From the wood-crowned Blue Ridges, that divide

Ohio’s waters from the ocean tide;

Thy valleys, fertile as the field, that smile,

In green and gold, along the ancient Nile.

Thy hill sides, dark with naval oaks and pines,

And teeming with their coal, and iron mines;

Thy waterfalls, echoing among those hills,

And clamorous for employment on thy mills,

That from the thundering ear and groaning wain,

Would take thy sacks, bursting with golden grain,

And, with their arms unwearied, fill with bread

Each lordly mansion and each humble shed,

That its blue wreath of smoke would ever send

Up to the genial skies, that o’er thee bend;

While, in thine inland sea, their sails unfurled,

Might ride secure the navies of the world.

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Such was thy beauty, such thy noble dower,

Couched, as a queen, beneath thy leafy bower,

In thy rich robes of flowers and foliage dressed,

By balmy breezes lovingly caress’d,

Thou fairest, richest, proudest of the States,

When to the slave, thou openedst first thy gates.

What hath been wrought upon thee by his hand?

Thy wasted forests, thine exhausted land,

Thy fields unfenced, thy cattle few and lean,

Thine ancient mansions fall’n, thy new ones mean,

Thy broad-leaved, poisonous plant that shades thy soil,

And makes the laborer languish at his toil,

The withering flowers that deck thy faded face,

Lazy unthrift, and labor in disgrace,

These show the world,—and they may read who run—

The work that thy blind slaves, and lords more blind, have done.

Ancient Dominion, have I done thee wrong?

Say’st thou my colors are laid on too strong?

Then will I gladly my pencil down,

And trust thou wilt not blast me with thy frown

If I exhibit of thy blighted land,

Thy portrait painted by a friendly hand.

The great Missourian’s picture thou shalt see;

Thou knew’st him well, and well did he know thee.

Missouri’s Senator, well known to Fame,

Whom some “the Old Roman,” some “Old Bullion” name,

Thus paints thy land along Potomac’s side,

Near where Virginia’s and the Nation’s pride,

Thrice honored lived, and long lamented, died.

“Throughout this region, long by slavery cursed,

Behold man’s progress upon earth reversed.

Backwards and downwards everything goes on:

Houses delapidated, tenants gone.

Where once were crowds there now is ample room;

Fields, fertile once, are now grown up with broom.

No crops, no fences now the plains adorn;

Grass and pine saplings take the place of corn.

As men grow scarce, wild beasts more frequent prowl,

The fox grows bolder, oftener hoots the owl,

And hungry wolves are heard more savagely to howl.

The tenant’s lot, who here puts in his seed,

Is hopeless, is deplorable indeed;

In vain does he solicit, day by day,

Gravel and grit and still more heartless clay.

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The corn and oats, that man and horse demand,

He brings not from these fields of pine and sand.

Not long ago, I passed this region o’er,

My journey lay along Potomac’s shore,

As the broad-bosomed river gently sweeps,

Near where the Father of his Country sleeps.

Riding along the rough highway, and thinking,

I know not what—as Horace says*— a clinking

I heard among the stones, on the hillside.

I checked my horse, and looking up, espied

Some negro laborers hoeing with their hoes,

Digging small holes, in equidistant rows,

And burying something in them. So I cried

‘What are you doing there?’ A slave replied—

‘We’re planting corn, sir, in these gravel beds.’

‘What plant ye with it?’ Answer, ‘Herring heads.’

‘Why plant ye herring heads with corn?’ said I.

‘To make the corn come up,’ was the reply.

Again I asked, ‘How many heads do you

Plant, to each grain of corn?’ He answered, ‘Two.’

‘Well, how high grows it, thus manured, I beg?’

‘About so high,’ measuring upon his leg !”

Mother of Presidents, once haughty land,

Behold thy portrait by a master’s hand !

One artist more depicts thy state forlorn:

Native is he, and “to the manner born.”

His handiwork may fascinate thine eyes;

High-born is he, and nominally Wise.

Stumping the State its highest chair to gain,

And, history tells us, stumping not in vain,

This limner, true to nature, thus bewails

His mother’s fate: “Commerce her fickle sails

Long since has spread and sailed from you away;

Plowing no more the bosom of your bay;

Your coal mines, richer than are mines of gold,

Remain undug, till your own hearths are cold.

Your iron foundries wait impatient for

Trip-hammer, such as Vulcan wields, or Thor.

Nor of your coarsest cotton, do you spin

Enough to hide your negroes’ naked skin.

Of commerce, manufacturers, arts, bereft,

Nought, but the culture of your ground, is left.

Nescio quid meditana.—Hor.
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an electric thrill through the vast crowd; and their joy, as he gave utterance to assurances the most cheering, seemed at times to know no bounds. He spoke as follows:

Mr. Chairman and Fellow Citizens of the United States: When I left my home in Massachusetts, I intended to spend this hallowed day among the graves of the brave men who fell and Gettysburg, in aiding to consecrate a monument to the heroes of the "grand old Army of the Potomac," who there fronted the legions of the rebellion, and there broke the power of treason forever in America. (Cheers.) Business - not yet completed - forced me to spend the day in the National Capital, and I came here to meet free men, and listen to the words of humanity, of justice, and of liberty. I have listened to an orator of your own race, and I say to you, that within the broad limits of the North American Republic, there will be few speeches uttered, to-day, superior to the one he addressed to you. I have listened, too, to the voice of one, that for more than thirty years in my own Massachusetts, I have been accustomed to listen to and admire. I can hardly hope, after you have listened to such utterances, to say anything that will add to the joy of the grand occasion; but as you have asked me to say a word, I will not shrink from saying it. (Applause.) Here, to-day, in the capital of my country, surrounded by this throng of my fellow citizens, black and white, I say - and if my voice could reach the Rio Grande, I would utter it - that slavery is dead and buried forever. ("Thank God!" Applause.) And I say further - and I want you to remember and carry it to your homes, to-night, and tell it to your neighbors, and let it go from neighbor to neighbor across the continent - that the freedmen of the United States shall be protected in all their rights. (Immense cheering.) Slavery has robbed your cradles; it shall rob them no more. (Applause.) Slavery has sold your children; it shall sell them no more. (Cheers.) Slavery had its auction blocks; they are gone forever. Slavery had its bloodhounds; they shall bay on the track of your race no more. (Loud and continued cheering.)

Let the late slave-masters understand this. Let every rebel in the country, from the Potomae to the Rio Grande, understand it, that their power, their authority over the black man of this continent, has passed away forever. (Cheers.) I want them to understand, in their language of the New York Herald, of yesterday, that "Slavery is destroyed, and with its death, the compromises of the Federal Constitution, the laws of Congress, the black laws of the late slave States, and of the free States, and all the political dogmas and ideas upon which this system of slavery

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pended, must be numbered among the things of the past. The Dred Scott interpretation of the Constitution from the Supreme Court, under which the negro has no political rights which a white man is bound to respeet, goes, with all this other rubbish, into the dumping-ground of slavery" (Immense applause) And I serve a notice here, to-day, upon them, that I am preparing a bill that I intend to introduce on the first day of the next Congress, for the personal liberty of every freedman of the Republic. (Applause.) I want them to understand, further, that I belong to a body of men that are accustomed to sleep on the field of victory (cheers;) a class of men that accept the doctrines of the New Testament; that accept as the living faith of the North American Republic, the Declaration of Independence; a class of men that represent the principles of liberty, humanity, and justice; and a class of men that never were, and never can be defeated. (Applause.) If any doubt it, let them look back for the last thirty years, and they will doubt no longer.

When I came here, a young man, twenty-nine years ago last May, I didn't know anybody in Washington, and nobody had any reason to know me. I went across to the Island, saw the infamous Williams' slave pen; saw the poor people manacled and marched down to the river-side, and shipped off the to "far South." I went up to the Capitol—to the House of Representatives—and saw the slave-masters "laying on the table" the petitions of the Christian men and women of this country against this abominable traffic in human bodies. In the pride of their power they thought they could crush out the spirit of the people. I went back to Massachusetts, filled with pity for the hapless bondman, and with defiance to his oppressor. I found noble men and Christian women devoting all they had and all they hoped to be, to the cause of the oppressed, and I linked my name with theirs; and, for these thirty years, I have acted with anti-slavery men, who have put up parties and put down parties, and can do it again. (Immense cheering.)

I saw a grand old party, led by Clay and Webster, and other men of eminent talent and character, yield to the tempter, bow humbly at the feet of the slave power—and then I saw it die. (Applause.)

I saw an "American" organization spring up; they spoke for liberty and voted for liberty, but they were seduced by the slave oligarehy, and I stood by their grave soon after. (Applause.)

I saw the old "Demoeratic" party—a party that eould commit more offences against humanity, while professing to be its champion, than any other party that has ever existed, ingloriously defeated—its leaders beaten. I have seen State after State—under its acknowledged influence—plunge into the vortex of revolution

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and civil war; and, after four years of bloody struggle, have seen it overwhelmed and overthrown, from Canada to Mexico. (Applause.)

Casting aside the mere obligations of partisanship, standing on the eternal principle of right, anti-slavery men have broken the powerful political organizations and smitten down the leaders that have been recreant to liberty. They have sworn upon the altar of patriotism, to stand erect, in vindication of the rights of man in America; and so long as there is a right not secured or a wrong unredressed, they are ready to act with, to build up or pull down political organizations, and public men.

I have an undeviating faith in these men; they have been tried at all times and in every form, but they have marched steadily onward, achieving victory after victory, and they will not shrink from any contest that may come up in the great work of consummating freedom for all men in America. (Applause.) I say to you colored men, here to-day, that ninety-five of every hundred of the men who, in November last, voted for Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, are standing now shoulder to shoulder for the emancipation and the protection of your race, by just, humane, and equal laws. (Cheers.) They believe, with Andrew Johnson, that "all men should have a fair start and an equal chance in the race of life, and that merit should be rewarded without regard to color." In their memories will linger for ever the immortal words of the martyred Lincoln: "The ballot of the black man, in some trying time to come, may keep the jewel of liberty in the family of freedom."

You were kind enough, Mr. Chairman, to refer to the fact that I had introduced the bill, which passed, abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, and also to the measure annulling the black laws, and making the colored man liable only for the same offences and triable and punishable for the same offences in the same measure as white men. That bill which, with some amendments, became the law, under which three thousand men, women, and children were emancipated, and the National Capital made for ever free, what drawn, at my request, by the ready and accurate pen of Col. Key, of Ohio, then with me on the staff of General McClellan. When that bill was pending, we were assured that if it became the law, if we struck the manacles from your hands, that the poor houses would be thronged, the prisons crowded, that riots and bloodshed and civil war would come. The bill passed - you thronged the churches of the living God to utter thanks and gratitude. Three years have passed away, and here you are, more intelligent, stronger, truer than ever to yourselves and your country. ("That's so - every one." Cheers.)

They told us your brothers in the South would obey their

Washington

DC

USA

1865-07-04

1865-07-04