THE PUBLICATION COMMITTEE

To the Public: The personal correspondence on pages 9 to 12 inclusive is self-explanatory. In addition thereto, it is proper to state, that after the material for this book had been compiled, and made ready for the printer, we obtained from Mr. Ashley his consent to have the matter thus selected, electrotyped as it was set up, so that a book which should be an exact duplicate copy of the “Souvenir,” as to its contents, might be copyrighted by us, published from the electrotyped plates and sold to the public at moderate cost.

The only conditions prescribed by Mr. Ashley were that the net proceeds arising from the sale of the book should be applied to preparing young men and women of our race to become teachers in the public and private negro schools of the South.

Our purpose was, that the book when published should be within the reach of all, and be especially for use in Afro-American public libraries and in the libraries of our own colleges and public and private schools, also for the home libraries of all our people and our lawyers and clergymen and members of other liberal professions.

It will be observed, that a number of the speeches and addresses selected, were made by Mr. Ashley when he was a very young man, and that they were made at a time when the champions of slavery were masters of the nation, as well as our masters.

The high moral tone of all the speeches, addresses and orations contained in the book, their earnestness and ability, can not fail to command the attention and respect of even the most partisan political opponent.

In the light of history, the reader will recognize that the time and conditions under which these speeches were delivered, stamp them as both masterly and prophetic.

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In these speeches will be found a living reflex of Mr. Ashley's life and character and a faithfully condensed history of the great battle waged for our liberation.

They are calm and eloquent for the rights of our race and of all races of men.

No one of these speeches contains a partisan appeal or an appeal in behalf of any clique or faction nor for himself. Firm, faithful and just—they are as potent now for liberty protected by law, and for the equal rights of all men before the law, as they were at the time of their delivery.

We know of no book in which can be found grander appeals for the rights of man, and in which there appears no word or thought that the negro could wish to change or blot.

For a clearer and more specific statement of the contents and value of the book, we beg to refer to the “Introduction,” written by Hon. Frederick Douglass and to the letters which appear as editorial foot-notes, written by some of our ablest men. These notes with the likenesses of some of the writers are interspersed throughout the book. We respectfully commend this book to our race and to the liberal statesmen of America. Benjamin W. Arnett, Wilberforce, Ohio, Chairman Publication Committee. Bishop Benjamin F. Lee, Waco, Texas. Rev. Charles S. Smith, Nashville, Tennessee. Pres't I.T. Montgomery, Mound Bayou, Miss. Bishop W.J. Gaines, Atlanta, Ga. Rev. J.C. Embry, Philadelphia, Pa. Rev. A.H. Ross, Cynthiana, Ky. Prof. B.W. Arnett, Jr., Little Rock, Ark.

iv 4

The following presentation address was prepared by the Hon. Wm. H. Young, President of the Afro-American League of Nashville, Tennessee.

As Mr. Young was unavoidably detained at home, we publish this address in full.

Bishop Arnett (with the aid of his little son, Daniel Payne Arnett) took Mr. Young's place.

MR. YOUNG's ADDRESS. Mr. President: As the representatives of the Afro-American League of Tennessee, we have met this evening, in this great city, the Mecca toward which the heart of civilization has been turned during this Columbian jubilee occasion, to erect a monument founded in the gratitude of the ex-slaves and their children of the United States of America.

The spirit which actuated us in the movement, whose consummation we shall this night witness, impelled the nation to dedicate monuments to the champions of the cause of the Union, and the devotees of States' sovereignty to foster as an abiding possession the memory of heroes whose convictions were dearer to them than life.

Forty years ago the social fabric of our great country consisted of four distinct threads:—

(1) The slave, who by nativity, residence and conquest had become an essential part of the nation;

(2) The abolitionist, who stood upon the broad doctrine announced by the revolutionary fathers, that “all men are created free and equal;”

(3) A large element, who professed to believe that “there were races” who could be chattelized without sin or crime.

And (4) a larger number who cared little for the equality 0005 vof men so long as their own rights remained intact, and the integrity of the National Government was undisturbed.

In the struggle which followed the slave remained for a time a passive quantity.

The abolitionist demanded the emancipation of the slaves.

The devotees of States' rights maintained that the slave, being property, was wholly within the jurisdiction of the States, and that any infringement upon property rights by the National Government would justify a dissolution of the Union.

This dictum left to the unconditional Unionist but one alternative a coalition with the abolitionist for the purpose of saving the Union.

The war is ended. Its results and subsequent legislation are enshrined in the nation's history.

Under Providence, the Union is restored, slavery is abolished and the entire nation. North and South, rejoices in the accomplishment of both.

We are not here to revive the unpleasant memories of the past, nor to rekindle the camp-fires which are possessions of the dead past; but we are here to crown the head of him from the fullness of whose great heart the second declaration of independence sprung:

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

This declaration contains the essential element of democratic institutions: and secures the perpetuity of the American republic.

Mr. Lincoln was the mouth-piece of Unionism; Mr. Davis of State sovereignty. Mr. Ashley of freedom.

The two former championed the cause of peculiar forms of government, the latter the cause of humanity.

The followers of Lincoln have seen the Union re-established.

The followers of Mr. Davis have seen State sovereignty maintained in part with the exception of the right of secession.

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The followers of Mr. Ashely have seen the freedom of all men acknowledged in theory at least.

Each has his reward in the gratitude of his chosen constituency.

The images of Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Davis are perpetuated in marble and bronze as a lasting reminder to the generations to come.

But to-night we erect a unique monument of the charter of “the Tribune of the people.”

We come not as partisans, but as freedmen and citizens, the immediate beneficiaries of the crowning act of Mr. Ashely's noble life.

We come to snatch from the consummate statesman, patriot, philanthropist and benefactor, the chill and gloom of ingratitude and to reinvest his being with new life

We come to reassure him that the years of strife, turmoil, and self-abnegation spent for a despised race were “as bread cast upon the water.”

We come to remind him that we to-night intend that his name and life-work shall be a precious legacy to our children's children.

That they shall rise up and call him blessed.

We have come to announce to the world that henceforth he who shall merit our gratitude shall not go unrewarded.

This souvenir is the tribute of the Afro-Americans to the Hon. Jas. M. Ashley.

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Benjamin W. Arnett

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THE ADDRESS OF BISHOP BENJAMIN WILLIAM ARNETT, D. D., OF WILBERFORCE, OHIO. At Chicago, Ill., September 22, 1893, ON PRESENTING A SOUVENIR VOLUME, IN BEHALF OF THE AFRO-AMERICAN LEAGUE OF TENNESSEE, AND OF THE FRIENDS OF HUMAN LIBERTY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. To the Hon. James M. Ashley, of Toledo, Ohio, IN ART PALACE AND IN THE PRESENCE OF THE PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS. THE REV. JOHN BARROWS. D. D., PRESIDING. MR. PRESIDENT, MEMBERS OF THE PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF HUMANITY:

In the name of my countrymen and fellow-sufferers of the past I come with greetings and rejoicings this night, that our night has turned to day, our former prison has become a mansion, and we are now the legitimate heirs of the heritage of American freemen. We are to congratulate ourselves that 0009 viiithis gathering is not only to be a mount of toleration and cordiality, but is to be one of gratitude and thanksgiving to God, and to one of the foremost heroes in the battle of freedom. This is one of the greatest honors of my life, to be spokesman of the Tennessee League and of 7,500,000 of my fellow-countrymen. It will be my privilege to review the work of the race for the past thirty years, and to follow some of the steps that have led to the marvelous triumphs of thirty years of labor in field, study and schoolhouse. We are also to honor one of whom honor is due, and let him and his friends know that we are not unmindful of the workmen of the past. The battle of human freedom has been fought in all lands for all races.

THE VICTORIES WON. Fourteen hundred and ninety-one years before the Star of Bethlehem was hung in the vaulted skies, or the celestial orchestra sung the natal song of the “Infant Redeemer of Man,” Moses, the servant of God, the lawgiver of the centuries, the first to unite in his person, human and divine law, led Israel, the children of God, beneath a banner of vapor and fire from the house of bondage, to Mt. Nebo, in sight of the land of liberty. Joshua, his successor, lifted up the banner, drew the sword, rallied his forces, crossed the Jordan, Jericho fell; he moved on to Aiai in the plain of Gilgal, erected the first monument to the triumph of liberty, with the stones brought from the Jordan by the priests of the living God. It became their “Triumphal Arch,” and our “Bow of Hope,” and Joshua spoke to the children of Israel, saying: “When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What mean these stones?' then shall ye let your children know, saying Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.”

And in the future men and women shall inquire, “What means this day, the 22d of September?”

When our children and their children's children shall inquire of their moral and religious teachers, why the 22d of 0010 ixSeptember is set down in the calendar as the day of hope and joy to the negro, then will you answer them and say:

When your father's father was in bondage there was a great war between the northern and southern States of the Union; at times one army was successful, and at times the other was successful.

A great and good man was the President of the United States. The party of men that elected him were opposed to the extension of slavery, and many of them believed in universal freedom; others of them believed in the emancipation of the slaves, while another class believed that the normal condition of the negro was to be a slave to the white man.

There was a division among the people and the statesmen in regard to the powers of the State and General Government. One party believed that the General Government was superior to the State Government. The Southerners believed that the State government was superior to the National Government: the logical conclusion of this was that a part was greater than the whole. Finally on the twelfth day of April, 1861, the American flag was fired upon at Fort Sumter, and the fort was compelled to surrender, and the American flag was lowered. Thus came the great war known as the Rebellion.

The leaders on both sides lifted up their standard, and hundreds of thousands rallied around them. Brave, trained and skilled men were appointed to lead them. The contest was long, bloody and dreadful. The war-cloud hung low and dark from sea to sea. Soldiers were vigilantly guarding the frontiers of liberty on one side, and those of slavery on the other. Every man was brave as though his face was brass, his muscles of iron and his fingers of steel. The minie-ball whistled its favorite song of death; cannons spoke to cannons in the voice of thunder; the earth heard and trembled, and the sky frowned upon the scene, grape and canister flew like birds through the air, bombs like meteors spread destruction in their path. The nights were made hideous by shells screaming and screeching like wild beasts of prey, contending with each other. The midnight air was burdened with groans of the wounded and the wails of the dying. Again could be heard the shouts of the advancing 0011 xarmy amid the din of battle. The curses of the retreating foe could be heard, mingling with the shouts of triumph and victory. The bass voice of the artillery and the heavy tramp of the cavalry were broken by the shrill cries of the commanders urging their men to victory. Doubtful as to the way the battle was going, the President of the United States issued a proclamation, inviting all Christians and people to assemble in their churches and places of worship to pray to God of the armies of heaven, that He might reinforce the armies of the Union by His ever conquering legions. The people obeyed, prayer was offered, and the answer from on High was awaited by the nation.

On the 16th of April, 1862, the first victory was gained for freedom and justice. The slaves of the District of Columbia were emancipated, and the jubilant shouts were heard throughout the land. In the camp, in the prison and on the march the bands played, and the soldiers sang, “John Brown's body lies moldering in the grave, but the soul goes marching on; glory, glory hallelujah,” etc. [Applause.]

While this and other songs were filling the homes, hearts and tents of the land. the President of the United States, the commander of the Union army, stood upon the rock of military necessity, and gave the confederate army 100 days to surrender and renew their allegiance to the Constitution and the Union. attaching as a military penalty, “If they failed to comply he would on the first day of January, 1863, emancipate all slaves in certain designated States and Territories of the country, and promising protection to all who might come within the lines of the Union army, whether as laborers, teamsters or servant.” Freedom was to be their reward.

Thus this man hung the bow of promise over the prison of the negro, and bade the bondmen believe, pray and hope. Within the prison, the South, prayers ascended daily and nightly from the cabin, field and woods. In the North, daily and nightly meetings were held, speeches and prayers alternating with each other: prayers to God, and petitions to men.

The negro wanted the Union saved, he wanted the Union flag to triumph, but not till the first day of January, 1863, had 0012 xipassed. Days increased their weary marches; weeks dragged themselves along, appearing to be months in length, and three months rolled along as though they were three years to the weary, trusting and hopeful bondmen; in fact, the whole negro race lived a lifetime over, between the 22d of September, 1862, and the first day of January, 1863, for the liberty of the generations, the prosperity and happiness of millions, and the destiny of a nation hung upon the issue of the hour and the resolve of the President of the United States.

Of this proclamation, Mrs. Harper says: "It shall flash through coming ages, It shall light the distant years, And eyes now dim with sorrow Shall be brighter through their tears.”

When the first of January, 1863, came, the proclamation went forth, and millions of the slaves were made freemen in one day. The hut of the bondman was deserted, and the freedman, with his wife and with his children, was banished from the old homestead, and they started to a land they knew not of; but with faith in God, and a trust in his word, and with a lively hope in the final triumph of right, truth and justice, they began their weary march to the land of liberty. There was joy and there was sadness; joy that the hour of deliverance had come; sorrow that they had to leave behind their associates. They started out not as the Israelites from Egypt, with the clothes and jewels of the Egyptians, for they had only the garments that they wore in bondage, and their only jewel was the jewel of freedom.

The scene was sad and joyful; millions of people without a foot of land to stand upon, without a house or home to protect them from the storm of winter or the heat of the summer. In fact, they were landless, houseless and nameless, because hitherto they had borne the names of their masters; now having no masters, they had no names, and each family had to choose a new name of freedom, and they named their children after the generals, the majors, the colonels and captains of the Union army, so that the roster 0013 xiiof the army of the Union is the key to the genealogical record of the new sons and daughters of freedom, and the two were bound together forever and forever, the deliverer and the delivered. [Great applause.]

Thirty years have passed away with all of their scenes of hope and joy, life and death, peace and war, and the inhabitants of the city of the living have been transferred to the city of the dead, and there await their final summons to appear at the bar of judgment. A generation of men and women have appeared on the stage of human activities, have entered the conflict between right and wrong, justice and injustice, have conquered and received their crown of reward, while others are yet contending for the faith once delivered to the saints, and for which the saints of goodness and the heroes of virtue have died.

The question now is. “What has the negro done with his thirty years of freedom?” The following are some of his achievements in the field of politics and government.

Hundreds and thousands have served in wards meetings, city meetings, county and state conventions; hundreds have attended the national conventions, which nominate the President of the United States; and John R. Lynch and others have presided over the national convention.

In thirty years the negro has been elected, and served with honor to himself and to his race in city councils, on boards of aldermen, in State legislature, in State senate, in national Congress and in the United States Senate, and in each of the deliberative bodies has he presided with dignity. What race can show a better record than this? I challenge comparison and wait for a parallel, either from history, tradition, observation or experience.

Since the negro left the house of bondage he has been elected, and has acted as mayor of a town, he has been constable and marshal, the county squire and the city justice of peace, the county sheriff and the United States marshal, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and lieut.-governor, presiding over the State senate, acting as Governor of Mississippi, Louisiana and South Carolina, approving the laws, liberating convicts, commuting sentences of death to 0014 xiiithat of life the embodiment of law and order for a commonwealth.

He has presided over the national House of Representatives, and filled the chair of Vice-President of the United States with honor and dignity. The Hon. B. K. Bruce was register of the United States treasury and stamped his name upon the currency of our country, and gave the negro's consent to pay the nation's debt in silver and gold, or in greenbacks.

In thirty years the negro went from field, shop and hotel, and has been elected and served as secretary of state, auditor of state, treasurer of state, attorney-general of state, superintendent of public schools in county and state; and the negro in the days of reconstruction laid the foundation of the public school system of the South, and to-day it stands a monument of his love of education and of posterity.

Since 1862 the negro has studied law, been admitted to bar, has been elected city judge, has presided in the supreme court of South Carolina. He has acted as prosecuting attorney and persecuting attorney too. He has been admitted to practice in the district, circuit and supreme courts. Thus the negro is able to plead his cause from the police courts to the Supreme Court of the United States.

The Hon. James M. Townsend and D. P. Roberts have acted as recorders of the general land offices of the United States, one of the most important offices in the gift of the President, for not one foot of public land can be sold or transferred without the signature of the recorder of the lands. He is the custodian of the great seal of the land office, and when he signs his name and stamps with the seal, he represents the wishes of 62,500,000 people.

The Hon. Frederick Douglass, the greatest of all American negroes, acted as marshal of the District of Columbia; he was the representative of law and order of the Government, and in a city where less than thirty years ago his kindred were bought and sold. What a wonderful triumph! What marvelous progress has been made in recognizing the rights of the new-made freeman! [Great applause.]

Again, inside of thirty years the negro has been appointed by the President of the United States to serve the Government 0015 xivas consul in Madagascar, San Domingo, minister resident and consul general to Hayti,the morning star of the negro independence and negro reign; and to Liberia, Africa, the lone star of hope to more than 200,000,000 of men, women and children, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. The negro has assisted in framing the organic laws of many States of the Union, since his freedom. He was an important factor in the reconstruction conventions and has assisted in embodying in the organic law of the land the principles of justice and right.

WHAT PROGRESS HAS THE NEGRO MADE IN EDUCATION? That education is essential to the success of an individual, family, race or country is a common axiom, and it is said on every side, “We must educate or perish.” This is relatively and absolutely true with us as a race. Therefore we desire to see what progress we have made since our chains have been broken, and we stepped out into freedom. The following communication from Hon. W. T. Harris, Commissioner of Education of the United States, tells the story of thirty years of freedom and education.

NUMBER OF SCHOOLS FOR THE COLORED RACE. THE ENROLLMENT OF THEM BY INSTITUTIONS WITHOUT REFERENCE TO STATES. Teachers Schools Enrollment. Public schools .22,956 21,520 1,327,822—'89 Normal schools . 316 41 7,462 Institutions of Secondary instructions 354 53 11,480 Universities and colleges 238 22 1,010 Schools of theology 89 22 1,008 Schools of law 15 4 2 School of medicine 30 3 241 Schools of deaf, dumb and blind 30 9 287 ——— ———- ———— Total 24,038 21,674 1,327,822—'89 Grand total in all schools of all grades 1,353,352

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IN COLLEGE AND SEMINARY. The students in our colleges and seminaries in the pursuit of their studies have acquitted themselves nobly. They have made excellent records in the study of the classics, in the study of higher mathematics, in the contest for class honors they have been very successful, and have won victories against great odds.

In thirty years they have captured the oratorical prize in century-crowned Havard; have borne aloft of the palm of victory in Boston University. In all these institutions distinguished for their learning, the negro student has shown that the intellectual power of the race is equal to that of the Anglo-Saxon, in the acquisition of knowledge, and I firmly believe that time and circumstances will prove that he possesses the power of applying his knowledge in the world of though and matter. It is only a question of time, for time is an essential element, until the latent powers of the race will manifest themselves in the organization, and in the subsidizing of the moral and mental forces, and utilizing them for the advancement of science and the development of art, and in the fostering of of the higher culture of our young men and our young women to such an eminent degree that the doubt that hangs over the possibilities of the race will be removed, and confidence and trust and hope will then illumine the path of the future, to such an extent that the seekers after truth will be permitted to join in the excursions of investigation and study, regardless of race and color.

THE NEGRO ON THE PLATFORM. Before the war and before freedom, it was a strange thing to hear of a negro upon the platform, or a platform of political parties, for he has had some connection with the platform of political parties, from the organization of our Government. I have reference to the public platform where an individual stands before an audience, presents facts of history, illustrates by instances of biography or recites events connected 0017 xviwith his own personal observation or experience, or discusses principles, men and policies of government, approving one party and disapproving another, using every argument of moral suasion to have an individual follow the standard of an organization or party, and to accomplish his end, uses logic, rhetoric and elocution , playing upon his passions, prejudice and sympathies of his audience as the musician touches the keys of his instrument.

In thirty years the negroes have produce a number of spell-binder or orators as they are called in common parlance, among whom are the Hon. Fredick Douglas, old men eloquent of the old school; Rev. J. C. Price, of the new school; Rev. W. B. Derrick, a “child of the topics"; the Hon. Jno. R. Lynch, a product of the Sunny South; Hon. J. Madison Bell, the man that sounded the key-note of freedom, on the morning of emancipation at the Golden Gate. Bishop T. M. D. Ward,whose voice and speech have alike cheered the miner in the Sierra Nevada, and the new made freed men in the savannah and the everglades of Florida, whose words were as beautiful as the magnolia, and as sweet as the orange-blossom.

Time fails me to speak, for the coming orators are too numerous. 'twould require a volume to record their names, their hopes, their ambitions but whether in religious or political connections, at home or abroad, the platform orators of negroes have been heard and felt within thirty years.

THE STAGE The negro has appeared upon the stage, and the dramatic power of the race has been tested, weighed and has not been found wanting. Several stars have appeared above the horizon in the dramatic sky, their brilliant light softened the midnight darkness, and become a guide to those struggling to rise from horizon to zenith, until we now have a constellation appearing to to the joy of all:

Madame Selika, the queen of song; Miss Hallie Q. Brown, the queen of elocutionists; Miss Henrietta Vinton Davis, the gifted and matchless, magic, emotional and 0018 xviihumorous reader; Miss Sisseretta Jones, the black Patti, has delighted thousands in the East and West in the United States, and has won laurels for herself and for the race in the West Indies and in foreign lands; Miss Daisy Nahar, with wonderful skill, instructs and delights those who have had the pleasure of listening to her entertainments.

THE NEGRO AS A PHYSICIAN. The doctor is one of the necessary and one of the indispensable members of a community. The healing art is one of the most important of professions. It is so intimately connected with life and death, health and sickness, that a skillful physician is a blessing to his fellow-men.

Everybody is interested in his success. The happiness of homes, the success of enterprises, the prosperity of the community depend upon the health of its inhabitants. When the negro race assumed the responsibilities of freemen, we had no physicians of our own; we had to depend on others to care for our sick and to relieve our ills. But since that day our young men have entered college, have graduated with honor and are now practicing with eminent success.

We have physicians who are not only practitioners, but are eminent as surgeons and oculists. Among the many who have distinguished themselves for learning and skill are: Drs. Purvis, Cook, Francis and Powell, of Washington City; Dr. Ray, of Brooklyn; Dr. Thompson, of New York; Dr. Darnes, of Jacksonville, Fla.; Dr. Buckner, of Cincinnati, Ohio; Dr. D.H. Williams, the founder of Provident Hospital and Training School, of Chicago, and one of the surgeons of the World's Fair. Dr. Boyd, of Nashville, and many others whose names time will fail me to mention.

The following figures will give some idea as to the number of colored physicians of the United States of thirty years of freedom, for when freedom, came we had only Dr. Delaney, and one or two others.

The Mahary College has graduated in 1891, 132 physicians.

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Howard University, 1891, graduated being 112 colored and 216 whites

The Leonard Medical School in 1891, had graduated 30 students and had 54 on the way.

The Louisville National Medical College has graduated 11 persons and had an enrollment of 23.

The New Orleans University graduated 4 in 1882, and a large number have graduated from Ann Arbor, and Chicago and other places.

There are a large number of dentists in the country, and pharmacists.

The number of young men is increasing in those professions.

THE MUSIC OF OUR FATHERS. One of the distinguishing marks of a people is its music and language. The last things of a race to die are its songs and its language. There is something of immortality stamped upon the heart and the human soul. They being immortal, their utterances are immortal.

Our fathers in their bondage crystallized their sorrows and their woes into songs and into hymns. The words were stamped on the memory of the generations, and their songs were impressed upon the souls of the old and young, and when freedom came, and they marched out of their prison into the sunlight of liberty, the songs of the night were blended with the songs of the day. The minor of despair and the major of hope were set to the music of liberty and joy, and the music of the freedmen became the hymns of liberty. The songs were so unique, the music so original, that the children of the fathers gave concerts to the multitudes, thus transmitting the songs of the fathers to the hymns of the children.

Temples of education were needed, the fathers were poor and the children were without money, so a company was organized and named the “Fisk Jubilee Singers.” They sang in the East, West, North and South; finally they went to Europe and collected means and built a temple to Christian 0020 xixeducation. Other companies have been organize, the Wilberforce Concert Co.; the Hampton Singers, who song in the interest of Hampton College; the Tennesseeans, who song in the interest of Tennessee College; the F.J. Loudin Co., who sang in Europe, America and Australia, returning by way of the Hawaiian Islands and San Francisco, thus circumnavigating the globe. Thus within thirty years, the children have sung the songs of the fathers to the common people of the eastern, western and southern hemispheres.

They also appeared in the royal presence of Kings and queens, and of aristocrats in England, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Russia, bringing tears from the eyes of the distinguished of many lands as they song, “Steal Away to Jesus.”

The people of the South Sea were delighted to hear the children sing their father's song of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, Coming to Carry You Home.” Thus the broken music of the slave become the harmony of the children of freedom, and everybody delights to hear the plantation melodies, the only original music of America.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY What are we doing toward training our daughters? Have we done our duty in the past, and are we doing it now?

A race cannot be greater than its women. The women are the teachers and molders of the thought and sentiment of the rising generation. A woman is the teacher at the fireside, the priest of the family alter, what mother or sister says cannot be changed by what any one else says

Hence it is important to have a mother and sisters who are intelligent and refined. The influence of women is not limited by the sides of the house or the boundaries of the premises, but she is one of the principals instructors of the Sunday-school. In fact, they form a large majority of our moral and religious teachers in this and all other civilized countries, and I am told that she is the principal instructor in the semi-civilized countries, and the general sentiment is—I have many sisters, many wives, but only one mother.

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The work that the women of the race have had to perform in the past thirty years; they have had heavy burdens to bear, difficult tasks to perform, intricate subjects to consider and difficult questions to decide. They were moved from hut to hut of slavery to the house of freedom, without furniture, without any preparation. They had to leave many things behind that they desired to bring with them; they brought with them many things that they ought to have left behind.

Thus embarrassed and surrounded, they began the home work of reconstruction without a model or a teacher. It is true that a few noble women of the North came down, visited the cities and instructed our women how to arrange a home for free men and free women, and gave lessons in training boys and girls for usefulness in serving God through eternity.

Thirty years have made a wonderful change in our homes and in the social circles; our women have made wonderful progress. To-day the model home of the negro is a place of refinement, culture, a home of song, a temple of industry, a sanctuary of religion, the citadel of virtue and the altar of patriotism, where obedience to human and divine law is taught in theory and practice.

God bless our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters. The progress they have made, the advancement they are making, is a marvel in our sight, and a source of joy to every man who loves his race and his country.

THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. One of the highest qualities of manhood is that which makes a soldier. It requires obedience, courage and love of country to constitute a good soldier. He must obey without questioning authority; he must endure fatigue without complaining; he must leave his mother or wife and children behind without grieving; he must run and not weary; he must walk and not faint.

At the close of the Revolutionary war the negro was denied the right to bear arms in many of the States, which was against the Constitution of the country. But he bore it 0022 xxiwith patience, trusting in God, hoping for the final triumph of right. When the civil war broke out, he offered his services to the governors of the States to help fill the quotas of the State. He received answer that “this is a white man's war, and that the negro has nothing to do with it.” But times changed, and after numerous defeats to the Union army, the leaders were convinced that the white man could not settle the war, and the negro was called in as an umpire; but he would not enter without conditions, and one of the conditions was: “Give us a flag, all free without a slave, and we will defend it as our fathers did so brave.”

When the conditions were complied with, the refrain was caught up by the negro, east, west, north and south, and he sang: "Onward, boys, onward, This is the year of jubilee God bless America, The land of liberty.”

And during the civil war in America, from 1861 to 1865, there were 178,975 negro soldiers who enrolled in the United States volunteer army. Of this number 99,337 were enlisted by the authority of the National government, 79,638 by the States and Territories, 36,847 soldiers died in the service of the country, and in the 449 engagements in which they participated they proved themselves worthy to be entrusted with the nation's flag and honor. And it has become a proverb in military parlance that the colored troops fought nobly, and the children of the soldiers have sung and continue to sing: “We have stood and fought like demons. Upon the battlefield. Both slave and valiant freeman Have faced the glittering steel. Our blood beneath the banner Has mingled with the whites', And beneath its folds we now demand 0023 xxii Our just and equal rights. We fed the Union soldier When fleeing from the foe. We led him through the mountains, Where white men dared not go. Our hoecake and our cabbage And our pork we freely gave, That this old flag might be sustained, Now let it proudly wave. Let it wave, let it wave. But never over a slave.”

After the war had closed the Grand Army of the Republic was organized. The negro was admitted as a comrade, and to-day he is received as other comrades in the Grand Army of the Republic, sometimes in separate posts, sometimes together; be it as it may, they have one flag and one country. When the National Guard was organized the negro was received as a soldier, and is treated as all other members of this important branch of public service.

We have companies, regiments, battalions of infantry, cavalry and of artillery. Colored men to-day bear commissions as captains, majors, colonels and generals, as well as chaplains.

Among the best military organizations in the country are those in South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, and other Northern States have encouraged and supported these organizations. In thirty years we have had several young men to attend West Point and graduate, also to attend the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. We have a number of regular troops in the regular army. In the last Indian war one of the colored companies distinguished itself for bravery and saved the army from defeat and destruction. They were commended by the commanding general, thanked by the Secretary of War, and transferred from the field in the west to Washington, D.C., as a mark of honor and distinction for their bravery, and to-day they are guarding the nation's capital.

All this within thirty years.

0024

HON. JAMES M. ASHLEY Receiving the Souvenir. (See page xxviii.)

0025

Master Daniel Payne Arnett Presenting the Souvenir. (See page xxviii.)

0026

PAGE (S) MISSING NOT AVAILABLE

0027 xxvii

joined in the song of “My Country, 'tis of Thee.” I heard the cannons in the city carrying the glad tidings in the air. The bells of the city shouted for joy. Having done your duty at all times-and the present generation of black men are aware of it-and in their name and on their behalf I have headed the committee of compilation. It has been a work of love and pleasure to collect your orations and speeches which in their day were our army and battle axes, and become our victory and liberty. [Applause]

In all you then said or did in our behalf, we have found no word or thought or act, which we or any black man could wish to change or blot. [Applause.] In 1864, when you said (and we have preserved it in this Souvenir) “that if true to the cause of freedom, the very stones cast at you would one day be made into your monument,” you uttered a prophecy which to-night is fulfilled. [Applause.]

To fulfill that prophecy we thought that to collect your speeches and put them in a volume, to be read for many generations, would be better than a shaft of marble or a statue of bronze, for the marble would crumble beneath the weight of years and the bronze would tarnish in the breath of time, but this volume will be sent to the public libraries of this and other lands and be read by the coming generations.

Accept this token from the present generation, and on behalf of the coming generation I thank you for what you have done for them, and with you I rejoice that the door of our prison is closed forever and the gateway of freedom is opened for all the generations to come. [Applause.]

PRESENTATION.

At the conclusion of Bishop Arnett's address, he invited Gov. Ashley to arise.

Thereupon Master Daniel Payne Arnett, the Bishop's little son, stepped forward and presented him the volume and said:

Gov. ASHLEY:—I present you this volume in the name of the coming generations, thanking you for what you have done for us in the past. May God bless you and give you long life.

Gov. Ashley's response to Master Arnett's speech was as follows:

This is indeed a welcome surprise, and I take this book from your little son's hand with mingled feelings of satisfaction and delight.

To me childhood is the connecting link between man and his Creator. When Jesus said “Suffer little children to come unto me.” He touched all unperverted human hearts.

My little man, your speech and act touches my heart with pleasurable emotions which words cannot fully express. May you always remember with pride the occasion on which you represented President Young of the Afro-American League of Tennessee, and when you reach man's estate may you appreciate in all its length and breadth the work of the Grand Men, who were the recognized Leaders of this great Parliament of Religions. As a citizen may you prove worthy of the priceless heritage secured to you by the heroism and valor of the liberating Army of Anti-Slavery Heroes, and worthy of the noble man for whom you were named.

0029 xxix

MR. ASHLEY's RESPONSE to Bishop Arnett and President Young.

Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen: Some seer of sage has said, “that the unexpected always happens.” That the unexpected OFTEN happens you and all observing men can testify. Certainly, in my most impassioned and vividly illuminated moments, when denouncing this nation, as I often did, for its great crime against the negro, and describing him after he should be FREE, as in my mind's eye I then saw him liberated and marching in solid black columns of advancing civilization, I did not comprehend, in all its moral power and stately grandeur, that which greets me as a living reality to-night.

Here in this magnificent building, on an occasion made forever memorable and historic, I am told that in the vast audience before me, I can look upon eleven negro bishops and not less than 150 regularly ordained negro clergymen of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, representing an actual membership of five hundred thousand souls.

And I am told that there are here present negro clergymen from all branches of the Christian church, representing nearly a million communicants more, and that in addition to these clergymen, there are before me representatives of numerous schools and colleges, and editors, lawyers, physicians and authors, with many men of recognized ability in artistic, mechanical and business pursuits; and last though not least, a large representation of organized wage-workers, and of negro farmers and planters.

This is indeed a convocation of black men, such as the world has never before witnessed, and such as the most sanguine of the “old liberty guard,” never expected to live long enough to see. [Applause.]

0030 xxx

If, when delivering the earlier speeches, which your publication committee has compiled in this volume before me, the announcement had been publicly made, that within the life-time of their author, the four million or more of black men who were then in bondage would so soon thereafter be liberated and made citizens, and that out of their poverty and helplessness they would be advanced in civilization so rapidly as to accomplish all the black man in the FIRST quarter of a century after his freedom has accomplished, and that in their gratitude they would compile and publish, as they have done in this book, some of the appeals made for their liberation and enfranchisement, such an announcement would have been received by a majority of my countrymen, as “mid-summer madness.” And yet if the interpretations put upon some of my utterances by your Bishop are not purely imaginative, I seem before the war, by a process of reasoning satisfactory to myself, to have comprehended something of the magnitude of the impending conflict and its results. [Applause]

Mr. President, in every period of the world's history and among all peoples, there have been those who unconsciously were illuminated with what the poet calls “the inner light,” those whose eyes were permitted to look into the future and to behold the glory of the coming day, before the breaking of the dawn, and to see visions, such as come to human souls only when lighted with the glory of regions celestial. Such was the “inner light,” which illuminated the great men of the Revolution of 1776, when they launched our ship of state, and promulgated our immortal Declaration of Independence and formed our national Constitution.

This is the “inner light” which illuminated the souls of all the leaders of our great anti-slavery revolution. “A pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night,” it inspired the faith of every living and of every dying anti-slavery hero. [Applause.]

It inspired John G. Whittier, our beloved Quaker poet, and Frederick Douglass, the negro's matchless representative. It inspired William Lloyd Garrison, and Wendell Phillips, James G. Berney and Nathaniel P. Rogers, Gerrit Smith and William Leggett, Cassius M. Clay and John G. Fee, Gamaliel Bailey 0031 xxxiand William Goodell, Theodore Parker and Samuel J. May, Henry Ward Beecher and Wm. Cullen Bryant, Horace Greeley and Wm. H. Seward, John P. Hale and Robert Rantoul, Salmon P. Chase and Charles Sumner, Joshua R. Giddings and Benjamin F. Wade, George W. Julian and David Wilmot; the martyred Lovejoy and the immortal Lincoln; and I must not omit to name with these memorable men, such illustrious women as Harriet Beecher Stowe, Lydia Maria Child, Lucretia Mott and Julia Ward Howe, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Susan B. Anthony.

To this recognized galaxy of matchless men and women must be added a large number whom no man can name in one short address, names worthy of our profoundest regard and grateful remembrance. This wonderful army was made up of the grandest men and women who ever walked the earth, and made it better for having lived in it. I mean the great body of anti-slavery men and women whom we always designated as “the old liberty guard.” These are the men and women who never bowed the knee to the Moloch of Slavery, nor voted to compromise with that indescribable villainy, and who practically made the creed, and gave life and dignity and glory to the Republican party, and to each of whom, in the dark days of slavery domination, there came in full measure the faith they sought, so that at times they were illuminated with the “inner light” from realms beyond our reach, and were thus able to prophesy our impending triumph. [Applause.]

Mr. President, the memory of the 22d of September, 1862, ought to make jubilant our hearts and quicken our footsteps. On that day, eventful to every black man and to the lovers of liberty in every land, Abraham Lincoln issued his preliminary proclamation of emancipation! It proved to be a day ever memorable in our history, and a day of thanksgiving to every bondman. But the day of its issue was also a day of anxiety and fear to millions, and this fear and anxiety was especially oppressive to the impassioned leaders of the “old anti-slavery guard.” All the long dark night of that one hundred days, they endured the Gethsemane which evermore comes to all great souls, and in prayerful supplication walked with the nation through the valley of the shadow of 0032 xxxiideath. They knew that without the liberation of the negro the republic was doomed! They believed that with the President's Proclamation of Emancipation, it could be saved and redeemed. In this sublime and patriotic faith they walked with unfaltering tread, until the year 1862 expired, and the immortal proclamation of January 1, 1863, was born. [Applause.]

When this welcome proclamation appeared, the soul of the nation, out of its sackcloth and ashes, was uplifted to heaven in an all-forgiving aspirational thanksgiving, and the long pent-up hopes of our old anti-slavery champions broke forth in songs of joy and shouts of triumph.

Whittier declared, that there were no words in his Quaker vocabulary, with which he could fittingly express in crisp terms, the emotions of his heart, and that he was compelled to use the short, but comprehensive and favorite exclamation of his Methodist brethren, and simply shout, “Glory to God.”

I do not know what words my friend Douglass used, but I am sure they were strong and clear and true. Every loyal soul broke forth in words of thankfulness and gladness, as on that memorable day, the bells rang out the old and rang in the new order of things! In memory, I now hear the glad booming of cannon, the wild roll of drums, and the quickened and determined footsteps of our triumphal army, and tonight feel like shouting again as I did then: “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth to good-willing men.” On that day, in every loyal church and around every loyal hearthstone, songs of triumph and tears of joy were melted into one united hallelujah!

What wonder then, after so long a strain, that these shouts and songs, mingled with the peals of cannon and the chiming of bells, thrilled our glad hearts as they did, with a triumphal melody, akin to the “Songs of praise, that awoke the morn, When the Prince of Peace was born.” [Applause.]

0033

REV. O. P. ROSS.

0034

Bishop Arnett called Rev. O.P. Ross, of Vicksburg, Mississippi, who presented a duplicate volume of the Souvenir to Rev. John Henry Barrows, D.D., President of the Parliament of Religious of the World, and also presented one to the Hon. C.C. Bonny, President of the Columbian Auxiliary Congress, in the name of the Afro-American League of Tennessee, and the lovers of human liberty throughout the world.

0035

Nashville Tennessee Sept., 18, 1893. To Hon. James McAshley, Toledo Ohio,

Dear Sir:—By direction of the Afro-American League of Tennessee, we have the pleasure of transmitting to you, this souvenir completed and prepared under its direction for presentation to you, as a token of the Negro's recognition of your distinguished services in their behalf.

Bishop B. N. Arnett is personally charged with the presentation of this Souvenir.

Very Respectfully [?m]A. A. Crosthwart Henderson Young, Secretary President

ac-simile of the original superscriptions as they appear in the original volumes presented to Mr. & Mrs. Jas. M. Ashley.

0036

Nashville, Tenn., Sept., 18, '93. To Mrs James M. Ashley, Toledo, Ohio, Esteemed Madam:

By direction of “the Afro-American League” of Tennessee, we have the honor to transmit to you, this companion copy of the souvenir, prepared for, and presented by in to your honored husband.

Very Respectfully, Henderson Young, President.

Fac-simile of the original superscriptions as they appear in the original volumes presented to Mr. & Mrs. Jas. M. Ashley.

0037 xxxiii

Fellow-Citizens: On a day such as this, filled with historic memories, it is proper that I should say to you, that I did not want Mr. Lincoln to issue his one hundred days preliminary proclamation. I knew that such a proclamation would strengthen me personally and politically in the congressional contest of that year, and beyond doubt secure my re-election. But I was not fighting for a personal triumph, nor was I fighting to save the Union with slavery. I was fighting for freedom and national unity, and national peace through the liberation and enfranchisement of the negro. I believed then, as I believe now, that no union could be honorable and enduring whose government was administered over the prostrate form of Justice. [Applause.]

As soon as the result of our State election in 1862 was known, Mr. Lincoln invited me to come to Washington. The morning after reaching the city, I walked over from the Treasury Department with Mr. Chase to the White House. The President, Mr. Stanton, and others who were present, cordially congratulated me on my re-election (I was the only Republican member of the Ohio delegation who withstood the mad political cyclone of that year), and they were all anxious to know how I escaped. I answered: “It was your proclamation, Mr. President, that did it.” In a moment or two, Mr. Lincoln said: “Well, General, how do you like the proclamation?” I answered: “That had I been commander-in-chief, I should not have given the enemy one hundred days' notice of my purpose to strike him in his weakest and most vulnerable point, nor would I have made an apology for doing so just and noble an act.” And I added by way of quiet protest against recognizing the slave-baron conspirators as entitled to any such consideration, “That I certainly should not have given General Lee one hundred days' notice of my purpose to move on the weakest point of his fortifications around Richmond, and publicly designate that point as this proclamation does.” Mr. Lincoln enjoyed my way of answering him, and acknowledged my “hit,” as he called it.

But though I did not want the one hundred days proclamation issued, I nevertheless hailed it with joy, because I knew that it was a step in the right direction, and one from which there could be no retreat. I felt confident, that the slave 0038 xxxivbarons in their blindness and madness would not accept its terms, and that on the expiration of one hundred days, the promised proclamation must be issued if Mr. Lincoln lived. Many of us were at that time apprehensive that he would be assassinated, or that some unexpected and untoward event might happen, to postpone or defeat the issuing of the final proclamation. It was because of this fear and anxiety, that I preferred to have but one proclamation issued, and I was persistent, as all know, that it should be issued at once. [Applause.]

Certainly you and all honest men understand that I was thankful, as were the great body of Union men, for the promise which that one hundred days proclamation gave! I hope that the Confederates, like the Egyptians of old, would harden their hearts, and refuse to accept Mr. Lincoln's offer of peace, and believing that they would do so, this one hundred days' delay did not at any time shake my faith as to the final result, and they were to me days of hopefulness and thankfulness.

I am a born optimist. No matter how dark the cloud my hopeful vision penetrates it and my eyes catch early glimpses of the golden light beyond. [Applause.]

Mr. President, often during the war, a number of my associates in Congress were wont to say, “that when Wendell Phillips blew a blast upon his bugle horn, 'twas worth a thousand men!”

After the first of January, 1863, we all came to know, that Mr. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was worth a hundred thousand men. As we now look back, we all realize, that when Mr. Lincoln blew a blast upon his bugle horn, the nation paused, and listened and approved.

At Springfield, Illinois, is 1858, Mr. Lincoln said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.” The people heard him, and believed him and made him President.

In closing his immortal Emancipation Proclamation, he spoke in language that live history forever! These are his golden words: “And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution 0039 xxxvupon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.”

This blast upon his bugle horn reverberated from center to circumference, and was hailed with joy by all patriotic Americans. It was also heard and welcomed by the friends of liberty all around the world. [Applause.]

Mr. President, I am glad your committee has preserved in this volume a speech of mine made in Congress before Mr. Lincoln's inauguration. It was made against the amazing surrender of the House Committee, known in those days as the “Union Saving Committee of 33.” That committee proposed a compromise which they intended should silence for all time, the troublesome abolitionist, and give the slave barons the ease and peace, the security and perpetual power they sought. This so-called final compromise, was an amendment to our national Constitution, which reads as follows:

“Article 12. No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which shall authorize or give Congress the power to abolish or interfere within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service, by the laws of such State.”

As an American, I blush to state that this proposed amendment passed both Houses of Congress, with the active support of President Buchanan, two days before Mr. Lincoln's inauguration. Had it been ratified by the requisite number of States, it would have made the chattelization of men, everywhere beneath our flag, whether white or black, constitutional and perpetual. In all coming time, this humiliating and shameless proposition will confront us, as the blackest act proposed by the American Congress during all our dark history! Nor need I add, that its passage by Congress completed our national degradation.

I cannot describe to you how this appalling weakness of loyal men in our own ranks, who voted with the conspirators for this abomination of abominations, oppressed and overwhelmed me with shame and sorrow. Often in my agony I cried out: “God give us men! A time like this demands Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands; 0040 xxxviMen whom the lust of office does not kill; Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; Men who possess opinions and a will; Men who have honor; men who will not lie; Men who can stand before a demagogue, And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking. Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog In public duty and in private thinking.” [Applause.]

On page 126 of this volume may be found what I said in Congress on the 17th of January, 1861, against this Christless proposition of the Committee of 33:

“The basis of the new Union is to be the recognition of slaves as property by constitutional provision, unalterable except with the consent of every slave State.”

“That such demands will ever be acceded to by the people of the United States I do not believe possible. But whatever may be the course of others, be the consequences what they may, by no act or vote mine shall the Constitution of my country ever be so amended as to recognize property in man.” [Applause.]

Contrast the proposed amendment of the Compromise Committee of 33, with the 13th amendment, introduced by me in the House of Representatives on the 14th of December, 1863, which reads:

Article 13. “Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist in the United States, or any place subject to its jurisdiction.

“SEC. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by LAW DULY ENACTED.”

This amendment, with the changes stated by me on page 331 of this volume, is now part of our national Constitution, and you and I know that it will remain there forever. [Applause.]

0041 xxxvii

Mr. President, monuments are usually erected by friends or by the public long after men are dead. Never, so far as I know, has there been erected a monument to the memory of a public man during his lifetime! But I who (barring accidents) have fifteen or twenty years of fighting material in me yet, find myself at this moment confronted with what President Young and your Bishop are pleased to call my monument, and you appear by your approval to recognize the claim which each has made. I certainly recognize the fact, that in compiling and publishing this volume, the American negro has builded me a monument more enduring than any which my family or my friends can erect, after I shall have quit this mortal life; a monument more appropriate and welcome than the one which your Bishop says was foreshadowed in the quotation which he made a few moments ago from one of my addresses in this volume, an utterance which he affirms is a prophecy no now fulfilled, and certainly, if he claims that his interpretation is authoritative, I shall not, on an occasion like this, undertake to question it. [Laughter and applause.]

But whether authoritative or not, I can truthfully and with propriety says, that this “Souvenir” is to me a more desirable monument than any other which my colored friends could have designed or presented to me, for I recognize that it was conceived by generous and grateful hearts, and built with honest hands. I accept it as the black man's tribute and testimony. It is a monument which the maligner cannot misinterpret, nor vandals deface, nor the hired assassin destroy, for I am told you are to duplicate it by thousands!

And now, what shall I say to my friends of the “Afro-American League of Tennessee,” and to the gentlemen of the Publication Committee, who from the public records and from the voluminous yet fragmentary material placed in their hands, have with such care and fidelity compiled this volume, in which is reflected so faithfully from my lips and pen the views held by me and the measures which I advocated, prior to and during the war of the rebellion, and since.

The truth is, that I do not know what to say! To make fitting answer I should have need of golden-voweled words, the poets prophetic vision and the thoughts of a philosopher. 0042 xxxviiiAs I have them not, I simply say I thank you. Again and again, out of a full heart, I thank both the “Afro-American League of Tennessee,” and your able and painstaking Publication Committee. The declaration of your Bishop, “that your Publication Committee found no word or thought or vote of mine, which they or any black man, could wish to change or blot"—gives me a satisfaction so pure and unalloyed that no words at my command can fittingly express the emotions that stir my heart. Certainly, when these speeches and orations were delivered, I did not expect to have this priceless testimony come to me. [Applause.]

Mr. President, as I interpret this occasion and this testimony it also means much for the negro. It means, a testimony of his fidelity and gratitude! It means, that however poor or however black, “A man's a man for a' that.” It means, that everywhere beneath that flag crime and wrong against your race must cease. It means, a recognition of the Fatherhood of God—and the brotherhood of man.

It means that your long dark night of sorrow will soon be over, that the day is dawning and that the hour now draweth nigh, in which the children of Ethiopia may stretch forth their glad hands to their Creator and to ours, and with confidence claim fulfillment of the Divine promise delivered to the world by His Apostles and Prophets. “O, clear-eyed Faith, and Patience, thou So calm and strong! Lend strength to weakness; teach us how The sleepless eyes of God look through This night of wrong.”

["Amen” and “amen” and applause.] At the conclusion of this masterly address the whole audience rose to their feet with cheers, and united in singing Mrs. Julia Ward Howe's Battle Hymn of the Republic.

This hymn may be found in full on page 262 of this volume.