THE DAILY EVEG"' TELEGRAPH. 31, 18C7.
8
UMVEJIIal SUFFRAGE.
lecture ty V?"'?:
Rancher at the Academy of
Mt"c-Hi8 Views upon the
Great Elementsof Right
, and Wrong-The Bal
let for Nearoea
and Women.
.(hVHCIAL fBONOORAFlllO KBf OBT FOB 1HR KVRII-
1KO TKLKOBAPH ' ,
A large and appreciative audience assembled
litxt evening at the Aca lemy of Music, to listen
to tbc remarks of the eminent lecturer. At an
f arly hour the larRe hall was filled by onr ci ti
ff ns, desirous both of her.iinp? the cIMInRiiished
.fator, and of learning hl views on this great
and all-important subject. The Rev. Dr. Hears,
of this city, hi a tw remarks, Introduced Mr.
I-eecher to the as-mbly.
After the applanse'had subsided, Mr. Bceehcr
" remarked that he had been surprised with the
remark once made by a gentleman Irom Etiropo,
who said mat in bis country an ineir poimcai
imiusMone turned on questions of fundamental
principles; but in America, all our public ques
tions were those f policy, relating to business,
tanking, trades, etc., while In Kurope the
nations were battling for th eseniisl rights of
men, and lor the essential priuciples ot free
men and national life. Could he visit our land
to-day, he would see that all this hns changed,
and that our public questions arc now emi
nently questions not only of jirinelple poMti-
cal principle but, to a degree unknown sineo
the Revolutionary war, questions of p:litleal
piinclple based on the deepest of morality, and
questions containing the great elements of richt
or wrong. And this change which has came
ever the public mind siuce 1830 has resulted
very materially from the free-lecture system,
which has now epread so thoroughly through
out our land.' Having bcn a lecturer tor thirty
years, he was able to speak Irom his own ex
perience. -Prior to 18K0 H was esteemed hn Impropriety
for a lecturer in any public course to mingle
with his subject aiiy question of politicul or
public interest. That seemed hard, but after
the passage of the Fugitive Slave law, certain
persons bargained with iecturers, when delivering
their remarks, not to maintain the sanctity of
that movement. Distinguished men perambu
lated the country justifying the measure. I
remember saying that,, for my own ldve of poli
ties, they shall have both sides of it. From
that day to this, more and more, every seaiou,
the public have demanded lecture courses that
-(-Lou Id Inform them as to public questions.
Thus 'were these lecture courses originated,
that the people should be enlightened as to
questions, of national importance. Kxcitlns
questions are now considered the only ones
which are desire 1 to be heard; and now, what
ever men are obliged to think about, to speak
or act about, whatever men are called upon in
any sphere to do, they have a richt to demand
that-the moral and practical elements of the
qneptions thus agitated shall be discussed in
public. Exciting questions are demanded as
subjects" for lecture1", for excitement means
vitality; - Questions were never before discussed
as they arenow. Our history will go to illus-1
trate the safety of freedom in the discussion
of all questions of usefulness to the Com
monwealth. ' ,
' 1 purpose to present to you to-night, as a sub
ject, "Universal tSutfrage Manhood tiutfrage:"
for 1 hold that the right to vote U not a right
conferred, but a rlht inherent. I believe hot
that a man has this right conferred by a body
who vote tt as a prerogative, but I believe it is
theirs as an inherent right conferred hy thr. con
futation which God gave them when they were
born; and thU I shall argue, carrying it out to
the most logical result. This view is the natu
ral result of the unfolding of American history
from the spring of that history.
.Originally only the church members could,
vote in our colonies. This now excites a smile.
That is only a new variation of the aristocratic
clastr; for It waB held that the bent men in
society should govern the State, and that terra
is originally the very term of aristocracy. In
one age nod State it was determined that such
and such men were the best -men. in another
age and condition of civilization, it was held
that' such and such other men were the
best -men. Onr New ftnelnnd fathprs under
took to put the State under the control ot the
best men; and they held that the best men were
the most sincere Christians ; and if there was to be
any class, why, of course, the honest Christian
men are the best fitted to be that class. "Practi
cally, it would be follyand evil. It you gave
political power to church members, then we
should have a revival constantly going on in
every part of the land.
But there was a cliange, reluctant and slow.
In losing power, our fathers felt as all men do.
They loved it; they did not like' part with it
when they had it. Notwithstanding their con
scientious theories, suffrage forced itself broader
and broader throughout New England, pene
trating all classes ot society; and from that day
to this, society has been In America, everywhere,
agitated with the question of suffrage. The idea
of suffrage has beeu, and still Is with many, as u
measure of expediency, that it Is to bs a liiatter
which the State will regulate, to bo gov
erned by the State authorities. This takes trom
man his natural right of manhood. Universal
suffrage is the logical and fundameutal principle
of American society. All political power springs
from the people. Governments derive their
powers from the governed. Nothing can be
more broad than this. The people confer all
the power that a Government has. It was troin
the people that the Government derived its
ower and laws, which they huve delegated
From whom did the power come to vote?
From the whole people who are originally the
great reservoir of that, asof every other political
power. To expunge, therefore, large classes of
men from political power is a gross inconsist
ency with our fundamental principles of gov
ernment. To say that they shall not vote is to
say that they shall not exercise those power
which the Government derives from them de
rived from them that It might care and protect
them, not diminish or destroy them. We have
never consistently carried out our own demo
cratic priuciples. We have generally proceeded
on the rule that the Government belongs to the
best part of society. The exercise ot political
power is extended but to a small part not pro
bably to one-third of the population of the coun
try. If we exclude color, the foreign element
and women, the whole political power of this
country is in the bauds of not much more thun
a third: and in a nation that derives all its
power from the whole people iu such a nation
the power is in the hauds of one-third, and the
other two-thirds derive but the benefits of a
toclal connection with the third in power.
The unfolding history in political principles
leads to the apparent result that suilrage should
belong to all, Manhood sutfrage is intrinsically
right. It would be difficult, somewhat, to say
What are natural rights; and it is not now for
the purpose of narrowly defiuing this question
that I speak. For we all believe that there is
euch a thing as our natural right. If there are
euch things as natural rights, that of suH'rue
is one of them.
Every man must have a potential voice iu
.. whatever affects his position, his happiness, his
property, his family, his reputation, and his life
Itself. To say that a man may be so governed
that he Is put out of the control ot his affairs'
that his family shall do as is determined upon'
that his property shall be subject to division'
diminution, taxation, or put to various uses, he
having no potential voice in determining these
things; to say that his natural happiness shall
be destroyed; that his property, effects, and
everything shall be at the mercy of others; to
remark that these things may be done, and have
such a man retain his natural rights, is an ab
surdity. man that has not the right to vote Is ex
rioted from all these. It may be that he is in
direct fhannels of some sort equivalent, bat
iere le & tnlt political division of power when
a m.n c;in Lave 0 care over all his affairs, and
have no voice in the matter of their dWposal.
And if a nun has not the right to say what shall
b done with his csming", his time, his labors,
he has not the right to say as to the making of
the laws which bolJ in bond his whole welfare.
I argue that it is a natural right to each man,
and that he has the whole force of that reason
by which vou are able to define your rights On
the f ubject. It is said ttat society has a self
prese nlng righ!. It has, and may punish the
abuse of It. But 1 say that it cannot confer
that inherency of right, while tt has its organi
zation in man. It i said, also, that society has
a Tight to regulate It; yes, but it has no right to
prohibit it
It may le f-nid that all men are already
equal beiore the law, by the same protection,
the same rights, whether they vote or not; that
the law, it evr tbey be made by one-third of
the population, are made in such a way that the
interests of the people are equally cared for. That
1p, practlcally,notso. If the whole people have no
voice In this, then their wel'nre Is ordained over
their heads, and it does not follow that they are
still as other citizens. Laws are continually
being made, so t'jat they alvantHge one part of
society more than another. A law thnt Bhould
he made by the advice of gentlemen on Wall
street woiifil not suit any other xtrcet in New
York;- It would look fo poorly in a financlil
point of view that it could not be made to suit
others. As another instance, and one more
clearly defined, we notice that the laws in the
.South are made by white men for white men.
The freedmen have been made equal before
the Id'v. BuT'they are not erjual, because theirs
is a condition e-.entinlly different? from that of
the whiles. To give a freedinan the rit,bt
made under laws enacted for a class of white
men is not equal. The laws of orphanage and
such like institutions, made for the whites.wear
a different aspeet when compared between,
white and black. For the lavsbeing made in
the interest ol one class ot Buddy, bear un
equally on a different class. In common things,
no class can determine for the interests ' of
another class; each one ig best acquainted with
the wnt9 and interests of its individual mem
bers; and their vohes must be heard and lbtr
consent obtained before there can be a law
enacted to be equal and just.
3at now, Hiflinge is in the hands ot two-third
ol the population ot this nation, and they hold
the entire power; for we see that but one-third
of the people are privileged voters; for those
who do hold the franchise hold and exercise
the privilege. The vote is that key that unlocks
every lock "in the land. It is the lever which
can raise and move the nation; it is the power
of powers in our society, and he who holds it
holds an equal share of the power. Those? who
do not hold it are excluded from the participa
tion of the power, except in a most indirect
way. It is said, Is not partial suffrage better
than universal suffrage? But this leads again
io the ground of expediency, and assumes that
those who hold the vote have the power and
right to determine who shall have the elective
franchise. I hold that, as the whole population
are not allowed to vote, it assumes that they
have no natural rights, butaportion have privi
leges coulcrred.
Manhood suffrage is the only fair ground.
Can you vote impartial Biiffrnge to one class of
ponulatioii, and that a minority, ou the simple
ground of sex? I question why one-halt of the
adult population is distrnnchisod because of sex.
But manhood suffrage is still better than im
partial suffrage. Everything that tends to aug
ment the number of votets" tends toliberalize
the influence and. opinions Of society.
If 1 could have my own way, I would sweep
my hand as the sun sweeps its effulgent and
cheerful rays across the broad land, and would
say to all people, to all classes, from the lowest
to the highest, Irom the poorest to the most
wealthy, not only vote, but be intelligent.
(Applause.) And the question would not be
whether such and such, or the best, should be
designated to have these especial privileges and
jieiuHl,lves.
Some will say, Do you wish the Chinaman to
votef And 1 will answer, 1 do. And would you
have foreigners vote? Just as soon as they
took root, i would. I would have them first
naturalized, only to see that it was not decep
tion, see that it was real, and that they enter
tained the honest Intention of staying in our
land. And now, you think . that 1 am coming
to the question as to whether woman should
vote. I am.
If you are going to have a nation in which
jou shall represent the great truth of a Christian
democracy that is, the rights of all men in
human society you must not be expected to
do that great work w ithout a sacrifice of some
kind, a payment for this labor in tribute. For
if wo would have an example of one who per
formed such good works, yet without a sacrifice,
we have but to turn to Him that hath loved us,
who loved the world and baptized it with His
blood, leaving His legacy of love and mercy, far
more precious than all earthly benefits. But we
see herein that to perform a good work wo will
suffer in payment, mayhap pay it in drops of
blood atdf long suffering as tribute. Ho that
would be educated must pay by hard work,
but we are to be a civilized nation and carry
that civilization down to the very bottom of
society, and present to those in the lowest walks
of life the glories of manhood and wisdom; and
not only that, but we shall begin at the top and
descend to the lowest, and then rise up, drawing
all to see the great privilege and blessings ol
education and higher and more intellectual
walks of life. But the whole sum total is that
if we neglect these classes, we shall have to pay
for it- pay for it in self-denial and suffering;
but this cause is a glorious one, to influence all
in Its speedy commencement.
It Is looked upon as a perilous undertaking to
allow 800,000 black men to vote and receive
education. The discussion of this question has
.run all through the public mind. Mauhood to
these classes is being more and more mixed up
with popular influences and opinions. Univer
sal voting is to be the order of this continent,
and we all should be prepared for it. (Ap
plause.) I wish you to take notice as to how
the Irish vote the most mischievous vote a
people who are so fierce for their own indi
vidual liberty, and so utterly indifferent to any
other persons; a people who seem to think that
iiborty consists in doing whatever is desired,
regurdless of law or order jealous, sensitive,
generous, and self-sacriflcing. This good clufs,
which is sometimes so perilous in the usage of
the ballot, when this gigantic Rebellion
arose went forth to fight agaiust the treason
able enemy, and declard that they were light
sometimes. Almost to a man they voted solid
for the plantation. They were workmen votiua
aeainst brother workmen. Poor men, and
voting to put yokes on poor men. They were
the lowest part of society, that shut out from
their eyes, like lightning, through their igno
rance, against that which was to help them.
Voting is the test of education. You see that
manifest every election day you that are ob
servant of the manners of all classes of voters.
Some have lived life-long in the same faith,
never differing in the casts at the ballot-box;
voting for a parly, right or wrong, simply
became they did not want to be disturbed, or
go outside the line of their former rules ot con
duct. They did not wish to bedisturbed. Thev
voted as their fathers and grandfathers had
voted. Literally dead men. Nothing but the
resurrection could educate such nu n as they.
They have pot to feel, to thiuk their hearts
must swell with new impulses not looking to
the rules of the past, but to the conditions of
the future. To snch men, when they come out
of their former apathy and drowsiness, voting
is education. Take tho Irishman and give him
a vote. He acts as if it were some instrument
unknown. Like the man with the gun, he picked
it up, examined it, looked into the muzzle,
managed to fire it. complained how it hurt, and
finally managed, alter numberless trials, to
come within a rod of the mark. Thus it is
with the man uneducated, w hen he first hau
dies his vote. He deposits it with, his mind's
eye closed, not knowing anything about it, or
its use. He slings his vote anyway. Bv-and-bv
he begins to find that he is firing at a mark'
and although he is told by some persons in
a manner that aggrandizes themselves the
benefit ot the ballot, yet he receives a teachlntr
that that vote is a "means to Rn end -a mSin?
in political society in gaining an end. A vote
has a more hlenittcnut meaning than Its simple 1
term., '
The Irishman wHl f.rwt "make many mMakes
in dlFpoMnp of his ballot, but Ihe education he
Is eomtanUy receiving is giving him a better
and more definite insight to its great use: Vnd
in five years he will have greatly im;; Rnd
in ten years will be as w-', M KJr H8
w.: :;crj . the" clu ami Wn
to enter the schools, at their daughters becin to
see how romety they are, and make pre
parations for WarrvlDB With turn nf thr tnru
standings thvr lathers have a great care, they
have a future welfare for themselves and chil
dren to prepare, and they do not vote so wild
and foolish as tbey did.
The vote, too, is self-defcn.e in many cases.
It is an arm in their hands to protect them from
outrages. A vote now to the black men Is tho
only thing which can save them. They have a
rlerht to it for self-protection. They have a
right to It. because education will follow it up.
They need it now to defend themselves. But
some say. Inasmuch as you exclude a great
m&ny persons, you are inconsistent with your
self. Yon exclude criminals, Idiots, those under
age, paupers, and women.
; 1 exclude criminals, because au enmity to
society forfeits the right to society. I exclude
idiots, because they are utterly incapacitated
from taking cure of themselves, and, henc, 1n
eapable of using any judgment whatever. I
excludo those under age only until a rea
sonable time has expired, when (hey come into
full powers. Men, you know, in this country
are not brn until they have attaluei the age of
twenty-one years some men are not born until
they have attained the age of forty years, and
then only partially. It is fair that a certain
limit should be set before any person can attain
Lis majority. As to paupers, 1 think it wholly
wrong that they are disfranchised. I cannot
understand why they are not allowed to vote.
Inasmuch as this is a nation which does not
make a property qualification necessary for the
cxeicise of the iranchise, there is no just reason
why a pauper should be excluded. It Is a mis
fortune that a man has no property he may
have at one time been the most wealthy.' Is
there any clear reason why he should bo de
prived ot his vote simply because adversity has
overtiiken him, and snatched from his hand all
that he had?
Then some will, latly, say, Why not allow wo
men to vote? I believe that they ought to vote.
(Loud applause.) And more, I believe that
when they think so, they will vote. (Laughter.)
The greatest obstacle in woman's way to-day is,
that the has been taught to consider this rather
as an ornamental orancn, and not as a duty
a mere accomplishment, and a disagreeable ons
at that. There is no reason why the natural
rights of women are net the same as the natural
lights of men. Some say, God made a differ
ence at the creation between woman and man.
There is no argument that can stand against us.
Functions may be different, but functions do
not regulate the rights. If a man undertook to
invent a standard of avoirdupois, and say
natural rights are so many stone a man will
weigh, you would smile at the idea of a man's
rights being determined by thetape line, weight,
or yardstick. It is no more right to say that
the sex determines the right of franchise.
The rights of woman aro as clearly and defi
nitely delined as are those of man. None can
deny it. If we should change the state of affairs,
allowing women to vote and disfranchising
men, and suppose a proposition should come
that men be allowed to vote "What," they
might say, "allow men to vote ! uncultivated,
unrefined animals as they are, to expect to ex
ercise this right of determining what shall or
Bhall not be the law in regard to our happi
ness I" If this were the case, you would find no
doubt, about the same state of affairs in which
we are now placed,
God, when He made woman, made her to be a
mother, and necessarily a school mistress, and
therefore a legislator; and consequently ought
to be such; with a mother's foresight, and a
mother's love, laboring only for the future wel
fare of her own children, knowing what was most
needed, she would be the one to exercise law to
meet the wants of the people.
Jn the early stages of society tho law of force
was the law of all. But society, like individuals
who grow more refined by the companionship
of woman, has stepped beyond, many degrees,
to a higher intellectual and moral sentiment.
Woman is peculiarly fitted to determine with
man all the important questions of the time.
It may be that the law of force is in greater
proportion in the man, but the law ot moral
sentiment is certainly to a greater degree
stronger in woman. As civilization unfolds,
and great questions are to be settled regarding
the principles of ethics, we need the woman's
brain. She would be well adapted to meet the
modern questions ol civilization. Politics, as
they now are, are coarse, selfish, anil even
torpid to their very bottom to ail the good re-
quired lor the advaucemeut of civilization.
! If woman should have the power to cast ballots
and mingle in noltics, strife would disappear,
and the ballot-box become purified.' Do you
suppose that Johnny Morrissey would have been
elected to Congress from New York if the
! women had voted? (Laughter.) Do you be
I lieve that licenses of all kind, for perpetuating
evil in all its horrid shapes, giving encourage-
ment to lust and licentiousness, dragging our
sons and daughters down fo certain destruction,
wotila have been granted and peacefully settled
I if women had voted ? Politics would rise fifty
: per cent, in an instant in Pennsylvania if it were
, known that women were to vote. It would give,
also, new power and a firmer standing to
, morals if women were to exercise this nrerocii.
tive, and Instead, as some intimate, of weak
iog you, I know you would be strength
ened. For whatever improves the mother iu
intelligence will aiso improve the children.
But I hear it is said that women should stay
at home, attend to all the household duties,
mend the children's apparel and the husband's
clothes. There is nothing 60 becoming in a
woman as to see her perform all the little and
manifold duties of the house with cheerf ulness.
Duties, it matters not how mean or honorable
in themselves, appear enhanced and becoming
when the woman is actuated by a happy and
contented spirit. I esteem the woman that per
forms her work gladly. I admit that it is a de
testable heresy, the idea that a woman is not fit
to do anything else than the menlul duties of
the house, The sphere of the women of Ame
rica is other than that of tho Greek women of
ancient times. They were not permitted to
meet any of their husband's companions; they
were not allowed to come to the door without
being veiled. In walking the 6treets, they dared
not uncover their faces for fear of punishment.
Not so with our women. They are to be the
bi ight lights of our laud, to soften the harsh
ness of society by their moral, intellectual, and
cheeriul natures.
Again, some say ir you Insist upon all the
rights of society for women, and if the women
should voto, of course they would have to por
lorm military duty. I have no objection (ap
plause), but you know that in times of war they
make a selection. Those who are not adupted
to such arduous duty stay at home, and others
go. and if the men think that the women are
better able to stand the hard duties of such
n lite than they are. I have no doubt that the
women would go, and if necessary, tight well.
We want this question of voting righlly
adjusted, so that it shall be all right, and repre
sent no particular class of society or individuals.
Wen have no more right to vote and rule an
equal portion of society than a rich man to
vote for a poor one, a farmer for a mechanic, a
minister for his congregation, or a bishop for
the ministers. But each should have his right
to Ugislate for his wants, and be allowed a share
in foimiug the laws which are to guard his
property and his family, and protect their
welfare. Tho voices of women roll loudlv up.
with petitions and supplications, to those in
authority to hghten the burden of sorrow they
bear. Men know not the wants of the poor,
almost starving women who live in miserable
dens in all of our large cities killing themselvea
day by day with painful toiling for a mere nit
tance to keep them from starving. Thev need
legislation in matters of Instruction an help,
and they will yet be heard; for women are enterl
lng a sphere of usefulness ana a line of dutv
which shall enable them soon to guard, help,
and protect themselves. ' v'
-The Claims of Charles Bumner for the next
Presidency are advocatod by The Nmoburyport
(Haw,) tfwali and jVew JmfwH Standard.
THE MODEOiJ PliMTAH.
A Lecture Delivered Last Evening
' at National Hall, by the Hon.
J. R. J. Pitkin, of
; Louisiana.
erxtiAL moiiooRApnio iioiit on the ivbn-
1MO TKLKORArn )
Last evening Judge Pitkin lectured at Na
tional Hall btforo the Social, Civil, and Statists
cal Association of the Colored People of Phila
delphia. The, Hall was well filled. On being
introduced by Mr. Isaac Weir, the orator of the
evening spoke as follows: , . .
Two hundred and forty-six years ago a vessel,
freighted with austere men and meek women
toiled through the hiss and buffet of an angry
ocean on an heroic mission of self-independence
Their sails panted to the mad wind that im
pelled them onward, and their eves dreamt be
yond a leaden horizon of the God thnt awaited
them on an uuknown shore, until at last their
knees fell in th snows of Plymouth, in grati
tude for His merciful protection and deliverance
Strange brows of dusk, wrinkled with menace
lowered at them ; winter with all its wild aperi
tles assailed them; and yet with nothing over
their heads but here and there a naked, writh
ing branch, and with the bleak white drifts
about them alone lor altars, they exalted their
benumbed hands and rejoiced in their new
American home of freedom j
Two centuries and a half have elapsed. The
wind that so rudely smote that desolate "craft
has since swayed irem mast and spire many a
standard of our new republic, and though the
exiles of our proudest American tradition have
long since returned to dust, the same solemn
print of their knees In the snow, and the same
God to whom they bowed, remain to-day and
forever. Plymouth Bock, by a silent and Im
pellent moral force beneath, has leapt up from
the level ol a past age, and towers an august
alp in our national history. Over It has dawned
a wondrous liberty, in the light of which stands
the old Puritan, whose mighty shadow lengthen
down to our own eventful present.
To-day, my friends, thousands of keels are
ploughing the surges from the east and south
towards the great ports of our nation. They
are laden with an untold tonnage of merchan
dise, or with vengeful armaments, whose black
muzzles peer out over the sea to snuff danger in
the air; but all of them combined bring us not
the moral and the material wealth that stood
upon the deck of the little Mayflower as she
slipped into Cape fad Bay. That wealth was in
the devont hearts and democratic purpose ot
those noble exiles. A wealth to them of glorious
aspiration- a wealth to us of glorious consum
mation. To them the germ of a great, undefined
tutuie; to us the fact of a grand, ripened pre
sent. The speaker then concluded his defense of the
early Puritan in these words; We have no right
to charge the errors of tho head upon the heart.
The cruel, selfish censorship of a court and
clergy had measurably educated him into the
morbid censor, without doubt, but if the head
was hard with its many bullets, the heart was
still true, earnest, and honest. Ixjot at the
pilgrim band before they had disembarked.
There they were, beyond tribunal and bishop;
theirs was a broad tabernacle, spanned but by a
sky. They were alone with heaven a free,
sanguine Church, exultant in their religious
guarantees, received not from a King James,
but from the King of Kings! Could they now
rest content? Had they achieved the all of
their desperate mission ? No. They forthwith
signed a compact, pledging themselves to sub
mit to such fjust and eq'ial laws and ordi
nances" as the common good should warrant
from lime to time. Thus walked ashore the first
freemen upon onr American soli, combined for a
oovemmeut oasea ou cneii cuusout and
there, houseless, starving, but undaunted
stood not only a Puritan church but an inlaut
State of 101 men, women, and children ?
The speaker then briefly sketched New Ply
mouth, concluding this portion of his address
as follows:
We are told by the historian that so little
were political honors coveted at New Plymouth,
that it became necessary to inflict a fine upon
such, as belna- chosen, decllued to serve as Gov
ernor or assistant. Our, State Treasuries will
never be enriched by such penalties upon
modesty. 1 ,
Yeais advanced, each contributing its mea
sure of immigration to the colony. NtwFJug
land at last became a vast filter, through which
her people have been distributed over the land.
The needs of successive epochs in our history
have expanded the Puritan mind, summoned it
to more catholic purposes, stimulated and made
more robust its faith, and confirmed it far be
yond the mission of those dd exiles, as the very
instrument of God.
It has not yet received its full tuition, but I
do not hesitale to declare that whatever of prin
ciple is true and great in our land to-day what
ever constitutes our best defenses as a people, as
freemen, and as men whatever we crave lor our
own credit to be historic, is in essence indubi
tably Puritan.
With the Pilgrims the resolve for liberty was
the ore in its bed; colonial history was the spade
that delved down towards it; the Revolution
was the strong arm that lifted it out, and melted
and moulded it to a fact? while our own war has
been the firm hand tntrt'grappled the cold bar,
heated It red-hot 6nca!)JUre,ln battle-fire, and
smote it on the anvil ol a people's will, from
iron into lasting steel. God be thanked for it !
The speaker then sketched the Puritan from
the record made by him, as one who gainsays
not only at heart, but by unrelenting practical
pjotcst, all tyranny or restriction which forbids
the full enjoyment of the rights or bis manhood
id tst, through both his civil and religious rela
tionswho insists that bo the despot ling, pre
late, or President, not one nor all can impair
these inherent prerogatives. In other words,
and with greater justice now than in the seven
teenth century, the Puritan is a liberal.
A parallel followed between our loyal men in
I860 und the sturdy Scotch Presbyterians of
1G37, uud concluded thus: Royalty quailed
before the plain Scotchman Leslie, and made
terms with him even in its old England,
pu the margin ot the river, past which it had
been hurled back; and I doubt not that Jeffer
son Davis to-day hears an accusing murmur in
the stream that speeds by his cell, less of the
river James than of the sad English river Tyne
You may recall au old military evolution!
wherein the front rank kneel and tho rear rank
remaiu erect, both ranks firing simultaneously.
As to our late struggle, I believe it will be
shown to us iuthat final dav, that tho regimeuts
upon regiments ot loyal Puritan women, upon
lowly kuee9, all over the North, were as vitul a
reinforcement to the army of Liberty as they
were the front rank in the service of God I
The speaker then averred that our late vic
tory iu the field was simply a brilliant blunder,
not a triumph such as we could dedicate to
Libeity. We failed to utilize the military re
sult, cast off our glove of mail, and left Rebel
lion as defiant as ever, and far more venomous
iu its hostility, because of its disastrous experi
ment at aims. What was our error? This; we
hud chastised rebels against the might ot the
Government.slmply to become rebela against its
spirit ourselves.
We inaugurated the war with the axiom,
"Fieedom is the inalienable right ot all;" we
closed it with the convenient qualifying sup
plement, "particularly of our white selves."
We were intrepid to confront the red, white,
and red, but quailed before the black. We
even borrowed the sinew, the valor, nay, tho
very blood and life of the negro, and we nave
scarcely yet beeu a magnanimous people
enough to pay back the loan. Heroes before
our worst enemies, and yet ingrates and cow.
ards to our best friends I Mere was the danger
of forfeiting a claim to tho better Puritan graces
forever.
Here, the old discharlty, the denial to others
of what we claimed for ourselves, an old, crude
1620 prejudice. Jutted out; and it was then, my
friends, 1 felt that, despite a then closing four
years' struggle, God's great battle for genuine
catholic freedom was jut to ensue I It has. It
pepan when the other lulled, Las been rafpriR
ever since, unmindful of It ns many ot tis may
bave beeji, and its results today indicate a
tiinmph to which a score of Grants and Shcr
mans could rot have condueted their columns.
The negro, with all his humility of station, has
proved as much a victor In this new strile as
when he rushed up into the frown and flash of
Port Hudson 1 It is in the war of preudices
that he has nobly avenged your desertion ot
him, and jou now capitulate by tendering him
the chtaf weapon from the arsenal of a republic
the ballot. , -
The speaker adverted to the negro at consi
derable lencth In combating a position taken
by Mr. Boutvell before the same lyceum not
long since, and subsequently assailed universal
tmncsty with great vehemence, elating that its
popular disavowal North spoke weli for the
staid, moral, and patriotic sense of this brave
Puritnn people. The sclf-disfranchisement of
the Rebels being held good for a period ot say
twenty years, and the suffrage and education of
the negro, were each the vital parts of the great
e scntial whole, the task of reconstruction. The
tqieaker then said: It-is worthy Of note that
Tyro, the. first. master-of stenography, wan a
freedinan, who, sixty years before Ciuist. caught
ihe clastic periods that burt from the lips oL a
Cicero, and fixad them in mystic characters on
?. page over which, the student will delight to
inger forever.
' Fieedom, too.with a greater than Roman elo
quenoe, has now spoken trom a summit of nine
teen Christian renrurtes; "and again the alert
freedman awakens to his office, his ear openn to
her speech, and traces its inspiration upon the
Images of our country's future! Oue made illus
ti ions the brain of a man ; the .other glorifies
f n eternal principle. I
Upon the subject of frecdmen'i education,
the speaker said:
t There can be no complete reconstruction of
the South until intelligenoe is made the very
bialn of loyalty.- There is no complete emanci-
Ention of the "negro until he is disciplined to
is full claims upon himself as a man, and to
the nation's full claim upon him as a citizen.
The American people have grasped these two
terms of emancipation and reconstruction, but
have (ailed as yet fully to define them. Their
meaning is, by clear Inference, first to be found
by the negro in that rudi mental interpretation
of the Constitution the little democratic school
book I The temple of Christian iibcrtv. mv
friends, however it may have been smirched by
the filth of selfish-politics however it may
have been made a den of thieves Is, neverthe
less, the House of God, and its portal is the
humble school-house. Take this simple tale:
A father gave his two sons the option of two
gifts, one of which was a Bible, the other its
I purenase price in money, une son cuose tne
! money, the other the Bible, on opening which
' Tirt 4Minfl a mnnh lurrrai eiim than hud Yta
ther. So with the negro. You give tne vote,
he claniois for the primer. Assure him that,
and let him find the ballot between its leaves !
Thus will the South receive its essential, its
Puritan restoiation. - -
A sharp analogy was then drawn between
Englishman Wentworth, the "President of the
Noith" under Kinar Charles, and Andrew John
son, "the Colporteur of Constitutions and Moral
Flasks." The former lost his head at tho dicta
tion of the indignant Commons of England.
IMacauley's epitaph may serve yet aeain 1 Mr.
JobDson's ambition has been insatiate, daring,
rash, and fatal. He has anointed the Rebel into
a patriot with his new letters-patent; cried
"pooh-pooh" in the face of the loyal North, and
declare his - magnanimity would . live on the
lips - of our children. Washington first com
mends himself . to the young through the
batchct-and-tree story. Let Mr. Johnson like
wise boast his remembrance. I know of no
better vehicle to commemorate his futile scheme
for the Rebel than the merry-old trill of Guy
! Fawkes, familiar to evrrj child. May it be the
Iflist intelligent lisp of our babes!
4,JRemember, remomb-r,
" The Fnih ol Novi mber,
tiUDDOwuer, treason, and plot;
1 see no reason
Wtiy gunpowder (ronton
fbhonld ever be forgot!"
Con uress was compared with the Parliament
ot liuo. The speaker eulogized our Ijwcr
Houee. but stigmatized the Senate, and dwelt
with considerable bitterness o;i various mom-
bers, chiefly Vice President Foster, amonrj
l others. He added: Congress must turn over
ine Baa iear ot iho, blotted with the chicane of
a President, and smeared with the blood of
Memphis, La Platte, and New Orleans; and on
the new page of our annals, with the firm, de
termined band of a John Hancock, engross its
peremptory caption of Justice and Kqual Rights!
Let that body take up the words of the stout
hearted Puritan Pyru, "We must not only make
the house clean, but null down the cobwebs !"
Having extolled General Butler as a signal
Puritan, and with some severity criticized Wen
dell Phillips, Wilson, Sumner, and several others,
the speaker thus adverted to the wt-U-remem-bered
American names Abraham Lincoln and
John Brown:
It may not be aniUs to advert for a moment
to two other Puritans, now gone from us for
ever. One, a lineal descendant of a Plymouth
exile, exhibited nil the rugged and severe traits
of those early pilgrims. A later ancestor served
in the Revolution. The rancor of liberty towards
tyranny, and the heat of its open challenge of
tyranny, tingled, therefore, with good reason, in
his blood.
The oiher was a poor Western youth, whose
hands grasped the axo by day, and the text of
his country's history by night; who grew robust
in mind and body, throush the wild liberty of
the pioneer. Each of these men studied well
his Bible. To one, it was the warmth and cheer
of the sunlight; to the other, the weird, chill,
uhu L-uiuioniess giare oi ine stars, r or one, tt
made the precise poise between the true man
and the true citizen; for the other, itoutweighed
the devout man in one giddy scale by the despe
rate citizen in the other.
Years ripened the men. ' One grew to the
heroism ol the calm, generous, and prescient
patriot; the other to the heroism of the mad,
impatient anarch. Each was vehement
against slavery, but one maintained and the
other forgot his loyalty in assailing that cruul
curse. One sought by crime to rear a grand
democracy of colors; the other, with the 6ense
of a liberal Christian statesman, saw God
already shaping anewand better republic.
One, tramping through the night, with a petty
army of seventeen whites and five blacks, seiz
ing a uational arsenal "by the authority of God
Almighty," and erect between h's dying eons,
defying a strong hostile array, was an indubi
table Purltan. Vut ctibe iemoto seventeenth
tcntuiy. . t. . w 1- .
The other, gentle .of heart but stalwart for
liberty, lilting high his old pioneer's axe, and
smiting at one grand stroke the gyves from olf
every slave in our broad land, was' the truer and
tho nobler Puritan of the nineteenth century.
II one was the stein Cotton Mather of our time,
the other wa9 our brave, sweet-spirited Roger
Williams. Side by side tbey rest beneath the
sward of b people's memory, and thither the
thoughts of freemen will often stray, now that
the any of tumult Is past. Upon the mound of
one, gleaming with dew, rests the calm and
mellow moonlight; upon the other frowns the
stern shadow of the gallows! It may be that
with that passionate love we bear him who was
the piide ot our Republic, we, my friends, may
Jack the composure to carve the marbles of
these two great men; but the chisel of a later
day will record upon the one "Abraham Lln
colu, the Puritan gentleman, citizen,'- and
statesman," and upon tho other the kind yet
sorry words; "Alas, disloyal John Brown I"
But never can this American nation dare to at
tempt this critical office till the stealthy shadow
ot that gallows has moved on and crept
athwart the prison-bars of Fortress Monroe I
The speaker concluded as follows: Let Con
gress acoept and act upon the terms of the
President in 'tiS. The time -has arrived, my
countrymen, when the American people shall
be educated and taught what is crime, and that
trtaeon is the highest crime known to the Con
stitution;! et them add, as a supplement thereto,
the memorable words of Solon, "The most per'
feet popular government is that where an injury
done to the meanest subject Is an Insult upon
the whole Constitution ;" and upon these two
grand texts let them base their vindication of
American freedom.
- In debating this topic of reconfitructloB, we
frrinthisWc fall to dae back beyond 1801.
Do we pluck out vcry thorn in the national
side by a mero Cotisttttitional amendment?
No ! ,And heic let me say, that. In tho name of
justice, I thank (iod that the Southern heart
hn. Vi i fi liarrlnAAil 1 '. l. n i L. . , . . t .
unn ........ mo I UHrUHU H, Hcaini inn
amendment; that the compact which the Thirty
ninth Congress blindly proffered has been in
uipiiitiiuy rej-im.mcu. iv BTanO Btt aildrtClOUS
insult to the section that can alone legally pass
upon it. The Southern temper in disclaiming
it, despite its license, has affirmed Itself anew.
It was a paltry sham to supersede the stern
(unction of the bayonet.
That amendment should hay contemplated a
pat not merely of four Tears, durm" which
sedition was toying and plashing its hands iu
loyal blood, ijut a pavt stretching back to the,
hour when that sedition first folk its brain throb
with the mad dream of anarchy. The present
amendment decides nothing, secures not lung
Vital. It is au apology, not a behest. The war,
my friends, was an auspirlous evtl, for through
it the long pent animosity broke. Tho bad
rheum, the old prejudices, the sectional oonceit,
Ihe fierce jealousy of caste, the overt and latent
errors against principles . of government, all
these had long been the tuition of the South;
they were the nerves of their war the very
sights on the insntgent rifles. It was these, xt
their briel, wicked mustery over the Southern
territory, that fell with the armed horde of
Lee.
In other words, John C. Calhoun is as much a
' felon in Fortress Monroe as Is his modern intr
f refer, Jeff. Davis. Open the gates of that dun
eeon to-morrow, and it is Calhoun, not Davis,
mitt wuiaa umn 11110 ine popular Heart otitn
Calhoun was the grand incarnation ot an error
-DaviB simply its bungling exponent.
''Liberty is to the collective body what health
is to the individual tody," says Iiolmarbroke.
The absence of this rich health had prostrated
that section. We have now purg d it with cannon-ball
and shot, but our medical treatment
must not end there, else it will relapse into its
old chionlo mlsbabli. i
We must watcn it long, and administer to it
not such palatable remedies as the piitleui might
prefer, but such as its case demands, till at last,
cleared of an old faetlous bile that has for year
wakened wild fevers in its frame, it convalesces
to a Puritan health !
Alanco Capac sought, by prudent admonition
And vlrl.nnn& Avamnla r.itl.u. ikm.
. , . i 1 .nan " T V. t , nr-
wiu over the wild natives of South America..
Where mild, persuasive methods failed, be re
duced them to straita and necessities, repre
sented to them the happiness of those who sub
mitted tq his government; atid these means
being followed by his successors, no native re-'
pented of adhering to such a dominion, where
nothing but virtue appeared In both rulers and
rtfnnlp I f Ilia KI.tiAn.l lnita.nmnnt nM.A.Ik
rigors, let it be understood wherever they are
Imposed that they will be continued just long
enough to ciush down a dangerous sentiment
that when the Rebels disavow that sentiment i
and respond to the nobler claims upon freemen, .
the burden will gladly at once and forever be '
lilted. . I
The reconstruction, to be prompt an health-'
iui, musi oe direct upon, and responsive from,
the South. To repeat, then: The exclusion of
the di6loyal trom pailicipatlng In this tusk,
and the suffrage universal and education uni
versal ot the black loyal element, constitute a
republican method of reconstruction the iru
peratlve one.
The speaker having here expressed his dissent
to Mr. Douglass' advocacy the week prevloua
of abollehing the veto power and the Vice-
i-tBiuency, bmu:
Our armies, ladies and gentlemen, simply
drcrve their wennnn.nrilnla flirnnrrli tVw. I
the armor ot treason. We, a a people, must
iocs down its visor, and thus slowly but surely
stifle its pleas, its breath, and its life together.
Then our duty to libeity will have been vxll
acconmlislied !
A word more, and I have done. In 1020 a. !
prow bearing the Columbuses of American
nueiij yuimeu uue west a new jiaytlower
llrui Bf-eumi; Uer .-jouinern riynioutni One
nobly fulfilled its mission, so will the other.
One was luden with prayers and trusts, so 19 the
other. Theie may be calms, head-winds, a
transient blot of storm, perhaps, upon the any,
biiTthe vessel will cleave on to lis haven.
Thank (InA I top mm ti-nlv. i'nmnnD. tu .li.
1V1CUUI, 1UU BUIUI
Is turned to the shore-a whue hand grasps the '
th il htends t the ropes trim the sails. W
wunu erect, upon mo decs:, his
broad-brimmed peaked hat doffed from a brow
calmly turned to heaven, stands the ancient,
liberty-loving Puritan !
I We are annriHprl thnt T,,.t.. oi.t.i- m
- - ---- rw- .-v uuuee i imiu ma
speak at Nomstown, in connection with Rev
jruiiiips urooas, on xnursday evening, the 17th
instant, upon invitation of the Pennsylvania
Branch of tho Freedmen's Union Commission
in promotion of the noble objects of that
society.
PROPOSALS.
Q O V E R N M E NT SAL E,
1 lie property known as the
GOVtltAilhM lANNEIty; AND STEAM. SAW
TexaeVenti "flVe CreS 01 l8nd'' Dear 8 N ANrO SIO,
...Hhl! ,Jr2P08a!.),, Plicate, will be received up
to the first dav ol Marcu, lb67. lor the pnrohate of
76 aore of lano, more or less, together witb the
buildings erected thereon, and the appurtenances
appertaining, that is to say : 1,1
One Tannerv. containing i.in u
flit r-two wooden vat, seven stone pools, and capable
of fanning 16,000 bides per annum. Pe
oMumberTad ?W mi' CHf"ibl0 01 8000 feet
One imall bto'ne Building.
Ihe above pioperty is itualed about to miles
above Ban Antonio, on the Kan Antonio river, and
the water la conducted to the establishment br a
race ot hewn stone, laid in cement.
The land was pnrchased and improvements made
by the late so-called Confederate Government, and
are estimated to have oot 1160 000 in gold.
id prope,ty.nttg been nnder le' lor the year
1806, at a Monthly rentot 8600, payable inadvanoe.
A secured title in fee simple wi.l be given bv tii.
United States Governmtnt. 7
Proposals will be marked, "Proposals for Govern
ment tannery and Saw Mil," and addressed to
BvH MaJ-Gen. A set Com'n, Bureau Ka'nd A.
L., Galveston, Texas. 1117w
-pKOrOSALS FOR CAYAXBY HOUSES.
Depot Quartermaster's Ofvicb,
Ualtimoke, Maryland,
)
o , j t . uur7 w, lout. I
Sealed Prnnnsnla i-i.. ... .,, , ' ' .
at (his Office until miJKSDAY, 12 o'clock M..
January 24. 1867, lor the delivery in the City of Bu -f'n're
of lorty-eitht (48) Cavalry Horsea.
i.i . wUi U "ubjectad o oaretul Inspection
beiore being accepted, l hey must be sound in alt
unX iZUrl,?. Vu" "t'lnd irooucondl
..w-, ..vu. iiiiuiu iu iiuuuh men, irom
to nine years old, well adapted in every war
five
lor
ihe ability of the bidder to fulfil his arroo-fru.n,u-thib?
rnB,antoe'i y two sponsible
pJoposal. must aooompiny the
on. .!f0."M nU8t'be delivered within twenty
posal 0t et,Ptttne of any pro.
A"f Government reserves the riht to reject anv
"ntraot t9miA to be aado oa compleUoii ot
Bids will be endorsed "Proposals lor Cavalrv
EorTifd?aa adJre'"1 "dorsiKMdi RltU
Uy order or the Quartermaster-General.
. A. H KIMBALL,
nun Captain ana A. Q. u.. u. 8 a,
1 11 111 Depot Quartermaster.
r
I
W"ilM3i'i!HUi1UJiVI
. m..,, a. ?, ,,JZ .ill.
THE GENUINE EAGLE VEIN, THE CELE
city at 6-60 per ton ; luperlor LEH1QH at W "u
wVii vsssura Ats