Author 
 
 Title 
 
 Class 
 Book 
 
 Imprint 
 
 Xeft 
 
 GPO 16 — 74G4 
 
GRKA.T SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 Greneretl HoAvell CobTj 
 
 DELIVERED IN ATLANTA, GA., JULY 33, 18t5.S. 
 
 ^.S^" lially Reported lor anil rablislied by the "Chronicle aud Sentinel," AnMiista. (ia.) 
 
 Mt. President, ladies and ftentlemp)). : ithat government in order that, to tlie cx- 
 
 1 congratulate you, my friends, ibat the; tent it is in your power, your rights and 
 :ime has come in Georgia when the people [interests may receive some protection, 
 jan meet to(?ether as you have assembled 1 1 shall offer some advice to Governor Bul- 
 ■o-day. "When I "say the people" I mean lock. Although he has not sent for me 
 just those I see before me — these women or summoned me to his councils, I shall 
 md children, these good men and true, 'waive etiquette and give him some advice 
 who are the representatives of the menlwhich will do him good and be of great 
 and women throughout our Stale. I con ibcnefit to the State if he follows it. 
 sjratulatc you, that you meet and again! If he does not follow it, it has cost him 
 hear the voices of your favorite sons— that so little, he will have no right to complain 
 you can respond in your hearts to the of me for having offored it. I would just 
 patriotic sentiments which fall from the say to him : Mr. Bullock, the people of 
 lips of those sons. While the past casts 'Georgia have done you no wrong. It is 
 its shadows over the land, and ray own I your duty to inflict as little evil upon them 
 heart is in full sympathy with the picture las possible. Remember the circumstances 
 which was drawn by my friend, yet I do under which you have been called upon 
 feel rising up in my soul the promise of a to execute the duties of your Gubernato^ 
 brighter day not far distant in the future. I rial ofl5ce, and my advice to you is to be- 
 To-day, in common with you, I have j have yourself just as well as your nature 
 heard the familiar voice of one who, in j and education will admit. [Laughter and 
 times past, has aroused his countrymen! applause.] I would say to him, in all 
 from the mountains to the seaboard. He | kindness, that in the matter of chsracter 
 speaks freely and there is none to make and reputation s^^ou have everything to 
 him afraid. [Applause.] God speed thelmake and nothing to lose. [Laughter 
 day when the echoes of that voice shall be and applause.] A better opportunity 
 hoard throughout all the land, speaking! never was offered to any man. He is like 
 from his old standpoint in the Nationaljan adventurous youth who goes into a 
 Jjegislature. My friends, the argument on, gambling house without money to play at 
 that branch of the subject which has beenjtaro. He has everything to win and noth- 
 disoussed by my friend has been presented ing to lose. He may break the, bank, but 
 to you so comprehensively that I shall not i the Vank cannot hurt ',him.^ I would say 
 tresiiass upon your time, nor weaken its'to him, Mr. Bullock, this Constitution 
 powiir and influence by a recapitulation of, which has been imposed upon the paople 
 it. It was an exposition of truths that i of Georgia against their will and without 
 ^ill live when you and I have passed away their approval, invests you with a groat 
 and are gono. The people of Georgia to- deal of powei'. Exercise it in a way to do 
 day are passing through a trying ordeal, good to the State if you can. You have 
 which, I trust and believe, will be of short got a judiciary to appoint. I would advise 
 duration, and from which they will emerge 'you to send for the oflScial copy of the ad- 
 rcfined and purified like gold from the dress of the Chairman of the Grant and 
 iurnace. They are living under a govern- Colfax Executive State Committee written 
 ntent whose days are numbered, but while by one Joseph E. Brown, in which he at;- 
 it exists it is well that we make the best we sumcs to announce for you that the Judi- 
 ean of it. 1 shall offer some suggestions ciary of Georgia will be corruptly appointed 
 here in your hearing lor the benefit o^ to subserve base and partisan purposes, 
 ihose who are called upon to administer and when you get it make a bonfire of the 
 
 lii 
 
2 
 
 paper, and blot from your memory the rec 
 ollection of its contents. Be not deceived 
 with the idea that becaase your predeces- 
 sor, the author of this paper, waspartially 
 successful in adding to his strength and 
 popularity by a corrupt use of his official 
 patronage, that a like success will attend a 
 like corrupt course on your part. If the 
 argument based on considerations of patri- 
 otism and duty cannot reach you, let me 
 warn you, as a matter of policy, not 
 to resort to a course of conduct so un^ 
 worthy, so base, and which, in the 
 end, will be of no benefit to you, but must 
 produce calamitous results for the State. 
 The appeal I make for the appointment ol 
 an honest Judiciary is one which should 
 commend itself to the favor of any man 
 holding the high positionyou occupy, even 
 though he reached that position by a not 
 over creditable accident, the details of 
 which I will not stop to discuss. I beg 
 you to remember that since the organiza- 
 tion of the Supreme Court of Georgia no 
 one has been appointed to that Bench who 
 did not command the respect and confi- 
 dence of the people. No one has ever 
 filled that high station on whose integrity 
 and honesty the shadow of a doubt ever 
 rested. It remains with you to determine 
 whether the high character of that Bench 
 shall be maintained, or whether it shall 
 become a refuge for destitute and discarded 
 politicians whose infamy and treachery 
 have made them outcasts from the com- 
 panionship of honest men. [Applause.! 
 In the name of the people of Georgia I 
 call upon you this day to drive from your 
 presence these bad men who ask you to 
 forfeit the only claim you can ever have to 
 public respect and confidence, by the ap- 
 pointment of such men to offices of 
 trust and honor. Rid yourself of the 
 miserable vermin who are fastening 
 themselves upon you, who are calling on 
 you to appoint them to the Supreme 
 Court, the Superior Court and the Dis- 
 trict Court, and who, in the better days of 
 the Republic, would never have presumed 
 to solicit the appointment of a door- 
 keeper or a messenger — men whom you 
 know to be unworthy, and whose only^ 
 claim to the positions they seek at yourj 
 hands is the record of their own infamy. I 
 (Loud applause. ] How strange and start-! 
 ling it will sound to the ears of those who| 
 live beyond the limits of our State to 
 hear an appeal made by the people of! 
 Georgia to him who exercises the highest | 
 executive power to grant the State an 
 honest judiciary 1 And yet strange as it 
 may appear, startling as it is, the rumors 
 which fill the atmosphere of this capital 
 
 justify the apprehension upon which the 
 appeal is based. Therefore, I say to you, 
 Mr. Bullock, be warned in time. Commit 
 not these outrages upon a people who, 
 God knows, have suffered enough at the 
 hands of their oppressors. If you heed 
 not this warning voice to-day, the time 
 will come when you will repent in sack- 
 I cloth and ashe^ the degradation which 
 lyou willhave brought upon yourself by the 
 infliction of such an outrage upon a 
 brave, a generous, and an honest people, 
 in whose conduct toward you, you can 
 find no justification for the injury you will 
 have done. All I ask of you is to appoint 
 honest men to these high positions, men 
 who will administer the laws of the State 
 in obedience to the conscientious obliga- 
 tions of their oaths. Fill all the offices 
 with honest men. Protect the Treasury 
 from the robber-band who are assembled 
 here to break in and steal. Do these 
 things, and at the end of your service 
 you will have the consolation of knowing 
 that if you have done the State no good, 
 you will have refrained from doing it any 
 serious harm. [Applause. J And for you, 
 this would be a result which your warmest 
 admirers could not have reasonably antici- 
 pated. [Laughter and applause. ] 
 
 And now I turn from an appeal to those 
 in power to you, my countrymen, and I 
 invoke your aid and co-operation in the 
 great work before us, of lifting our State 
 from its present fallen condition, and restor- 
 ing it to its former prosperity and equality 
 among her sister commonwealths of the 
 Union. It is a noble work, worthy of the 
 best eS"orts of our people, in which all 
 good men can and ought to unite with an 
 earnest and cordial good will. The day of 
 arms has passed. We look for the dawn 
 of a day of peace — such peace as carries 
 healing on its wings and diffuses blessings 
 over the land — not such peace as is offered 
 to you at the point of the bayonet, or is 
 contained in the findings of a miHtary 
 commission, but the peace which is found- 
 ed on justice, is supported by the law, is 
 accompanied by liberty, and brings rejoic- 
 ing and contentment to every heart. Such 
 is the peace which will follow the election 
 of Seymour and Blair, and the restoration 
 of the Constitution — a peace which will 
 be for to-day, to-morrow, and for all time 
 to come, because it will be a peace that 
 would calm all the troubled waters, quiet 
 all apprehensions, restore confidence and 
 security in all the departments of life, and 
 cause every one, everywhere, to feel that 
 the good old days of the Republic had re- 
 turned. Such a peace is worthy of the 
 best efforts of patriots, the prayers of 
 
 ''^^^31^ 
 

 Christians, and will command the blessingf 
 of Heaven. [Loud applause. ] 
 
 I am here to day to invoke your aid and 
 co-operation in carrying forward this great 
 and good work. 
 
 THk work for TUE true QEORaiAN. 
 
 My countrymen, I care not who you are, 
 I care not what has been your past party 
 history, I look to your status to-day. I 
 want to know what you intend to do for 
 your country in the future? She has suf- 
 i'ereA much, she has b2eh wounded deeply, 
 her body is covered over with the evidences 
 of these wounds and this suffering. This 
 old State — that has been so kind to you, so 
 generous to me, beyond all that I deserve, 
 beyond, perhaps, what you deserve — this 
 noble, gallant, bleeding old State calls upon 
 her sons to come forward and aid in the 
 good work of redeeming her from the hand 
 of the wrong doer and oppressor. Is there 
 in all Georgia one single heart, native or 
 foreign, who will not respond in this the 
 hour of her greatest trial, the hour in which 
 she is struggling for liberty and for the con- 
 stitutional rights of all her children? The 
 issue is fairly before you, my friends. None 
 can fail to read it right. No man can plead 
 ignorance. Not one who heard the expo- 
 sition to which you and I have listened 
 this morning, not one who has heard the 
 eloquent voices of her sons throughout this 
 land for months, can plead ignorance here- 
 after. The issue is made ; on the one hand 
 is a continuance and aggravation of the 
 wrongs from which she has so long suffer- 
 ed and is still suffering, and on the other a 
 speedy deliverance from the bonds which 
 have bound her and the opening of a 
 bright and promising future. The path is 
 open ; you are invited to tread it. On the 
 one hand there is darkness, and shadow, 
 and gloom, and continued misfortune and 
 oppression; and on the other there is 
 freedom, prosperity and peace. Choose 
 you this day between these two offerings 
 made for your free-will acceptance. My 
 friends, that great party of this country 
 which now brings within its fold every true 
 man of the land, Noi^th, South, East, and 
 West, without reference to past political 
 differences, comes and tenders you the 
 guarantees of that Constitution which was 
 framed by the wisdom and consecrated by 
 the blood of your fathers Come and stand 
 by us. Give your support to the men who 
 are pledged to carry out these principles. 
 
 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES. 
 
 We have put a candidate before you for 
 the highest office in the country — a man 
 known as a statesman throughout the land 
 — a man whose record in the past ha&been 
 true to those great principles of constitu- 
 
 tional right; We have placed before you 
 a candidate for Vice President, one who, 
 it is true, like Gen. Grant, fought you 
 during the war,but, unlike General Grant, 
 ceased to fight you when the war was over. 
 [Applause. 1 I honor a brave man. lean 
 do reverence to his virtues, though he has 
 drawn the sword against me. I honor 
 such a man, and to-day give evidence of 
 it in the cordiality with which I will cast 
 my vote for Frank P. Blair for Vice Pres 
 ident of the United States. But the man 
 who, after the battle is over, travels over 
 the field, and, with a valor that I cannot 
 commend, draws his sword to thrust it in- 
 to each corpse as he passes along, such a 
 man can nev^r command my respect, and 
 if my advice is heeded will never get a vote 
 in Georgia. 
 
 Let the people of the North understand 
 that we give to Seymour and Blair our 
 warm and hearty support, with a perfect 
 knowledge on our part that the one in the 
 Cabinet and the other on the field were 
 fully identified with those who prosecuted 
 the war against us, and to whose over- 
 whelming numbers we finally surrendered. 
 We do not pretend to say that we support 
 them because they M'aried against us, but 
 in spite of it, believing, as we do, that in a 
 restored Union they will extend to us those 
 sacred constitutional rights of which they 
 are now the chosen and honored represent- 
 atives. And this is all that the people of 
 the South ask or expect at the hands of the 
 people of the North. 
 
 These are the men, these are the pledges 
 which are offered to you by those whom 1 
 commend to your confidence and support 
 to-day. On the other hand you are offered 
 for the Presidency Gen. Grant. I have 
 said as much of him as he ever said of him- 
 self, and, therefore, ho has no right 
 to complain that I have not treated him 
 with proper respect. Of Mr. Colfax, the 
 candidate for the Vice Presidency, I am 
 not sufficiently informed of his history in 
 order to give you any very satisfactory 
 account of him. My opinion is, however, 
 if, when in the days of his infancy, his 
 mother had been told that he would be a 
 candidate for A'ice President, it would 
 have run the old lady crazy. I Laughter 
 and cheers.] It is sufficient to say of them 
 that they stand before you as the repre- 
 sentatives of the Chicago platform. That 
 is condemnation enough. But these men, 
 fellow-citizens, are -of to-day and will pass 
 away. The principles which they repre- 
 sent belong to the future and will live long 
 after those who uplield them are forgotten. 
 
 THE CHICAGO PI^TFORM. 
 
 You have before you the great political 
 
truths presented by the Democracy of the' we reserve the old landmarks gf the Con- 
 country. Let US go for a moment to'stitution ?" To-day they defend the policy 
 Chicago and see what was presented thereS which puts these negroes in the Legisla 
 
 for the people of this country. What_ is 
 offered to you by that convention of wild 
 and bad men who placed General Grant 
 and Mr. Colfax before the country ? I 
 will not stop to discuss the double->faced 
 resolutions on finance. I come to the 
 main starting proposition which j^ou are 
 called upon to give your sanction to, and 
 which most nearly affects your interests. 
 
 ture. To-day that platform say. s my friend 
 [pointing to Mr. Toombs] and myself are 
 properly and justly excluded from the 
 right of suffrage, from the right of hold- 
 ing office; but these negroes are the proper 
 people to make laws to govern and control 
 this great and good State of Georgia. 
 
 SCALAWAGS AND CARPET- BAG QKRS. 
 
 What think you of Northern men who 
 
 Fellow-citizens, that platform announcesjwho are prepared to perpetual o this geati 
 to you that a white man's Government! wrong and outrage upon our people ? C^u 
 shall be guaranteed to the people of the you say to them, "Brother?" Can you 
 North, but thai, uegroes are good enough say to them, "Friend?" Cau you wel- 
 for Georgia and the people of the South, jcomc them to your house, when they 
 I do not pretend to quote the language or jcome toyour midst, either vnxh the in- 
 the precise words, but such are the prin-jsignia of office or in the habiIi';icntof pri- 
 ciples and doctrines enunciated. The Radi-jvate citizens? Why should ihey wonder 
 eals have not denied it in their press — land stand amazed because v.'e bid them 
 they have not denied it by their public not to the feast when our tiusids 
 riien — they cannot, dare not, deny it. 
 
 That 
 platlbrm says that the negroes of the 
 South shall be guaranteed and protected 
 
 vited to assemble and make 
 themselves ? Shall these 
 these men, to expect it ? P 
 
 are in- 
 jijinry among 
 nien, ought 
 Li; clon me if I 
 in the exercise of political power, the right i dwell upon it. I want to expu .s:. it, and 1 
 of suffrage, the right of sitting in the jury- j urge it upon you, until there shall exist 
 box, the right of holding seats in the Leg- in the heart and soul of every son and 
 islatureand upon the bench, and that it is {daughter that walks and bMiithes her 
 all right and proper for you and for the 'pure air, and lives upori her ha[>i,)y soi', 
 people of the South that this should be this conviction, that these men ol' xh^'. 
 the case ; but when asked to put it to the North, these Chicago men, these men who 
 
 people of the North, to the freemen of the 
 West, and the freemen of the East and 
 the Middle States, they said,' "No ! they 
 are entitled to a white man's govern- 
 ment; they are entitled to the protection 
 whicu had been given them by the fathers 
 of the land, from the earliest organization 
 of the Government; they are the sons of 
 the revolutionary fathers who fought and 
 with their blood won the liberty of this 
 country — by their wisdom adopted the 
 Constitution. They shall have a white 
 man's government; they are worthy of it ; 
 they deserve it ; but for those rebels down 
 South, those men in Georgia, those women 
 
 ca!l upon you to vote for Grant and Col- 
 fax, and that Grant and Colfax, who have 
 indorsed these things, are neither worthy 
 of your vote, your respect, or of your confi- 
 dence, much less of your kindness and 
 hospitality. My friends, they are our ene- 
 mies. I state it in cool and calm debate. If 
 they were our friends, they could not dou- 
 bly wrong us, and if there beat in their bosom 
 one single kindly emotion for the people 
 of the South, they would never have 
 made this public declaration to the world 
 of your unworthiness and the contempt 
 which they feel for you. Enemies they 
 were in war, enemies they continue to be 
 
 and children in Georgia, they deserve no in peace. In war we drew the sword and 
 
 such protection; they shall have guaran 
 teed to them no such Government. " My 
 friends, what think you of these men of 
 the North ? What think you of the 
 Grants and Colfaxes? of the Thad Ste- 
 veuses ? the Sumners and the Wilsons of 
 
 bade them defiance; in peace we gather 
 up the manhood of the South, and raising 
 the banner of constitutional equality, and 
 gathering around it the good men of the 
 North as well as the South, we hurl into 
 their teeth to-day the same defi- 
 
 the North, who went to Chiciago and thenjance, and bid them come on to the strug- 
 wrote it down in cold blood— there was no gle. We are ready for ^t if they are. 
 passion — there was no excitement — there! [Great applause.] But, mv countrymen, 
 were no war tones sounding throughout jit those are the feelings which rise in our 
 the land— but coolly, calmly, passionless, bosom, in reference to these men of the 
 they wrote it down upon their platform : j North — these men who have no bond oi' 
 "The people of the South, you must sub-iunion with you— these men who never 
 mit to negro suffrage, you must submit tojtrod upon your soil unless it was to plun~ 
 negro supremacy; but for our own peoplelder and to rob— these men who know not 
 
these women and these children — these the negro. That is six more votes for Joe 
 men who have never worshiped at your Brown. I will give him about three more, 
 altars, who never communed with the, and quit hiui. I say to you, my friends, 
 ^ood men and women of your State you owe it to yourselves, you owe 
 around that altar erected to the livin;j it to the noble dead who sleep in 
 Grod — if these arc your feelings toward their graves, to observe these things. You 
 strangers in blood, and sympathy, and 'go here, and I honor you for it, and scat- 
 association, what can be your feelings ter flowers over those graves, God bless 
 toward those men of Georgia who trav- you for it I They are the graves of good,' 
 oiled these hundreds of miles to meet thesejtrue, and honest, and noble, and brave, 
 men at Cfiicago, who sat upon the bcnch-and generous men. [Apulause. J But as 
 with them, who went into the conncil'you return from that solemn duly turn 
 chamber with them, and who there joined your back to the right and left, upon those 
 their voices and united their hearts in pro- who dishonor the memory of the dead, 
 nouncing that the men whom they have You owo it to thcliving,you owe it to your 
 left behind thera- the men of Georgia own children and to their children. Write 
 who had honored them overmuch, who down in their memories this day and all 
 had lifted them from the lowest dregs of day* and for all time to come the feeling 
 society and elevated them to the hishest and spirit of abhorrence with which you 
 offices of honor, profit, and trust. What' regard these men. 0, Heaven I i or some 
 say you of such men who went to Chicago, blistering words that I may write infamy 
 and there, crouching at the feet of our upon the forehead of these men [ap- 
 enemies, declared that these good people of plause] . that they may tnivel through 
 Georgia des'.'rred_ the fate that had come earth despised of all men and rejected of 
 upon them, of being put under the ban of heaven, scorned by the devil himself 
 negro supremacy? My countrymen, don't 'They may seek their final congenial rest- 
 think I speak harsh words because I say'ingplace under the mudsills of that an- 
 hard truths. I speak ofthose delegates cient institution prepared tor them from 
 to the Ciiicag* Convention I speak of the beginning of the world. [Laughter 
 thera in unmeasured term?. and applause.] 
 
 .lOE 15R0WN. SOMETHIiNG FOR NORTHERN .MKN TO TELL 
 
 A friend told me, as I was coming heftj when they go home vrom thk south. 
 the other day, that he heard another sas Fellow- citizens, being in a counseling 
 that by a speech that I had made at Davis and advising mood to-day, I am disposed 
 Hall 1 had made half a dozen votes for to ask a favor of another class of our 
 Joe Brown. Well, I come to make half a fellow- citizens ; a class of whom I have not 
 dozen more to-day. He and his associates 'asked favors heretofore. They have been 
 were at Chicago He and his associates J amongst us for the last three years, men 
 joined and united in pronouncing this in- of the North, some of them in high mili- 
 famous docftine — the negro is good enough tary position, some of them wearing the 
 for Georgia, but not good enough for Ohio simple vestments of private life. Now the 
 and New York. Are not the people of time has come when many of these are to 
 Georgia right in assigning him the .statu? leave us and return back to their homes, 
 which ho has taken for himself? If and in the part which thev have played to 
 negroes are good enough for Georgia, it is return no more forever. [Applause.] 
 that kind of Georgia that he is, and I shair Now, of these gentlemen personally, 1 
 not dispute the doctrine. [Laushtcr and know nothing, but I have a word to say to 
 applause.] Let him associate with them, | them and to ask them to bear a message 
 but white men of this country cut loose from the people of the South to the people 
 from him. [A voice says "Amen."] of the North. You have been here for 
 Amen and Amen! Let it reverberate three years. When you return to your 
 over your mountains, down your valleys, | homes tell your people that you came here 
 trom your old men and your young men, and found our land one general plain of 
 your women and your children, until one desolation; the ashes stand, or stood then, 
 grand chorus shall ring throtigh every where this beautiful city now stands. You 
 throbbing heart ! "Overboard with him !" found our people overwhelmed by numbers, 
 "He has turned traitor to the country !" 1 a conquered people, if you please, but a 
 tell you very frankly, my friends, I am not brave and generous people still. You 
 an intolerant man ! but, when I sec a white' have been in our midst and have seen the 
 man talking to Joe Brown and that class wrongs that have been done this people, 
 of men, a feeling of revulsion comes over| You have seen their old men and their 
 me. I can't help it. But when I see young men torn from the bosom of their 
 them talking to^ a negro, I feel sorry forifamilies, and from their labor and occupa- 
 
■ \ 
 
 tion without warrant or authority of con- 1 them that on the 4th day of July — a day 
 stitutional law. You have seen them car-j memorable in the history of your country 
 ried to the dungeon, and from the dungeon! — a day honored and celebrated by the 
 to the courts which had no jurisdiction|goodmeu of the land — Georgia was sum- 
 under the Constitution. Tell your people jmoned by the party who now rules her 
 of the North these things, when you go. [destiny, to assemble in mass convention at 
 
 Tell them, too, you have seen the polls 
 opened, you have seen Georgia's noblest 
 sons, born upon the soil and reared under 
 her institutions, sons whom she has delight- 
 ed to honor, sons whom you have received 
 with welcoming arms in all the Northern 
 States— you have seen these sons, upon 
 whose character not one single blot rests, 
 you have seen them driven from the polls. 
 Tell them that ! Tell them that you have 
 seen the poor, ignorant, debased, un- 
 happy, unfortunate, and deluded negro 
 taken, not by the voice of persuasion and 
 of argument, but by a power which he 
 could not and dare not resist, and you 
 have seen him go and fill up that ballot- 
 box that formerly received the votes of the 
 good and true men of Georgia. Tell them 
 that you have stood here in her legislative 
 halls. Gray-headed fathers have told you 
 that these seats were once filled by the 
 noblest and truest men of the land— her 
 Cra'vford, her Troup, her Forsyth, her 
 Berrien, her Lumpkin, her Wayne— her 
 great and good men in the days that are 
 past. Around me here I see the gray- 
 headed fathers of this land who once filled 
 these seats. Tell them whom you saw 
 there on yesterday. True, some of her sons, 
 good and true men, are there to try to save 
 and rescue their State from wrong, but 
 tell them that the seats of Troup and 
 Clark were filled by two negroes who could 
 not write their names. Tell them that 
 my own old county of Clark — these men 
 will recognize the name when I speak of 
 Clayton, Dougherty, Hull, and Hope, and 
 Thomas, and, in later days, the brave and 
 gallant Deloney, and other good citizens — 
 tell them when you go to the North the 
 seats formerly occupied by these men were 
 filled by illiterate negroes. Tell them when 
 you go there that in times past you were 
 told that the good men of Georgia assem- 
 bled at her capitol to inaugurate her gov- 
 ernment, these men whose names I have 
 mentioned to you ; bift never in all the 
 history of this State was any man, be he 
 good or bad, placed in that chair, with 
 those insignia of office, but in response to 
 the voice of the people of Georgia. 
 
 I care not, gentlemen of the North, mil- 
 itary and civilians, with what prejudices 
 you come here; I care not how passion has 
 been inflamed. These are solemn truths, 
 and it is your duty as honest men to tell 
 the message I this day give you. Tell 
 
 her Capital. You were here and saw that 
 scene. Go, I ask it as a favor; I will hum- 
 ble myself so far as to beg that the truth 
 may be carried from Georgia and spread 
 broadcast among your people. You wit- 
 nessed that assembly. It was a mass 
 meeting of the Radicals of Georgia. 
 Twenty white men were there, and proba- 
 bly all who deserved the name of white 
 men, outside of spectators, did not reach 
 quite a-half a dozen. They were a motley 
 crowd of negroes. They spoke of Georgia; 
 they thanked this beneficent legislation 
 that had brought the great blessing upon 
 the land. Men stood upon that platform 
 who been honored by Georgia, and, ad- 
 dressing that assembly of dark faces and 
 kinky heads, with not one white man scat- 
 tered, here or there, called them "my coun- 
 trymen ! ' ' Well, if they are his country- 
 men, let him and his countrymen seek some 
 more congenial climate. Africa is open to 
 him, and not knowing Joe as well as I do, 
 the people of that continent might bid him 
 come. 
 
 Go, gentlemen of the North, and tell 
 your people that there was assembled in 
 Georgia — this great and noble old State — 
 that crowd ! and a more respectable one 
 works on my plantation every day, be- 
 cause they work for their d|iily bread and 
 meat, and are respectable compared to the 
 set of worthless creatures whom the Radi- 
 cals of both North and South pretend to 
 call the people of Georgia. 
 
 Tell them that that was the people in 
 whose hands and under whose control you 
 left this noble old State, when you turned 
 your back upon me, to seek your own 
 homes, and then tell them that on the 23d 
 of July there was another assemblage call- 
 ing themselves the people of Georgia. — 
 Come now, and stand here by my side. I 
 want you to cast your eyes over this vast 
 assembly. Come and look upon those 
 daughters of Georgia, and, gentlemen of 
 the North, tell me— you have hearts — you 
 have souls — you have in your own Slates 
 mothers, wtves, and sisters ; I ask you to 
 come here to-day and stand upon this plat- 
 form and look upon our mothers, and sis- 
 ters and wives and little ones, and tell me 
 in your heart is it right and just and 
 proper? Does your own heart dictate it, 
 that those women and chWdren ought to be 
 under the dominion of those negroes that 
 assembled on the Fourth of July ? If there 
 
is one pulsation left in your heart — if there! who was worthy of the respect and confi- 
 is one single throb left to beat for the peo- dence of a gentleman. ( Applause. | 
 pie of the South — come and look upon this And when you are a>ked by your people 
 picture. Around them you see old men, what are the views and sentimentn and 
 denounced they have been as rebels, but purposes of the people of the South, do un 
 from their youth up they have lived in, the justice to pronounce the charge that 
 Georgia. Their neighbors know them, we are hostile to the Union and the Con* 
 respect them, esteem them, love them. — stitution, and that we desire to renew the 
 Ought these men to be placed under that bitter conflict through which we have just 
 negro dominion? Ought these men to be, passed, as false and unfounded. Tell them 
 ro(juired to bow their necks to the yoke j that when you heard the people of Geor- 
 which oppression and despotism have pre- gia asserting their claims to perfect equali* 
 pared for them ? ty in the Union under the Constitution, 
 
 Oh, men of the North, as ye travel^ou.coujd not find it in your heart to deny 
 homeward, spread these truths broad-l^^ejustice of their claims, and that the 
 cast; and when you receive a cordial I P^o^t of the Radical party as manifested 
 welcome into your own homestead, and!'" ^^^ir Congressional Legislation and 
 that wife and mother and daughter im-jfffir'"ed in the most olTensive shape in 
 press upon your lips the kiss of affection l^'^^^'" Chicago platform, should .not find 
 and love, remember, I beg you, remem it{°°"g ^'^,6 honest and true men of the 
 ber the mothers, and wives, and daugh-l-Jf™e'ther an advocate or an apologist- 
 ters of Georgia. If you cannot feel fori ^^i' thena that you believe it to be wrong, 
 them in that hour, then the spirit of love j^^^ ^^^^^y , they had been among us and 
 and affection has departed from you>itnessed what you have witnessed, they 
 
 never again to be reclaimed. Tell them 
 that in the midst of all this desolation, 
 in the midst of all these wrongs that there 
 was not in all Georgia a single daughter 
 hat bowed her head to the yoke. Tell them 
 that our brave men stood submissive at the 
 
 would unite with you in condemning the 
 injustice whi'^h these things have done 
 to us. 
 
 Tell them that the people of the South 
 are ready and anxious for the restoration 
 of perfect harmony and conciliation, when- 
 
 point of the bayonet. Tell them that kind- ever the terms upon which the restoration 
 ness and generosity would have won back '^ offered, are such as brave and honorable 
 the allegiance of their hearts, but all the ™en can accept— that they long for peace, 
 bayonets that ever were made in the Ameri- ^"^ ^\ '""st not be linked with dishonor- 
 Union cannot drive manhood from ^n^^ -the_ people of the North should bear m 
 
 can 
 
 their breasts, 
 
 [Applause. I Tell them that 
 
 last, hating their enemies, loving their 
 friends, and, even if ft had been necessary, 
 
 mind when they offer to us terms of hu- 
 
 these men were brave and generous to the t^ihation, they not only wrong us bu> 
 
 themselves also. Tell them that as you 
 communed with our people you found 
 
 from the scaffold they would have hurled I '^at the aspirations of our young men, the 
 defiance into the teeth of their oppressors. P.^^y^^ ,, °"' °'^ '"^"' "°^ the ardent de- 
 They would have welcomed every noble I ''^Te of all, were to restore a violated Con- 
 and generous heart to the South with a l^^'^^^^'O", cement a weakened Union, and 
 cordiality they extend alone to those theylJ^°'*^ *" 'he people of this great country 
 love. [Applause.] Tell them, moreover, ^J^? ,^ '^^^'"on and cordial brotherhood.— 
 Georgia has a home for every true man ofl-^^^! them these things, and if you pre^ 
 the North. She has a welcome for every true ^^"'^ the picture faithfully, you will have 
 
 man that will come to live among us and'™^^® A^'^^o^ser ^'"8"™^°*' ^"^ .^ J^^J^ 
 with u« and be of us. But she has neither ^^"'^V"^ ^PP®^' ^^^ fceymour and Blair, 
 .•I true welcome nor a false hospitality to ^5° ^^^°.P"^ '° .y^^^" inouths to-day.— 
 offer to those who come to wrong and op-i^his, this is the picture that 1 want you 
 press them, and when you have told|'^° present. 
 
 them all this, tell them that in an appeal to the erring. 
 
 Georgia there was but one voice,' Fellow-citizens, I come to-day in the 
 one heart, one soul, one spirit. When you spirit of tolerance. I want to bury in 
 turn your back upon the State, looking Georgia bitter recollections of the past. 
 
 through all her length and breadth, upon 
 her mountains, in her valleys, in her cities, 
 in her towns, along the public highways, 
 
 You and I ! ave differed for days and for 
 years — since the hour in which my voice 
 was first raised in the public meetings of 
 
 in the public and private workshops, you my country. I come to-day to present you 
 dont't leave behind you one single whiteja platform, present candidates, and invite 
 Kadical advocate of the Chicago platform every good and true man in Georgia to 
 
join with me in the good work. Come — if | deemed ? But yet there plays a pleasant 
 
 you have gone far astray come back. The | smile; a beam of hope comes gushing from^ 
 
 doors are wide open, wide enough, j each eye. Let it gush upon the altars of 
 
 broad enough to receive every white man i your heart, rekindle the flames that have 
 
 in Georgia, unless you should discover | almost gone out, and hereto-day let all 
 
 him coming to you creeping and crawliugj Georgia's sons come and unite in this great 
 
 under the Chicago platforn:. Upon therajand glorious work. Her banner hangs 
 
 there should be no mercy. They have dis-| drooping. Iler proud insitutions live only 
 
 honored themselves and sought to dishon iin memory. When she was a white 
 
 or j'ou Anathematiib them. Drive man's government she was proud, 
 
 them from the pale of social and political i honored, happy, prosperous. Come, 
 
 society. Leave them to wallow in their (and at this altar unite with me, and, 
 
 own mire and filth. Nobody will envy | by the grace of Heaven, let us once more 
 
 them, and if they are never taken out of; make Georgia! white man's government. 
 
 the gully until I reach forth my hand tol It is for you to say, by your vjtes and by 
 
 take them up, they will die in their natu-jyour actions, whether the sun of jier great- 
 
 ral element. [Laughter and applause.] loess shall again reach to meridian splen- 
 
 But all othei^ come that have differed j dor. Old men come. Mothers, to your 
 
 about reconstruction. I could not go with i altars, and carry your daughters with you. 
 
 you. I thought you were wrong. WeJAsk the prayers of Heaven upon your 
 
 differed in reference to the constitutionaljfriends, upon your fathers, your husbands, 
 
 amendment. I thought you «ere still | and sons. Young men, in whose veins 
 
 further from the path. But my friends,! the red blood of youth runs so quickly, let 
 
 come now— come, retrace your steps, j the ardor of your temperaments, the pul- 
 
 You stand upon the bank; you sations of your hearts, all beat for Georgia! 
 
 have taken the last step you can} Your old State, the State of your fathers, 
 
 take and recover lost ground. Come out i that holds in reserve honors innumerable 
 
 from among this people, I appeal to youifor you and them, come ! Come one and 
 
 in the name of the past, in the memoriesiail, and let us snatch the old banner from 
 
 of the past, in the hopes of the future. , the dust, give it again to the breeze, and, 
 
 Sons of Georgia, come out from among thisiif needs be, to the God of battles, and 
 
 people. I appeal tD you in their name, strike one more honest blow for constitu- 
 
 Oh! can you stand here and look upon|tional libeity. [Prolonged and cnthu- 
 
 t.hese faces full of mourning for the past,, siastic applause. 1 
 
 full of grief over that which cannot be re- 
 
 TEX?,1N^S OIF 
 
 THE baily: 
 
 (Sixc .[llccLt . . , $-rO.OO\ &'L'x^c.rj±lv6.. .... - ^.5.00 
 
 THE weekly: 
 
 WfLc XlJ^ct^L %3.00 I ^LrcyLaiLilLS ■ • ..%i.^0 
 
 FOR THE CAMPAIGN: 
 
 13 A IL.lk' ^HTyO I AVKILKIL. Y. 
 
 .T'oc 
 
 Chroniolb and Sentinel Book and Job Printing EsrAiiusHMENT. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 013 786 516 6 t