STEPHEN Bo WEEKS 
 
 cuss 0F1886;PH.D. THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 IE WEEKS COLlLECTIiON 
 
 OF 
 
 C378 
 
 UK3 
 
 I878E 
 
 ^JS 
 
UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 00039136737 
 
 This book must not 
 be token from the 
 Library building. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/addressofhonjaenOOenge 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 OF 
 
 Hon. J. A. Engelhard, 
 
 BEFORE THE 
 
 Philanthropic and Dialectic Societies 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, 
 JUNE, 1878. 
 
 RALEIGH, N. C. : 
 
 Edwards, Broughton & Co., Printers and Binders. 
 
 February, 1879. 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 Young Gentlemen of the Philanthropic and Dialectic Societies : 
 
 When the storm-beaten mariner, suspended for long and 
 anxious hours in darkness and tumult, between hope and 
 despair, at length beholds the Light-house rising above the 
 waters and through the tempest— the beacon of his safety — 
 his heart must beat as mine does now, when standing here 
 by its very corner-stones and amid its hallowed alters, I see 
 the light of this great University, obscured by dark and 
 dreary shadows for many years, now again emerging like a 
 Sun from the clouds, and spreading its benignant rays far 
 and wide over the land. An emotion higher and better still 
 is excited in my heart ; it is the emotion which we imagine 
 a son must feel when, after long years of doubt and fear 
 that the devoted motiier of his life and love has been lost, 
 he again embraces her to his bosom and realizes that she is 
 restored and truly lives in her beauty and happiness. The 
 tribes of Israel did not feel so high a sentiment of joy when 
 they had passed the perils of the Red Sea, and believed 
 that their deliverance was at hand. They knew the miracle 
 was not their work ; its beneficence and sublimity was all 
 from God. Their sufferings might have invoked it; their 
 virtues certainly had not aspired to or deserved it. The 
 wisdom of the Almighty had not selected their excellence as 
 the means of securing their happiness. I hope it will not 
 be thought inconsiderate for me to declare, with devout 
 thankfulness to Him who holds all things in the hollow of 
 His hand, that it is through those virtues which have emar 
 nated from that Supreme Fountain of all good, and that have 
 been cultivated apd cherished by our Forefathers for agQ 
 
(4) 
 
 after age, that we are able this day to again assemble on this 
 devoted spot, and witness the regeneration of this grand, 
 this noble institution of learning. 
 
 Even when the clouds of adversity lowered most threat- 
 eningly, and nothing was left of this proud and illustrious 
 University, except the denuded walls and tenantless build- 
 ings, and the Sun of her usefulness seemed about to set for- 
 ever in endless night, just when her life-giving rays were 
 most needed, her children clung to her with redoubled af- 
 fection. Appreciating the check she had received, and the 
 loss she had sustained, and recognizing the herculean task 
 necessary for her restoration, they yet felt that all was Jiot 
 lost. The despoiler had indeed driven professor and stu- 
 dent away. Her buildings and halls and libraries, the por- 
 traits of her eminent benefactors and distinguished pupils, 
 and the numerous tokens of fond remembrance which had 
 been garnered for generations, had been abandoned and 
 given up to destruction. Her beloved sons knew that the 
 purest wealth of their Alma Mater was not material but 
 moral. They knew the glorious past was hers. All the 
 sacred associations — all the good she had done to the gene- 
 rations that were gone — the glory of her noble sons who 
 had enriched her history with trophies won on every field 
 of fame — these, which constitute the true wealth of a litera- 
 ry institution, they knew were indestructible and would 
 endure forever. And they felt as long as the memories of 
 the past survived in human bosoms, her destinies were safe. 
 When that wise and valiant Statesman, William, Prince of 
 Orange, saw his native Holland girdled by the legions of 
 the unscrupulous Louis the Fourteenth, and felt that the 
 hour had come at last when France, more unrelenting than 
 the ocean, from whose Empire his ancestors had rescued his 
 beloved domain, was about to overwhelm his country, he at 
 one moment meditated the chivalric design of embarking 
 in his ships all his people and his portable wealth, and, 
 leaving the delightful homes of the thriftiest people in Eu- 
 
(5) 
 
 tope, the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his God, 
 of founding a new Holland in the Indian Archipelago. He 
 knew that the moral glor}' of a State could not be extin- 
 guished by the swarms of an invading host; and that under 
 a Southern sun, and amid the billows of a distant sea, he 
 could rebuild on lasting foundations a greater common- 
 wealth than the one he was about to lose, and yet substan- 
 tially the same. The crisis passed and Holland was saved. 
 The heroic spirit of William in this crisis has been emula- 
 ted by our people, and our University has been re-organized, 
 and in all its strength and beauty it has begun anew the 
 heaven-ordained work to which it is devoted. To have per- 
 mitted it to have gone to decay would have been a three-fold 
 sacrilege — a sacrilege against Letters, against Patriotism, 
 against Religion, It would have been to blast in a single 
 breath the associations of a century. 
 
 For this re-organization, it is fitting that we should ex- 
 press our grateful obligations to the distinguished chief and 
 his learned associates who preside with such character over 
 the University; to the disinterested and honorable Trustees 
 so considerate of its welfare : to the ever to be remembered 
 Legislature so dutiful to its interests. But over and above 
 all of these, it is right and true that we should recognize, 
 that under a wise and benignant Providence, the grand fact 
 in our history, that we again have a University in the 
 proper sense of the word, is due to the intelligence, the 
 virtue, the patriotism of the people of North Carolina — these 
 great qualities, superior to all our vicissitudes, to-day assert 
 their pre-eminence with us in the assured establishment of 
 OUR LTniversity. 
 
 My Young Friends, it is not this sacred ground, nor these 
 classic shades, nor these venerated walls; it is not the 
 brick, nor the stone, nor the foundations, nor the propor- 
 tions, nor the domes, nor the orders of architecture of these 
 beautiful temples — nor anything that is material, that have 
 preserved, amid extreme calamities, this beloved and glo- 
 
 
(6) 
 
 rious Institution. These indeed are all perishable. But it 
 is — it is the Virtue of our people— their love of Knowledge \ 
 their devotion to Truth ; their spirit of Liberty ; their respect 
 for law ;. their affection for Justice ; their reverence for 
 Religion ; their courage and reso-lution and faith \o main- 
 tain unimpaired the priceless inheritance of enlightened 
 Christian Society and Civilization that have preserved and 
 are destined to perpetuate in its purity and ever expanding 
 usefulness this University as the crown of our State's char- 
 acter. 
 
 These thoughts in relation to the University siraply an- 
 ticipate the general subject which I propose this morning 
 to present to your consideration. That subject is, " The 
 Duty of the Young Men of the South at the present 
 
 TIME. " 
 
 I say the duty of the young men, for it is upon them that 
 the future of the Southern people depends. No people, 
 however old or however depressed, oughf ever to despair, for 
 I lay it down as a rule, established by all history, that no 
 people can be lost or degraded but by their failure to do 
 their duty. If this principle is true of aged, decrepid or 
 corrupt peoples, how much more undeniably may it be said 
 that a young, vigorous, uncorrupted people have their des- 
 tiny in their own hands. It has then occurred to me to 
 employ the time in which I appear before you in consider- 
 ing the best means of securing the dearest objects upon 
 earth — the Liberty, the Happiness and the Honor of our 
 people. If anything was wanting to inspire us with hope 
 and confidence in ourselves, the history of the last few years 
 furnishes ample grounds for renewed faith. We have be- 
 held the people of tl>e South, after a long and exhausting 
 war, denuded of all property, in a feeble minority, encom- 
 passed by every adverse circumstance, emerging from all 
 the surrounding difficulties of their situation, and again 
 re-establishing themselves before the country and the world. 
 No parallel to this triumph can be found in human history. 
 
It is, alone by itself, at once the greatest and grandest of 
 human achievements. Our ancestors deserve immortal 
 honor for achieving their independence a hundred years 
 ago. But these great Forefathers had nothing to contend 
 against in comparison with our embarrassments. Overcome 
 in war by superior numbers and superior resources ; with 
 all the world drawn on for reinforcements ; and then with 
 adverse legislation against us for ten dreary years; crippled 
 by disabilities; the law-making power taken from us; our 
 local government transferred to strangers and enemies ; our 
 former slaves placed in political power over us; the lights 
 of Education all extinguished ; Commerce paralyzed ; Agri- 
 <!ulture under an eclipse; every interest depressed and 
 €very right in jeopardy ; and notwithstanding all this, what 
 do we this day behold? The South regenerated and disen- 
 thralled, the jnistress of her own destiny, and doubtless yet 
 to exert great influence on the destiny of the world. 
 
 This is th'e work of the South. If histor}' shall say that 
 the South imprudently rushed on a rash fate and thereby 
 underwent unheard of disaster and suffering, the same his- 
 tory will declare that she alone, against every adversity, 
 recovered from her calamities and worked out her own de- 
 liverance. The South redeemed herself, and what she lost 
 by rashness and courage, she has regained by fortitude and 
 wisdom. Of all the blessings vouchsafed to man, nothing 
 can equal that of a country of good laws and good name. 
 Without it all other blessings are literally shadows. Under 
 a bad government, representing a bad people, no virtue 
 flourishes. The light from Heaven — the sweet rains — do 
 not more directly affect all material life than the govern- 
 ment affects all the qualities of the people under it. A good 
 people make a good government — a good government almost 
 invariably makes a good people. But mere forms of gov- 
 ernment, and volumes of statutes, however good., are noth- 
 ing — aye, worse, are dangerous, if the spirit and substance 
 of Right and Justice and Libert^'' are wanting. Never was 
 
(8) 
 
 the form of the Roman Government so good as when Scylla 
 and Csesar openly trampled upon the liberties of the Roman 
 people. When offices, honors, powers, rights, were all pub- 
 licly bartered and sold in the streets of Rome, like chattels, 
 there were more conservative statutes upon the Law Tables 
 of the Senate than at any former or later period of Roman 
 history. 
 
 As proud as we aire and ought to be of our own people — 
 tested in the crucible of suffering and misfortune — there is 
 nothing in our past history to rebuke this just feeling. I 
 shall not disparage the early settlers of any portion of our 
 country, for all of them were good men, inspired by high pur- 
 poses, but the founders of the South were men of a very high 
 type. They were not fugitives, nor exiles, nor outcasts, nor 
 criminals. They were men who bad inherited from English 
 ancestors the habits and sentiments of hundrds of years of 
 the best civilization then in the world. They were men 
 thoroughly instructed in the laws of their country and un- 
 derstood the philosophies of Society and Government. 
 They brought with them the institutions of England, then 
 the purest and most enlightened nation of the earth. The 
 germ of popular liberty which had been slowly taking root 
 in Great Brittain for jBve hundred years, was suddenly 
 aroused in their hearts by the grand scenes of a New World, 
 at the sight of an unsettled Continent, and the impressions 
 of an unmolested Ocean. Everything in nature suggested 
 to them the idea of Freedom. Fortunately they brought 
 wit}) them to Virginia, the Carolinas and the South, no 
 prejudices, no hates, no warped passions. Popular govern- 
 ment was the natural result, under new circumstances, of 
 those great principles of law which had prevailed in Eng- 
 land and grown up as her system, vindicated and established 
 oftentimes by Revolution. They also brought with thera 
 the morals, the habits, and the laws of the Mother Country. 
 Their settlement was the enterprise of the English people, 
 with all their institutions of Liberty, Law and Society. Tax- 
 
(9) 
 
 ation and representation, with education for the people, and 
 order in all things, transplanted in the New World to grow, 
 expand and develope, without the fetters and confinements 
 of ancient prejudice and forms, but favored by every cir- 
 cumstance, necessity and association. 
 
 From such a people, practical systems of popular govern- 
 ment sprung at once into being. They were the results of 
 causes existing and operating for centuries. It was, indeed, 
 fortunate that our Forefathers brought with them no preju- 
 dices, social, religious or political. Tliey had no revenges 
 to gratify. Their judgments were dominated by no memo- 
 ries of injury, by no hopes of retaliation. Persecution had 
 not embittered their hearts. 
 
 No such opportunities ever contributed to the formation 
 of a fair minded, high-souled, just people. The difficulties 
 of the early settlement of a new country were sufficiently 
 great to call out energy, courage, perseverance and all the 
 hardier virtues. A genial climate, fertile soil, and other 
 physical advantages, added to the ample means they brought 
 from the Mother Country, gave them opportunities for the 
 cultivation of the finer arts of social life, and leisure for the 
 study of political science. 
 
 As an evidence of the influence of these causes upon our 
 people, I now only refer you to the history of the Indians 
 in the South in our early daj's. Let it be remembered to 
 the honor of our people that, speaking by comparison, we 
 had no trouble with the Savages. The just policy of our 
 ancestors settled this question almost without bloodshed. 
 Justice to the Savages, united with courage on the part of 
 the Whites, determined this controversy between the races, 
 I regret to say that very different causes led to very differ- 
 ent results among the Northern colonies. Avarice, cupid- 
 ity, violation of faith, reckless disregard of the habits, the 
 feelings, the prejudices of the Red Man, led to wars, char- 
 acterized by cruelty and vacillation, the horrible echoes of 
 which yet fill our Western plains with lamentations of 
 
(10) 
 
 anxiety and distress. An unjust cause sown by one gener- 
 ation lives long after the generation has perished. 
 
 It was owing to causes like these I have mentioned — the 
 character of the earlier settlers themselves — their freedom 
 from prejudices — their opportunities for improvement — 
 the enjoyment of a genial climate — a fruitful country-- and 
 the influences of liberal education — that we find the South- 
 ern men in the early days of the American Revolution 
 taking a decided and distinguished part in that great 
 drama. It can be said to their honor that their action 
 most generally wore the forms of order, although beginning 
 a Revolution. Perhaps in all its history no people have 
 ever been so free from mob violence in all of its phases as 
 the Southern people. And this is because no people have 
 ever so thoroughly comprehended and practiced the princi- 
 ples of political and social order. That in all their great 
 movements they have been so unanimous arises from the 
 consideration that their actions have come from the convic- 
 tions of the people, and these convictions have been founded 
 on their intelligence of the subject that interested them. 
 It was said of Csesar's soldiers that each one of them so 
 well understood his duty that he needed no orders in battle. 
 It may, with equal truth, be declared of the Southern peo- 
 ple that they have so thoroughly comprehended all public 
 subjects before them that each had his opinion, and that 
 opinion was a conviction. Their revolution in 1776 was 
 almost unanimous. Their differences upon public questions 
 up to 1861 were upon matters of detail and things tempo- 
 rary. Their union in 1861 was as decided, but not more so, 
 than in 1776. The charge that the great mass of the 
 Southern people have ever been controlled by a few leaders 
 is the greatest of all errors. It may M'ith more truth be de- 
 clared that their unanimity has always proceeded from gen- 
 eral conviction, and has been superior to the rival and con- 
 trary views of opposing leaders. 
 
 We have indeed cause to be proud of our Southern Fore- 
 
(11) 
 
 fathers. In American history no brighter names appear 
 than those of Henry, Jefferson, Caswell, Lowndes, and a 
 thousand others. What higher tribute could have been 
 borne to Southern character than John Adams rendered 
 when he nominated George Washington for the leader of 
 the American army to fight for its independence? What 
 better testimony could be furnished for Southern genius 
 and statesmanship than that Thomas Jefferson was selected 
 to write the Declaration of Independence? What better 
 proof could be given of the justice and wisdom of these 
 opinions than that Washington has become the greatest 
 name upon earth, and that the words of Jefferson are now 
 the vital fires of popular rights all over the world ? If there 
 is honor in the history of National Jurisprudence, it will be 
 found in the names of Marshall and Iredell. If that honor 
 has been continued it will be seen in Taney, whose great 
 image has been placed, even by his enemies, in the Supreme 
 Court Room of the United States. From the beginning of 
 our history as a people, the South has borne her part in all 
 of it. When you reflect that of the first seven Presidents, 
 five were Southern men ; when you remember that Jackson 
 in the South, and Scott in the North, in 1815, led our armies 
 to victory ; when j'ou know that Taylor and Scott w^ere the 
 heroes of Mexico; when you read that Clay and Calhoun, 
 Benton and Badger shed a lustre on the Senate, the purest 
 and noblest that has ever been shed upon that Chamber; 
 that Maury laid bare the dangerous secrets of the ocean and 
 the winds, j'ou will never blush for the South. 
 
 If our country is grand and embraces the continent, re- 
 member that Southern Statesmanship added to the thirteen 
 States the empire of the Mississippi, and that Southern 
 Statesmanship and Southern courage wrested from the 
 children of the Montezumas the golden gates to the Pacific. 
 If your country is glorious and respected and great, you can 
 remember that your people have borne the most illustrious 
 part in every act that has made it so. 
 
(12) 
 
 If in any part of the United States there exists moral de- 
 formity, or outrage, or unseemly appearance of social or 
 political evil, you can say that no portion of it can be traced 
 to our door. It is true, we have been charged with the 
 error and evil of Slavery, but history and the verdict of all 
 men must be that slavery was introduced here against our 
 will, first by the Dutch and afterwards by the Slave Mer- 
 chants of the North. Upon the garments of the South there 
 is no stain of the "Slave Trade." The infamies and the 
 profits of that traffic alike, belong to others. Our lot has 
 been to civilize, to humanitize, to christianize the victims of 
 the avarice of others. Like men we fought for the institu- 
 tion, not, however, for its sake, but because through it all 
 our sacred rights were assailed. The men who proclaimed 
 liberty at Mecklenburg ; the men who fought seven years 
 for it afterwards; the men who built the country's strongest 
 entrenchments in the Constitution ; who extended most 
 widely its area ; who illustrated it with most honor in the 
 National Councils, and who exposed and lost all to defend 
 every approach of danger to it, never — never could be truly 
 charged with the responsibilit}^ for human Slavery. One 
 thing all men must say of us, that the Southern people iu 
 two hundred years did more to elevate and render good and 
 happy the African than all the world in all time before ever 
 did. And upon that record we stand. That they are to-day 
 all over this land a peaceful, happy, and improving people, 
 is due to the humanity, the wisdom, the justice of the 
 Southern people, in having so advanced and improved them 
 that from rudest barbarians they are now esteemed to be 
 worthy citizens of this great Republic. 
 
 With such ancestors and with such a history it is not to 
 be wondered that at the end of the greatest civil struggle 
 ever recorded, we behold their descendants unchanged in 
 all the elements of their character. War — defeat — adver- 
 sity — oppression — have not diminished their virtues. Con- 
 sidering, therefore, the condition of the country— the South — 
 
(13) 
 
 the question naturally presents itself: What is the duty of 
 our people? and on this occasion and place: What is the 
 duty of the young men of the South ? 
 
 That duty is great because it has to prove worthy of a 
 sublime history in the past— if it falls below that history, 
 infamy ought to be our fate. 
 
 We cannot meet that high duty by vain and cowardly 
 complaints. Complaints are never the weapons of the 
 brave— they are the contemptible refuge of the weak. 
 They would degrade us, dishonor our Fathers, shame our 
 Mothers and degenerate our Posterity. I will dismiss them 
 from the very thoughts of Southern youths. If we have 
 committed errors, or if we have suffered enough, let us 
 manifest a fortitude that shall vanquish calamity and con- 
 vert reproach into eulogy. 
 
 Nor can we do our duty by indulging hatred to other 
 sections of the country and perpetuating the animosities of 
 war. The glory of a people cannot be built upon hatreds. 
 God will not let discord be the fountain of happiness or 
 honor. Our honor, our happiness, our fame, must rest upon 
 surer foundations — upon the rock of eternal justice and 
 right. Hatred of the North will not build up the South or 
 lessen the burden which we must bear. Denunciation of 
 the North will not restore our prosperity or heal the wounds 
 of war. It will confer no blessing. My young Coun- 
 trymen, we are too great, too good a people, to be degraded 
 by the bad passions of the human heart. The image I 
 have in my mind of the South is too high and too pure to 
 think it can be sullied by frowns of ignoble hatred. In the 
 dark ages of the World, the wrath of Achilles or the oath- 
 bound hostility of Hannibal to Rome, might be the themes 
 of Song and History, but such passions will no more blacken 
 the pages of Poetry and Eloquence. In their place is the 
 higher christian virtue, of which Plato never dreamed, to 
 conquer all things by doing right. 
 
 The enmity of Hannibal to Rome made him miserable, 
 
(14) 
 
 and entailed untold misfortunes upon his country. Let us 
 transmit to our children the sublime sentiments that live 
 above the bloody passions. Let us remember our misfor- 
 tunes only to conquer them. Let us remember the faults 
 of others only to prove that we are superior to them. Let 
 us manifest to all the world that nothing can overcome our 
 supreme sense of right, of justice, of duty in all things and 
 at all times. Our past is so full of great deeds — of great 
 results — of great virtues, that we can well be magnanimous. 
 Our very sorrows are glorious. Our defeats are more hon- 
 orable than the victories of others. Let us crown our 
 achievements with a brave, most illustrious, conquest over 
 the passions and weaknesses that have dishonored less noble 
 people. 
 
 I have thus far, mj'^ Young Friends, suggested your duty 
 negatively. Let me now, as your partiality has placed me 
 in this position, submit a few thoughts upon your positive, 
 active duty to your country and to yourselves. 
 
 We live in a mighty country and in a wonderful period, 
 the period of the greatest development since the world 
 began. We are thirteen millions of people, occupying soven 
 hundred and fifty thousand square miles of territory, in the 
 most favored portions of the earth. We produce the greatest 
 staple used by the human family, and have a monopoly 
 of its production. The great Ocean of Commerce, with its 
 belt of the Gulf Stream, encircles our shores. Every fruit, 
 every live timber, every plant that grows on the Globe, 
 flourishes in our region. In all the elements of natural, 
 material and physical strength we are unequaled by any 
 other portion of the Universe. With this munificent coun- 
 try under our control, the duty comes directly up before us 
 to develop it. That development can only be secured by 
 work — and if I was called on to declare, in one word, our 
 duty, I would without hesitation utter the word, the great- 
 est of all words, work. And by that expression I mean 
 work of every character, professional, mechanical, agricul- 
 
(15) 
 
 tural, scientific, artistic, in their broadest sense. It is the 
 great first law of Nature, the necessity for human happiness, 
 the staff of human virtue. I hope the day is not distant 
 when the man who works the most will be known and ap- 
 preciated as the most honorable among us all, for such he 
 deserves to be. I desire to see him rank above the richest, 
 above the oldest, above all. Let work be the watchword of 
 the South ; write it on every banner; inscribe it on every 
 standard. Mental and physical work — labor — the labor 
 that conquers all things — is the first paramount duty of all 
 of us. It is the magic, charmed link that will restore and 
 redeem us; that will enrich and adorn us; that will purify 
 and dignify us. 'It is the great mystery that made Newton 
 and Franklin, Morse and Washington, Ctesar and Napoleon 
 immortal. It is the one great want of our people. Bounti- 
 ful Nature has almost dispensed with the necessity for labor 
 here. Moral causes must be the motives and incentives 
 with us for work. The time has come when labor must be 
 the title deed to position. Injustice has too long been done 
 to it. It is the foundation of every value that man pos- 
 sesses. 
 
 That Work is the first great law of all achievements is 
 this day happily again verified before us. I trust the pro- 
 prieties of this occasion will not be offended, when for one mo- 
 ment I allude to the distinguished son of North Carolina, and 
 now the eminent* citizen of another great State, who honors 
 us to-day by his presence, and gives all of us extraordinary 
 pleasure by his interest in the University. Alike eminent 
 for great virtues — great abilities — and greater usefulness — 
 he is a living example, standing before our eyes this moment, 
 to illustrate this paramount principle of human action. Ask 
 him and he will tell you that the mystery of his success — • 
 the inspiration of his genius — the charm of his fame — the 
 foundation of his wealth — the support of his adversity — 
 
 ♦Judge James G-raut, of Iowa, who delivers the address before the Alumni As- 
 sociation, 
 
(16) 
 
 the safe-guard of his honesty— the enchantment and happi- 
 ness of his life — have been Work. It is not the magician's 
 wand of genius and fortune, but it is the sacred law of 
 Work that has made men illustrious — States grand — hu- 
 manity glorious. 
 
 Intellectual labor has always been esteemed, and has 
 carved the footways to fame. But manual, mechanical, 
 labor has never had its fitting compensation. For nearly 
 four hundred years the World has resounded the praises of 
 Columbus as one of the greatest lights in the tide of time, 
 but the skilled mechanics who fashioned the Pinto and the 
 Neptune, and the hardy sailors who sped the vessls in 
 safety from Genoa to San Salvador, are fiever thought of, 
 if they were ever known. While the name of Newton will 
 fill the corridors of time forever, as we traverse the great 
 Ocean in most perfect comfort and safety, and tread the 
 decks of the magnificent steamers and enjoy the luxuries of 
 their vast saloons, we forget the skill and labor of the me- 
 chanic who has utilized the discovery of Newton, and from 
 rude models has fashioned and constructed these floating 
 palaces. The patient suff'erer is grateful to the surgeon 
 whose scientific skill relieves him from pain and saves him 
 from death, but has not one thought for the artisan whose 
 deft hands placed it within the power of his benefactor to 
 perform the operation. We behold the maiden in her 
 beauty, and the soul is vanquished with her loveliness, and 
 amidst our enchantment we forget, as she does, the indus- 
 trious weavers and spinners, whose tasteful mechanism has 
 contributed the drapery and laces which adorn that. sweet- 
 est figure. The Agriculturist, the Manufacturer, the Lawyer, 
 the Physician, all command much of human attention, but 
 the Mechanic who builds the plow ; who tempers the sword ; 
 who gives form and shape and usefulness to the crude 
 thoughts of others, is scarcely thought of in human con- 
 sideration. 
 
 I would enjoin it upon the youth of the South to reform 
 
(17) 
 
 this wrong. Justice demands it- -policy enforces it — every 
 consideration commands it. In this country all men are 
 sovereigns, all men are by law equal. The Workers, the 
 Mechanics, the Laborers, should be elevated to the highest 
 plane of citizenship. The wisest rulers of France, England 
 and Russia have encouraged the immigration to their king- 
 doms of skilled workmen. Much of their supremacy is 
 due to this fact. Let the South imitate their wise example, 
 by fostering mechanical skill and labor in all its forms, by 
 dignifying, by honoring, by rewarding, by cherishing labor. 
 The great remedy for disorders between social classes is to 
 raise all, to bring all up, to degrade none. When the Laws 
 and Society do this there will be no cause for, and there will 
 be no disorder between our fellow-men. 
 
 For many years to come the South must be an agricul- 
 tural country. The narrow resources of our people will not 
 at present permit other investments. I hope the day is not 
 far off when every other field of labor and wealth may be 
 utilized. But at present it is not a matter of regret that we 
 must be agriculturists. Agriculture is the foundation of 
 all prosperity. No people can be or have ever been perma- 
 nently prosperous and powerful who were not an agricul- 
 tural people. The power of Carthage quickly declined. 
 The glory of Venice was short lived. Genoa and Pisa, 
 with their magnificent palaces and princely estates, and 
 commerce extending to the uttermost limits of the World, 
 and Amsterdam with its sturdy artisans, and enterprising 
 and far seeing and far reaching merchants, have seen their 
 sceptre pass away. England owes her great ascendancy by 
 sea and on land to her agricultural interests. It is her 
 agriculture that supports her brave soldiers, that builds her 
 great navies. It is her agriculture that makes her horses, 
 her cattle, the best in the world. It is her agriculture that 
 has made her people virtuous. Agriculture is the school of 
 the virtues. From this source has come, and always will be 
 drawn, the great and good men of every country. And that 
 
(18) 
 
 portion of our great country will be greatest and best in 
 which agriculture is most fostered and cultivated. 
 
 Then let the South devote to this field much of her ge- 
 nius, her energy, lier affection. Let us make this fair land 
 a garden. Let us learn independence by making every 
 thing we consume. Let us cultivate our patriotism by im- 
 proving our lands. Let us grapple our hearts to this beau- 
 tiful South by developing, by adorning, by utilizing it with 
 our labor. Let each one of us feel that he puts a laurel in 
 the wreath of his country whenever he adds a flower, a 
 fruit, a grass, or a grain to the production of it. 
 
 I have thus endeavored to encourage you first to respect 
 and then to cultivate and practice Agriculture and the Me- 
 chanical Arts. With them and perhaps before them is the 
 great duty of Education. With freemen it is the first of all 
 duties, for without intelligence free government is a failure. 
 Knowledge is power — the highest power on Earth. If we 
 desire that power our people must be educated. Every re- 
 source of our country must be invoked to this great work. 
 In proportion as we are educated will be the respect we hold 
 among men. In proportion as we are poor must be our 
 effort to enrich the minds of our people. Let us suppose for 
 one moment all the people of the South well educated — no 
 ignorance in our midst — all intelligence. What an advan- 
 tage we could have over all other people. It is this that 
 gives the civilized man the advantage over the savage. It 
 was this that enabled the Germans to defeat the French in 
 the late war. It is this that makes England to-day dictate 
 to Russia. It is this that gives every Nation its position, 
 every individual his rank. Educated young men yourselves^ 
 see to it that this blessing is extended to your countrymen. 
 I appeal to you for your own South to take care of the ed- 
 ucation of her people. Each educated man adds more than 
 can be reckoned to the wealth and power of a State. If a 
 simple machine of wood and iron, costing only a few dollars, 
 the invention of a single mind, is made to do the work of a 
 
(19) 
 
 hundred, what influence on Society must the enlightenment 
 of all its members have The mind cannot estimate it. We 
 stand almost appalled at the immense effect of such a fact. 
 This result is practicable ; and if we would be the best por- 
 tion of this Republic we must accomplish it. 
 
 Let me illustrate my meaning. In some communities 
 there are many youths of wealth and high social position- 
 These advantages give them pre-eminence among their fel. 
 lows. The only wa}' for a poor, worthy young man to out- 
 strip these cotemporaries is to study more faithfully, with 
 greater energy, and the moment he becomes their superior 
 in knowledge, he is their superior in all that is valuable. So 
 with the South. If she would take her right place in the 
 Union she must see to it that her people are the best edu- 
 cated in the land. Nothing will excuse the neglect of this 
 duty. 
 
 And in this connection a grand duty presents itself to our 
 consideration. The events of the last few years having re- 
 sulted in the emancipation of our slaves and their enfran- 
 chisement as American citizens, the question of what is to 
 be done with them confronts us face to face. If we would, 
 we could not avoid it, and I am not departing from the 
 truth of history when I state the fact that the Southern peo- 
 ple are not disposed to evade an^' issue that arises in their 
 path. This subject of the education of this race of our peo- 
 ple must engage our most serious attention. I have thought 
 of it most anxiously, and my judgment, not less than my 
 heart, is in favor of their enlightenment. Let it be remem- 
 bered that they constitute one-third of our population — that 
 the laws of nature in all probabilit}'^ for ages to come will 
 keep them in the Southern belt of our country — that they 
 have all thie political and legal rights of American citizens — 
 that representation not only in the National Government, 
 but in the State Legislature, is based upon their numbers — 
 and let the immutable truth stand out before us that all men, 
 under all circumstances, as classes, are better and happier 
 2 
 
(20) 
 
 and more useful in proportion as they are enlightened. We 
 are thus supported by every argument of reason and expe- 
 diency, and by every sentiment of duty and humanity, in 
 our resolution to extend to this race of human beings the 
 largest opportunities for mental and moral improvement. 
 When we have done this we have discharged our duty. As 
 I have previously said, Southern civilization in a period of 
 two hundred years has accomplished more for this people 
 than they themselves and all the world for them had 
 achieved in six thousand years. Let us hope that we are 
 still further to improve their destiny, and that among the 
 glories of our people, subordinate to the Declaration of Amer- 
 ican Independence — the establishment of free States — the 
 conquest of a Continent — the permanent administration of 
 governments of Liberty and Laws, will be the education — 
 the enlightenment — the elevation of a race towards whom, 
 before man and before God, we can testify that we have 
 never harbored an unjust or unkind emotion. 
 
 For this supreme beneficence to this people, I will urge 
 no other plea. It is prudent, it is wise, more than all, and 
 above all, it is just. Justice, the foundation of all nature — 
 the principle that holds the worlds together — that balances 
 the stars— that harmonizes the seasons — that makes Society 
 a paradise— that adjusts the delightful relations of the 
 sexes — which is the greatness, the goodness of Almighty 
 perfection — demands by a rule as old, as good, as divine, as 
 the first moment of sensible Time, that the Light of Knowl- 
 edge should be for the colored race. And it will be the 
 honor and the happiness of the just and generous people of 
 the South, under the goodness of God, to grant to those who 
 were once their slaves, the unsurpassable blessings of Men- 
 tal and Moral Liberty. It is true that this proposition, 
 this hope is almost eclipsed by the gloomy fact that for 
 sixty centuries this race has proved itself insensible to the 
 influences of civilization, but this foreboding should temper 
 only, not repress, the impulses of duty and humanity and 
 patriotism to advance and improve them. 
 
(21) 
 
 In the long records of history, I can recall at this instant 
 no great system of beneficence, no general impulse of 
 humanity for what is good — aye, no single instance of 
 virtue, that has not brought forth the fruits of happiness 
 and benefit to the human family. And in this spirit I feel, 
 I think, that we of the South, must come up and meet this 
 necessary, but difficult duty. At least. Young Gentlemen, 
 the subject is worthy of your thought, and appeals to you 
 with every power of interest and sensibility. 
 
 Having thus encouraged all our 3ystems of labor, and 
 having taken the proper means to secure the intelligence of 
 our people, there are still other considerations that claim 
 our attention, all of which may be expressed in the term, 
 CHARACTER. For Wealth and power by themselves are not 
 sufficient for the true development of a people. There 
 must be moral character. It is that character which 
 has, and I hope is still destined to distinguish the South. 
 Its value cannot be exaggerated. The honor of a people is 
 their greatest security. Of all their possessions, it alone is 
 imperishable. It was the life of the Greek States — the soul 
 of the Roman Republic — the spirit of English liberty and 
 grandeur. It made Rome the mistress of the world. "Punic 
 Faith" destroyed Carthage before Hannibal retreated from 
 the Alps or Scipio invaded Africa. Not numbers, nor 
 treasures, nor palaces made Sparta or gave her an immortal 
 name, but it was Spartan integrity and Spartan courage 
 that gave her the power of an Empire. The Three Hun- 
 dred Greeks all perished at Thermopylae, but their example 
 gave character to the Spartans that made her invincible. 
 What is it, at this hour, that makes the English consol the 
 most desirable investment in the money markets of the 
 world ? It is the English character. What makes Spain, 
 and Turkey and modern Italy merely words in the family 
 of Nations ? The want of character. 
 
 As a part, then, of this Union, if we would hold the place 
 of our Fathers in it, we must take care above all things, of 
 our Character, our Honor. The fortunes of war have 
 
(22) 
 
 destroyed our material wealth — laid waste our homes- 
 blighted our lands — but our greatest treasure— Our Honor 
 — is untouched, aye, brightened. In all else we have lost. 
 In that we are the victors. The Honor which our Fathers 
 left us is still ours, brightened from the furnace through 
 which we have passed. In a history of two hundred years, 
 Southern Honor is without one eclipse. No unholy passion 
 stains the annals of her statutes, the book of her life records 
 no instance of Southern dishonor. Broken faith, violated 
 promises, cruel conduct, unworthy cupidity, base jealousies, 
 moral and social depravity, nowhere mar her progress. 
 She stands before the eyes of all the world to-day with her 
 garments as white as a vestal's, her courage untarnished, 
 her virtue without a blot, her soul without a shadow. It is 
 for you to take care of that Character, to brighten that 
 image, to strengthen and polish that majestic and beautiful 
 column. It is worthy of your love, your devotion, your 
 idolatry. Put incense on its altars. Preserve that Charac- 
 ter, illustrate it, magnify it, exalt it, and the South is safe. 
 Though in rags, princes and potentates will kneel at her 
 feet. She will be the queen of hearts of all men, and will 
 secure the destinies of the Republic, and influence the opin- 
 ions of Nations. What an opportunity for usefulness — what 
 a field for glory, Young Gentlemen, this duty presents you. 
 Thinkof it hourly. Properly discharged, it will vindicate 
 your great countrymen, who died for it. It will shed undying 
 lustre on you. It will pour radiant light on your children. 
 And in the pursuit of this hallowed duty, let me say that 
 I am impressed most of all with one idea, and that is care 
 for the Women of the South. I know it was once a form in 
 public speakers to expend compliments upon the lovely sex. 
 This is not my pupose. These times are too serious for the 
 arts of flattery. It is a solemn duty to which I invite you, 
 I believe — I know that of all the ways and means of bene- 
 fitting, improving and raising the South, the best and surest 
 is justice to her Women. They are the tender but sacred 
 vessels in which are carried the virtues and hopes of the 
 
(23) 
 
 human family. That was no absurd fiction of the noble 
 Romans who instituted the Vestal Virgins to keep burning 
 forever the fires of Roman Liberty. That Liberty never 
 expired until that noblest sisterhood was dragged down and 
 corrupted. Roman Liberty was triumphant and Roman 
 Government pure until Marius, and Scylla, and Pompey, 
 and Cfesar bartered their wives and sisters and daughters 
 for offices and gold. So, too, the fires of our Liberty will 
 never go out if they are kept alive by the virtues of pure 
 women. And what a Society — what a Government — what 
 an Honor will that be which is fostered and guarded and 
 hallowed by the virtues and sanctities of the matchless 
 daughters of the South ! 
 
 All nations, and ages, and races have invariably repre- 
 sented the virtues by the image of a Woman. The God of 
 War was Mars, a rude man. The God of Eloquence, Apol- 
 lo, the type of manhood. The God of the Wine Cup, Bac- 
 chus. But the Virtues are all women. Beauty, and 
 Plenty, and Wisdom, and Majesty, were all women. The 
 fairest form in which Liberty can be represented is a virgin, 
 as spotless as the light. The best tj^pe of Justice is a maiden, 
 blind, but with the scales as evenly held as if the eye of God 
 was on them. All this is wise. These beautiful images are 
 the truth. Let human societj- realize these faultless sym- 
 bols, and human happiness would be most secure. 
 
 In the South, female character has always been peculiarly 
 and especially cherished. More deference and homage is 
 paid to woman here than in all the world beside. This 
 sentiment has been the mother of our Honor. Let us con- 
 tinue to cherish and maintain it. Let us do everything 
 to improve and exalt it, and it will be the ornament, the 
 ark, the pillar of our safety, at once our Honor and our Joy. 
 As a people respect their Women, will be their position in 
 the scale of nations. The great spring of human life must 
 be kept pure and holy, or the mighty stream that flows from 
 it will be corrupt and poisonous. Let us endeavor, as the 
 first and surest means of elevating, purifying, ennobling our 
 
(24) 
 
 people, to place the mothers and wives of our men so high 
 in our opinion and affections, so high in the esteem of man- 
 kind, that impurity can never approach them. This will 
 be better than temples to Jupiter or Janus ; better than gold 
 or precious stones. Though they may be poor, their virtues 
 will be their jewels ; though they may be weak, their influ- 
 ence will be more powerful than an "army with banners.'' 
 They will be the perpetual hostages of peace and justice. I 
 utter not mere formal compliments, ray young friends, but 
 great truths, which once realized will make the South the 
 noblest land the sun shines on. If I could, in the humility 
 of an unchastened soul, implore of a Benignant Father the 
 greatest blessing for my afflicted and beloved land, it would 
 be to vouchsafe to the noble Women of the country the 
 highest and largest influence that can be exercised in society. 
 Young Gentlemen : In your hands is now placed, as rep- 
 resentative young men of the South, the duty of preserving 
 and perpetuating her fame, her institutions, her people. It 
 is all with you. First, foremost, and ever guard, as you 
 would your hearts, her Honor — her very Honor. Let no 
 breath sully its brightest lustre. Let it be your love to ad- 
 vance and add to its glor}^, and not rest until its splendor 
 is radiant over tlie Earth. Make it like the shield of 
 Achilles, seven-fold strong — seventy-fold brilliant — a full cir- 
 cle of virtue. And to this holiest, best, noblest of all patri- 
 otic duties, I invoke all ages, and sexes, and conditions of 
 our people. I call upon the aged and the young, the male 
 and the female, the learned professions, the scholars, the 
 artisans, the laborers — aye, I call upon the sacred ministers 
 of Religion at the altars ; I call upon all men in their daily 
 walks of life, everywhere in this our South, to have ever in 
 mind our Character, our Honor, our fair Fame; to labor 
 and toil for it ; to care for and promote it ; to watch it with 
 sacred vigils, and to hand it down with tender devotion to 
 their children. And I pray the Great Father of all of us 
 in his wisdom and goodness, to give it to us to so live that, 
 not one jot or tittle of that Honor shall be lost in our hands. 
 
(25) 
 
 That Honor — the jewel— the life— the soul of the South- 
 must be loved aud defended — it must be cherished and cul- 
 tivated by true men and true women, as the children of 
 Israel guarded and watched the Ark of the Covenant. The 
 greatest English historian tells us that Isaac, the petty King 
 of Cyprus, when chained, imprisoned and degraded by 
 the Lion-Chief of the Crusades, complained that his fetters 
 were of base material. The grand Warrior, in his irony 
 for such ignoble mockery, at once directed that the iron 
 bands should be removed, and that shackles of silver should 
 be bound upon his limbs. The despicable little tyrant 
 rejoiced in the sarcastic infamy of the change. Lamartine, 
 the beautiful artist of French Tragedy, writes that when 
 the Duke D'Enghien, the delicate representative of the 
 declining Monarchy of France, was arrested by order of the 
 First Napoleon and confined in the tower of Yincennes — 
 this figure of royal pageantry bore his imprisonment, his 
 peril, his insults, with composure, until he discovered that 
 his supper was served to him in plates of pewter, and the 
 appetite of Majesty was only revived when an old service 
 of silver was, by the hand of charity, placed upon his table. 
 To the great heart of the South how contemptible — how 
 despicable — how inexpressibly infamous — would have been, 
 in our adversities, such forms of consolation — such carica- 
 tures of right. No ! We realized that defeat — calamity — 
 sorrow — were the ordeals of virtue, and that the fires that 
 burned our homes and hearts, should only temper and 
 brighten our patriotism and honor. As the long and in- 
 tense fires under the Earth are said, in their extremest 
 flames, to bring forth the dazzling diamonds, so it has hap- 
 jjened and will happen, that in the white heat and agony of 
 the burning coals through which we have passed, not only 
 have our chains — our badges of wrong and humiliation — 
 melted from our forms, but all over the ashes and through 
 the black beds of our misfortunes and sufferings, are seen 
 in imperishable brightness, the gems, the diamonds, the 
 precious jewels, of our virtue. They are indeed imperisha- 
 
(26) 
 
 ble. I would not give our virtues, shining in the darkness 
 of our sorrows, for all the Crown jewels of the Kings and 
 Queens of all the World. In our heart of hearts, we must 
 and will cherish, and love, and preserve them. They can- 
 not and shall not be obliterated. 
 
 The Goths and Vandals overrun the best portions of 
 Southern Europe. They burned and demolished — despoil- 
 ed and robbed the temples of Athens, and strove to extin- 
 guish the fairest forms of human art. But in after ages, the 
 descendants of those same barbarians, enlightened by the 
 civilization of the conquered, returned to these ruins, and 
 there gathered up the fragments of the Doric, the Ionic, the 
 Corinthian Architecture. And so in all coming time will 
 it happen that the examples of our virtues will live, and 
 that the lovers of the brave — the just — the true — and the 
 beautiful — the devotees of Liberty — the votaries of Constitu- 
 tional Government — the pilgrims to shrines of Social and 
 Personal Purity, will come to our altars, to find the noblest 
 and loveliest of what is best in the history of human Gov- 
 ernment and Society. To this destinj' — to this duty — I 
 pray our Great Father to make us equal and faithful. 
 
 My Young Friends, I ask you to look into your hearts 
 and commence there the exalted w^ork I have proposed for 
 you and the youth of the country. Your hearts are the 
 altars upon which must burn the tires of our country's Lib- 
 erty and Honor. These altars are no longer made of stone 
 and brass. They are composed of immortal emotions and 
 thought. As the best means of preserving our country's 
 honor, watch and guard your own; "it is the immediate 
 jewel of your souls." Let the life of each of you be a record 
 for your country and humanity, and next to and as part of 
 your duty to your God, preserve your own characters — 
 always remembering that Honor is the armor of the true 
 gentleman. Keep yours as bright as the diamond, and the 
 jewel that adorns your breast will be th^ shield that de- 
 fends it. 
 
 '!♦■•