Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z
History
Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z
Speeches, addresses, etc.
So I might go on, and take New Orleans, for example, where General
Jackson fought a battle with the assistance of pirates, many of them
black men and slaves, who became free by that act. There the black man
first fought for his freedom, and I believe black men must fight for
their freedom if they expect to get it and hold it secure. Every white
soldier in this land will help him fight for his freedom, but he must
first strike for it himself. "Who would be free, themselves must strike
the blow." [Cheers.] That truth is ripening, and will manifest itself in
due time. I have as much faith in it as I have that the manhood, and
faith, and firmness, and courage of New England has contributed so much
to the wealth, the civilization, the fame, and glory of our country.
There is no danger of this country going backward. The Civil War settled
facts that remain recorded and never will be obliterated. Taken in that
connection I say that these battles were fought after many good and wise
men had declared all war to be a barbarism--a thing of the past. The
fields stained with patriotic blood will be revered by our children and
our children's children, long after we, the actors, may be forgotten.
The world will not stop; it is moving on; and the day will come when all
nations will be equal "brothers all," when the Scotchman and the
Englishman will be as the son of America. We want the universal humanity
and manhood that Mr. Beecher has spoken of so eloquently. You Yankees
don't want to monopolize all the virtues; if you do, you won't get them.
[Laughter.]
The Germans have an industry and a type of manhood which we may well
imitate. We find them settling now in South America, and in fact they
are heading you Yankees off in the South American trade. It won't do to
sit down here and brag. You must go forth and settle up new lands for
you and your children, as your fathers did. That is what has been going
on since Plymouth Rock, and will to the end. The end is not yet, but
that it will come and that this highest type of manhood will prevail in
the end I believe as firmly as any man who stands on this floor. It will
be done not by us alone, but by all people uniting, each acting his own
part; the merchant, the lawyer, the mechanic, the farmer, and the
soldier. But I contend that so long as man is man there is a necessity
for organized force, to enable us to reach the highest type of manhood
aimed at by our New England ancestors. [Loud applause.]
* * * * *
A REMINISCENCE OF THE WAR
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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