Never in the history of conventions was there recorded such evidence of
unswerving fidelity by an equal number to the nominee of their choice as
that shown at the National Convention in 1880, when General Grant's name
was before the assembly. Ordinarily when a leader is nominated for
ballot his supporter's are faithful as long as his prospects are
inviting, but at the first evidence of decadence no flock of partridges
scamper more readily to find cover. For years his birthday has been
celebrated by a reunion of the 306 who, from the first to the last of
sounding of the 36th ballot, stood with ranks solidly closed and courage
undaunted. At such a reunion at Philadelphia, in 1893, eighty were
present, and with speech, reminiscence and good cheer "a feast of reason
and a flow of soul," time sped "till the wee sma' hours." Of the colored
delegates, Mr. Ferdinand Havis and the writer were present.
Mr. Havis, of Arkansas, "to the manor born," deserves more than mere
mention as the representative of a class in the South.
He is a gentleman of fine qualities of head and heart. As a member of
the Arkansas Legislature in 1873 and Clerk of Jefferson County for many
years, he has by honesty as an official and courtesy of manner made an
unimpeachable record, and was only dethroned "by fraud and force and
iron will." During his leadership of Jefferson County, where
three-quarters of all voters are colored, he was ever conservative and
regardful of the views and business interests of the numerically weak
but financially strong minority of Democrats, and by supporting a
compromise ticket that gave most prominence to the minority sought to
preserve harmony. But the efforts of such men have proved unavailing to
stem the tide of political usurpation, now rampant at many places in the
South.
The greatest menace to representative government is not solely the
disfranchisement of the Negro, for according with the eternal verities
there cannot be a continued disregard for the ballot in his hand and
protection for his life, and respect for them in the person of the white
man. Under the genius of our Government the rights of claim and exercise
are linked and interlinked.
This truth stands out in bold relief on historic page, and should the
future historian record the dismemberment of the Republic, he will
indite its decay from the commencement of the violation of this basic
principle of civil government, his being but another link in the
evidence that rapidity of material, without equality of moral,
advancement is ever attended with national decline.
Meanwhile, it is the duty (which is ever the highest policy) of the
Negro to be patriotic in his devotion to his country, manly in his
appeals for justice, and wise by discarding, by word or action, the
fomenting of strife; ever on the alert to close the breach by increase
of intelligence, moral worth and financial progress, and thus in great
measure dissipate ignorance, vice and poverty, the abolition of which
can be assisted, but not dispelled, save by a spirit of self-sacrifice
on his part, subjecting his lower nature to the control of the higher.
With such effort, united to a faith in God and the American conscience,
he will yet soften ascerbities, dispel hindrance, and stem the tide.
Philanthropy may assist a man to his feet, but cannot keep him there
unaided by self-effort and an unconquerable will power to stand; while
relinquishing no part of his claim upon his white brother as recompense
for more than a century of unrequited labor, if with an equal chance for
work, education and legal protection, he cannot not only stand, but
advance, exertion in his behalf is "love's labor lost," he having no
rights worthy of respect.
But in no fair mind can there exist doubt as to his advancement. A
people nine-tenths of whom 40 years ago did not legally own themselves
or property, now having 140,000 farms, homes and industries worth
$800,000,000; a people who, for a century previous to emancipation, were
by law forbidden to learn to read or write, now have 3,000,000 children
in 27,000 schools, and have reduced their illiteracy 45 per cent., have
school and church property to the amount of $50,000,000, contributing
themselves thereto $20,000,000; have written 300 books; have over 250
newspapers issued each week. His comparative success as merchant,
mechanic or other line of industry which he is permitted to enter,
speaks for itself, and finally, with per capita valuation of $75. Yet,
in face of such statistical evidence, there are not wanting the
Tillmans, Morgans, Burke Cockrans and other seers of a Montgomery
convention, who, because the Negro, trammeled, as he is, does not keep
step with the immense strides of the dominant class in their wondrous
achievement, the product of a thousand years of struggle and culture,
unblushingly allege that he is relapsing into barbarism, and with an
ingratitude akin to crime, are oblivious to the fact that a large
measure of the intellectual and material status of the nation and the
cultured ability they so balefully use to retard him, are the product of
a century of his unrequited labor.
The feeling that the results of the civil war have been beneficent,
harmonizing theory and practice in the autonomy of the nation is
manifest and conceded. The growing unity of the people of our country
who 40 years ago were engaged in fraternal strife, should be a source of
pleasure and welcomed by every patriotic heart; for, while bitterness
can be assuaged, and laudable effort made to conform to new conditions,
still convictions formed and baptized in the fiery ordeal of war, blood
and material loss require fortitude, generosity and patriotism to soften
their asperity, and much kindly intercourse to promote the general
welfare. The increased desire in this direction is evidenced at each
recurring "Decoration Day," when the Blue and the Gray harmoniously
intermingle, recalling memories and incidents of the internal strife.
The soldiers of each vieing in reciprocity, as with "a union of hearts
and a union of hands" with fragrant flowers they bedeck historic sod.
But will the nation remember that after all that can be said or written,
of heroic circumstance of war, or in praise of its participants, all
these bereft of humanity and justice to the weak, fail to constitute an
enduring State, for eternal and immutable is the decree that
"righteousness exalteth a nation." Relative to this intermingling of
former foes, whatever our estimate of the results of human action may
be, we cannot unerringly divine impurity of motive; hence respect for
honest conviction must be the prelude to that unity of patriotism which
is ever the safeguard to the integrity of a nation.
The spirit that impelled contributions for the erection of the
Confederate monuments in different sections of our country from donors,
irrespective of former affiliation, has been benign in its influence. In
1897 the Hon J. N. Smithea instituted a movement for such a memorial in
Little Rock, Ark., stipulating that responses should be limited to one
dollar. Impressed that our race should not be indifferent to such an
appeal, I transmitted the following:
J. N. Smithea, Editor "Gazette,"
Little Rock, Ark.:
I notice your effort to erect a monument to the Confederate dead. A
third of a century has elapsed since the civil war. Conviction in the
minds of the participants on either side as to who was right and who was
wrong is as firmly fixed as the eternal hills. Given, that a view of
events leading up to that fraternal strife, the bravery of the one or
heroic conduct of the other from standpoints necessarily different will
never find mutual ground for justification, it seems the mission of
patriotism and national unity to give the hand of welcome to every
effort that will unite us in all that will promote the common glory of
the Republic. As one of the representatives of a race, especially in
this southland, I cheerfully subscribe my dollar to the fund, feeling
that the Negro should joyfully hail every effort to soften animosities
which are the outgrowth of a struggle in which, unwittingly, he was so
important a factor.
[Illustration: WILLIAM A. PLEDGER,
Chairman Republican State Central Committee of Georgia.
Born near Athens forty-five years ago--Has been a delegate to every
National Republican Convention for the last twenty-five years--A leader
trusted and tried.]
No one should be more anxious to cement the friendly and good offices of
our more-favored fellow-citizens, from whom we are receiving the largest
share of our educational and material assistance, so greatly needed to
bring us up to the full measure of a noble citizenship. By the
providence of God we are here, and are here to stay. We are producers of
wealth and the conservators of peace. Therefore, encourage us by the
exercise of justice and magnanimity, that we can say to you, as Ruth to
Naomi in Holy Writ: "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from
following after thee, for whither thou goest I will go; and where thou
lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God;
where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so
to me and more also, if aught but death part thee and me."
Very truly yours, etc.,
Monuments are the mute mile stones, the connecting links between a
finished effort, and an inspiration for continued struggle. But
monuments are not created after the death of those they commemorate,
although they may seem to be; they are but memorials of the structure
already built, the solidity of whose base and symmetry of whose lines
were projected and fashioned by intensity of conviction and the
unswerving courage of their prototypes in ameliorating conditions while
they lived. Bereft of this, "monuments themselves memorials need."
Having administered the office of Register of United States land by
appointments from Presidents Hayes and Arthur, my last service in the
Interior Department was under an appointment from President Harrison,
who, in 1889, placed me as Receiver of Public Moneys at Little Rock,
Ark., Land District. It was during this term that the Department ordered
and appointed Special Commissioners to conduct the sale of unsold lots
on the Hot Springs Reservation at auction. As one of the Commissioners
and Receiver of Public Moneys, I was required and gave a qualified bond
for $100,000 for the faithful performance of the trust, and with
Register Raleigh proceeded and discharged the duties thereto. Harrison's
term ended a career of twelve years in the land office. If in
retrospective moments amid the many beneficent things you might have
done, but left undone, you catch here and there glimpses of unselfish
ambition or benefit you have conferred, it does much to abate regret,
for the recollection to me is a source of pleasure that during those
terms by personal convass and unofficial publication I contributed in
inducing thousands of immigrants and others to homestead the virgin soil
of Arkansas, who have now good homes, comprising 40, 80 or 160 acres of
land, besides assisting them in establishing schools for their
children.