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America. Although we rejoiced at the cessation of serfdom in Russia, what person felt in regard to that condition of things as we all felt in regard to negro slavery in America? Undoubtedly the condition of compulsory servitude has been a stage in the progress of mankind, and we rejoice that that stage has been passed; but with regard to negro slavery in America, it was not one, but many circumstances, which constituted its peculiar aggravation and horror. It was a system of which it may be truly said, that it was twice cursed. It cursed him who served, and it cursed him that owned the slave. When we recollect the insuperable temptations which that system held out to maintain in a state of degradation and ignorance a whole race of mankind; the horrors of the internal slave-trade, more widely demoralizing, in my opinion, than the foreign slave-trade itself; the violence which was done to the sanctities of domestic life; the corrupting effect which it was having upon the very churches of Christianity,— when we recollect all these things, we can fully estimate the evil from which my distinguished friend and his coadjutors have at last redeemed their country. It was not only the slave States which were concerned in the guilt of slavery; it had struck its roots deep in the free States of North America. And what are the free States of North America? I think we may say with truth that America is a country which seems destined by Almighty God to test the question, what man can do best for himself under the most favorable conditions of external circumstances; possessing a vast territory of the greatest wealth with the greatest natural capabilities of improvement, peopled by the most energetic races of Europe, free to take with them all that is best, or at least much that is best, of the more ancient civilizations of the world, and free to leave behind them as much as they may think evil of

the traditions of the past, who is there with a heart in his breast, or for that matter with a head on his shoulders, who does not look with intense interest to the conduct of that great experiment, and who does not rejoice with a joy unspeakable in events which have freed their young and noble life from the taint and the curse of slavery?

If such be the cause, what are we to say of the man and of the services which he has rendered to that cause? We honor Mr. Garrison, in the first place, for the immense pluck and courage which he displayed. Sir, you have truly said that there is no comparison between the contests in which he had to fight and the most bitter contests of our own public life. In looking back, no doubt, to the contest which was maintained in this country some thirty-five years ago against slavery in our colonies, we may recollect that Clarkson and Wilberforce were denounced as fanatics, and had to encounter much opprobrium; but it must not be forgotten that, so far as regards the entwining of the roots of slavery into the social system, in the opinions and interests of mankind, there was no comparison whatever between the circumstanees of that contest here and those which attended it in America. The number of persons who in this country were enlisted on the side of slavery by personal interest was always comparatively few; whilst, in attacking slavery at its headquarters in the United States, Mr. Garrison had to encounter the fiercest passions which could be roused. That is, indeed, a tremendous sea which runs upon the surface of the human mind when the storms of passion and of self-interest run counter to the secret currents of conscience and the sense of right. Such was the stormy sea on which Mr. Garrison embarked at first if I may use the simile - almost in a one-oared boat. He stood alone. And so in our reception this day of Mr.

Garrison, we are entitled to think of him as representing the increased power and force which is exerted in our own times by the moral opinions of mankind. It is true, indeed, that we have lately seen some of the most tremendous and bloody wars which history records; and I, for one, must admit that the time has not yet come it is not even yet in sightwhen we can beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning-hooks; but if we look to the great events to which I have referred, we shall see that in our own time the march of great battalions has generally been in the wake of the march of great principles, that in the freedom of Italy, in the consolidation of Germany, and still more in the recent contest in America, we are to look to the triumphs of opinion as, in the main, the triumphs which have been won. I can understand the joy which must be felt by a great sovereign, or by a great general, when standing amidst the heaps of slain he can feel that he has won the independence of a country, or, still better, has established the independence of a race. We can all, however, understand still better the joy of him who, like our distinguished friend, after years of obloquy and oppression, and being denounced as the fanatical supporter of extreme opinions, finds himself acknowledged at last by his countrymen and the world as the prophet and apostle of a triumphant and accepted cause.

One word in regard to the nation which Mr. Garrison represents. Let us remember with joy and thankfulness that only a few years ago the present reception could not have been given to Mr. Garrison. He was then not the representative of a people, of a country, or of a government. He was the representative only of a party in the United States, and I have always held that public receptions or meetings in foreign countries, or at least in other countries, for I will not call

America a foreign country-I mean public assemblies or conventions taking part with particular parties of another country, are sometimes almost as apt to do as much harm as good. Now, thank God, Mr. Garrison appears before us as the representative of the United States; freedom is now the policy of the government and the assured policy of the country, and we can to-day accept and welcome Mr. Garrison, not merely as the liberator of the slaves, but as the representative also of the American government. This country desires to maintain with the American people not merely relations of amity and peace; it desires to have their friendship and affection. It is not merely that that country has sprung from us in former times. It is that it is still to a great extent springing from England. It is hardly possible to go into any house of the farming class in that part of the country with which I am particularly connected without being told that a brother or a sister, a daughter or a son, has gone to the United States of America, and is flourishing in the free States of Ohio or Illinois. I think we ought to feel, every one of us, that in going to America we are going only to a second home. Such are the relations which I trust we shall see established between the two countries. Surely it is time to forget ancient differences differences dating from the days of Burgoyne's retreat or our failure before the ramparts of New Orleans. I maintain that there is hardly an Englishman in this country -I am sure there is no one in this room-who is not almost as proud of Washington as he is of Wellington, the memory of both belonging indeed to the common heritage of our race. Therefore, on all these grounds-on the ground of the cause of which he was the great champion, of the peculiar services which he has rendered to that cause, and of the people whom he represents, we desire to give Mr. Garrison a hearty welcome.

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SHERMAN

JOHN SHERMAN was born at Lancaster, Ohio, May 10, 1823. He was not

sent to college, but received a fairly good academic education. He studied law and was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-one. He joined the Whig party, and was a delegate to the National Whig Conventions in 1848 and 1852. He took part in the organization of the Republican party, and in 1855 presided over the first Republican Convention held in his native State. He was a representative in Congress from March 4, 1855, to March, 1861, and was the Republican candidate for Speaker in 1859-60. He was sent to the Federal Senate in 1861 to succeed Salmon P. Chase, and was re-elected in 1866 and 1872. He was Secretary of the Treasury under President Hayes from 1877 to 1881. On March 4, of the year last named, he again took a seat in the Senate and was re-elected in 1886 and 1892. He was a prominent candidate for the Presidency in several Republican National Conventions. On March 4, 1897, he became Secretary of State in the McKinley administration, but did not long retain the office. He died in 1900.

I

ON SILVER COINAGE AND TREASURY NOTES

UNITED STATES SENATE, JUNE 5, 1890

APPROACH the discussion of this bill and the kindred

bills and amendments pending in the two Houses with unaffected diffidence. No problem is submitted to us of equal importance and difficulty. Our action will affect the value of all the property of the people of the United States, and the wages of labor of every kind, and our trade and commerce with all the world. In the consideration of such a question we should not be controlled by previous opinions or bound by local interests, but with the lights of experience and full knowledge of all the complicated

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