The strange faces, the new scene, the suddenness of the call had shaken Elliott’s self-possession, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he finished his speech.
The mayor and municipal council crowded around him with outstretched hands, foremost amongst them, an old man with Roman features.
“I was interested in your speech, young man,” said he, “but wait until this thing strikes home before you condemn our code.”
“You’re right, Mr. Carr, you’re right!” cried several voices in chorus.
The old gentleman talked on during the intervals of greetings and ended by inviting young Harding to his home, where a lawn party was to be held that night.
As the volume of general applause lessened, the cry of “Holmes! Holmes!” was kept up with an insistence which might have induced a less capable man to respond. Nor would the enthused throng be quieted until John Holmes mounted the platform.
“It had not been my purpose, ladies and gentlemen,” said he, “to address you to-day upon the subject touched upon by Mr. Harding, but, since he has modestly lectured us on our barbarity, I must say a word in defense of the South and southerners. He intimates that the curse of slavery still rests upon the southern states. I wonder if Mr. Harding knows whether or not the curse of slave-trade, which to be accurate is called ‘the sum of all villainies,’ really rests upon Great Britain, who was the originator of the inhuman system and not upon us southerners?
“The most careful statistics show that in the beginning over 19,000,000 Africans were imported into the British West Indies and so severely were they dealt with that when emancipation came, only a little over 600,000 were left to benefit by it. The slave trade was fastened on the American colonies by the greed of English kings, who, over and over again, vetoed the restrictive legislation of the Colonial Assemblies on the ground that it interfered with the just profits of their sea-faring subjects. Is there no work for Nemesis here?
“That the system of slavery, as it existed in the southern states, was accompanied by many cases of hardship and cruelty, we freely admit; that its abolition is a proper ground for sincere rejoicing, we do not hesitate to affirm. But, it is nevertheless true, that, looked at in a large way, slavery was a lifting force to the negro race during the whole period of its existence here. The proof lies just here—when the war of emancipation came, the 4,000,000 negroes in the southern states stood on a higher level of civilization than did any other equal number of people of the same race anywhere on the globe.
“As to the mental and moral advancement of the negro, we have not done enough to render us boastful or self-satisfied, but enough to dull the shafts of the mistaken or malicious who would convict us of heathenish indifference to his elevation. We have from childhood had a lively appreciation of the debt we owe to the race. Nobody owes them as much as we do; nobody knows them as well; nobody’s future is so involved in their destiny as our own. Is it not natural that we should help them in their pathetic struggle against poverty, ignorance and degradation?
“Mr. Harding, in speaking of their progress, intimates that these results have been reached by their own unaided efforts. The fact is that the elementary schools of which he speaks are sustained almost entirely by the southern white people, who, in the midst of their own grinding poverty, have taxed themselves to the extent of $50,000,000 to educate the children of their former slaves. The colored churches of to-day are the legitimate fruit of the faithful work done amongst the slaves before the war by white missionaries.
“Two hundred and fifty millions is a vast sum. Could a race gather and hold so much in a commonwealth where its rights are being trampled upon with impunity? The question answers itself. There is, in truth, no place on earth where the common negro laborer has so good an opportunity as between the Potomac and Rio Grande. Here he is admitted to all the trades, toils side by side with white workmen, and is protected in person and property so long as he justifies protection.
“As to the statement that one thousand have been lynched in the past ten years, doubtless Mr. Harding accepts without further examination the crooked figures of partisan newspapers. But, granting this horrible record to be true, it must be acknowledged that the man does something to call forth such treatment. Along with the telling of our alleged bloodthirstiness, there should be related the frequency and atrocity of his outrages against our homes. The south willingly appeals to the judgment of civilized mankind as to the truth of her declaration that the objects of enlightened government are as well secured here as on any portion of the globe.
“That Mr. Harding and his sympathizers are actuated by excellent motives, I do not mean to question.
“We are as mindful as others of the dangerous tendency of resorting to lawlessness, but strangers cannot understand the situation as well as those who are personally familiar with it and have suffered by it. It is much to be regretted, of course, that lynchings occur, but it is far more to be regretted that there are so many occasions for them. When the sanctity of woman is violated, man, if man he be, cannot but choose to avenge it. If the villain did not commit the crime for which this penalty is inflicted, then we would not be inflamed to summary vengeance. The perpetrator of this deed, the most heinous of all crimes and to which death is often added, need not complain when vengeance is visited upon him in a swift and merciless manner, according with the teaching of his own villainy.
“Unquestionably it would be better if judicial formalities could be duly observed, but the law should make special provisions for summary execution when such grave offenses occur. Then, too, there is something to be said for the peculiar indignation which such cases incite. This anger is the just indignation of a community against a peculiarly vile class of criminal, not against a race, as Mr. Harding and others have grown to believe and to set forth. That it has seemed a race question with the south, has been because for every negro in the north we have one hundred here.
“Mid the stormy scenes a quarter of a century ago, when the bugle called the sons of the south to war, they went, leaving their wives, mothers, children and homes in the hands of the slaves who, though their personal interests were on the other side, were true to their trust, protected the helpless women and children and earned for them their support by the sweat of their own brow, and with a patience unparalleled left the question of freedom to the arbitrament of war. Their behavior under manifold temptations was always kindly and respectful, and never one raised an arm to molest the helpless. In the drama of all humanity, there is not a figure more pathetic or touching than the figure of the slave, who followed his master to the battle-field, marched, thirsted and hungered with him, nursed, served and cheered him—that master who was fighting to keep him in slavery. This subject comprises a whole vast field of its own and if the history of it is ever written, it will be written in the literature of the south, for here alone lies the knowledge and the love.
“Who has taught him to regard liberty as a license? Who has sown this seed of animosity in his mind? Until they who have sown the seed of discord shall root up and clear away the tares, the peace and prosperity that might reign in this southern land can be but a hope, a dream. It is this rooting of the tares, and this more surely than anything else, that will bring nearer the union and perfect good fellowship which is so greatly needed. Sound common sense and sterling Americanism can and will find a way to prosperity and peace.”