The Southern Question : the policy of conversion : an address delivered before the Middlesex Club, of Boston, Mass.

THE SOUTHERN QUESTION.
THE POLICY OF CONVERSION
AN ADDRESS
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
MIDDLESEX CLTJB,
OF BOSTON, MASS.,
BY
HON. J. E. BRYANT,
OF ATLANTA, GA.
PRINTED BY ROBERT J. LONG & CO.,
25 BROMFIELD ST., BOSTON.
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THE SOUTHERN QUESTION CON

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SIDERED.

ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE MIDDLESEX CLUB OF BOSTON, MASS., BY HON J. E. BRYANT,
OF ATLANTA, GA.

The Cause of the Conflict Between the North and the South Stated The Policy of C onversion Advo cated as the True Policy for. Uniting the Peoples
of the Antagonistic Sections.

On Saturday, January 22nd, 1881, Hon. John E. Bryant of Atlanta, Ga., was the guest of the Middlesex Club at its Saturday dinner. He was introduced to the Club by the President, Hon. Geo. A. Brace, and made the following remarks:
ADDRESS OF COL. BRYANT.
MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE MIDDLESEX CLUB:
Please accept my thanks for the honor you have conferred upon me by inviting me to address you upon this occasion. I address you as a Southern, man, deeply interested in the South; but I am also an Ameri can citizen. I believe that the welfare of the country, and especially of the South, requires that the " Solid South" shall be broken; that the people of the antagonistic sections of our country may be united as one people, and regard each other as brothers not as enemies ; and that peace and justice shall reign throughout that vast region stretching from the Atlantic almost to the Pacific, and from the Potomac to the Gulf.
THE SOUTHERN QUESTION.
The Southern question is admitted to be one of the most important questions, perhaps the most important, that claims the attention of American statesmen. The " Solid South " is a stubborn feet, and it is confronted by almost a " Solid North." The last campaign was more like a battle between hostile peoples, than a conflict between constitution al parties, actuated by a patriotic rivalry, each honestly contending^ pro mote the welfare of the nation, develop its resources, and increase its power. Such was the depth of feeling between the opposing forces, that under some circumstances another resort to arms would not have been, an improbable means of deciding whether the nation should be

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aristocratic leaders of the South or by the representatives of American

ideas. It was, in fact, a conflict between two civilizations, between two

peoples. As long as a * Solid South " confronts a " Solid North," it will

be wise for the people to be prepared, at a moments notice, for another

civil war.

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The South is solid because it is controlled by an aristocratic class;

men who are un-American. They prefer a feudal civilization to American

ideas. The same class has ruled the South since the Jamestown colony

came to the.Virginia coast; and for many years ruled the nation. Be

cause they could no longer control the General Government, they attempt

ed to destroy the Union. They are yet the enemies of the Nation, and a

curse to the Southern people. Speaking for this class, Mr. Calhoun, in

1812, said to Commodore Charles Stewart, then Captain Stewart of our

navy:



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" I admit your conclusions in respect to us Southerners. That we tt are essentially aristocratic I cannot deny; but we can and do yield much M to Democracy. This is our sectional policy; we are from necessity
thrown upon and solemnly wedded to that party (however it may occa sionally clash with our feelings), for the conservation of our interests. ti It is through our affiliation with that party in the Middle and Western States that we hold power ; but when we cease thus to control this na t( tion, through a disjointed Democracy, or any material obstacle in that "party which shall tend to throw us out of that rule and control, we shall " then resort to the dissolution of the Union.17

Mr. Rhett said in the Secession Convention of South Carolina:
" The secession of South Carolina is not an event of a day. It is " not anything produced by Mr. Lincolns election, or by the non-execu" turn of the fugitive slave law. It has been a matter which has been "gathering head for thirty years; and in the production of this great re" suit, the great men who have passed before us, whose great and patri" otic efforts have signalized the times in which they lived, have not been "lost. Have the labors of Calhoun been forgotten, when he declared a "few years ago for the secession of South Carolina? "

This aristocratic class were willing to maintain towards the people of the North the relation of rulers, but not of equals. Therefore, when they could no longer rule the Nation, they sought to destroy it. The contempt felt by this class for the people of the North, has been often expressed by their representative men. I am indebted to a very able speech delivered before the Garfield and Arthur Club of Katonah, N. Y., Oct. 20, 1880, by Hon. John Jay, late Minister to Vienna, for the following extracts, illus trating the statement I have just made. In 1820, "John Randolph of Roanoke, said in words that are historic, and to which his biting tone and sarcastic finger lent additional contempt:"

"We do not govern them (the people of the North) by our black

4t slaves, but by their own white slaves. We know what we are doing.

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Ci We have conquered you once, and we can and wiH conquer you again.

Aye, sir, we will drive you to the walL And when we have you there

U once, we mean to keep you there, and nail you down like base money."

Forty years later the Louisville Courier is reported to have made the boast:

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"As our Norman kinsmen in England, always a minority, have ruled their Saxon countrymen in political vassalage up to the present day, so t have we, the * slave oligarchs, governed the Yankee till within a twelve--** month. We framed the Constitution; for seventy years we moulded " the policy of the Government and placed our own men, or Northern men " with Southern principles, in power.1 .
Again, the same paper said:-^-
" The slavery question was merely a pretext: not the cause of the "war. The true irrepressible conflict lies fundamentally in the hereditary " hostility, the solid animosity, the eternal antagonism between the two -" races engaged."
The Charlestown Mercury said:
" We are the most aristocratic people in the world. The Cavaliers, " Jacobites, and Huguenots, who settled the south, naturally . . . despise " the Puritans who settled the North ; the former are master races, the " latter a slave race and descendants of the Saxon serfs."
As already stated, the attempt to destroy the Union was not on ac count of slavery the slavery question was merely a pretext. The true cause was the irrepressible conflict between the two civilizations: the one feudal, European, aristocratic; the other modern, American, Christian.
The war was hardly closed when the slave aristocracy again urged upon the people of the South the importance of continuing the conflict against the people of the North. On the 22d day of February, 1866, Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, late Vice-President of the Confederacy, who had been elected a United States Senator, made a speech before the General Assembly of Georgia in which he said:
" Secession was tried. That has failed. . . . Our only alternative " now is either to give up all hope of constitutional liberty [which is ano** ther name for the * lost cause], or retrace our steps, and to look for its " vindication and maintenance in the forums of reason and justice, instead " of on the arena of arms; in the courts and halls of legislation, instead " of on the field of battle."
The advice of Mr. Stephens was taken, and the aristocratic leaders of the South prepared to renew the conflict. It was not, however, until 1873, that they were thoroughly united. On the I4th day of August of that year, representatives of the old slave aristocracy, from twelve Southern States, met at the Montgomery Springs, Virginia, and organized a society known to the public as the Southern Historical Society. Jefferson Davis was present, and was received as President Davis with the honors due to the President of the Uvnited States. Beauregard, Early, Admiral Semmes, M. C. Butler, Fitzhugh Lee, and Gov. Letcher, were leading spirits. - Mr. - Henry Eubank, the general agent of the society, thus explained its ob jects:
" It is not only for the securing, before it is too late, the material for a! true history of the war, that the Southern Historical Society will, in its legitimate operations, become an instrumentality of incalculable benefit to the South. Having enrolled among its members the true exponents of * Southern honor ana intelligence, it will necessarily possess a vitality and exert a moral influence through the whole South, which will steadily and

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irresistibly expand into an antagonism, powerful to repel the insidious ad

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vances of those vicious principles which are now so fearfully undermining

the civilization of the North !"

In other words, the society was organized to prevent the conversion of the Southern people to American ideas, and it has indeed- expanded into an antagonism powerful to repel the advance of these ideas into the South. The headquarters of the society were established at Richmond, Vsu, the capital of the Confederacy, and from there the society has since thrown out its lines of influence over the South. Wade Hampton was selected by the society to make known to the people of the South the ob jects for which it was organized, and for that purpose he delivered an ad dress in the Senate Chamber at Richmond on the 29th day of October, 1873. In view of the fact that he was selected to speak for the society, and that his address may be said to be the platform upon which it rests, and in view of his position as a leader of the old slave aristocracy, the fol lowing extracts from the address will, I believe, receive your careful at tention :
THE ADDRESS OF HAMPTON.
THE LOST CAUSE.
" As it was the duty of every man to devote himself to the service of his country in the great struggle which has just ended so disastrously, not only to the South, but to the cause of constitutional government under republican institutions in the new world; so now, when that country is prostrate in the dust weeping for her dead who died in vain to save her liberties, every patriotic impulse should urge her. surviving children to vindicate the great principles for which she fought. * * *

CHILDREN TO BE TAUGHT TO FIGHT FOR THE " LOST CAUSE."
These are the imperative duties imposed upon us1 of the South; and the chief peril of the times is, that in our despair at the evil that has fallen onus, we forget those obligations to the eternal principles for which we fought; to the martyred dead who gave up their lives for their princi ples ; * * * and to our children, who should be taught to cling to them with unswerving fidelity. If those who are to come after us, and to whose hands the destinies of our country are soon to be committed, are properly instructed in the theory and practice of republican institutions; if they are made to comprehend the origin, progress and culmination of that great controversy between the antagonistic sections of this continent, which began in the convention of 1787, and ended, for the time being, at Appomatox in 1865, they cannot fail to see that truth, right, justice were on the side of their fathers, and they will surely strive to bring back to the Republic those cardinal principles on which it was founded, and on which alone it can exist. * * *

HOW SUCCESS IS TO BE SECURED.

" Our care should be to bring her (the Republic) back to her old and

safe anchorage. '* * * It is amid these gloomy surroundings and sad

forebodings, gentlemen of the Historical Society, that we who have not

lost all hope and faith, are met to take counsel together. We may be able,

it is true, to save but little from the general Wreck, but^we can, at least,

leave to future generations a true record of our struggle in a righteous

cause. * * *



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This Society proposes to publish regularly and systematically all con

tributions which elucidate the truth, reflect the glory, and maintain the

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principles involved in the late war, and it calls upon all who are hot lost
to honor, to aid in this laudable undertaking. It wishes to enroll, not only every true man, but every true woman in its ranks. * * *. ' t
" Maid, mother, wife, gave freely to that country the most cherished objects of their affections. * * * It was wisely done, therefore, to in voke their aid in behalf of our society. * * * It is theirs to teach our children that their fathers were neither traitors nor rebels; that we believed"as firmly as in the eternal Word of God that we were in the right; and that we have a settled faith that no trials can shake, that in His own good time, the right will be made manifest.

LESSONS FROM HISTORY.
' These are the lessons our children should learn from their mothers. Nor are these the only ones which should be inculcated, for the pages of history furnish many which should not be overlooked. These teach in the clearest and most emphatic manner, that there is always hope for a people who cherish the spirit of freedom, who will not tamely give up their rights, and who, amid all the changes of time, the trials of adversity, remain steadfast to their convictions that liberty is their birthright. * * *

THE SOUTH COMPARED TO PRUSSIA AND THE NORTH TO FRANCE.

'' When Napoleon in that wonderful campaign of Jena, struck down

in a few weeks the whole military strength of Prussia, destroyed that

army with which the great Frederic had held at bay the combined forces

of Europe, and crushed out, apparently forever, the liberties, seemingly

the very existence of that great State, but one hope of her disenthrallment

and regeneration was left her--the unconquered and unconquerable pa

triotism of her sons. As far as human foresight could penetrate the fu

ture, this hope appeared but a vain and delusive one; yet only a few

years passed before her troops turned the scale of victory at Waterloo,

and the treaty of Paris atoned in part for the mortification of that of Tilsit.

" She educated her children by a system which made them good citi

zens in peace and formidable soldiers in war; she kindled and kept

alive the sacred fire of patriotism; she woke the slumbering spirit of the

Fatherland; and what has been the result of this self-devotion of a whole

people for half a century? Single handed she has just met her old an

tagonist ; the shame of her defeats of yore has been wiped out by glorious

victories ; the contributions extorted from her have been repaid; her in

sults have been avenged, and her victorious eagles sweeping over the

broken lilies of her enemy, waved in triumph from the walls of conquer

ed Paris, while she dictated peace to prostrate and humbled France. Is

not the moral to be drawn from this noble dedication of a people, to the

interests and honor of their country, worth remembering?

" Hungary in her recent struggle to throw off the yoke of Austria was

crushed to the earth, and yet to-day the Hungarians, as citizens of Aust ia

exercise a controlling power in that great empire. >

" Mr. President and gentlemen of the Society, the task assigned to

me by your partial kindness has been discharged. * * * '

'* It seemed to me not inappropriate, while explaining the purposes of

the Society, to show to you how important are the objects it contemplates,

how vital to the future condition of our people, and how vast the influ

ence it may exercise if properly directed. History repeats itself, and his

tory is philosophy teaching by example. If. the examples presented to

you have kindled any zeal in behalf of your suffering country, if they

have inspired in your hearts any ray of hope for its redemption, my ef

forts have not been in vain."



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The importance of this address will be realized when it is remem

bered that Hampton expressed the views of the men who have since

made 'the South solid in its opposition to the North and to Am rican

ideas. His language may appear ridiculous, and the policy advocated

chimerical, bat it has been adopted by the men who led the South into

rebellion, and will again make trouble, if by so doing they can accomplish

the ends foreshadowed by Hampton. Speaking for these men, he said

that every patriotic impulse should urge the people of the South, to vindi

cate the principles for which they fought; that their children should be

taught to cling to them with unswerving fidelity; that if they are so taught

they win strive to bringthe Republic back to her old and safe anchorage (with

slavery ofcourse); or, failing in that, they may wipe out by glorious victories

the shame ofthe defeats of the South, as Prussia overcame France: and to

that end the South should educate her children by a system that will

make them good citizens in peace, and formidable soldiers in war; that

thus she may avenge her insults as Prussia did when her victorious

eagles, sweeping over the broken lilies of her enemy, waved in triumph

from the walls of conquered Paris, while she dictated peace to prostrate

and humbled France. To prepare the people of the South for this con

flict, it was proposed that the Southern Historical Society should publish

regularly and systematically all contributions which elucidate the truth,

reflect the glory, and maintain the principles for which the South fought.

The women were also to be enlisted, that they might teach their chil

dren that their fathers were neither traitors nor rebels, but that they

believed, as firmly as in the eternal Word of God, that they were in the

right, and that the'y had a settled faith, which no trials could shake, that

their cause would ultimately triumph. He also expressed the belief that

a people thus educated must finally be victorious.

It should be remembered that the men who organized the Southern

Historical Society belong to that aristocratic class which Calhoun repre

sented, when he said that they would destroy the Nation if they could not

rule it. The same class that the Charleston Mercury represented when it

said:--



"We are the most aristocratic people in the world. The Cavaliers, '* Jacobites, Huguenots, who settled the South, naturally * * * de** spisethe Puritians who settled the North ; the former are master races, " the latter a slave race and descendants of Saxon serfs.11

It is a mistake to suppose that the aristocratic class has changed. Its representative men have, since the war, frequently expressed similar views to those so often uttered before the war. I might quote from the speeches and writings of many men of influence at the South, to sustain this asser tion ; but I will submit extracts from the address of only one representa
tive of the Southern aristocracy:--

ADDRESS OF GEN. JOHN S. PRESTON.

On the first day of July, 1875, Gen. John S. Preston, of South Caro lina delivered an address at the University of Virginia, the " foremost school of letters, science, and philosophy " in the South. He was se lected by the alumni of that aristocratic institution to deliver the address on its fiftieth anniversary. We are informed that " Southern enthusiasm

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was aroused to the highest altitudes 1' by this "address, so extraordinary
in its character that it will never be forgotten by those who had the good
fortune to be present."
He said: " The whole brood of nurslings, the offspring of fifty years "annual parturition of the foremost school of letters, science, and philo"sophy in the new world, have called me to speak to them and to you.
"Be charitable to these gray hairs, and to one who offered his life, " and gave all the rest, that you might be free, and lost all save this poor
"remnant of that life." * * *

THE CONDITION OF THE SOUTH.

"The bloody tumult of that storm which fell upon our peaceful gran

deur may have subsided, but our poor water-logged vessel is still flapping

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her shivered sails, and rolling heavily and helplessly in the yawning

troughs, and her way back to her haven can be known only by measuring

to nature the strength and force of opposing currents. What are these ? ,

TWO PEOPLES.
Unhappily for mankind, for truth, and for us who dwelt under its
promises in this great work of our fathers, there was associated a people of different origin, of hostile sentiment, who, early resolved that we should not worship in our own temple, or be free under our own coven ants, except we did both according to their judgement and their concience.
" For a time, however, our services went on under the guidance and priesthood of Jefferson, Madison, Marshall, Monroe, and their compeers, sustained by the genius and spirit which brought unpolluted to this Con tinent, the great principles and usages of English constitutional liberty. But those people who came to this Continent coeval with our progenitors, and in some sort partook of the strife which caused the political separa tion from England, hated the manner of liberty I have attempted to de scribe, because it restrained their covetousness by the dictators of selfconscience and liberal provisions of equal law. They were originately driven from England for violation of her fundamental laws,.and, therefore, could not bring with them motives and sentiments in accordance with, but in fact and naturally adverse to, the principles of English constitu tional liberty, and of English religious freedom. They came not as re fugees from unlawful persecution and tyranny, but as escaped convicts from the just penalties of a turbulent heresy and an ambitious rebellion which sought by violence to enforce their consciences on England's law. In stead, therefore, of bringing the laws and usages growing out of the charters of English liberty, they brought only crude and shallow systems, philosophical, theological, and political fictions, scarcely above the vain babblings of mediaeval speculations, mingled with the poisons of licentious fanaticism ; establishing upon them municipal, forms of mere superficial restraint, and firm systems of educational training, calculated to perpetuate ignorance and substitute individual craft for public virtue. * * * The Mayflower freight under the laws of England was heresy and crime. The Jamestown emigrant was an English freeman, loyal to his country and
his God, with England's honor in his heart and English piety in his soul, and carrying in his right hand the charters, usages and laws which were achieving the regeneration of England. * * * These two people spoke the same language, and nominally read the same Bible; but like the offspring of the Syrian princess, they were two manner of people, and could not coalesce or. commune. Then* feud began beyond the broad Atlantic, and has never ceased on its western shores. Not space, or time,
or \the" convenience of any human law, or the power of any human ami, can reconcile institutions for the turbulent fanatic of Plymouth Rock and the God-fearing Christian of Jamestown. You may assign them to the

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closest territorial proximity, with all the forms, modes and shows of civil ization; but you can never cement them into the bonds of brotherhood. Great Nature, in her supremest law, forbids it. Territorial localization drove them to a hollow and unnatural armistice in effecting their segrega tion from England--the one for the lucre of traffic, the other to obtain a more perfect law of liberty; the one to destroy foreign tea, the other to drive out foreign tyrants, the one to offer thanksgiving for the fruit of the earth, the other to celebrate the gift of grace in the birth of Christ: * * * The Greek Philosopher and statesman long ago proclaimed the irreversible maxim: " You may combine for the pursuits of trade,, or form alliances for defense, but Corinth and Megara can never be one state; they are two people."
. " These, in general terms, I regard as the ethnographical principles and the ethical attributes on which were based the statesmanship of New England, as manifested by Seward, the philanthropy of New England, as represented by Sumner, and the Christianity of New England, as prac tised by Plymouth churches."
I repeat that Hampton and Preston fairly represent that aristocratic
class that organized the Southern Historical Society, and has for so many
years ruled and represented the " solid South." That the men who be
long to that class are the enemies of the North, and of the Nation, so long
as it is controlled by those who believe in American ideas, is shown by the
speeches and writings of its representative men.
Preston, in the address from which I have already quoted, said:

TO REGAIN THE "LOST CAUSE."

" It is only by a true knowledge of the past that those who come after

us can be made the patriots and heroes whose high destiny it shall be to

conduct their country to deliverance and liberty. * * *

" If, then, this function is duly performed, our vocation is to unveil

the foulest crime that stains the annals of human history, by unfolding

the causes and relating the facts and results of the recent war between

New England and the Confederate States. * * *

" Let your historians tell it to posterity, and your poets sing of it in

funeral chant. But let them, with it say, we were not subdued when Lee

surrendered his starvelings at Appomatox. * * *

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THE STAKE FOR WHICH THE CONFEDERATES FOUGHT.

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" Our stake was not only land and liberty, but all the forms, modes,

purposes, habitudes and sympathies of social organisms, fixed for cen

turies, and sealed to us by the sacrifice of blood. * * *

" But when I look at you to-day, and see your earnest and pious souls

gleaming forth in your eager, bright eyes, * * * I cannot but feel

that the sacred spirit is still alive in your hearts, and will again appear

and move in you a triumphant ending."

As long, then, as the South is controlled by the aristocratic class, and the Nation by men who represent American ideas, so long will there be trouble; and each Presidential election will be practically a battle between hostile peoples.
Since the organization of the Southern Historical Society, a careful and systematic effort has been made to instil into the minds of the South ern people the ideas of Hampton, Preston, and the class to which they belong. When it is remembered that the men of that class control most of the press, the most influential pulpits, most of the schools, much of

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the wealth, and the society of the South, their power may be realized. But they must be and can be overthrown.

HOW THE SOLID SOUTH MAY BE BROKEN.

All friends of American ideas earnestly desire that the solid South

shall be broken; but they do not agree as to the methods for effecting

that result. Three ways have*been suggested.

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. First: The policy of CONCILIATION.

Second: The policy of FORCE. Third: The policy of CONVERSION.

THE POLICY OF CONCILIATION.
Those who have advocated the Policy of Conciliation have attempt ed to conciliate the aristocratic class,* the enemies of Republicans and of Republicanism. As well might Cromwell have attempted to conciliate the Cavaliers; as well may Gambctta attempt to conciliate the Monarch ists and Imperialists of France; as well may the friend of liberty attempt to conciliate the tyrant, or the fugitive slave his master. The Southern aris tocracy can be conciliated only by allowing them to rule. They claim to have sprung from master races, and that the people of the North are the descendants of Saxon serfs. Nothing but power and the abject submis sion of the Northern masses to their rule will conciliate them. One of the representatives of that class being asked recently how the administra tion of President Hayes would stand in history, is reported to have answered: "It will be looked upon as a weak, vacillating administration." Such is the reward President Hayes receives for his abandonment of Southern Republicans and the assistance given to the Southern aris tocracy. They regard Republicans as enemies to be [crushed; and acts of kindness done tothem by a Republican administration they consider evidences of weakness.
/Esop records that on one occasion the wolves informed the shepherds who were watching their flock, that they were greatly annoyed by the dogs, who were guarding the sheep; and if the dogs were sent away, they would protect the sheep. The foolish shepherds, extremely anxious for peace, complied with the request, and, when the dogs were gone, the wolves devoured the sheep.
Moral Never trust the word of unscrupulous enemies. Such ene mies are not be conciliated, but whipped.

THE POLICY OF FORCE.
One of the ablest and most distinguished advocates of the POLICY OF FORCE, recently said:
" Our policy toward the South in its present political attitude must " be determined, bold, aggressive. The South respects power, and it re* spects those who possess power and exhibit courage," *

The natural inference is that the South respects nothing but power,

and only those who exhibit courage. That is true of the aristocratic class;

but the statement does not do entire justice to the Southern people. The

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Southern aristocracy are not the Southern people, but only a small min-

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ority. It is true that most of the Southern people are now controlled by that class; but the power of the aristocracy has been broken in at least one state--Georgia--and it may be entirely broken in all the States with in a few years, if the right policy is pursued. But, if A POLICY OF FORCE is adopted, the aristocracy will claim that it has been done because the Northern Republicans hate the people of the South, and upon that line of policy the South will remain solid forever, and, in time, the hatred of the South for the North will be as great as that of Ireland for England.

THE POLICY OF CONVERSION.

The aristocratic class is less than two hundred thousand of the four

teen millions of people who inhabit the Southern States. The white

population is nine and a half millions; but less than two millions belonged

to the slave-holding class. Seven and a half millions owned no

slaves, and were extremely poor and ignorant. The income of a planter

with less than fifty slaves, was not enough to enable him to live without

work; therefore he was not considered a gentleman, and could not be

ranked as one of the aristocracy. Less than ten thousand planters

owned more than fifty slaves. Add to these such of the professional

men, the sons of wealthy planters, as belonged to the aristocratic class,

and count the families of all, and they would not number two hundred

thousand. But this class ruled the South because it controlled the wealth,

the schools, and the press.

Slavery was a curse to the non-slave holder, and nothing but his ignor

ance prevented him from realizing it. The aristocracy could retain power

and maintain the institution of slavery only by keeping the masses in ignor

ance ; therefore they were the enemies of free schools, although they

appropriated large sums of money for the establishment and endowment

of colleges, where the children of the wealthy were educated. At the

close of the war, folly twenty-five per cent, of the white population above

ten years of age, were unable to read and write, and probably seventy-five

per cent, were without a fair business education. When the National

Constitution was adopted, it was believed by the ablest statesmen that

the Southern States would excel all the others in population, wealth, and

power, because the natural advantages of the former were so much su

perior to the Northern States. But the census of 1870 shows that the popu

lation of the Northern and Western States and Territories was 24,546,-

578, the population of the Southern States 14,009,315. The wealth

of the former was $24^93,917,830, that of the South $5,559,524,092. In

1870, 1,941,045 persons in the Northern and Western States, above ten years of age, were unable to read and write, and they were mostly of foreign birth.; In the South, 5,573,646 persons of the same age, mostly dative born, were illiterate. Of the 2,000,000 illiterate voters in the Na

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tion, 1,700,000 were in the Southern States. But these-startling figures

- do not show the extent of the evil, for the ruling class refuse to appro

priate a sufiicient amount of money to maintain efficient free schools, and

therefore a majority of the children are growing up without a knowledge

of the-rudiments of learning.

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In the twenty-two Northern and Western States, $68,469,706 are

raised annually for free schools, but in the sixteen Southern States only

$10,781,406 are raised annually for that purpose ; and of this $6,192,889

are raised in the four border states of Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky and

Missouri, leaving only $4,588,517 raised for free schools in the other

twelve Southern States.

The population of Georgia in 1870 was about the same as that of

Massachusetts; but in the latter State only eight per cent, were illiterate;

and in the former, fifty-six per cent, were unable to read and write. The

natural resources of Georgia are far greater than those of Massachusetts;

but the former^state was worth in 1870, only 268,180,543, while the latter

was.worth $2,132,148,741--nearly two thousand millions of dollars more

than Georgia. We raise annually for free schools $400,000; Massachu

setts raises more than five and a half millions of dollars annually to edu

cate the same number of children. In the last ten years Georgia has

raised to educate her children about four millions of dollars; Massachu

setts has raised, fh the same time, to educate the same number of children,

about sixty millions of dollars. The people of Massachusetts are wealthy,

JV:.s'

because they have been educated, and because they have employed free

labor. The people of Georgia are poor, because there is so much ignor

ance, and because they employed free labor.

It is not claimed that Georgia can now raise as much money for free

schools as Massachusetts, but it is claimed that she can raise much more

than she has done. Kansas was worth, in 1870, but little more than half

as much as Georgia, and had but one-third as many children to educate,

and only nine per cent, of her people were illiterate, yet she raises for

free schools nearly a million and a"half of dollars annually. The wealth

of Minnesota is not as great as that of Georgia, and she has about one-

third as many children to educate, but her people raise annually for free

schools more than a million of dollars, and but eight per cent, of her

people are illiterate. We might pursue the comparison further, and show

that every State in the North raises much more money for free schools, in

proportion to its wealth and population, than the States of the South; al

though in the former States but eight per cent, of the population above

ten years of age are illiterate, while in the Southern States one-third of

the people of the same age are unable to read and write.

. The leaders of the old slave aristocracy are responsible for the pover

ty and illiteracy of the South. If they had been as wise ana as patriotic as

the statesmen of the North have been, the South would now be as wealthy

and powerful as the North. They have been a curse to the South as well

as the enemies of the Nation, and they are unchanged. The South will

not prosper until these Bourbons are overthrown. To overthrow them it

will be necessary to build up there a liberal progressive party. That

can be done by improving the condition x>f the colored voters and by

the conversion of white citizens to those ideas which have made the North

great and prosperous--to American ideas.

. '.. The Southern Bourbons are as much opposed to progress--to the educa

tion and elevation of the masses--as they were before the war. They re-

12

tain power because the people are-ignorant and do not realize to what ex

tent they have been degraded by the aristocracy. If the masses are prop

erly taught they will throw off the galling yoke, and place in power men

who believe in the dignity of labor, the free education of all children and

the political equality of all men. When such men are placed in power by

the Southern people and the masses are educated, all persons in the South

will be protected, justice will prevail, and a "full, free vote and an honest

count " will be secured. Then the people of the North and the people of

the South will be one people, and the old slave aristocracy will be as pow

erless as the tones were after the Revolution. The great work of the

immediate future is, then, to convert the Southern people ^to these ideas.

It should be, remembered that the battle-ground is in the South and that

it must be a hand-to-hand contest.

The most important agency in accomplishing this result is the

press. As already stated the Southern press has been and is to a very

great extent controlled by the aristocratic class; but a change is taking

place and some papers of marked ability are now advocating liberal

ideas.



Speeches, pamphlets and circulars may be used to great advantage,

and they should be distributed with great liberality.

But a political canvass in which the issues involved in the great con

flict are presented by able and judicious speakers would be of incalculable

benefit.

It is admitted that the work proposed is herculean, but it is believed

that the objects sought to be accomplished are worthy of the greatest ef

forts and sacrifices. It is a patriotic contest. People long estranged are

to be united; the foundations of a nation are to be strengthened, that it may

withstand the attacks of centuries.

Already much has been accomplished in Georgia. In 1874 I was the

Republican candidate for Congress in the Savannah district. The questions

previously discussed by Republican speakers had reference to re-construc

tion and the status of the negro. The discussion of these questions had

aroused the deepest animosity of the great majority of white citizens and

arrayed parties on the color-line. The colored men and a very few white

voters were on one side and most of the white citizens on the other. So

great had been the animosity against Republican speakers that it had been

dangerous to canvass many of the counties in the district; and no Repub

lican speakers had addressed the people in some counties. Believing

that the old questions had been settled--those having reference to slavery,

the war and the citizenship of the negro--I pressed new issues--the na

tionality of the government, the importance of public schools and a free

ballot--I appealed to the people both white and colored to sustain the Re

publican party because it was the champion of these ideas; and I arraigned

before the bar of public opinion the old slave aristocracy as? the enemies

of the Southern people. I canvassed every county in the district--nine

teen--and addressed the people at the important places in each. The

white as well as the colored people attended all the meetings, and I had no

difficulty in any county. Although the Civil Rights Bill was made an issue

in the campaign by the Democrats who attempted to arouse the passions

of the people against the Republican party, and although jthe Republicans

in other districts lost heavily as compared with previous elections, the Re

publican party in the Savannah district came out of the conflict stronger

than in any previous campaign.

In 18761 was again the Republican candidate for Congress in the same

district. I made the canvass on the same line of policy as in 1874, and

with even greater success.

Having been chosen chairman of the Republican State Committee, I

removed to Atlanta, the capital of the State, in the spring of 1877, for the

purpose of assisting to build up in the State a liberal progressive Republi

can party, by converting the people to Republicanism or American ideas.

Since that time much work has been done. An association--the Southern

Advance Association--has been organized to assist in this work. It has

published a newspaper much of the time and has distributed a very large

number of speeches, pamphlets and circulars, some of which it published.

Public addresses have also been made in different parts of the State.

Other influences have been at work on the same or similar lines, and at

length the effect is seen. .

'

.

The Republican party has been strengthened and the Democratic party

has been divided. At the last election for Governor two Democrats were

candidates: Governor Colquitt supported by the liberal element under the

lead of ex-Governor Brown and others, and ex-Senator Norwood supported ,

by the Bourbons under the lead of Gen. Toombs and others. The Re

publicans made no nomination and voted for Gov. Colquitt, who was

elected by sixty thousand majority. Subsequently, ex-Gov. Brown was

elected United States Senator by a vote of 146 to 64.

.

GOV. BROWN OF GEORGIA. m
The night before his election Gov. Brown made a speech before the members of the General Assembly. His opponent, Gen, Lawton, had censured him for advising the people of Georgia to submit to the Recon struction^Acts, and elect the best men in the State to the Constitutional Convention. To this he replied:--
" Gen. Lawton says I, at least, ought to have been silent. Others "might have done so. But I owed all I was to the people of Georgia. " Born of humble origin, they had taken me by the hand, and led me for" ward until they put the helm of State in my hands."
Again he said: "My opponent says we want a Senator who repre"sents the sentiments of Georgia. There is a sentiment I do not repre" sent. It is the sentiment of that aristocratic class which lived high and ^taught their children to love to rule. But I believe I represent the labor ing classes of the State. I have-had a hard life. I have had to work " my way up, and am a little too much worn for a man under sixty. . . ;
" If I go back to the Senate, I shall not expect to sit and fold my. " arms and represent the sentimentality of the State. I shall try to go to "work and help my people in any way that I can. I shall do all that I " can to encpurage our agricultural resources. I shall endeavor to aid in "the development of our mineral resources, I shall endeavor to encourage

_ ^.v ,,
" manufactures, and to maintain the proper balance between manufactures " and agriculture. .. . I have the educational question very much at heart. " Disguise it as you may, the New-England States, with their schools and "universities, have dictated laws to this continent. They have sent New" England ideas all over the West and they dominate there. . . . The " bright-eyed boys in your mountains and wire-grass (referring to the chil"dren of the poor white people in the upper and lower parts of the State), " may represent you nobly before the world if you educate them. We "must also educate the colored race. . . . The colored people are citi" zens and we must do them justice. . . . We must adopt some new " notions. The world moves and I am in favor of moving with it."
Having thus expressed himself he was next day elected United States Senator by a majority of 40. Thus Georgia takes her place as the most liberal and progressive Southern State.
To a correspondent of the Providence Press; Senator Brown is re" ported to have said: " It is for the interest of both whites and blacks " that mutual rights shall be recognized and protected. By this they " mean political as well as educational and property rights. . . . There " are white people who are still unreconciled to the new order of things "and who still live in the past. They are Bourbons. I think they have " dealt their last blow in Georgia as an organized body. In the recent " canvass for the Senatorship my opponent had the united support of all " irreconcilables. The defeat he encountered was, I believe, a death" blow to political Bourbonism in my State. My success was less a per"sonal success than it was a triumph of New Georgia over Old Georgia." No, I do not believe that the obstructionists and foes of progress in Geor" can ever rally their shattered forces again. Our State will enjoy the " benefits of this victory in a thousand different ways; and liberal progres"sive ideas have now gained an impetus that cannot be stayed."
Speaking of the old slave aristocracy to a correspondent of the Chi cago Times Senator Brown is reported to have said: "There is a class of " people in the South whose fathers, a generation or two back, possessed " either wealth or distinction. They or their descendants were large slave" holders and they were usually classed as the aristocracy of the South. " They are sometimes termed by the common people the kid-gloved aris*' tocracy. Either fortunately or unfortunately I never belonged to that " class. I was born of humble parentage. I had to work my own way "in the world. I was brought up among the working class. I rose " from the men of the people. They took me by the hand and sustained " me because they believed I was one of them. The aristocracy to which " I have referred never believed any not born of wealthy parentage should " participate in the affairs of government. That belongs, according to ".then- idea, to the privileged class."
In a speech recently delivered in the United States Senate, he is re ported to have said: " The Senator from Vermont (Mr. Monill) has re" ferred to the alarming amount of illiteracy in the United States. It is " disproportionately great in the South. One reason for this is that under

" the old system of Southern society, more attention was given to the edu" cation of the ruling class than that of the whole mass."
In the interview with the correspondent of the Chicago Times^ to which I have already referred, Senator Brown is reported to have said : ." As we live in a new era and a new South, we must adopt new ideas, must " wake to new energy, and must stand upon the broad platform of equal " rights and equal justice to all. * * * If we would elevate, the people " of the South to the true position of power and influence to which they " are entitled, we must educate the masses of the people, and develop a " brighter intellect in the humbler circles of life that is now left unculti"vated."
Thus the representative man of the New South talks. He knows by a hard experience that the old slave aristocracy are the enemies of the Southern people, as they are of the Northern people. It is in then* opin ion only themselves who have sprung from master races, and only they are fit to rule. They have kept the Southern people in poverty and ignorance, and would continue to do so to the end of time, if they coujd have thenown way. Here is a man who was born of poor parentage, and by his own energy has educated himself, and at the age of 59 is the ablest and wealthiest man in the State. He has been a Judge of the Superior Court, eight years Governor of the State, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and now, bidding defiance to the old slave aristocracy that has done all it could to crush and degrade the class from which he sprung, he has been elected a United States Senator by an overwhelming majority. Thorough ly believing in American ideas, he seeks to remove the scales from the eyes of his people, and elevate his section to that position to which it is entitled by its natural advantages. And this man thus laboring is sup ported by a large majority of the people of Georgia. He is now a Demo crat, but, I believe, a true friend of the Union, of American ideas, and of the people of the North. .
RESULT OF THE POLICY OF CONVERSION IN GEORGIA.
We have made a good beginning in Georgia, and have shown what may be accomplished by the POLICY OF CONVERSION. What has been ac complished in Georgia may be in other Southern States. Although much more work must be done before we can occupy that position as an Ameri can State that it is our duty, and privilege to occupy, yet we have good reason to take courage and go forward.
The result in Georgia encourages us to believe that a large majority of the people of the South may be brought into harmony with American thought if the proper efforts are made to convert them to liberal ideas; that public schools may be established and properly maintained for the free education of children; that the lives and rights of all citizens may be pro tected; that "a full, free vote and an honest count" may be secured j that the people of the North and the people of the South may be united and become one people, and the foundations of the Republic made strj enough to withstand the attacks of centuries.

16
IU
THE NATIONAL UNION ASSOCIATION.
There are in each Southern State men of ability and high character who are in fall sympathy with American thought; but in many States they have been overborne by the power of the aristocratic class. It is proposed to unite them in each State into an association for the purpose of assisting to build up a liberal progressive party that will strengthen the national feel ing and the love of the Union; that will favor the establishment and* prop er maintenance of a system of public schools for the free education of all children; and will labor for the protection of the lives and rights of all citizens, including the right to vote and the securing of an honest count of the ballots.
These men are not now able to prosecute this work without the assist ance of their more favored friends at the North. When it is remembered that they are comparatively few in numbers, and have not great wealth; and that they must contend against a compact, well-organized aristocracy, who control most of the press, the greater part of the wealth, and society, the necessity for this aid will be apparent. That the assistance shall be sufficient to accomplish the results sought to be accomplished, and that it may be judiciously given, it is proposed to organize at the North similar associations, to be known as "National Union Associations/1 Already, prominent citizens of Rhode Island have organized at Providence "The National Union Association, No. I, of Rhode Island," for the purpose of assisting "to build up at the South a liberal, progressive party. Steps have been taken to organize similar associations in other Northern States, and it is proposed to unite them, and form a national association.
It is proposed to aid only those in the South who need and ask for assistance. It is not an interference with the affairs of the Southern peo ple. It is the support of friends who without such aid could not maintain the unequal contest against their enemies, and the enemies of the Nation.
Mr. President, and gentlemen of the Club, in accepting your invita^ tion to address you upon the Southern question, it has seemed proper that I should speak of the causes of the conflict between the antagonistic sections of our country, and point out what I believe to be the true policy to be pursued to unite these estranged peoples. If an increased interest has been awakened in the Southern question as it has been presented; and if I may hope that the POLICY OF CONVERSION which has been advocated shall be approved by you, I shall feel that much good has been accomplished.
ACTION OF THE CLUB.
A vote of thanks was extended to Col. Bryant for his address, and upon motion the matter as presented by him was referred to the Executive Committee, with power to take such action as may seem desirable.
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