The meeting at Petersburg was held in a large opera house on the evening of the 29th of October. When I faced my audience the central part of the house and the galleries seemed to be densely packed by negroes, while in the rear was a fringe of white men. The line of demarkation was clearly indicated by color, most of the white men standing and seeming ill at ease. The speech was fairly well received. In opening I said my purpose was to demonstrate that what the Republican party professed in Ohio as to national questions was the same that it professed in Virginia, and that the practical application of the principles of the Republican party would be of vast benefit to the State of Virginia, while Democratic success would tend more and more to harden the times and prevent the industrial development of Virginia.
"Not only your newspaper," I said, "but the distinguished gentleman who is the Democratic candidate for Governor of the State of Virginia, has said to you that I was waving the bloody shirt while he was contending under the Union flag. If he meant, by waving the bloody shirt, that I sought, in any way, to renew the animosities of the war, then he was greatly mistaken, for in the speech to which he refers, and in every speech I made in Ohio, I constantly said that the war was over and the animosities of the war should be buried out of sight; that I would not hold any Confederate soldier responsible for what he did during the war, and that all I wished was to maintain and preserve the acknowledged results of the war. Among these, I claim, is the right of every voter to cast one honest vote and have it counted; that every citizen, rich or poor, native or naturalized, white or black, should have equal civil and political rights, and that every man of lawful age should be allowed to exercise his right to vote, without distinction of race or color or previous condition. I charge, among other things, that these constitutional rights and privileges have been disregarded by the Democratic party, especially in the southern states."
The speech was largely historical in its character and evidently rather beyond the comprehension of the body of my audience. The scene and the surroundings made a vivid impression on my mind. Here, I felt, were two antagonistic races widely differing in every respect, the old relations of master and slave broken, with new conditions undeveloped, the master impoverished and the slave free without the knowledge to direct him, and with a belief that liberty meant license, and freedom idleness. William McKinley, then a Member of the House of Representatives, and Green B. Raum then spoke, Mr. McKinley confining his speech mainly to a simple exposition of the tariff question, which his audience could easily understand.
The next day, at the invitation of John S. Wise, then the Republican candidate for Governor of Virginia, I went to Richmond, and spent a pleasant day with him. In the evening I attended a mass meeting in the open air, at which there was a very large attendance. There was no disorder in the large crowd before me, but off to the right, at some distance, it was evident that a party of men were endeavoring to create some disturbance, and to distract attention from the speeches. While I was speaking Wise rose and, in terms very far from polite, denounced the people making the noise. He succeeded in preventing any interruption of the meeting. The speech was made without preparation, but, I think, better for the occasion that the one in Petersburg. I stated that I had been born and lived in a region where a large portion of the population was from Virginia and Kentucky; that I had always been taught to believe in the doctrines of the great men illustrious in Virginia history. To the charge made that I was engaged in waving the bloody shirt I said:
"If it means that I said anything in Ohio with a view to stir up the animosities of the Civil War, then, I say, it is greatly mistaken. I never uttered an unkind word about the people of Virginia that mortal man can quote. I have always respected and loved the State of Virginia, its memories, its history, its record, and its achievements.
"Again, although I was a Union man from my heart and every pulsation, just as my friend Wise was a Confederate soldier, yet I never heard in Ohio a man call in question either the courage or purity of motive of any Confederate soldier who fought in the Confederate ranks. I never uttered such a sentiment. I disclaim it. What I did say was this—what I say here in Richmond, and what I said in Petersburg is—that the war is over and all animosities of the war should be buried out of sight; that I would not hold any Confederate soldier responsible for what he did in the war, and all I ask of you is to carry out the acknowledged results of the war; to do what you agreed to, when Grant and Lee made their famous arrangement under the apple tree at Appomattox; to stand by the constitution and laws of the land, to see that every man in this country, rich and poor, native and naturalized, white and black, shall have equal civil and political rights, and the equal protection of the law. I said also, that by constitutional amendment agreed to by Virginia, every man of proper age in this country was armed for his protection with the right to cast one honest vote, and no more, and have that vote counted, and you, as well as I, are bound to protect every man in the enjoyment of that right.
"There is the ground I stood on in Ohio, and the ground I stand on now."
I closed my address as follows:
"And now a word to the best citizens of Richmond. If the criminal classes can deprive a colored man or a white Republican of his right to vote, as soon as they have accomplished it, then these rascals—because every man who resorts to this policy is a rascal —then these rascals will soon undermine their own party. They will begin to cheat each other after they have cheated the Republicans out of their political power. My countrymen, there is no duty so sacred resting upon any man among you, I don't care what his politics are. It is honesty that I like to appeal to. I say there is no man who can be deprived of his right to vote without injuring you, from the wealthiest in the city of Richmond down to the humblest man among you, white or black.
"There is no crime that is meaner, there is no crime that is so destructive to society, there is no crime so prejudicial to the man who commits it as the crime of preventing a citizen from participating in the government. Here I intend to leave the question. I appeal to you, of whatever party, or color, or race, or country, to give us in Virginia at this election an honest vote and an honest count, and if Lee is elected, well and good; if Wise is elected, better yet."