The speech was reprinted and had considerable circulation, but, like the shadows that pass, it is probably forgotten by all who heard or read it. I consider it as one of the best, in temper, composition and argument, that I ever made.
It had been arranged that I was to be driven to Saint Paul's chapel after the meeting. The occasion was the assemblage of the educational association of the African Methodist Episcopal church, and their friends. The chapel was a large, handsome, well-furnished room, and was crowded to the door with well-dressed men and women. Dr. Bryant made an address of welcome, and Bishop Turner introduced me to the audience. I made a brief response and excused myself from speaking further on account of fatigue. General Grosvenor and ex- Senator Warner made short speeches. Our party then returned to the hotel. To me this meeting was a surprise and a gratification. Here was a body of citizens but lately slaves, who, in attendance on religious services and afterward remaining until a late hour listening to us, behaved with order, attention and intelligence. The report of my remarks, as given in their newspapers, was as follows:
"Senator Sherman said that the praise of himself had been too high. He had voted for the emancipation of the negro race in the District of Columbia, an event which had preceded the emancipation proclamation of Abraham Lincoln. He supported it as a great act of national authority and of justice. Therefore, he could appear as a friend of the race and of liberty. He had not voted for it because they were negroes, but he had voted for it because they were men and women. He would have voted for the whites as well. He spoke of the society and said any measure that would tend to elevate the race he was in favor of. What the race wanted was not more rights but more education. Their rights were secured to them by the constitution of the United States, and the time would come when they would enjoy them as freely as anyone. They should not be impatient to advance. Prejudice could not be overcome in a short period. He said the best way to overcome all prejudice was by elevating themselves; but not by gaudy extravagance, groans, abuse, war, or tumult of war. They had the same right to become lawyers, doctors, soldiers and heroes as the white man had.
"When they became as advanced as the whites around them there would be no trouble about their franchises. Now they were free men and they should become freeholders. After they had got education they should accumulate property."
On the next morning I left Nashville for Cincinnati, where I arrived on the evening of the 25th of March and took lodgings at the Gibson House. I was to speak at Turner Hall on the next evening, under the auspices of the Lincoln and Blaine clubs. It was a busy day with me in receiving calls and in visiting the chamber of commerce and the two clubs where speeches were made and hand shaking done. Still, I knew what I was to say at the meeting, and the composition of the audience I was to address. The hall is large, with good acoustic qualities, and in it I had spoken frequently. It is situated in the midst of a dense population of workingmen, and was so crowded that night in every part that many of the audience were compelled to stand in the aisles and around the walls. On entering I mentally contrasted my hearers with those at Faneuil Hall and Nashville. Here was a sober, attentive and friendly body of workingmen, who came to hear and weigh what was said, not in the hurry of Boston or with the criticism of political opponents as in Nashville, but with an earnest desire to learn and to do what was best for the great body of workingmen, of whom they were a part. I was introduced in a kindly way by ex-Governor Noyes. After a brief reference to my trip to Florida and Cuba, I described the country lying southwest of the Alleghany mountains, about two hundred miles wide, extending from Detroit to Mobile, destined to be the great workshop of the United States, where coal and iron could be easily mined, where food was abundant and cheap, and in a climate best fitted for the development of the human race. In this region, workingmen, whether farmers, mechanics or laborers, would always possess political power as the controlling majority of the voters. I claimed that the Republican party was the natural home of workingmen, that its policy, as developed for thirty years, had advanced our industrial interests and diversified the employments of the people. This led to a review of our political policy, the homestead law, the abolition of slavery, good money always redeemable in coin, the development of manufactures and the diversity of employments. I discussed the creation of new parties, such as the labor party and the temperance party, and contended that their objects could better be attained by the old parties. I referred to the organization of a national bureau of labor, to a bill providing for arbitration, and other measures in the interest of labor. I stated the difficulties in the way of the government interposing between capital and labor. They were like husband and wife; they must settle their quarrels between them, but the law, if practicable, should provide a mode of adjustment. I closed with the following appeal to them as workingmen:
"Let us stand by the Republican party, and we will extend in due time our dominion and power into other regions; not by annexation, not by overriding peaceable and quiet people, but by our commercial influence, by extending our steamboat lines into South America, by making all the Caribbean Sea one vast American ocean; by planting our influence among the sister republics, by aiding them from time to time, and thus, by pursuing an American policy, become the ruler of other dominions."
From Cincinnati, after a brief visit to Mansfield, I returned to Washington to await the opening of spring weather, which rarely comes in the highlands of Ohio until the middle of May.
General Sherman and I had been invited several times to visit Woodbury, Connecticut, for nearly two centuries the home of our ancestors. In April, both being in Washington, we concluded to do so, and advised Mr. Cothron, the historian of Woodbury, of our purpose. We arrived in the evening at Waterbury, and there found that our coming was known. Several gentlemen met us at the depot and conducted us to the hotel, some of them having served with General Sherman in the Civil War. Among them was a reporter. We explained to him that we were on our way to Woodbury, had no plans to execute, intended to erect no monuments, as was stated, and only wished to see where our ancestors had lived and died. General Sherman was rather free in his talk about the steep hills and cliffs near High Rock grove. These he admired as scenery, but he said: "I cannot see how this rocky country can be converted into farming lands that can be made profitable;" also "I am indeed pleased to think that my ancestors moved from this region to Ohio in 1810." Among the callers was S. M. Kellogg, who had served with me in Congress.
The next morning we went to Woodbury, called on William Cothron, and proceeded to the cemetery and other places of note in the neighborhood. In this way the day was pleasantly spent. I thought there were signs of decay in the old village since my former visit, but this may have been caused by the different seasons of the year at which these visits were made. Woodbury looks more like an England shire town than any other in Connecticut. Its past history was full of interest, but the birth and growth of manufacturing towns all around eclipsed it and left only its memories. After visiting the site of the old Sherman homestead, about a mile from town, and the famous Stoddard house, in which my grandmother was born, we returned to New York.
I had been invited by the officers and members of the Illinois legislature, then in session at Springfield, to speak in the hall of the house of representatives on the political issues of the day. I accepted with some reluctance, as I doubted the expediency of a partisan address at such a place. My address at Nashville, no doubt, led to the invitation; but the conditions were different in the two cities. At Nashville it was expected that I would make a conciliatory speech, tending to harmony between the sections, while at Springfield I could only make a partisan speech, on lines well defined between the two great parties, and, as I learned afterwards, by reason of local issues, to a segment of the Republican party. Had I known this in advance I would have declined the invitation.