“It has been my lot to attend a good many college commencements, but I never attended one in all my life where so much honor and encouragement were given to those connected with an institution as to-day. Two members of the Cabinet of the United States, the President of the youngest university of the United States, and which bids fair to be one of the grandest (President Gilman, of the Johns Hopkins University), judges of our courts, eminent professional men, and two of the most venerable gentlemen on this continent, Dr. Plumer and Dr. Hopkins——Massachusetts and South Carolina uniting to-day to give encouragement to this institution and to the labors of those who are so nobly carrying out its objects.
“I cannot stand here to-day in this historic latitude without some profound emotions. I should not be a Virginian if I did. I cannot stand in sight of Fortress Monroe without remembering our fallen fortunes. The last two summers I have been abroad, and I have come back believing that there is no land which God has so smiled upon as this country. We have no need so great as of a stable government. I do not mean of force. No government can be stronger than the love of the people for it. You may put great iron bands upon it, but there will be a centrifugal power which will burst them. There must be centripetal force powerful enough to attract the people together in it. If our Government is to be like that, may the Lord smile upon it and perpetuate it to the last syllable of time.
“All my life long I have been a friend to one of the classes represented here, and now I am grateful that this institution has extended its protecting wing over another. I have been something of a student of races. I could occupy the remainder of the day in telling you of the good qualities of the African race; and there has always been a great deal that has touched my heart in the character of the Indian people——their love for their ancestral lands, their reverence for the bones of their forefathers, that decorous reserve which gives such dignity to their bearing. One thing which I have always admired in them is this, that when a war is over, they never talk about the war that is fought. It is not considered magnanimous in an Indian to taunt a fallen foe. It seems to me that in our popular assemblies and in other assemblies it might be well to imitate the Indian, and not talk too much about the war.
“The Indian who told us the story of his life at home said something that went straight to my heart. He didn’t say it very forcibly, but the force was in the thing he said. Time was, he told us, when he did not know anything about his soul or his salvation. One end of this institution is to make the poor Indian acquainted with the things which shall help him see God, not in the clouds, but in the face of Jesus Christ; and to hear him, not in the winds, but in the still small voice of the Spirit, speaking peace to his soul.”
The Doctor closed with calling attention to goodness as the greatest element of success; that no man can afford to succeed by sacrificing it; illustrating it by reference to a humble girl who came during the yellow fever scourge to nurse the sick, and who died a victim to its poisons, and by the life of a colored Baptist minister who recently died in Richmond.
The Hon. Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior, was called upon to follow. He began thus:
“I respond to this call not to prolong the exercises of the day, nor for purposes of debate. I do not intend to discuss the war. I am glad it is over. I only desire to bear testimony that of all the speakers of the day, not one has alluded to the war save in a most innocent way, and they were the Indian and the reverend gentleman who is, I am sure, a most peaceable member of the church militant. As to the manner in which civil wars should be treated, he and I do not disagree.
“My heart is elated with this spectacle to-day. Reference has been made to the fact that two Cabinet officers are present. I assure you that we did not come here for purposes of amusement, but to witness elements in the solution of one of the most difficult and dangerous problems of our day——the problem of blending two races, one of which has been in subjection and the other in hostility. We are all filled with feelings of admiration and gratitude to Gen. Armstrong and his co-workers here; to the State of Virginia, which, by its generous aid, renders a service to itself not only and to the colored people, but to this whole country; and to the benevolent people North and South, in Massachusetts and in South Carolina. In this I see the real end of the war and the inauguration of true peace. If I look back with satisfaction on anything in my official career, it is that I have been instrumental in aiding such a work. I am happy to know that the experiment is a success; and I assure you that so far as the means and power of my department go, nothing shall be left undone to strengthen and enlarge the experiment. The time has gone when the Indian can live on buffalo meat and give himself to the chase. The time has come when every man must work. All the information which comes to us tends to show that not only these but other tribes desire education, and that the attempt to give it to them is successful.
“The question is often asked, Will they not relapse into barbarism on returning among their own tribes? I am inclined to think that this danger is real, unless the education be extended to a much larger number of Indians——enough to support each other, and so resist the pressure. This is the object to be held in view, and which I hope, in part, may be accomplished before my term of office expires.
“I commend this institution. I do not know of one educational institution in the country which is more important in its tendencies, as well as in its promised results, than this. I hope that Virginia will continue to extend her helping hand, that its patrons North and South will not withdraw their support, and that continued success may attend the labors of the General and those who are associated with him in this work. I will only add that these sentiments of appreciation of this work, and the desire for its enlargement and extension, are most heartily concurred in by the President of the United States.”