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maintained on the part of those who were successful, that there is much fear that the natural reaction may carry us so far that we shall inflict upon the country doctrines equally fatal to the perpetuity of our institutions with any of those which lie buried in the graves of so many thousands of our best and bravest.

It seems well, therefore, that we should review the actual workings of our institutions, in the light of the knowledge acquired during the war, and study a little the advantages, as we have completely learned and overcome the disadvantages of the theory of State rights.

It is a little curious at first glance to note that that section of our countrymen who planted themselves upon the extremest doctrines of State sovereignty and founded a de facto government upon the principle that every State embraced in it was sovereign and possessed complete control of its own affairs, even to the extent of separating from the central government at its pleasure, and without even assigning a reason, had actually within two years thereafter almost completely annihilated their State Governments and assumed jurisdiction over their affairs. So far had this gone that in 1864 the sovereign States of the South had in truth few, if any, rights which the Richmond Government felt bound to respect, or did respect, and the future historian of the war may find, perhaps, the best solution of the complete breakdown of the South in the fact that the Southern people in the early part of the struggle had, by their own hands, almost completely destroyed what they waged war to maintain.

It is equally curious to note that in the North, where theories of State sovereignty almost the exact opposite were held, from the very beginning of hostilities the power and influence of the State Governments began steadily and rapidly to increase, until long before the end of the war they occupied a position of such commanding importance in the conduct of national affairs as was unknown to their history theretofore. So far from any attempt being made to impair their constitutional powers or restrict their rights of local self-government, it was soon discovered that in war as in peace, for raising great armies expeditiously and keep-1 ing them in the field successfully, as for administering the affairs of a people in profound peace they were equally efficient and equally admirable instrumentalities. We can realize now, as perhaps many of us did not then, the important fact that

the General Government, by recognizing this truth promptly and acting upon it consistently, acquired the power to prosecute the war to a successful conclusion. In every detail of service-from the movements of great armies in battle down to the supply of the smallest article for the comfort of the soldier-the hands of the State Governments were everywhere felt and their influence for good everywhere made manifest. Who of us can forget the anxious solicitude, the ceaseless watchfulness, the untiring efforts of our State authorities for the regiments they put into the field? Who followed us day by day on the march and in battle, in camp and in hospital? Who bound up our wounds and nursed us through sickness and suffering? Who consoled us in disaster and cheered us on to renewed effort? Who marshaled behind us the re-enforcements which turned defeat into victory? Who stood by us from first to last-in sorrow and misfortune as in victory and triumph? In war, as in peace, our State Governments are a sure reliance, and it would ill become us, comrades, who owe such a debt of gratitude, to lend a hand to any measures likely to jeopard their true position and rightful functions under the Constitution of the United States. We have thoroughly dealt with the attempt of certain of the State Governments to overthrow the rightful authority of the National Government. Will it not be well for us now to be equally careful that the rightful authority of the State Governments be not invaded in like manner?

There is another curious fact, of such general application that it certainly signifies something, and perhaps should be carefully studied. I state it with much diffidence, and only because it can be readily verified by any one without the least trouble, and because it seems to me to involve questions in which we are alike equally interested in all parts of the country. I disclaim all purpose whatever other than the honest desire to seek and examine whatever our late history has offered which appears to merit our serious attention. Because a truth may not be agreeable it is hardly the part of wisdom in a clear-sighted and intelligent people to ignore it or put it aside, or even to have any feeling because it exists, except the wish to remedy what is evil and perpetuate what is good. I think it is necessary to say so much lest my motives be in any manner misunderstood or misrepresented.

This singular fact, then, was presented for our consideration at the conclusion of the war.

We had passed through a great civil war-a convulsion which upheaved this nation from the very foundations; in which our social, moral and political institutions were at stake, and in danger of complete shipwreck; a war which invaded every household, and sat by every fireside in the land; in which every man, woman and child was vitally interested, and upon the result of which everything we held sacred was staked. Such a war commanded the best efforts of everybody, regardless of age, sex, or condition, and it is needless to say that the efforts were put forth and the sacrifices made. For us it ended successfully, and in its progress the men best fitted for the great work to be done were produced, and did it faithfully and well. The battle was valiantly fought and honorably won; but when the war was over we found that the President of the United States was a Western man; the VicePresident a Western man; the Speaker of the House a Western man; the Chief Justice of the United States a Western man; the Secretary of the Treasury a Western man; the Secretary of War a Western man; the Secretary of the Interior a Western man; the Postmaster General a Western man; the Attorney General a Western man; the General of the Army a Western man; the Lieutenant-General a Western man; the Admiral of the Navy a Western man. In fine the whole power of the Government, both in its civil and military departments, had, in this great struggle, passed into the hands of men from the West.

I repeat, that I have no purpose whatever in setting forth these facts, easy to be verified, except the honest desire that, if there be meaning in them, if they are really of consequence to us as a people, we may recognize and act upon them.

Several explanations of a result so peculiar have been suggested, and among them the fact that some of these high functionaries were natives of the Eastern States, but this fact hardly furnishes a satisfactory solution of the question unless it can also be truly said that the ten or twenty years they passed among a people so different in modes of thought and manner of education as they found in the West made no impression upon them, and that they remained the same men as if they had always lived amidst the surroundings and associations of their youth.

My own consideration of the subject has led me to inquire whether in the systems of education, which have been long enough in operation in the Eastern States to bear full fruit, but which have

been but lately inaugurated in the West, we may not find some clue to a result so peculiar.

Is it or not the fact that such sameness of books, of modes of teaching, and of men who teach, as prevails in our system of public schools, tends directly to that uniformity in habits of mind, and modes of thought-which eliminates all originality and leaves the objects of such teaching with so few differences, that the friction of ideas necessary to individual development and to human progress becomes next to impracticable? Is it not true that the law of creation is infinite diversity, and equally true that our system of education directly substitutes uniformity? Is it wise to make systems of education so uniform in all their details that they must inevitably produce men so much alike as buttons from a factory? Is the harmonious development of communities and States, or individuals, the object of education? Are not the results of such a system as ours much in the nature of our hotel soups which have such sameness of flavor that no man can tell whether the essential element is fish, flesh or fowl? Will it not be wiser in us, whilst using the same means and putting forth even greater efforts to multiply public schools and other educational establishments all over the land, to insist upon infinite diversity in detail and to preserve the differences which now exist rather than to extend further the uniformity which threatens to end in general stagnation?

I suggest very generally what has occurred to my own mind in this connection, not with the purpose of offering such suggestions as a solution of the matter in question, but simply to invite inquiry. I leave the subject with you, comrades, feeling sure that if it merits consideration, it will receive it at your hands. If there be nothing in the facts, there can be surely no harm done in stating them. If they really mean something worthy of thought, I feel confident they will be approached in the true spirit of inquiry.

All people who have founded great empires and played a great part in the progress of mankind since history began, seem to have possessed one peculiar faculty-the faculty of assimulating population; of digesting, as it were, the nations they had conquered or acquired by treaty, and of turning into citizens like themselves, the infinite varieties of mankind which had in any way fallen under their influence.

Of the two peoples in the civilized world of to-day who possess this faculty, we are one, and so long as it remains unimpaired and

in full force, we may look with confidence to a future of prosperity and progress. When it ceases to act we may understand without fear or mistake that we have reached the zenith of our fortunes and must begin to contemplate, with what fortitude we may, our certain decline. So far we see no signs of decay or of weakness. We have welcomed to our land all strangers from whatever country and in whatever numbers they came. So far we have been able to assimulate them, and from the motive of every country in the civilized world to make an American in idea and feeling. All have adapted themselves without effort to the conditions around them, and it is not too much to say that many of our best and most valued citizens have come to us, in times not remote, from countries alien to us in blood, in language, and in institutions. At last, within the limits of our own territory, we have, by one act, endowed with citizenship nearly four millions of people, differing more widely from us, both physically and morally, than any we have had to deal with, and debased and degraded by centuries of slavery and wrong. Certainly by this act we have taxed heavily our powers of digestion, and if we can emerge from such a trial with unimpaired vigor we shall have reason for profound gratitude. Extraordinary circumstances and imperative necessity forced us into the act, and common justice to the unfortunate people who have thus suddenly been vested with the highest privileges known among men, as well as our own direct interest, demands that we should faithfully and honestly carry out the obligations we have assumed.

We must protect them in the rights we have conferred upon them; we must use all proper means to educate and to fit them for the duties of citizenship; we must be forbearing and considerate, and if we are able by patience and kindness to make them citizens, peaceful, industrious and law-abiding, we shall not only have accomplished one of the greatest triumphs for humanity, but we shall have assured ourselves that our mission in the world has only fairly begun. But we have this great task yet before us, and its result is full of doubt and ofttimes of discouragement. Let us persevere in good faith, but in the meantime, and until we are assured of success, will it not be wise to tax no further the diges'tive power of the body politic. There are portions of the continent we live on, and some of the islands of the sea, which no doubt it would be better for this people and for mankind that we should

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