You have an
inheritance acquired by the labors and sufferings of six successive
generations of ancestors. They founded the fabric of your prosperity in
a severe and masculine morality, having intelligence for its cement, and
religion for its groundwork. Continue to build on the same foundation,
and by the same principles let the extending temple of your country's
freedom rise in the spirit of ancient times, in proportions of
intellectual and moral architecture,--just, simple, and sublime.
THE NEW SOUTH
HENRY W. GRADY
"There was a South of slavery and secession--that South is dead. There
is a South of union and freedom--that South, thank God, is living,
breathing, growing every hour." These words, delivered from the immortal
lips of Benjamin H. Hill, at Tammany Hall, in 1866, true then and true
now, I shall make my text to-night.
Mr. President and Gentlemen: Let me express to you my appreciation of
the kindness by which I am permitted to address you. I make this abrupt
acknowledgment advisedly, for I feel that if, when I raise my provincial
voice in this ancient and august presence, I could find courage for no
more than the opening sentence, it would be well if in that sentence I
had met in a rough sense my obligation as a guest, and had perished, so
to speak, with courtesy on my lips and grace in my heart.
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