20 



ALABAMA. 



prove true to what they had pledged them- 

 selves. It was useless to put forth puerile or 

 childish pleas. They must manfully look the 

 situation in the face, in justice to themselves, 

 their wives, their children, and their country. 



Their common emblem was now that com- 

 mon flag. They had now in common one coun- 

 try and one emblem. Let them prove true to 

 that flag. They had been conquered under the 

 flag he and they had raised. Under these cir- 

 cumstances he hoped that there would not be a 

 single no. 



The only colored speaker on the occasion 

 said: 



FELLOW-CITIZENS : I feel my incapacity to-night to 

 speak, after hearing the eloquence of those preceding 

 me. I received an invitation from the white citizens 

 of Mobile to speak for the purpose of reconciling our 

 races the black to the white to extend the hand of 

 fellowship. You have heard the resolutions. You 

 are with us, and I believe are sincere in what they 

 promise. It is my duty to accept the offer of recon- 

 struction when it is extended in behalf of peace to 

 our common country. Let us remove the past from 

 our bosoms, and reconcile ourselves and positions 

 together. I am certain that my race cannot be sat- 

 isfied unless granted all the rights allowed -by the law 

 and by that flag. The resolutions read to you to- 

 night guarantee every thing. Can you expect any 

 more? If you do, I would like to know where you 

 are going to get it. I am delighted in placing myself 

 upon this platform, and in doing this I am doing my 

 duty to my God and my country. We want to do 

 what is right. We believe white men will also do 

 what is right. 



The next speaker was a late Confederate offi- 

 cer during the war. lie said : 



It is the first time for seven long years that we 

 sit and at first we sat with diffidence under the 

 "old flag," and I cannot deny that my feelings are 

 rather of a strange nature. Looking back to the past, 

 I remembered the day (the 10th day of January, 1861) 

 when I hauled down that flag from its proud staff in 

 Fort St. Philip, and thought then that another flag 

 would soon spread its ample folds over the Southern 

 soil. 



But that flag is no more. It has gone down in a 

 cloud of glory no more to float even over the de- 

 serted graves of our departed heroes one more of 

 the bright constellations in the broad canopy of that 

 firmament where great warriors are made demigods. 



But I did not come here to-night to tell you, men 

 of Alabama, that my heart was with you for you 

 well know that as far as that heart can go, it never 

 will cease beating for what is held dear and sacred to 

 you. But I came here to speak to those of our new 

 fellow-citizens, who are now seeking the light of 

 truth. 



It is said that two races now stand in open antago- 

 nism to each other that the colored man is the nat- 

 ural enemy of the white man, and, hereafter, no 

 communion of interests, feelings, and past associa- 

 tions, can fill the gulf which divides them. 



But who is it that says so? Is it the Federal sol- 

 dier who fought for the freedom of that race? Is it 

 even the political leader whose eloquence stirred up 

 the North and West to the rescue of that race ? No ; 

 it is none of these. It is not even the intelligent and 

 educated men of that class, for I now stand on the 

 very spot where one of them, Mr. Trcnier, disclaimed 

 those disorganizing principles, and eloquently vindi- 

 cated the cause of truth and reason. 



Why, then, should there be any strife between us? 

 Why should not oixr gods be their gods our happi- 

 ness be their happiness ? Has anything happened 

 which should break up concert of action, harmony, 



and concord in the great the main objects of life 

 the pursuit of happiness? 



Where can that happiness spring from ? Is it from 

 the midst of a community divided against itself, or 

 from one blessed with peace and harmony? 



In what particular have our relations changed ? In 

 what case have our interests in the general welfare 

 been divided ? Is not to-day the colored man as es- 

 sential to our prosperity as he was before? 



Is not our soil calling for the energetic efforts of 

 his sinewy arms? Can we, in fact, live without him? 

 But while we want his labor he wants our lands, our 

 capital, our industry, our influence in the commerce 

 and finances of the world. 



And if, coming down from those higher functions 

 in society, we descend to our domestic relations, 

 where do we find that those relations are changed? 



Does not the intelligent freedman know that neither 

 he nor we are accountable to God for the condition 

 in which we were respectively born ? 



Does he not know that, for generations past, the 

 institution of slavery had been forced upon us by the 

 avarice, the love of power of the North ? Does he 

 not know that to-day we have in him the same im- 

 plicit faith and reliance we had before? 



Among the orders of a local nature issued by 

 the military commander, Major-General Pope, 

 at this time, was one of April 15th, removing the 

 mayor of the city of Tuscumbia, and appointing 

 another person in his place. The order was as 

 follows : 



Special Order, No. 2. 



HEADQUARTERS THIRD MILITARY DISTRICT, ) 

 ATLANTA, GA., April 15, 1S6T. ) 



I. The municipal election held at Tuscumbia, Ala- 

 bama, on the 1st day of April, 1807, being in viola- 

 tion of orders of the General-in-Chief of the Army, as 

 well as orders from these headquarters, and not 

 having been conducted in the manner and according 

 to the rule laid down in the late acts of Congress, is 

 hereby declared null and void. 



II. Lemuel S. Cockburn is appointed mayor of 

 Tuscumbia, and will be obeyed and respected ac- 

 cordingly. 



[Signed] JOHN POPE, 



Brevet Major-General comd'g. 

 Official copy : 



J. F. CONTNGHAM. 



The mayor, at an election a few clays pre- 

 vious, had received two-thirds of all the votes 

 cast, both by white and colored voters. By 

 another order, of April 16th, by General Swayne, 

 the district commander, the judges of probate 

 were required to revise the indentures of mi- 

 nors when complaint of hardship was made, 

 and " as a rule to revoke indentures made w r ithin 

 the past tvvo years where minors were capable 

 of self-support." The attention of magistrates 

 was also called to the repeal of the ''vagrant 

 law " by the last Legislature, and any attempts 

 to enforce it were made subject to military cog- 

 nizance. ' Chain-gangs, as a mode of legal pun- 

 ishment, were also abolished. On May 14th 

 the mayor and council of the city of Selma 

 were removed by order of General Swayne, and 

 other persons were appointed by him to those 

 offices. The local press at Mobile, on May 3d, 

 thus stated the views of the people : " The peo- 

 ple of Alabama are now a unit in favor of re- 

 construction, almost at any price. They want 

 once more to reenter the great political family 

 of the Union. There is amongst them no di- 



