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than any other land however fair to see ; and under the stimulus of 

 her harsher climate, with the sharp bite of the east wind between our 

 teeth, we shall strive with you to see which shall send forth the truest 

 men. Let me close this address, which touches so many points and 

 works its devious way through so many channels, by recalling to 

 your minds the words of one of the oldest English poets : 



" Man is his own star, and the soul that can 

 Render an honest and a perfect man 

 Defies all time, all influence, all fate; 

 Nothing to him falls early or too late ; 

 His acts his angels are, or, good or ill, 

 The fateful shadows that walk by him still." 



I thank you, gentlemen, for the attention you have accorded me* 

 May I be permitted to add a few words, not on party politics, but on 

 the higher questions that make and unmake parties? [Cries of 

 "Good, good."] 



I have claimed to be a Republican of Republicans, because, from 

 the time I came to man's estate, and even before, I had opposed 

 slavery, not only because I thought it morally and politically wrong, 

 but even more because I considered it the greatest economic blunder 

 under which a State could suffer. 



During one of the last months of the civil war I happened to visit 

 the camp near Washington, in which the deserters from Petersburg 

 and Richmond were daily collecting in increasing numbers. I talked 

 with many of them, and found them to be mostly veteran soldiers 

 who had fought on the Confederate side from the beginning. At last 

 I asked a soldier from Louisiana a vigorous, intelligent-looking 

 man why he had surrendered. His black eyes gleamed with sub- 

 dued passion, as he replied, " I have just found out what we have 

 been lighting for." " What was it? " said I. " Fighting for rich 

 men's niggers, G- d 'em ! I won't fight for them any longer." 



When I heard these words, gentlemen, I saw before me a vision of 

 the prosperity on which you have just entered in the land of the sunn} r 

 South. I knew then that no longer would white and black alike be 

 kept in the bonds of poverty and ignorance in order that the few 

 might live in luxury on what they had not earned. It was that man's 

 insight into the cause of the war that marked its end. 



That time of prosperity has come ; and you, gentlemen, are my 

 witnesses that never has the general welfare of the people of Georgia 

 been as great as in this last year of abundance, and that never before 

 has there been open to you such an opportunity to accumulate wealth 

 as now appears in your near future : but this new wealth will be of 

 that highest type gained by rightful methods, in which each dollar 

 that any man passes to his own credit on his business ledger will 

 mark a dollar's worth of service that he has rendered to his fellow- 

 men. 



I have claimed also to be a Democrat of Democrats upon the 

 ground that only those are entitled to the name who fully accept th.Q 



