n and the surrender of
Robert E. Lee. Nothing in the history of mankind is at all comparable,
an exact counterpart, in all particulars, to that great event. A
slavery of two hundred years had dwarfed the intelligence and morality
of this people, and made them to look upon labor as the most baneful
of all the curses a just God can inflict upon humankind; and they were
turned loose upon the land, without a dollar in their hands, and, like
the great Christ and the fowls of the air, without a place to lay
their head.

And yet to-day, this people, who, only a few years ago, were bankrupts
in morality, in intelligence, and in wealth, have leaped forward in
the battle of progress like _veterans_; have built magnificent
churches, with a membership of over two million souls; have preachers,
learned and eloquent; have professors in colleges by the hundreds and
schoolmasters by the thousands; have accumulated large landed
interests in country, town and city; have established banking houses
and railroads; manage large coal, grocery and merchant tailoring
businesses; conduct with ability and success large and influential
newspaper enterprises; in short, have come, and that very rapidly,
into sharp competition with white men (who have the prestige of a
thousand years of civilization and opportunity) in all the industrial
interests which make a people great, respected and feared. The
metamorphosis has been rapid, marvelous, astounding. Their home life
has been largely transformed into the quality of purity and refinement
which should characterize the home; they have now successful farmers,
merchants, ministers, lawyers, editors, educators, physicians,
legislators--in short, they have entered every avenue of industry and
thought. Their efforts yet crude and their grasp uncertain, but they
are in the field of competition, and will remain there and acquit
themselves manfully.

Of course I speak in general terms of the progress the colored people
have made. Individual effort and success are the indicators of the
vitality and genius of a people. When individuals rise out of the
indistinguishable mass and make their mark, we may rest assured that
the mass is rich and capable of unlimited production. The great mass
of every government, of every people, while adding to and creating
greatness, go down in history unmentioned. But their glory, their
genius, success and happiness, are expended and survive in the few
great spirits their fortuna