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EVENING SESSION.
Polytechnic Hall.
Mr. Bonner:
The Congress will now come
to order; we will be led in prayer by the Rev. Dr. Broaddus, of
Louisville.
Dr. Broaddus:
O gracious God, help us
that we may give Thee our hearts, and have confidence that Thou wilt
intelligently direct our paths. We thank Thee that we live in the light of
history, that we are not left to struggle out or spend our life without
any guidance from the experience of the past We thank Thee for all the
good and true men and women, whom we have ourselves known in other days,
who have lived their life in our sight, who have gone before us to the
better world, pointing us the way. We thank Thee for all we inherit of the
fruits of the life of those who lived long ago, and for the record of
their character and conduct. O help us, we beseech Thee, to imitate them
as they imitated Christ, to follow their example; that we may live our
appointed time in this world and do the work which Thy providence assigns
us, so the world may be a little better that we have lived in it. Help us
to bear the burdens of life, and to enjoy, thankfully, its many pleasures.
God bless all of us who have gathered here together, and all the homes
that we represent, and all the memories that we cherish. Bless those who
rule over us in the city and State, and the nation. Bless all our people
in all parts of the world, and especially prosper, we humbly beseech thee,
all the efforts that are made for Thee. Promote national education, and
above all things support the poor of the world, and grant that our country
may become a source of light and blessing for all the nations of the
world. We ask all, humbly, through Jesus Christ the Redeemer. Amen.
Mr. Bonner:
We are now to have the
pleasure of listening to a distinguished lawyer and jurist, Judge Temple,
of Knoxville, Tenn. His subject is "The Scotch-Irish of East Tennessee."
(For Judge Temple's
address, see Part II., page 160.)
Mr. Bonner:
I now have the pleasure of
introducing Rev. Dr. Kelley, a distinguished clergyman of Nashville,
Tenn., who will have something to say to us about Andrew Jackson, the hero
and statesman, whose memory will always be dear to us as long as this
republic shall endure.
(For Dr. Kelley's address,
see Part II., page 182.)
Mr. Bonner:
I now have the pleasure of
introducing Col. McBride, who represents the Scotch-Irish Society of
Atlanta, one of the most flourishing branch organizations that we have.
Col. McBride:
Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr.
President: I feel that I am somewhat at a disadvantage, as I don't appear
before you as a speech-maker: I simply came as a representative from our
Society in Atlanta to present a request from the City Council of Atlanta,
or rather an invitation from the City Council of Atlanta, Ga., and also
from the Chamber of Commerce, for this body to hold its next annual
convention in the city of Atlanta. The governing committee of the National
Congress has seen fit to select this time for me to present this
invitation, and I shall take pleasure in reading the resolution that was
passed by our City Council, after which some of our Atlanta delegates who
are accustomed to public speaking will give some good reasons why the
Congress should meet in our city next year:
Whereas the Scotch-Irish
Congress of America will shortly assemble in the city of Louisville, and
the Scotch-Irish Society of Atlanta, representing the Scotch-Irish people
of Georgia, will send a delegation to Louisville; and whereas a large part
of the population of Georgia is Scotch-Irish, and the race is associated
with the life of the State from the landing of Oglethorpe until now, and
has taken part in the best achievements of our people, in war and in
peace: therefore, be it Resolved, By the Mayor and General Council of
Atlanta, that the Scotch-Irish Congress of America is cordially invited to
hold its next meeting in this city, and the gentlemen representing the
local branch of the Society are earnestly requested to do all in their
power to induce the national body to accept the invitation.
That is followed by a
similar request from our Chamber of Commerce, and I wish to state that I
esteem it an honor to have been selected by those bodies to present these
invitations to this honorable body. Mr. President, I would, if I could
find words, emphasize these invitations; I have seen some reasons; some
new reasons have been presented to my mind since attending this meeting,
which convinced me that there is no better place in America for the
Scotch-Irish Society to hold its next annual Congress than in the Empire
State of the South, grand old Georgia. We have had many elegant and
learned speeches by the gentlemen who have attended this meeting, but I
don't believe a single one of them had learned any thing about that long
list of people that have represented Georgia in peace and war, and also
represent the Scotch Irish in that State. I am sorry we did not have some
one here to tell you about our Montgomerys, that grand old family that
from before the revolution down to the present time have been first when
liberty and right were at stake; they were always in the front. Our Halls
and our Bannisters, to get acquainted with them, I think, would give new
life and new vigor to the Scotch-Irish Society of America.
Mr. President, there are
many other reasons. I feel, if the audience will excuse me, that my
remarks should be more directly to the Executive Committee. I feel out of
place in making the statements, but the people of Louisville have shown us
how to hang the latch-string on the outside, and Atlanta will try to
profit by their example. There are other reasons why I believe it would be
for the good of the order, for the good of this Society, that we should
hold the next meeting in that old State of Georgia, where there is a large
Scotch-Irish population, rather than to go to a long distance. The truth
is, ladies and gentlemen, I am informed that this matter is about decided
against us, but a gentleman from the North-west told me I should put up
the best fight I could. We had our worthy President, Mr. Bonner, down
there showing him around, and I think he will be sorry if he don't come
there. I urge you with all the power I have to come down there and hold
your next Congress.
Mr. Bonner:
Col. McBride has referred
to the visit I made recently down in Georgia. One of the impressions left
upon my mind during that visit was this: that the great body of the people
of the South, as well as the great body of the people of the North, are
nearly over their sectional prejudices. Among the speakers that I heard
down there was Col. Adair, and I listened to one of the most spirited
addresses from him that I ever heard in my life. He is here now with us,
and he is going to enforce what Col. McBride has said. I have the pleasure
of introducing Col. Adair, of Atlanta.
Col. Adair:
Mr. President: I hold in my
hand invitations from two representative bodies in the city of Atlanta.
Perhaps, as they are brief, I had better rend them for your understanding.
"We, the undersigned, pastors of the evangelical. Churches in the city of
Atlanta, do most heartily unite with many others from our city in
extending to you a most cordial invitation to hold your annual Congress in
1892 in Atlanta." May, 1891: "The above was adopted by a large number of
the members of the Evangelical Ministers' Association to-day. Signed by
the Rev. Dr. Hawthorne, of the Baptist Church." And below it says: "There
are over fifty members of the above Association, and the resolution was
adopted by a unanimous vote of those present."
The other is an invitation
written by a lawyer, and of course that makes it hard to read. It goes
something after this fashion: It says: "Dear Sir: Observing with pleasure
the action of our City Council in extending, through the delegates from
the city, an invitation to the American Congress of the Scotch-Irish
Society to hold its next meeting in the city of Atlanta, as President of
the Young Men's Christian Association, which is among the representative
and successful institutions of our city, I beg to unite with others in
extending to your Society a cordial invitation to hold its next meeting in
this city, where the splendid manhood and character for the good
citizenship, and"—you know what it is. It is signed by the President of
the concern.
Now, Mr. President, this
association of the ministers is a big thing. They are not all
Presbyterians down there; they have Methodists, and Baptists, and I don't
know what others. They have a meeting every week, and they get
together—all the ministers meet, I believe, Monday morning—and they advise
together and look around to see where they can do the most good, and the
institution is doing away pretty much with all sectarianism. They swap
churches occasionally, and they manage in that way to keep things lively,
and the congregations hardly ever know who they are going to hear until
they get there. That Association is forty or fifty strong, and they give
you a cordial invitation to hold your next Congress in Atlanta.
One morning there appeared
in the columns of the Constitution about a quarter of a column of matter
by a young Scotch-Irishman who is known all over this land, the late Henry
W. Grady; he asked the citizens of Atlanta to raise a fund to build a fine
building for the Young Men's Christian Association. In twenty days one
hundred thousand dollars was raised in sums of from, five thousand dollars
to five cents. Every man, woman, and child in Atlanta, and some of the
negroes, took stock in it. It is a grand institution, and they have asked
you formally to hold your next Congress there. I would be personally very
glad to have you do so. I feel that Georgia is hardly known in this
institution. I listened with a great deal of pleasure the other day to the
distinguished gentleman from Illinois. I never heard a much abler address
than he made, but I was amazed that he knew so much about Illinois and the
balance of the world, and never mentioned Georgia. I wondered where he got
his facts, his rhetoric, and his statistics; I wondered if he had ever
heard of George M. Troop, Governor of our State; I wondered if he had ever
heard of Charles W. McDonald; I wondered if he had ever heard of the
Doughertys; I wondered if he had ever heard of the Halls. He never once
mentioned Georgia.
We want to see everybody
come that can; we want to see President Bonner and Dr. Hall, and I want to
see you all come; I was never more interested in any thing in my life. I
have learned more listening to the addresses, and it is going to make us
all feel good, and I want you to repeat them in Atlanta next year. I have
simply to request that the Executive Committee arrange to have us meet in
Atlanta next year, and then that all the members that are here this time
will come down there and bring their ladies.
Mr. Bonner:
Col. Adair has complained,
and I think justly, about Georgia; and in order to atone for that, in a
measure, the band will now play "Marching through Georgia." After that we
will hear Georgia's claims enforced by Hon. W. L. Calhoun, a relative of
one of the greatest statesmen this country has ever produced, John C.
Calhoun.
Band plays.
Mr. Calhoun:
Mr. President, Ladies, and
Gentlemen: I feel somewhat like my friend Col. Adair, that Georgia had
been somewhat neglected, but I feel sure that, if not next year, in the
near future we will have the pleasure and honor of having the Scotch-Irish
Congress assemble in our city, and then full justice will be done to our
State. Before I proceed I will read a letter which has been handed me, and
I wish to state that the distinguished gentleman who wrote this letter is
himself a descendant of the Scotch-Irish:
It gives me great pleasure
to add my indorsement of the invitation extended by the city of Atlanta to
the members of the Scotch-Irish Society of America to hold their next
annual meeting in this city. I will be pleased to add in any way possible
to the entertainment and pleasure of the members if they will accept the
invitation tendered them.
W. J. Northen, Governor.
Now Mr. President, I came
here simply as a humble citizen, as a spectator to listen. I had no idea
that I should utter one word upon this occasion; indeed, I had only known
from tradition, and some knowledge of history, that I was a descendant of
the Scotch-Irish race, and I am happy that the opportunity was afforded me
to attend the meeting of this Congress because I have learned what I never
knew before, and I feel prouder of myself and that race than I have ever
felt before. Now the pleasing duty assigned to me to-night is limited to
the invitation which I have the pleasure of extending to you from the
Confederate Veterans Association. I have the honor of being President of
that association, which now numbers nearly seven hundred members, and is
an association of influence and power in our community. We have organized
that association, not for the purpose of disobedience to the government,
but we have organized it and maintained it for the purpose of reviving
Confederate memories, for the relief of our disabled members, and the
preservation of their graves; those are our purposes, to which no people
on this continent can object.
Now I come directly to
second, in behalf of this association, the invitation which is extended by
the Governor of our State, the General Council of the city, and the
Ministers' and Young Men's Christian Associations, and I know that an
invitation would also have been extended from the Post of the Grand Army
of the Republic if they had had time to call a meeting for that purpose—I
am informed that it was done— so you have this invitation that comes from
these organized bodies, and I go further than that: they represent the
people of our State, and if you gentlemen see proper to go there you will
never regret it because, while it seems egotistical to say so, Atlanta
never does things half-way, and if you come, we will give you a cordial, a
hearty, and a whole-souled welcome to our city.
Now, in conclusion, I have
this to say: Kentucky has reason, and great reason, to feel proud, for she
is the State of Henry Clay, the birthplace of Tom Marshal, the birth-place
of George D. Prentice, and many other distinguished sons.
I thank you, and in behalf
of our delegation I thank you and the citizens of Louisville for the kind
and courteous attention that has been given us.
(See page 10, for all the
letters of invitation sent by the representative bodies of Atlanta.)
Mr. Bonner:
Ladies and Gentlemen: I
have a resolution that has been placed in my hands by a gentleman whom you
all delight to honor. He is honored on both sides of the Atlantic. He was
not in this country at the time of our civil war. It was written by the
Rev. Dr. John Hall, of New York. I will read the resolution:
Resolved, That this meeting
heartily appreciates the cordial invitation from the Governor of the State
of Georgia, the City Council, and the Chamber of Commerce of Atlanta, and
the Minister's and Young Men's Christian Associations, and Confederate
Veterans Association, so earnestly presented by the deputation to which we
have listened with pleasure, and refer the matter for careful
consideration to the Executive Committee.
All who are in favor of
that resolution say "Aye," contrary "No."
Carried unanimously.
Dr. MacIntosh:
I should like to inform the
audience that to-morrow morning the meeting will be held at 10:30 o'clock
in the Masonic Temple. The address will be delivered by Rev. Dr. Acheson,
who will take you into Canada.
Mr. Bonner:
This meeting now stands
adjourned to meet at the Masonic Temple tomorrow morning at 10:30 o'clock. |
