3. It is not difficult to understand what our country may become, if its affairs shall be rightly conducted. We can be first in ship-building, in commerce and the fisheries, first in agriculture and in most kinds of manufactures, first in the arts of peace and war, first in education, and in the arts and sciences, and in whatever elevates man to the highest positions accessible to him. When the war, outside the Constitution, ends, capital will flow South and investments there become safe, and prosperity will follow, with all the advantages incident to it. Individually and nationally, we shall assume that position to which we are entitled. Our agriculture will rival the most favored in the world, our commerce will go wherever ships can sail, our manufactures will spread as far as profits can be made; education, and every useful art, will receive encouragement, and produce the most beneficial results; in a word, when men are free and protected by the laws in their persons and property, they will then work out their own happiness in their own way. But this is not permitted to the secession States; though a portion of the land of freedom, they are not free, and are made, by Congress, a secondary class where they reside. If allowed to act out the natural impulses of the human mind, the whole Union will again blossom and produce the fruits of freedom. Enterprise and prosperity will again become predominant and all-controlling, and the United States will be, what our people and the nations of the earth predicted we should be, the greatest and most prosperous nation, and the most contented and happy people, on the habitable globe.

131.-DEAN RICHMOND.

The name of Dean Richmond is known in every cabin in New York where generosity, honesty, and Democratic principles are cherished. He was a power in his party, and always ignored every effort to confer office upon him. If the hand of power deprived a woman of her husband's aid in providing for the family, his check made her heart glad and kept starvation from the door. An early benefactor in a small way has been relieved from the embarrassments of after-life with a check from an unknown source for thousands. The widow and the orphan have been made happy by

his unsolicited donations. Whenever means, honestly applied, could promote the cause of the Democracy, his liberality was seldom excelled. He was wise in counsel and energetic in action. Few so readily comprehended the consequences of political action. His knowledge seemed to be intuitive, and was always at hand. He could equally detect the mistakes of friends as well as opponents. It was the superiority of his mind, and not management, that made him for many years the acknowledged head of the Democratic party, and, to a large extent, directing its policy. Its principles were established and acknowledged before he was born. He adopted them because, from their benevolent character, they found a natural resting-place in his sympathiizng heart. His mind naturally, instinctively rejected those of an adverse character, as unsuited to promote the happiness of mankind. loved people as a part of the human family, and not because they were born in any particular locality, or conformed to some expressed opinion. His sympathies were as expansive as human suffering, and he relieved most liberally.

He

He acquired a perfect knowledge of business, not by the slow process of practical experience, but by accurate observation, and precision of reflection. He mastered in an hour what it took many others years to comprehend. Such was the confidence of his associates in the New York Central Railroad, of which he was a long time vice-president, and then president until his death, that no enterprise of importance was undertaken without his approbation and advice. He was the master-spirit of the commercial enterprises upon the upper lakes. The soundness and accuracy of his judgment were proved by the unquestioned results exhibited in his exceedingly large income.

His ideas of business were not confined to mere localities, or building up sectional interests. He was for opening the broadest pathways, including the largest possible number of interests. He looked to business, not merely as the cause of accumulation, but as the means of accomplishing general good. While some feel proud of performing a "keen trick" in business, he was above and despised all such things. His judgment was largely relied upon by those who had the means of profiting by it. He

had his fixed views upon most subjects, and adhered to them, because his judgment told him he was right. Whenever he entered a society, corporation, or other association, he soon became the master-spirit, not because he sought to become such, but because he was master of the subject, and presented his views in such clear and terse language, that his associates seldom failed to be convinced. He did not make himself a leader of others, but they made him their leader. He did not command the unwilling, but took the lead where others demanded his guidance.

Although Mr. Richmond enjoyed the unlimited confidence of the Democracy, and exercised a greater influence in the party than any other man in it, still he never consented to hold any public office whatever. Office-holding could not have added to his elevated position in the public mind any more than it could to that of Mr. George Peabody. He participated in public affairs because they were public affairs, which every citizen ought to understand, and he performed only his public duty in attending to them. He was unwilling to become an agent of others, when he only found time to give directions as a principal. His private business had more charms for him than that of a public character, where routine is the leading feature, leaving his great intellectual faculties unemployed. He looked upon it as a clear duty to attend to his private business. He wished to see active business men look to public business as one of the first and proudest duties of a citizen, but not as an affair of personal interest. Although his early education was limited, there were few, if any, executive positions under our Government which he could not have filled with credit to himself and country. He was a man of large frame and massive brain. His features resembled the portraits of Cromwell, to whom it is said his lineage might be traced. He possessed quaint wit and humor, and agreeable manners. was quick and happy in his replies to those assailing him. ever wished to repeat an assault.

He

Few

All

In his family circle he was a model husband and father. the duties of both relations he performed in the manner calculated to produce the greatest happiness.

The example of such a man as Dean Richmond is of infinite

value to our people, and especially to the young. It teaches them the true duties of an American citizen. From it they will learn why men should look after our political and public affairs, and why they should extend their other thoughts and apply all their energies to their private business. Public affairs should be thoroughly understood, and so directed, as to lead to the happiness of mankind, while those of a private character should demand all care and attention in order to promote the welfare of himself, of his family, and those naturally dependent upon him, and at the same time contribute, as far as practicable, to the aggregate of wealth of the State, which gives character and consideration to our nation. In time of war, if there were no accumulations of wealth beyond that acquired honestly in office-holding, what would become of the Government? It is the fruits of business on the one hand, and strong hands and resolute hearts on the other, that

save us.

Dean Richmond was born March 31, 1804, at Barnard, Vermont, and was the youngest son of Hatheway Richmond and Rachel Dean, both natives of Massachusetts. He came with the family to Salina, New York, to reside at the age of twelve, and remained there until 1843, when he removed to Buffalo, where he continued in business until his death. Subsequently he made Batavia his residence. He was taken ill when returning from the Philadelphia Convention in 1866, and died in the city of New York on the 27th day of August, in the sixty-third year of his age.

132.-NEGRO WAR-SERVICES AND NEGRO LOYALTY.

On no subject has the public mind been more imposed upon than negro war-services and negro loyalty. It has been assumed, and Congress acts upon the assumption, that all the able-bodied negroes in the South were volunteers in the army, and that every negro was loyal. No evidence has yet been adduced to prove the truth of either position. The testimony is abundant that the Southern negroes heartily espoused the cause of their masters, and rendered them all the assistance they could in a hundred ways, though not enlisted in the ranks of the army. In digging and intrenching, constructing breast works, moving and caring for army

stores, in nursing, and in playing the spy, the negro rendered the secessionists important services. These were readily and cheerfully performed, they often manifesting great pride in them. These things were continued after Mr. Lincoln's proclamation down to the end of the war, to a greater or less extent. The Southern negroes joined with their masters in hostile feelings toward the Yankees, whom they looked upon as meddlesome sharpers, whose manufactures and inventions were not found in practice to be as good as described.

During the war but a small portion of the Southern territory was in the actual possession of our army, and the negroes at any

considerable distance from our lines did not leave their old homes to join us until after the rebellion had been substantially suppressed. Near the close of the war, when floating men from the North dared venture in the South, and the negroes made by them to believe that in all things-social and political-they would be placed on a par with or above the whites, then they commenced leaving home and feeding upon Government stores. the number in our service depended upon the food they consumed, then it would appear very large. But this is not so. The number of fighting men in our ranks was small, and of these, the deserters' list was great. They could seldom be depended upon, except at ration-time. This is not strange. They had not been brought up to handle fire-arms or encounter them, while their vanity was so inflamed by political partisans that it was difficult to maintain subordination among, or keep them under reasonable control. Their pretended great services were heralded for political effect. But these were in fact rendered mainly by the free negroes of the North. When others came to us they were by far the most useless and most expensive troops in our service. They could not be relied upon. Since the war they have proved more dangerous to unarmed people than they were to the enemy during the war. They are now actually worse than useless, although Republican politicians puff them without limit. They take it for granted, and Congress acts upon the same assumption, that the fact of being a negro is conclusive evidence of loyalty. This theory has been acted upon in all the reconstruction proceedings in the South. The truth is,