E 714 
 
 ADDRKSS OF 
 
 jion. Josiali "t. gettle. 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE RECEPTION GIVE?^ 
 
 QdmiroF mnd fflrs ©eme:^, 
 
 AUDITORIUM, 
 
 MEMPHIS. TENNESSEE. 
 
 MAV 7Tii. 19UO. 
 
/ 
 
HON. JOSIAH T. SETTLE. 
 
68175 
 
 4?' O^- 
 
 ADDRESS OF 
 
 HON. JOSIAH T. SETTLE, 
 
 Delivered at the Reception Given AdiMiral and 
 
 Mrs. Dewey, at the Auditorium, at Memphis, 
 
 Tennessee, May 7th, 190C. 
 
 On a bright May morning two years ago there 
 came from out the ocean mist an untried naval squad- 
 ron, mirrowing in the rippling waves the flag of the 
 mistress of the Western world, the lustre of whose 
 shining stars has never been dimmed by dishonor or 
 defeat, seeking in Manila Bay the naval pride and 
 power of Spain. Loyal hearts at home beat high 
 and fast with alternating fear and hope, as with bated 
 breath they awaited the news from across the sea. 
 When every ship in perfect order, under a command 
 which seemed almost inspired, had executed its 
 
 l.ilt» 
 
orders, and every ship of the Spanish fleet was dis- 
 abled at the bottom or in flames, from out the din 
 and smoke of battle there arose a colossal figure, calm 
 and majestic, cool and self-reliant, the highest and 
 grandest embodiment of duty done in the history of 
 this country; a naval hero, the splendor and brilliancy 
 of whose achievement have written on the eternal 
 tablet of fame, far above the names of Von Tromp 
 and Nelson, Farragut and Porter, the immortal name 
 of Admiral George Dewey, the hero of Manila, and 
 the pride of his grateful country. From that May 
 morning until now his name and fame have been on 
 every tongue in every land, and as he journeyed 
 home from more than half-way round the world, in 
 every clime and land through which he came he was 
 welcomed and honored as was never naval hero 
 before. And when, home at last, his gallant flagship 
 lay anchored in the bay of the second city of the 
 world, her teeming millions were mad with joy 
 and impatience to do such honor to the hero of 
 Manila as was never shown mortal man before; and 
 it can be truly said that such unlimited display of 
 loyal affection and costly magnificence as New York 
 gave the home-returning herowas greater than was ever 
 shown before to any other man. And so, at the capital 
 of his country, were his honors increased and magni- 
 fied, and every city or little hamlet through which he 
 
goes makes his coming and his going an epoch in the 
 history of the place. And when he comes at last to 
 the metropolis of the South, whose fame for chivalric 
 hospitality extends beyond its limits, when her great- 
 est and most distinguished sons and daughters have 
 opened their hearts aud homes to him and his peer- 
 less bride; when they would jewel every moment of 
 his stay with a joy, and almost shed tears of regret 
 that those precious moments are so iew; when in the 
 midst of this anxiety for each moment of his time, 
 and with the memory of the great honors bestowed 
 upon him by the great people and cities of the world, 
 we feel more greatful than words of mine can tell 
 that the greatest and most honored naval hero who 
 ever lived should have the desire and take the time to 
 be, for one brief hour, our guest. We will treasure 
 this hour as a bright and pleasant epoch in the his- 
 tory of our race: and we desire to assure you that 
 nowhere in this patriotic land of ours, and among no 
 element of our composite nationality, will you find a 
 more loyal devotion to the flag, a broader, deeper or 
 more genuine patriotism, than among the colored 
 Americans here in our sweet, flower-scented South. 
 
 Though we constitute the minority in most things, 
 in loyalty and patriotism we feel that we are in the 
 majority; for from the beginning of our country's 
 history until now we have given more to that country. 
 
in proportion to what we have received (excepting 
 our emancipation), than any other element of Ameri- 
 canism. In the war of the revohition we had our 
 heroes who have written their names high upon the 
 scroll of fame with their blood; and when the fate o 
 our country hung trembling in the balance we showed 
 our patriotism at Wagner, Sumpter, Petersburg and 
 on many other bloody fields. And in the war with 
 Spain the gallantry of our black troops at Santiago is 
 a part of the history of that war; and I am told that 
 on almost every fighting craft that floats our flag 
 there are members of our race; that even in the battle 
 of Manila Bay there were black men fighting on your 
 ships. We feel a pleasure and a pride in the fact 
 that they have always been found loyal, brave and 
 true. 
 
 It is, however, in the walks of civil life that we 
 would have you know us best. In the third oi a 
 century we have grown from four millions to almost 
 ten ; from being taxed ourselves as chattel property 
 to a race paying taxes on nearly a billion dollars' 
 worth of property ; from a schoolless race to owners 
 of many thousands of schools with more than a 
 mil'ion scholars, with hundreds of industrial schools 
 and colleges where every faculty of mind and heart 
 and hand is developed into usefulness: from a home- 
 less race we have grown to be a race with homes; 
 
from a race of unskilled laborers we today have men 
 in every trade and calling who, here in the South at 
 least, find employment for their talents. In all the 
 learned professions we have our representatives, who 
 are successfully measuring intellectual arms with 
 competitors in every oiher race. We are fixtures in 
 this land ot ours, watered with our blood and hallow- 
 ed by our graves ; and we feel that in the beautiful 
 arch of humanity that spans American freedom, com- 
 posed as it is of as many nationalities as there are 
 colors in the rainbow, God in His wisdom has given 
 us a place; and that in that arch on no element can 
 the future of our country rest with greater reliance 
 and security than that which represents the colored 
 American. It is he, through his representatives, who 
 would this evening vie with all others in showing his 
 love and admiration for the great Admiral who is our 
 city's guest. He is not only the greatest sailor who 
 ever lived, but it can truly be said of him what can 
 be said of no other — he is a sailor. statesman. In 
 Jackson and Grant we had soldier-statesmen, but 
 never before has this country had embodied in the 
 person of her greatest Admiral the highest and best 
 qualities of the statesman. His splendid manage- 
 ment of the most intricate and delicate questions of 
 diplomacy after the battle of Manila gave him the 
 highest place among diplomats and statesmen. 
 
During the time he commanded Manila Bay, await- 
 ing the coming of land forces, the very highest type 
 of the statesman was required to keep the country 
 free from international entanglements ; and be it said 
 to his everlasting honor that he never made a mis- 
 take, but showed himself as capable of commanding 
 the ship of state and piloting her around the rocks 
 and shoals of intrigue and diplomacy as he carried 
 his fighting fleet over the torpedoes and around the 
 forts of Manila Bay. 
 
 Through his intrepid bravery and far-seeing 
 statesmanship our flag has been planted in the 
 Orient, and the inhabitants of the Philippine archi- 
 pelago awakened from a semi-civilized lethargy- the 
 curse of centuries of Spanish rule. 'I hese islands will 
 soon become a market for our fleecy staples; and with 
 our isthmian canal completed, they will become the 
 store-house of the East; and when the spirit of Ameri- 
 can progress has supplanted Spanish ignorance and op- 
 pression in those islands, and their resources are de- 
 veloped, may they not rise to a place in the family of 
 nations rivaling their neighbor, the Japanese empire, 
 in the glory of their arms and the ubiquity of their 
 commerce? 
 
 The great man who is our guest this evening taught 
 the world that the American sailor is the greatest 
 fighter that sails the seas, and has given the American 
 
navy a place among the greatest of earth; and in the 
 years to come his name will live forever in the hearts 
 of his countrymen, and, side by side with Washing- 
 ton, Lincoln and Grant, adorn the brightest page in 
 his country's history. When he leaves us we assure 
 him that he and his peerless bride will carry with 
 them the best wishes and mcst patriotic devotion of 
 our loyal hearts. For your future we have no fears, 
 for the craft on which you sail is love, and the hand 
 at the helm is hers into which you placed your heart, 
 and the seas you sail are those of popular love and 
 admiration, filled with isles of flowers, and every 
 laughing wavelet of that stormless sea will bring to 
 the ears of your pilot and yourself the songs of love 
 and admiration, until at la^t, with this world's ambi- 
 tion more than gratified, you will anchor in the harbor 
 of eternal love. 
 
 And now, as you leave us, words seem too cold and 
 lifeless to properly express the feeling of our hearts 
 toward you and yours; but. if words were fluwery 
 things of life, and grow in rich profusion all around, 
 and I a floral artist, I'd pluck the rarest ones that 
 grew and weave them into sweet bouquets and tender 
 one to each, and ask you to keep them with your 
 souvenirs in fond remembrance of the hour 3'ou've 
 spent with us today. 
 
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 RESlUl:..>.^i. v>r iioN. JOSIAH T. bh7rTLE.