He said, in welcoming Mr. Sala: "The last time we met here
it was my pleasant duty to give your welcome to an old friend. Now
you make it my duty--still a pleasant one--to give your welcome to
an old enemy. ["Hear! Hear!"] Yes; an old enemy! We shall get on
better with the facts by admitting them at the outset. Our guest
was more or less against us in the great struggle twenty years ago
in which everybody now wishes to be thought to have been with us.
He did not believe this nation would down the slaveholders'
rebellion and he did not want it to; and he wrote frankly as he
believed and wished. [Laughter.] He never made any disguise about
it then or since; and for that, at least, we think the better of
him! [Applause.] He came of a slaveholding family; many personal
and social influences drew him toward those of our countrymen who
were on the wrong side; and now that it is all over, we bear no
malice! [Applause.] More than that; we are heartily glad to see
him. The statute of limitations runs in his favor; and his old
opinions are outlawed. He revisited the country long after the
war--and he changed his mind about it. He thought a great deal
better of us; and we in turn found his letters a great deal
pleasanter reading.
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