the races of men, of all ranks and conditions, will be redeemed and delivered from all species of political and mental thraldom.
We wish to turn our backs on all sectional parties, and on all parties groping in the moonlight of the past, and to ally ourselves with any party that will be animated with the spirit of civil and religious toleration, broad and elevated patriotism, not bounded by State lines, and inspired with pride and an abiding faith in the genius of free institutions.
We are, we assure you, with the highest respect and regard,
Your obedient Servants,
| Frank T. Reid, | |
| George E. Purvis, | |
| Neill S. Brown, Jr., | |
| T. M. Steger, | |
| N. Baxter, Jr., |
and about two hundred others.
TO F. T. REID AND MANY OTHERS
Gentlemen: I have received your letter, and, without affectation, I may say that I can not find words strong enough to describe the joy it has given me. The spontaneous expression of such sentiments as your letter contains, coming from you as late soldiers of the Confederate Army, may well be called an event of great significance in the history of our days. When your former comrades, as you do now, rally once more around the flag of the American Republic as the symbol of universal freedom, equal rights and Constitutional government; when they declare that they will turn their backs upon all parties “groping in the moonlight of the past,” and discountenance that partisan spirit which is so apt to obscure human reason, and to blur the best moral impulses of the human heart; when they once more fully recognize the identity of their true interests with those of our great common
