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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..332981d --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #67919 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67919) diff --git a/old/67919-0.txt b/old/67919-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index ec227db..0000000 --- a/old/67919-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3027 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Three addresses on the relations -subsisting between the white and colored people of the United States, by -Frederick Douglas - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Three addresses on the relations subsisting between the white and - colored people of the United States - -Author: Frederick Douglas - -Release Date: April 25, 2022 [eBook #67919] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Steve Mattern, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE ADDRESSES ON THE -RELATIONS SUBSISTING BETWEEN THE WHITE AND COLORED PEOPLE OF THE UNITED -STATES *** - - - - - - THREE ADDRESSES - - ON THE - - Relations Subsisting between the White - and Colored People of the - United States, - - by - - FREDERICK DOUGLASS. - - [Illustration: decorative bar] - - WASHINGTON: - GIBSON BROS., PRINTERS AND BOOKBINDERS. - 1886. - - - - -In Louisville, KY., 1883. - - The following was delivered by FREDERICK DOUGLASS as an address to - the people of the United States at a Convention of Colored Men held - in Louisville, Ky., September 24, 1883: - -FELLOW-CITIZENS: Charged with the responsibility and duty of doing what -we may to advance the interest and promote the general welfare of a -people lately enslaved, and who, though now free, still suffer many of -the disadvantages and evils derived from their former condition, not the -least among which is the low and unjust estimate entertained of their -abilities and possibilities as men, and their value as citizens of the -Republic; instructed by these people to make such representations and -adopt such measures as in our judgment may help to bring about a better -understanding and a more friendly feeling between themselves and their -white fellow-citizens recognizing the great fact as we do, that the -relations of the American people and those of civilized nations -generally depend more upon prevailing ideas, opinions, and long -established usages for their qualities of good and evil than upon courts -of law or creeds of religion. Allowing the existence of a magnanimous -disposition on your part to listen candidly to an honest appeal for fair -play, coming from any class of your fellow-citizens, however humble, who -may have, or may think they have, rights to assert or wrongs to redress, -the members of this National Convention, chosen from all parts of the -United States, representing the thoughts, feelings and purposes of -colored men generally, would, as one means of advancing the cause -committed to them, most respectfully and earnestly ask your attention -and favorable consideration to the matters contained in the present -paper. - -At the outset we very cordially congratulate you upon the altered -condition both of ourselves and our common country. Especially do we -congratulate you upon the fact that a great reproach, which for two -centuries rested on the good name of your country, has been blotted out; -that chattel slavery is no longer the burden of the colored man’s -complaint, and that we now come to rattle no chains, to clank no -fetters, to paint no horrors of the old plantation to shock your -sensibilities, to humble your pride, excite your pity, or to kindle -your indignation. We rejoice also that one of the results of this -stupendous revolution in our national history, the Republic which was -before divided and weakened between two hostile and irreconcilable -interests, has become united and strong; that from a low plain of life, -which bordered upon barbarism, it has risen to the possibility of the -highest civilization; that this change has started the American Republic -on a new departure, full of promise, although it has also brought you -and ourselves face to face with problems novel and difficult, destined -to impose upon us responsibilities and duties, which, plainly enough, -will tax our highest mental and moral ability for their happy solution. - -Born on American soil in common with yourselves, deriving our bodies and -our minds from its dust, centuries having passed away since our -ancestors were torn from the shores of Africa, we, like yourselves, hold -ourselves to be in every sense Americans, and that we may, therefore, -venture to speak to you in a tone not lower than that which becomes -earnest men and American citizens. Having watered your soil with our -tears, enriched it with our blood, performed its roughest labor in time -of peace, defended it against enemies in time of war, and at all times -been loyal and true to its best interests, we deem it no arrogance or -presumption to manifest now a common concern with you for its welfare, -prosperity, honor and glory. - -If the claim thus set up by us be admitted, as we think it ought to be, -it may be asked, what propriety or necessity can there be for the -Convention, of which we are members? and why are we now addressing you -in some sense as suppliants asking for justice and fair play? These -questions are not new to us. From the day the call for this Convention -went forth this seeming incongruity and contradiction has been brought -to our attention. From one quarter or another, sometimes with argument -and sometimes without argument, sometimes with seeming pity for our -ignorance, and at other times with fierce censure for our depravity, -these questions have met us. With apparent surprise, astonishment, and -impatience, we have been asked: “What more can the colored people of -this country want than they now have, and what more is possible to -them?” It is said they were once slaves, they are now free; they were -once subjects, they are now sovereigns; they were once outside of all -American institutions, they are now inside of all and are a recognized -part of the whole American people. Why, then, do they hold Colored -National Conventions and thus insist upon keeping up the color line -between themselves and their white fellow-countrymen? We do not deny the -pertinence and plausibility of these questions, nor do we shrink from a -candid answer to the argument which they are supposed to contain. For we -do not forget that they are not only put to us by those who have no -sympathy with us, but by many who wish us well, and that in any case -they deserve an answer. Before, however, we proceed to answer them, we -digress here to say that there is only one element associated with them -which excites the least bitterness of feeling in us, or that calls for -special rebuke, and that is when they fall from the lips and pens of -colored men who suffer with us and ought to know better. A few such men, -well known to us and the country, happening to be more fortunate in the -possession of wealth, education, and position than their humbler -brethren, have found it convenient to chime in with the popular cry -against our assembling, on the ground that we have no valid reason for -this measure or for any other separate from the whites; that we ought to -be satisfied with things as they are. With white men who thus object the -case is different and less painful. For them there is a chance for -charity. Educated as they are and have been for centuries, taught to -look upon colored people as a lower order of humanity than themselves, -and as having few rights, if any, above domestic animals, regarding them -also through the medium of their beneficent religious creeds and just -laws--as if law and practice were identical--some allowance can, and -perhaps ought to, be made when they misapprehend our real situation and -deny our wants and assume a virtue they do not possess. But no such -excuse or apology can be properly framed for men who are in any way -identified with us. What may be erroneous in others implies either -baseness or imbecility in them. Such men, it seems to us, are either -deficient in self-respect or too mean, servile and cowardly to assert -the true dignity of their manhood and that of their race. To admit that -there are such men among us is a disagreeable and humiliating -confession. But in this respect, as in others, we are not without the -consolation of company; we are neither alone nor singular in the -production of just such characters. All oppressed people have been thus -afflicted. - -It is one of the most conspicuous evils of caste and oppression, that -they inevitably tend to make cowards and serviles of their victims, men -ever ready to bend the knee to pride and power that thrift may follow -fawning, willing to betray the cause of the many to serve the ends of -the few; men who never hesitate to sell a friend when they think they -can thereby purchase an enemy. Specimens of this sort may be found -everywhere and at all times. There were Northern men with Southern -principles in the time of slavery, and Tories in the revolution for -independence. There are betrayers and informers to-day in Ireland, ready -to kiss the hand that smites them and strike down the arm reached out to -save them. Considering our long subjection to servitude and caste, and -the many temptations to which we are exposed to betray our race into the -hands of their enemies, the wonder is not that we have so many traitors -among us as that we have so few. - -The most of our people, to their honor be it said, are remarkably sound -and true to each other. To those who think we have no cause to hold this -convention, we freely admit that, so far as the organic law of the land -is concerned, we have indeed nothing to complain of, to ask or desire. -There may be need of legislation, but the organic law is sound. - -Happily for us and for the honor of the Republic, the United States -Constitution is just, liberal, and friendly. The amendments to that -instrument, adopted in the trying times of reconstruction of the -Southern States, are a credit to the courage and statesmanship of the -leading men of that crisis. These amendments establish freedom and -abolish all unfair and invidious discrimination against citizens on -account of race and color, so far as law can do so. In their view, -citizens are neither black nor white, and all are equals. With this -admission and this merited reproof to trimmers and traitors, we again -come to the question, Why are we here in this National Convention? To -this we answer, first, because there is a power in numbers and in union; -because the many are more than the few; because the voice of a whole -people, oppressed by a common injustice, is far more likely to command -attention and exert an influence on the public mind than the voice of -single individuals and isolated organizations; because, coming together -from all parts of the country, the members of a National convention have -the means of a more comprehensive knowledge of the general situation, -and may, therefore, fairly be presumed to conceive more clearly and -express more fully and wisely the policy it may be necessary for them -to pursue in the premises. Because conventions of the people are in -themselves harmless, and when made the means of setting forth -grievances, whether real or fancied, they are the safety-valves of the -Republic, a wise and safe substitute for violence, dynamite, and all -sorts of revolutionary action against the peace and good order of -society. If they are held without sufficient reason, that fact will be -made manifest in their proceedings, and people will only smile at their -weakness and pass on to their usual business without troubling -themselves about the empty noise they are able to make. But if held with -good cause, and by wise, sober, and earnest men, that fact will be made -apparent and the result will be salutary. That good old maxim, which has -come down to us from revolutionary times, that error may be safely -tolerated, while truth is left free to combat it, applies here. A bad -law is all the sooner repealed by being executed, and error is sooner -dispelled by exposure than by silence. So much we have deemed it fit to -say of conventions generally, because our resort to this measure has -been treated by many as if there were something radically wrong in the -very idea of a convention. It has been treated as if it were some -ghastly, secret conclave, sitting in darkness to devise strife and -mischief. The fact is, the only serious feature in the argument against -us is the one which respects color. We are asked not only why hold a -convention, but with emphasis, why hold a _colored_ convention? Why keep -up this odious distinction between citizens of a common country, and -thus give countenance to the color line? It is argued that, if colored -men hold conventions, based upon color, white men may hold white -conventions based upon color, and thus keep open the chasm between one -and the other class of citizens, and keep alive a prejudice which we -profess to deplore. We state the argument against us fairly and -forcibly, and will answer it candidly and we hope conclusively. By that -answer it will be seen that the force of the objection is, after all, -more in sound than in substance. No reasonable man will ever object to -white men holding conventions in their own interests, when they are once -in our condition and we in theirs, when they are the oppressed and we -the oppressors. In point of fact, however, white men are already in -convention against us in various ways and at many important points. The -practical construction of American life is a convention against us. -Human law may know no distinction among men in respect of rights, but -human practice may. Examples are painfully abundant. - -The border men hate the Indians; the Californian, the Chinaman; the -Mohammedan, the Christian, and _vice versa_. In spite of a common nature -and the equality framed into law, this hate works injustice, of which -each in their own name and under their own color may justly complain. -The apology for observing the color line in the composition of our State -and National conventions is in its necessity and in the fact that we -must do this or nothing, for if we move our color is recognized and must -be. It has its foundation in the exceptional relation we sustain to the -white people of the country. A simple statement of our position -vindicates at once our convention and our cause. - -It is our lot to live among a people whose laws, traditions, and -prejudices have been against us for centuries, and from these they are -not yet free. To assume that they are free from these evils simply -because they have changed their laws is to assume what is utterly -unreasonable and contrary to facts. Large bodies move slowly. -Individuals may be converted on the instant and change their whole -course of life. Nations never. Time and events are required for the -conversion of nations. Not even the character of a great political -organization can be changed by a new platform. It will be the same old -snake though in a new skin. Though we have had war, reconstruction and -abolition as a nation, we still linger in the shadow and blight of an -extinct institution. Though the colored man is no longer subject to be -bought and sold, he is still surrounded by an adverse sentiment which -fetters all his movements. In his downward course he meets with no -resistance, but his course upward is resented and resisted at every step -of his progress. If he comes in ignorance, rags, and wretchedness, he -conforms to the popular belief of his character, and in that character -he is welcome. But if he shall come as a gentleman, a scholar, and a -statesman, he is hailed as a contradiction to the national faith -concerning his race, and his coming is resented as impudence. In the one -case he may provoke contempt and derision, but in the other he is an -affront to pride, and provokes malice. Let him do what he will, there is -at present, therefore, no escape for him. The color line meets him -everywhere, and in a measure shuts him out from all respectable and -profitable trades and callings. In spite of all your religion and laws -he is a rejected man. - -He is rejected by trade unions, of every trade, and refused work while -he lives, and burial when he dies, and yet he is asked to forget his -color, and forget that which everybody else remembers. If he offers -himself to a builder as a mechanic, to a client as a lawyer, to a -patient as a physician, to a college as a professor, to a firm as a -clerk, to a Government Department as an agent, or an officer, he is -sternly met on the color line, and his claim to consideration in some -way is disputed on the ground of color. - -Not even our churches, whose members profess to follow the despised -Nazarene, whose home, when on earth, was among the lowly and despised, -have yet conquered this feeling of color madness, and what is true of -our churches is also true of our courts of law. Neither is free from -this all-pervading atmosphere of color hate. The one describes the Deity -as impartial, no respecter of persons, and the other the Goddess of -Justice as blindfolded, with sword by her side and scales in her hand -held evenly between high and low, rich and poor, white and black, but -both are the images of American imagination, rather than American -practices. - -Taking advantage of the general disposition in this country to impute -crime to color, white men _color_ their faces to commit crime and wash -off the hated color to escape punishment. In many places where the -commission of crime is alleged against one of our color, the ordinary -processes of the law are set aside as too slow for the impetuous justice -of the infuriated populace. They take the law into their own bloody -hands and proceed to whip, stab, shoot, hang, or burn the alleged -culprit, without the intervention of courts, counsel, judges, juries, or -witnesses. In such cases it is not the business of the accusers to prove -guilt, but it is for the accused to prove his innocence, a thing hard -for any man to do, even in a court of law, and utterly impossible for -him to do in these infernal Lynch courts. A man accused, surprised, -frightened and captured by a motley crowd, dragged with a rope about his -neck in midnight-darkness to the nearest tree, and told in the coarsest -terms of profanity to prepare for death, would be more than human if he -did not, in his terror-stricken appearance, more confirm suspicion of -guilt than the contrary. Worse still, in the presence of such hell-black -outrages, the pulpit is usually dumb, and the press in the neighborhood -is silent or openly takes side with the mob. There are occasional cases -in which white men are lynched, but one sparrow does not make a summer. -Every one knows that what is called Lynch law is peculiarly the law for -colored people and for nobody else. If there were no other grievance -than this horrible and barbarous Lynch law custom, we should be -justified in assembling, as we have now done, to expose and denounce it. -But this is not all. Even now, after twenty years of so-called -emancipation, we are subject to lawless raids of midnight riders, who, -with blackened faces, invade our homes and perpetrate the foulest of -crimes upon us and our families. This condition of things is too -flagrant and notorious to require specifications or proof. Thus in all -the relations of life and death we are met by the color line. We cannot -ignore it if we would, and ought not if we could. It hunts us at -midnight, it denies us accommodation in hotels and justice in the -courts; excludes our children from schools, refuses our sons the chance -to learn trades, and compels us to pursue only such labor as will bring -the least reward. While we recognize the color line as a hurtful force, -a mountain barrier to our progress, wounding our bleeding feet with its -flinty rocks at every step, we do not despair. We are a hopeful people. -This convention is a proof of our faith in you, in reason, in truth and -justice--our belief that prejudice, with all its malign accompaniments, -may yet be removed by peaceful means; that, assisted by time and events -and the growing enlightenment of both races, the color line will -ultimately become harmless. When this shall come it will then only be -used, as it should be, to distinguish one variety of the human family -from another. It will cease to have any civil, political, or moral -significance, and colored conventions will then be dispensed with as -anachronisms, wholly out of place, but not till then. Do not marvel that -we are not discouraged. The faith within us has a rational basis, and is -confirmed by facts. When we consider how deep-seated this feeling -against us is; the long centuries it has been forming; the forces of -avarice which have been marshaled to sustain it; how the language and -literature of the country have been pervaded with it; how the church, -the press, the play-house, and other influences of the country have been -arrayed in its support, the progress toward its extinction must be -considered vast and wonderful. - -If liberty, with us, is yet but a name, our citizenship is but a sham, -and our suffrage thus far only a cruel mockery, we may yet congratulate -ourselves upon the fact that the laws and institutions of the country -are sound, just and liberal. There is hope for a people when their laws -are righteous whether for the moment they conform to their requirements -or not. But until this nation shall make its practice accord with its -Constitution and its righteous laws, it will not do to reproach the -colored people of this country with keeping up the color line--for that -people would prove themselves scarcely worthy of even theoretical -freedom, to say nothing of practical freedom, if they settled down in -silent, servile and cowardly submission to their wrongs, from fear of -making their color visible. They are bound by every element of manhood -to hold conventions in their own name and on their own behalf, to keep -their grievances before the people and make every organized protest -against the wrongs inflicted upon them within their power. They should -scorn the counsels of cowards, and hang their banner on the outer wall. -Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow. We do not believe, -as we are often told, that the negro is the ugly child of the national -family, and the more he is kept out of sight the better it will be for -him. You know that liberty given is never so precious as liberty sought -for and fought for. The man outraged is the man to make the outcry. -Depend upon it, men will not care much for a people who do not care for -themselves. Our meeting here was opposed by some of our members, because -it would disturb the peace of the Republican party. The suggestion came -from coward lips and misapprehended the character of that party. If the -Republican party cannot stand a demand for justice and fair play, it -ought to go down. We were men before that party was born, and our -manhood is more sacred than any party can be. Parties were made for men, -not men for parties. - -If the six millions of colored people of this country, armed with the -Constitution of the United States, with a million votes of their own to -lean upon, and millions of white men at their back, whose hearts are -responsive to the claims of humanity, have not sufficient spirit and -wisdom to organize and combine to defend themselves from outrage, -discrimination, and oppression, it will be idle for them to expect that -the Republican party or any other political party will organize and -combine for them or care what becomes of them. Men may combine to -prevent cruelty to animals, for they are dumb and cannot speak for -themselves; but we are men and must speak for ourselves, or we shall not -be spoken for at all. We have conventions in America for Ireland, but we -should have none if Ireland did not speak for herself. It is because she -makes a noise and keeps her cause before the people that other people go -to her help. It was the sword of Washington and of Lafayette that gave -us Independence. In conclusion upon this color objection, we have to say -that we meet here in open daylight. There is nothing sinister about us. -The eyes of the nation are upon us. Ten thousand newspapers may tell if -they choose of whatever is said and done here. They may commend our -wisdom or condemn our folly, precisely as we shall be wise or foolish. - -We put ourselves before them as honest men, and ask their judgment upon -our work. - - -THE LABOR QUESTION. - -Not the least important among the subjects to which we invite your -earnest attention is the condition of the labor class at the South. -Their cause is one with the labor classes all over the world. The labor -unions of the country should not throw away this colored element of -strength. Everywhere there is dissatisfaction with the present relation -of labor and capital, and to-day no subject wears an aspect more -threatening to civilization than the respective claims of capital and -labor, landlords and tenants. In what we have to say for our laboring -class we expect to have and ought to have the sympathy and support of -laboring men everywhere and of every color. - -It is a great mistake for any class of laborers to isolate itself and -thus weaken the bond of brotherhood between those on whom the burden and -hardships of labor fall. The fortunate ones of the earth, who are -abundant in land and money and know nothing of the anxious care and -pinching poverty of the laboring classes, may be indifferent to the -appeal for justice at this point, but the laboring classes cannot afford -to be indifferent. What labor everywhere wants, what it ought to have, -and will some day demand and receive, is an honest day’s pay for an -honest day’s work. As the laborer becomes more intelligent he will -develop what capital he already possesses--that is the power to organize -and combine for its own protection. Experience demonstrates that there -may be a wages of slavery only a little less galling and crushing in -its effects than chattel slavery, and that this slavery of wages must go -down with the other. - -There is nothing more common now than the remark that the physical -condition of the freedmen of the South is immeasurably worse than in the -time of slavery; that in respect to food, clothing and shelter they are -wretched, miserable and destitute; that they are worse masters to -themselves than their old masters were to them. To add insult to injury, -the reproach of their condition is charged upon themselves. A grandson -of John C. Calhoun, an Arkansas land-owner, testifying the other day -before the Senate Committee of Labor and Education, says the “negroes -are so indolent that they fail to take advantage of the opportunities -offered them; that they will only devote so much of their time to work -as will enable them to procure the necessities of life; that there is -danger of a war of races,” etc., etc. - -His testimony proclaims him the grandson of the man whose name he bears. -The blame which belongs to his own class he shifts from them to the -shoulders of labor. It becomes us to test the truth of that assertion by -the light of reason, and by appeals to indisputable facts. Of course the -land-owners of the South may be expected to view things differently from -the landless. The slaveholders always did look at things a little -differently from the slaves, and we therefore insist that, in order that -the whole truth shall be brought out, the laborer as well as the -capitalist shall be called as witnesses before the Senate Committee of -Labor and Education. Experience proves that it takes more than one class -of people to tell the whole truth about matters in which they are -interested on opposite sides, and we protest against the allowance of -only one side of the labor question to be heard by the country in this -case. Meanwhile, a little reason and reflection will in some measure -bring out truth! The colored people of the South are the laboring people -of the South. The labor of a country is the source of its wealth; -without the colored laborer to-day the South would be a howling -wilderness, given up to bats, owls, wolves, and bears. He was the source -of its wealth before the war, and has been the source of its prosperity -since the war. He almost alone is visible in her fields, with implements -of toil in his hands, and laboriously using them to-day. - -Let us look candidly at the matter. While we see and hear that the -South is more prosperous than it ever was before and rapidly recovering -from the waste of war, while we read that it raises more cotton, sugar, -rice, tobacco, corn, and other valuable products than it ever produced -before, how happens it, we sternly ask, that the houses of its laborers -are miserable huts, that their clothes are rags, and their food the -coarsest and scantiest? How happens it that the land-owner is becoming -richer and the laborer poorer? - -The implication is irresistible--that where the landlord is prosperous -the laborer ought to share his prosperity, and whenever and wherever we -find this is not the case there is manifestly wrong somewhere. - -This sharp contrast of wealth and poverty, as every thoughtful man -knows, can exist only in one way, and from one cause, and that is by one -getting more than its proper share of the reward of industry, and the -other side getting less, and that in some way labor has been defrauded -or otherwise denied of its due proportion, and we think the facts, as -well as this philosophy, will support this view in the present case, and -do so conclusively. We utterly deny that the colored people of the South -are too lazy to work, or that they are indifferent to their physical -wants; as already said, they are the workers of that section. - -The trouble is not that the colored people of the South are indolent, -but that no matter how hard or how persistent may be their industry, -they get barely enough for their labor to support life at the very low -point at which we find them. We therefore throw off the burden of -disgrace and reproach from the laborer where Mr. Calhoun and others of -his class would place it, and put it on the land-owner where it belongs. -It is the old case over again. The black man does the work and the white -man gets the money. - -It may be said after all the colored people have themselves to blame for -this state of things, because they have not intelligently taken the -matter into their own hands and provided a remedy for the evil they -suffer. - -Some blame may attach at this point. But those who reproach us thus -should remember that it is hard for labor, however fortunately and -favorably surrounded, to cope with the tremendous power of capital in -any contest for higher wages or improved condition. A strike for higher -wages is seldom successful, and is often injurious to the strikers; the -losses sustained are seldom compensated by the concessions gained. A -case in point is the recent strike of the telegraph operators--a more -intelligent class can nowhere be found. It was a contest of brains -against money, and the want of money compelled intelligence to surrender -to wealth. - -An empty sack is not easily made to stand upright. The man who has it in -his power to say to a man, you must work the land for me for such wages -as I choose to give, has a power of slavery over him as real, if not as -complete, as he who compels toil under the lash. All that a man hath -will he give for his life. - -In contemplating the little progress made by the colored people in the -acquisition of property in the South, and their present wretched -condition, the circumstances of their emancipation should not be -forgotten. Measurement in their case should not begin from the height -yet to be attained by them, but from the depths whence they have come. - -It should be remembered by our severe judges that freedom came to us not -from the sober dictates of wisdom, or from any normal condition of -things, not as a matter of choice on the part of the land-owners of the -South, nor from moral considerations on the part of the North. It was -born of battle and of blood. It came across fields of smoke and fire -strewn with wounded, bleeding, and dying men. Not from the Heaven of -Peace amid the morning stars, but from the hell of war--out of the -tempest and whirlwind of warlike passions, mingled with deadly hate and -a spirit of revenge; it came, not so much as a boon to us as a blast to -the enemy. Those against whom the measure was directed were the -land-owners, and they were not angels, but men, and, being men, it was -to be expected they would resent the blow. They did resent it, and a -part of that resentment unhappily fell upon us. - -At first the land-owners drove us out of our old quarters, and told us -they did not want us in their fields; that they meant to import German, -Irish, and Chinese laborers. But as the passions of the war gradually -subsided we were taken back to our old places; but, plainly enough, this -change of front was not from choice, but necessity. Feeling themselves -somehow or other entitled to our labor without the payment of wages, it -was not strange that they should make the hardest bargains for our -labor, and get it for as little as possible. For them the contest was -easy; their tremendous power and our weakness easily gave them the -victory. - -Against the voice of Stevens, Sumner, and Wade, and other far-seeing -statesmen, the Government by whom we were emancipated left us completely -in the power of our former owners. They turned us loose to the open sky -and left us not a foot of ground from which to get a crust of bread. - -It did not do as well by us as Russia did by her serfs, or Pharaoh did -by the Hebrews. With freedom Russia gave land and Egypt loaned jewels. - -It may have been best to leave us thus to make terms with those whose -wrath it had kindled against us. It does not seem right that we should -have been so left, but it fully explains our present poverty and -wretchedness. - -The marvel is not that we are poor in such circumstances, but rather -that we were not exterminated. In view of the circumstances, our -extermination was confidently predicted. The facts that we still live -and have increased in higher ratio than the native white people of the -South are proofs of our vitality, and, in some degree, of our industry. - -Nor is it to be wondered at that the standard of morals is not higher -among us, that respect for the rights of property is not stronger. The -power of life and death held over labor which says you shall work for me -on my own terms or starve, is a source of crime, as well as poverty. - -Weeds do not more naturally spring out of a manure pile than crime out -of enforced destitution. Out of the misery of Ireland comes murder, -assassination, fire, and sword. The Irish are by nature no worse than -other people, and no better. If oppression makes a wise man mad it may -do the same, and worse, to a people who are not reputed wise. The woe -pronounced upon those who keep back wages of the laborer by fraud is -self-acting and self-executing and certain as death. The world is full -of warnings. - - -THE ORDER SYSTEM. - -No more crafty and effective devise for defrauding the southern laborers -could be adopted than the one that substitutes orders upon shopkeepers -for currency in payment of wages. It has the merit of a show of honesty, -while it puts the laborer completely at the mercy of the land-owner and -the shopkeeper. He is between the upper and the nether millstones, and -is hence ground to dust. It gives the shopkeeper a customer who can -trade with no other storekeeper, and thus leaves the latter no motive -for fair dealing except his own moral sense, which is never too strong. -While the laborer holding the orders is tempted by their worthlessness, -as a circulating medium, to get rid of them at any sacrifice, and hence -is led into extravagance and consequent destitution. - -The merchant puts him off with his poorest commodities at highest -prices, and can say to him take these or nothing. Worse still. By this -means the laborer is brought into debt, and hence is kept always in the -power of the land-owner. When this system is not pursued and land is -rented to the freedman, he is charged more for the use of an acre of -land for a single year than the land would bring in the market if -offered for sale. On such a system of fraud and wrong one might well -invoke a bolt from heaven--red with uncommon wrath. - -It is said if the colored people do not like the conditions upon which -their labor is demanded and secured, let them leave and go elsewhere. A -more heartless suggestion never emanated from an oppressor. Having for -years paid them in shop orders, utterly worthless outside the shop to -which they are directed, without a dollar in their pockets, brought by -this crafty process into bondage to the land-owners, who can and would -arrest them if they should attempt to leave when they are told to go. - -We commend the whole subject to the Senate Committee of Labor and -Education, and urge upon that committee the duty to call before it not -only the land-owners, but the landless laborers of the South, and thus -get at the whole truth concerning the labor question of that section. - - -EDUCATION. - -On the subject of equal education and educational facilities, mentioned -in the call for this convention, we expect little resistance from any -quarter. It is everywhere an accepted truth, that in a country governed -by the people, like ours, education of the youth of all classes is vital -to its welfare, prosperity, and to its existence. - -In the light of this unquestioned proposition, the patriot cannot but -view with a shudder the widespread and truly alarming illiteracy as -revealed by the census of 1880. - -The question as to how this evil is to be remedied is an important one. -Certain it is that it will not do to trust to the philanthropy of -wealthy individuals or benevolent societies to remove it. The States in -which this illiteracy prevails either can not or will not provide -adequate systems of education for their own youth. But, however this may -be, the fact remains that the whole country is directly interested in -the education of every child that lives within its borders. The -ignorance of any part of the American people so deeply concerns all the -rest that there can be no doubt of the right to pass laws compelling the -attendance of every child at school. Believing that such is now required -and ought to be enacted, we hereby put ourselves on record in favor of -stringent laws to this end. - -In the presence of this appalling picture, presented by the last census, -we hold it to be the imperative duty of Congress to take hold of this -important subject, and, without waiting for the States to adopt liberal -school systems within their respective jurisdictions, to enter -vigorously upon the work of universal education. - -The National Government, with its immense resources, can carry the -benefits of a sound common-school education to the door of every poor -man from Maine to Texas, and to withhold this boon is to neglect the -greatest assurance it has of its own perpetuity. As a part of the -American people we unite most emphatically with others who have already -spoken on this subject, in urging Congress to lay the foundation of a -great national system of aid to education at its next session. - -In this connection, and as germane to the subject of education under -national auspices, we would most respectfully and earnestly request -Congress to authorize the appointment of a commission of three or more -persons of suitable character and qualifications to ascertain the legal -claimants, as far as they can, to a large fund now in the United States -treasury, appropriated for the payment of bounties of colored soldiers -and sailors; and to provide by law that at the expiration of three or -five years the balance remaining in the treasury be distributed among -the colored colleges of the country, giving the preference as to amounts -to the schools that are doing effective work in industrial branches. - - -FREEDMEN’S BANK. - -The colored people have suffered much on account of the failure of the -Freedman’s bank. Their loss by this institution was a peculiar hardship, -coming as it did upon them in the days of their greatest weakness. It is -certain that the depositors in this institution were led to believe -that as Congress had chartered it and established its headquarters at -the capital the Government in some way was responsible for the safe -keeping of their money. - -Without the dissemination of this belief it would never have had the -confidence of the people as it did nor have secured such an immense -deposit. Nobody authorized to speak for the Government ever corrected -this deception, but on the contrary, Congress continued to legislate for -the bank as if all that had been claimed for it was true. - -Under these circumstances, together with much more that might be said in -favor of such a measure, we ask Congress to reimburse the unfortunate -victims of that institution, and thus carry hope and give to many fresh -encouragement in the battle of life. - - -BOUNTY AND PENSION LAWS. - -We desire, also, to call the attention of Congress and the country to -the bounty and pension laws and to the filing of original claims. We ask -for the passage of an act extending the time for filing original claims -beyond the present limit. - -This we do for the reason that many of the soldiers and sailors that -served in the war of the rebellion and their heirs, and especially -colored claimants living in parts of the country where they have but -meagre means of information, have been, and still are, ignorant of their -rights and the methods of enforcing them. - -But while we urge these duties on Congress and the country, we must -never forget that any race worth living will live, and whether Congress -heeds our request in these and other particulars or not, we must -demonstrate our capacity to live by living. We must acquire property and -educate the hands and hearts and heads of our children whether we are -helped or not. Races that fail to do these things die politically and -socially, and are only fit to die. - -One great source of independence that has been sought by multitudes of -our white fellow-citizens is still open to us--we refer to the public -lands in the great West. The amazing rapidity with which the public -lands are being taken up warns us that we must lay hold of this -opportunity soon, or it will be gone forever. The Government gives to -every actual settler, under certain conditions, 160 acres of land. By -addressing a letter to the United States Land Office, Washington, D. -C., any person will receive full information in regard to this subject. -Thousands of white men have settled on these lands with scarcely any -money beyond their immediate wants, and in a few years have found -themselves the lords of a 160-acre farm. Let us do likewise. - - -CIVIL RIGHTS. - -The right of every American citizen to select his own society and invite -whom he will to his own parlor and table should be sacredly respected. A -man’s house is his castle, and he has a right to admit or refuse -admission to it as he may please, and defend his house from all -intruders even with force, if need be. This right belongs to the -humblest not less than the highest, and the exercise of it by any of our -citizens toward anybody or class who may presume to intrude, should -cause no complaint, for each and all may exercise the same right toward -whom he will. - -When he quits his home and goes upon the public street, enters a public -car or a public house, he has no exclusive right of occupancy. He is -only a part of the great public, and while he has the right to walk, -ride, and be accommodated with food and shelter in a public conveyance -or hotel, he has no exclusive right to say that another citizen, tall or -short, black or white, shall not have the same civil treatment with -himself. The argument against equal rights at hotels is very improperly -put upon the ground that the exercise of such rights, it is insisted, is -social equality. But this ground is unreasonable. It is hard to say what -social equality is, but it is certain that going into the same street -car, hotel, or steamboat cabin does not make any man society for another -any more than flying in the same air makes all birds of one feather. - -Two men may be seated at the same table at a hotel; one may be a Webster -in intellect, and the other a Guiteau in feebleness of mind and morals, -and, of course, socially and intellectually, they are as wide apart as -are the poles of the moral universe, but their civil rights are the -same. The distinction between the two sorts of equality is broad and -plain to the understanding of the most limited, and yet, blinded by -prejudice, men never cease to confound one with the other, and allow -themselves to infringe the civil rights of their fellow-citizens as if -those rights were, in some way, in violation of their social rights. - -That this denial of rights to us is because of our color, only as color -is a badge of condition, is manifest in the fact that no matter how -decently dressed or well-behaved a colored man may be, he is denied -civil treatment in the ways thus pointed out, unless he comes as a -servant. His color, not his character, determines the place he shall -hold and the kind of treatment he shall receive. That this is due to a -prejudice and has no rational principle under it is seen in the fact -that the presence of colored persons in hotels and rail cars is only -offensive when they are there as guests and passengers. As servants they -are welcome, but as equal citizens they are not. It is also seen in the -further fact that nowhere else on the globe, except in the United -States, are colored people subject to insult and outrage on account of -color. The colored traveler in Europe does not meet it, and we denounce -it here as a disgrace to American civilization and American religion and -as a violation of the spirit and letter of the Constitution of the -United States. From those courts which have solemnly sworn to support -the Constitution and that yet treat this provision of it with contempt -we appeal to the people, and call upon our friends to remember our civil -rights at the ballot-box. On the point of the two equalities we are -determined to be understood. - -We leave social equality where it should be left, with each individual -man and woman. No law can regulate or control it. It is a matter with -which governments have nothing whatever to do. Each may choose his own -friends and associates without interference or dictation of any. - - -POLITICAL EQUALITY. - -Flagrant as have been the outrages committed upon colored citizens in -respect to their civil rights, more flagrant, shocking, and scandalous -still have been the outrages committed upon our political rights by -means of bull-dozing and Kukluxing, Mississippi plans, fraudulent -counts, tissue ballots, and the like devices. Three States in which the -colored people outnumber the white population are without colored -representation and their political voice suppressed. The colored -citizens in those States are virtually disfranchised, the Constitution -held in utter contempt and its provisions nullified. This has been done -in the face of the Republican party and successive Republican -administrations. - -It was once said by the great O’Connell that the history of Ireland -might be traced like a wounded man through a crowd by the blood, and -the same may be truly said of the history of the colored voters of the -South. - -They have marched to the ballot-box in face of gleaming weapons, wounds, -and death. They have been abandoned by the Government, and left to the -laws of nature. So far as they are concerned, there is no Government or -Constitution of the United States. - -They are under control of a foul, haggard, and damning conspiracy -against reason, law, and constitution. How you can be indifferent, how -any leading colored men can allow themselves to be silent in presence of -this state of things, we cannot see. - -“Should tongues be mute while deeds are wrought which well might shame -extremest hell?” And yet they are mute, and condemn our assembling here -to speak out in manly tones against the continuance of this infernal -reign of terror. - -This is no question of party. It is a question of law and government. It -is a question whether men shall be protected by law, or be left to the -mercy of cyclones of anarchy and bloodshed. It is whether the Government -or the mob shall rule this land; whether the promises solemnly made to -us in the Constitution be manfully kept or meanly and flagrantly broken. -Upon this vital point we ask the whole people of the United States to -take notice that whatever of political power we have shall be exerted -for no man of any party who will not, in advance of election, promise to -use every power given him by the Government, State or National, to make -the black man’s path to the ballot-box as straight, smooth and safe as -that of any other American citizen. - - -POLITICAL AMBITION. - -We are as a people often reproached with ambition for political offices -and honors. We are not ashamed of this alleged ambition. Our destitution -of such ambition would be our real shame. If the six millions and a half -of people whom we represent could develop no aspirants to political -office and honor under this Government, their mental indifference, -barrenness and stolidity might well enough be taken as proof of their -unfitness for American citizenship. - -It is no crime to seek or hold office. If it were it would take a larger -space than that of Noah’s Ark to hold the white criminals. - -One of the charges against this convention is that it seeks for the -colored people a larger share than they now possess in the offices and -emoluments of the Government. - -We are now significantly reminded by even one of our own members that we -are only twenty years out of slavery, and we ought therefore to be -modest in our aspirations. Such leaders should remember that men will -not be religious when the devil turns preacher. - -The inveterate and persistent office-seeker and office-holder should be -modest when he preaches that virtue to others which he does not himself -practice. Wolsey could not tell Cromwell to fling away ambition properly -only when he had flung away his own. - -We are far from affirming that there may not be too much zeal among -colored men in pursuit of political preferment; but the fault is not -wholly theirs. They have young men among them noble and true, who are -educated and intelligent--fit to engage in enterprise of “pith and -moment"--who find themselves shut out from nearly all the avenues of -wealth and respectability, and hence they turn their attention to -politics. They do so because they can find nothing else. The best cure -for the evil is to throw open other avenues and activities to them. - -We shall never cease to be a despised and persecuted class while we are -known to be excluded by our color from all important positions under the -Government. - -While we do not make office the one thing important, nor the one -condition of our alliance with any party, and hold that the welfare, -prosperity and happiness of our whole country is the true criterion of -political action for ourselves and for all men, we can not disguise from -ourselves the fact that our persistent exclusion from office as a class -is a great wrong, fraught with injury, and ought to be resented and -opposed by all reasonable and effective means in our power. - -We hold it to be self-evident that no class or color should be the -exclusive rulers of this country. If there is such a ruling class, there -must of course be a subject class, and when this condition is once -established this Government of the people, by the people, and for the -people, will have perished from the earth. - - - - -IN WASHINGTON, D. C., 1885. - - On being introduced by Hon. B. K. BRUCE, on the occasion of the - twenty-third anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the - District of Columbia, FREDERICK DOUGLASS spoke as follows: - - -FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS: Your committee of arrangements were pleased -to select me as your orator of the day, on an occasion similar to this, -two years ago. At that time, while appreciating the honor conferred upon -me, I ventured to express the wish that some one of the many competent -colored young men of this city and District had been chosen to discharge -this honorable duty in my stead. There were excellent reasons for that -wish then, and there are even much better reasons for the same wish now. -Time and cultivation have largely added to the number of those from whom -a suitable selection might have been made, and one of these silent, yet -powerful, agents whose mission it is to create and destroy all things -mortal has left me much less desire for such distinguished service now -than two years ago. Happily, however, the burden is not heavy or -grievous, and the proper story of this occasion is simple, familiar, and -easily told. In observing the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in -the District of Columbia, we attract the attention of the American -people to one of the most important and significant events in their -national history, and at the same time evince a grateful and proper -sense of the wonderful changes for the better that have taken place in -our condition, and in that of the country generally. Though in its -immediate and legal operation this act of emancipation was local in its -range as to territory, and limited in its application as to the number -of persons liberated by it, morally it looms upon us as a grand, -comprehensive, and far-reaching measure. - -To appreciate its importance we must not consider it as a single -independent act standing alone, nor as one pertaining to this District -only, nor to the colored people only. We must regard it as a part of a -series of splendid public measures, as one of so many steps in the -national progress looking to one beneficent and glorious result, a large -contribution to the honor and welfare of the whole country. It was the -auspicious beginning of a great movement in the councils of the nation, -made necessary by the war, and one which finally culminated in the -complete and permanent abolition of slavery, not only in the District of -Columbia, but in every part of the Republic. Thus viewed it was the one -act which broke the gloomy spell that bound the nation in the bonds of -servile, unnatural reverence and awe for slavery. It withdrew the -sympathy of European nations from the rebellion; it brought the moral -support of the civilized world to the loyal cause; it erased the foulest -blot that ever stained our national escutcheon; it gave to the war for -the Union a logical, humane, and consistent purpose; it solved a problem -which was the standing grief of good men, and the perplexity of -statesmen for ages; it gave courage and hope to our armies in the field; -it weakened the rebellion; it raised the whole nation to a higher and -happier plane of civilization, and placed the American people where they -never were before, in a position where they could consistently and -effectively preach liberty to all the nations of the world. - -The 16th of April, the anniversary of this great act of the nation, -strangely and erroneously enough has been considered simply as the -colored man’s day only. The business of consecrating and preserving its -memory has been, by common consent, relegated to him exclusively. But, -in this, our fellow-citizens have been more generous to us than just to -themselves. Colored men have very little more reason to hallow this day -than have white men. If it brought freedom to us, it brought peace and -safety to them, and hence they may well enough unite in this and similar -celebrations, and regard the day as theirs as well as ours. No truth -taught by our national history is more evident than this, that while -slavery dominated the southern half of the Republic, and free -institutions prevailed in the northern half, peace and harmony between -the two sections were utterly and forever impossible. No man can serve -two masters, and the attempt of our Government to do this was a -stupendous failure. The union between liberty and slavery was a marriage -without love, a house divided against itself; a couple unequally yoked -together, held together by external force, not by moral cohesion; it -brought happiness to neither, and misery to both. - -Like any other embodiment of social and material interest peculiar to a -given community, slavery generated its own sentiments, its own morals, -manners, and religion; and begot a character in all around it in favor -of its own existence. - -In nearly everything indigenous and peculiar to society in the two -sections, they were as separate and distinct as are any two nations on -the globe. The longer they were thus linked together in the bonds of -outward union, the more palpable became their points of difference, and -the more passionate became their hostility to each other. Liberty became -more and more the glory of the North, and slavery more and more the idol -of the South. Not even the bonds of Christian fellowship were strong -enough to hold together the churches of the two sections. - -In view of this settled and growing antagonism, only one of three -courses was opened to the nation: The first was to make the country all -slaves, the second was to make it all free, and the third was to divide -the Union, and let each section set up a government of its own--the one -based upon the system of slavery, and the other based upon the -principles of the Declaration of American Independence. - -Thanks to the wisdom, loyalty, patriotism, courage, and statesmanship -developed by the crisis, the nation rejected equally the idea of making -the country all slaves, and permitting two separate nations, with -hostile civilizations, side by side, with a chafing, bloody border -between them, but chose to give us one country, one citizenship, and one -liberty for all the people, and hence we are here this evening. There -was never any physical reason for the dissolution of the Union. The -geographical and topographical conditions of the country all served to -unite rather than to divide the two sections. It was moral not physical -dynamite that blew the two sections asunder. - -We are told by the poet that-- - - “Lands intersected by a narrow frith, abhor each other; - Mountains interposed make enemies of nations, - Which else, like kindred drops, had mingled into one.” - -But in this case there were neither friths nor mountains to separate the -South from the North, or to make our Southern brethren hate the people -of the North. The moral cause of trouble in the system of slavery being -now removed, peace and harmony are possible, and, I doubt not, these -blessings, though long delayed, will finally come. In calling attention -to the event which makes this day precious we honor ourselves, and -honor the noble and brave men who brought it about. We render our humble -tribute of gratitude to-day, not only to those whose valor and whose -blood on the battlefield brought freedom to the American slave; not only -to the great generals who led our armies, but to our great statesmen as -well who framed our laws; and not to these only, but also to the noble -army of men and women which preceded both statesmen and warriors in the -cause of emancipation, and made these warriors and statesmen possible. -Neither would our gratitude forget those who supplemented the great act -of emancipation by carrying the blessings of education to the benighted -South, thus preparing the liberated freedman for the duties of -citizenship. - -I need not stop here to call the roll of any of these classes. The -nation knows the debt it owes them, and will never forget them. We have -but to mention the honored name of Abraham Lincoln in the Presidential -chair, of Ulysses S. Grant in the field, at whose bedside a grateful -nation now stands mute in sympathy and sad expectation; of William Lloyd -Garrison in the columns of the _Liberator_, of Wendell Phillips on the -rostrum, of Charles Sumner in the Senate, to cause a host of noble men -and women to start up and pass in review before us. - -But I drop this brief reference to the history and personnel of the -anti-slavery movement, and will speak of matters nearer our times and -equally pertinent to this occasion. Those who abolished slavery did -their work, and did it well. They served their day and generation with -wisdom, courage, and fortitude, and are an example to this and coming -generations. They bravely upheld the principles of liberty and justice, -and it will go well with this nation and with us if we in our time, and -if those who are to come after us in theirs, shall adhere to and uphold -these same principles with equal zeal, courage, fidelity, and fortitude. -One generation cannot safely rest on the achievements of another, and -ought not so to rest. - -Hitherto there has been little variety in the thoughts, resolutions, and -addresses presented for consideration on occasions similar to this. Each -celebration has been almost a _fac-simile_ of its predecessors. The -speeches have been little more than echoes of those made before, because -the conditions of their utterances have been so uniform, and all one -way. To-day, however, conditions are changed, or appear to be changed. -We do not stand where we stood one year ago. We are confronted by a new -Administration. The term of twenty-four years of steady, unbroken, -successful Republican rule is ended. The great Republican party that -carried the country safely through the late war against the rebellion, -emancipated the slave, saved the Union, reconstructed the government of -the Southern States, enfranchised the freedmen, raised the national -credit, improved the currency, decreased the national debt, and did more -for the honor, prosperity, and glory of the American people than was -ever done before in the same length of time by any party in any country -under similar circumstances, has been defeated, humiliated, and driven -from place and power. - -For the first time since the chains fell from the limbs of the slaves of -the District of Columbia; for the first time since slaves were raised -from chattels to men; for the first time since they were clothed with -the dignity of American citizenship they find themselves under the rule -of a political party which steadily opposed their every step from -bondage to freedom, and this fact may well enough give a peculiar -coloring to the thoughts and feelings with which this anniversary of -emancipation is celebrated. - -The great question of the hour respects the true significance of this -change in the national front. What does it portend? How will it affect -our relations to the people and government of this country? How was this -stupendous change brought about, and, in point of fact, it may be asked -with some propriety if there has really been any serious change made in -our condition by this change in the relations of parties? - -To the eye of the colored man the change, or apparent change, in the -political situation is very marked, and wears a very sinister aspect. He -has so long been accustomed to think the Republican party the -sheet-anchor of his liberty, the star of all his hopes, that he can see -nought but ill in the ascendancy of the Democratic party. He addresses -it much as did Hamlet his father’s ghost: - - “Tell why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death, - Have burst their cerements; why the sepulchre. - Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn’d, - Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws to cast thee up again. - What may this mean, that thou, dead corpse, - Again in complete steel, revisit’st thus the glimpses of the moon, - Making night hideous, and we, poor fools of nature, - So horridly to shake our disposition - With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?” - -It is, perhaps, too early to determine the full significance of the -return of the Democratic party to power, or to tell just how that return -to power came about. One thing must be admitted, and that is that the -power and vitality of the Democratic party have been vastly underrated. -It has indulged in vices and crimes enough to have killed a dozen -ordinary parties, and yet it lives. At times it has really seemed to be -dead. Some said it had died by opposing the war for the Union, but it -was not so. We thought the life had gone out of it when it took our late -friend, Horace Greely, for its candidate for the Presidency and adopted -a Republican platform, but it was not so. - -It was the same old party in a new dress, and time has shown that it was -as full of life and power as ever. The fact is, it was never either -honestly dead or securely buried. Even when it slept it had one eye -open, and saw better with that one eye than did the Republican party -with its two. Our mistakes concerning it have been made abundantly clear -by the late election and the dazzling splendor of the recent -inauguration. We thought the Democratic party dead when it was alive, -and the Republican party alive and strong when it was half dead. Long -continuance in power had developed rival ambitions, personal -animosities, factional combinations in the Republican party that were -fatal to its success and even endangered its life. - -One great lesson taught by Republican defeat is familiar to all. It is -the folly of relying upon past good behavior for present success. -Parties, like men, must act in the living present or fail. It is not -what they have done or left undone in the past that turns the scale, but -what they are doing, and mean to do now. The result shows that neither -the past good conduct of the Republican party nor the past bad conduct -of the Democratic party has had much to do with the late election. - -Americans have too little memory for good or bad political conduct. The -people have said in the late election, “We care nothing for your past; -but what is your present character and work?” And in rendering judgment -they have said, “We see little ground for preferring one to the other.” - -But, fellow-citizens, it is consoling to think that this change in the -political front justly implies no real change for the worse in the moral -convictions of the American people. On the great questions that divided -the parties during the periods of war and reconstruction there has been -no change whatever. Upon all the great measures of justice, liberty, -and civilization, originated and carried through Congress by the -Republican party, I believe the heart of the nation to be still safe and -sound. If the measures then in controversy between the parties were now -submitted to the American people, I fully believe they would sustain -them one and all by an overwhelming vote. - -The trouble was that the Republican party in the late campaign forgot -for the moment its high mission as the party of great moral ideas, and -sought victory on grounds far below its ordinary level. It made national -pelf more important and prominent than national purity. It made the body -more important than the soul; national prosperity more important than -national justice. There was no square issue made up between the parties. -One talked in favor of the tariff and the other did not talk against it. -Both together beat the air and raised a dust, confused counsel, blinded -the voters, and rendered victory a thing of chance rather than a thing -of choice. The Republican party was not more surprised by defeat than -the Democratic party was astonished by victory. Twelve hundred votes -would have changed the result; so that nothing for the future can be -safely predicted upon the election either way. It does not imply that -the Democratic party is in power to stay, or that the Republican party -is out of power to stay, or that new parties are to arise and take the -place of the old. - -While it was painfully evident that the Republican party, during the -late canvass, had little or nothing to say against the outrages -committed upon the newly enfranchised people of the South, it was -equally plain that the Democratic party had nothing to say in defense of -these outrages. Yet it is not strange, in view of the history of the two -parties, that much alarm was felt by colored people all over the South -when they first learned that the great Republican party was defeated and -that the Democratic party was soon to administer the National -Government. - -Ignorant as the colored people of the South have been, and may still be, -about other matters of national importance, they have always been -intelligent enough as to the character and relations of political -parties. They have never been mistaken as to the historical difference -between the party which gave them liberty and the party which sought to -continue their enslavement. They had known the Democratic party long -and well and only as the party of the old master class. They naturally -held the triumph of that party as a victory of the old master class. In -the panic of the moment they saw in it a possible attempt to -rehabilitate the old order of government in the South, in which they -would be greatly oppressed if not enslaved. - -In the joy and exultation of the old master class over the defeat of the -Republican party, and over the return of the old Democratic party to -power, they read what they thought their doom. Jealous of their newly -gained liberty, as well they might be, feeling themselves in peril and -left naked to their enemies, their fears amounted to agony. But, thanks -to the kind assurances promptly given by the President-elect and by -other Democrats in high places, this alarm was transient, and has now -given way in some measure to a feeling of confidence and security. - -How long this feeling of confidence and security will last, however, -will depend upon the future policy of the present administration. The -inaugural address of President Cleveland was all that any friend of -liberty and justice could reasonably ask for the freedmen. It was a -frank and manly avowal, worthy of the occasion. It accepted their -citizenship as a fact settled beyond debate, and as a subject which -ought to attract attention only with a view to the improvement of their -character and their better qualification by education for the duties and -responsibilities of citizens of the Republic. - -No better words have dropped from the east portico of the Capitol since -the inauguration days of Abraham Lincoln and Gen. Grant. I believe they -were sincerely spoken, but whether the President will be able to -administer the government in the light of those liberal sentiments is an -open question. The one-man power in our government is very great, but -the power of party may be greater. The President is not the autocrat, -but the executive of the nation. But, happily, the executive is yet a -power, and may be able to obtain the support of the co-ordinate branches -of the government in so plain a duty as protecting the rights of the -colored citizens, with those of all other citizens of the Republic. For -one, though Republican I am, and have been, and ever expect to be, -though I did what I could to elect James G. Blaine as President of the -United States, I am disposed to trust President Cleveland. By his words, -as well as by his oath of office, solemnly subscribed to before -uncounted thousands of American citizens, he is held and firmly bound -to execute the Constitution of the United States in the fullness of its -spirit and in the completeness of its letter, and thus far he has shown -no disposition to shrink from that duty. - -The Southern question is evidently the most difficult question with -which President Cleveland will have to deal. Hard as it may be to manage -his party on the civil service question, where he has only to deal with -hungry and thirsty office-seekers, nineteen out of every twenty of whom -he must necessarily offend by failing to find desirable places for them, -he will find it incomparably harder to meet that party’s wishes in -dealing with the Southern question. There are several methods of -disposing of this Southern question open to him, and there are lions in -the way, whichever method he may adopt. - -First. He may adopt a policy of total indifference. He may shut his eyes -to the fact that in all of the Gulf States political rights of colored -citizens are literally stamped out; that the Constitution which he has -solemnly sworn to support and enforce is under the feet of the mob; that -in those States there is no such thing as a fair election and an honest -count. He may utterly refuse to interfere by word or deed for the -enforcement of the Constitution and for the protection of the ballot, -and let the Southern question drift whithersoever it will, to a port of -safety or to a rock of disaster. He will probably be counselled to -pursue the course of President Hayes, but I hope he will refuse to -follow it. The reasons which supported that policy do not exist in the -case of a Democratic President. Mr. Hayes made a virtue of necessity. He -had fair warning that not a dollar or a dime would be voted by a -Democratic Congress if the army were kept in the South. The cry of the -country was against what was called bayonet rule. - -Secondly. The President may pursue a temporizing policy; keep the word -of promise to the ear and break it to the heart, a half-hearted, a -neither hot nor cold, a good Lord and good devil policy. He may try to -avoid giving offence to any, and thus succeed in pleasing none; a policy -which no man or party can pursue without inviting and earning the scorn -and contempt of all honest men and of all honest parties. - -Thirdly. He may decide to accept the Mississippi plan of conducting -elections at the South; encourage violence and crime; elevate to office -the men whose hands are reddest with innocent blood; force the negroes -out of Southern politics by the shot-gun and the bulldozer’s whip; -cheat them out of the elective franchise; suppress the Republican vote; -kill off their white Republican leaders, and keep the South solid; and -keep its one hundred and fifty-three electoral votes--obtained thus by -force, fraud, and red-handed violence--ready to be cast for a Democratic -candidate in 1888. This might be acceptable to a certain class of -Democrats at the South, but the Democrats of the North would abhor and -denounce it as a bloody and hell-black policy. It would hurl the party -from power in spite of the solid South, and keep it out of power another -four and twenty years. - -Fourthly. He may sustain a policy of absolute fidelity to all the -requirements of the Constitution as it is, and, as John Adams said of -the Declaration of Independence, he may bravely say to the South and to -the nation: “Sink or swim, survive or perish, I am for the Constitution -in all its parts! I will be true to my oath, and I will, to the best of -my ability, and to the fullest extent of my power, defend, protect, and -maintain the rights of all citizens, without regard to race or color.” - -There can be no doubt as to which of these methods of treating the -Southern question is the most honest and safe one. There may be many -wrong ways for individuals or nations to pursue, but there is but one -right way, and it remains to be seen if this is the one the present -administration will adopt and pursue. Left to the promptings of his own -heart and his own view of his constitutional duties, and to his own -sense of the requirements of consistency, and even expediency, I firmly -believe that President Cleveland would do his utmost to protect and -defend the constitutional rights of all classes of citizens. But he is -not left to himself, and may adopt a different policy. - -One thing seems plain, which it is well for all parties to know and -consider. It is this: There are 7,000,000 of colored citizens now in -this Republic. They stand between the two great parties--the Republican -party and the Democratic party--and whichever of these two parties shall -be most just and true to these 7,000,000 may safely count upon a long -lease of power in this Republic. It is not their votes alone that will -tell. There is deep down among the people of this country a love of -justice and fair play, and that fact will tell. It is now as it was in -the time of war, and it will be so in all time. The party which takes -the negro on its side will triumph. The world moves, and the conditions -of success and failure have changed. - -Formerly, devotion to slavery was the condition upon which the success -of the Democratic party was based. But time and events have swept away -this abhorred condition. Liberty, not slavery, is now the autocrat of -the Republic. Neither politics nor religion can succeed in the future by -pandering to the prejudices arising out of slavery. Let the great -Democratic party realize this fact, and shape its policy in accordance -with it; let it do justice to the negro, and it will certainly succeed -itself in power four years hence, and long years after. - -On the contrary, if it forgets the nation’s progress, falls back into -its old ruts, and seeks success on the old conditions; if it forgets -that slavery has now become an anachronism, a superstition of the past, -having no proper relation to the age and body of our times, it will be -ignominiously driven from place and power four years hence, and no arm -can, or ought to, save it. - - “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, - Taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” - -This tide is now rising at the feet of President Cleveland and his -administration, and, as I have said, it remains to be seen if it will be -wisely taken at the flood. Depend upon it, if the Democratic party does -not avail itself of the colored man’s support the Republican party -certainly will. That party is still the colored man’s party, and it will -be all the more likely to consider the claims of the colored man, in -view of its late defeat, and the causes by which that defeat was brought -about. Twelve hundred more colored votes in the State of New York would -have saved that party from defeat. - -Unless the ballot is protected better than heretofore the Augusta speech -of the Hon. James G. Blaine, delivered after the election, will be the -keynote of the Republican campaign four years hence. There is only one -way to prevent the success of the Republican party if that issue is -permitted to be raised. The Northern people were sound for free soil; -sound for free speech; sound for the Union; sound for reconstruction in -other days, and they will be sound for justice and liberty and a free -ballot to the newly enfranchised citizens when that issue shall be -fairly presented as a living issue between the two contending parties. - -The great mistake made by the leaders of the Republican party during the -late canvass was the failure to recognize the facts now stated, and -their refusal to act upon them. They had become tired of the old issues -and wanted new ones. They made their appeal to the pocket of the nation, -and not to the heart of the nation. They attended to the mint, anise, -and cummin of politics, but omitted the weightier matters of the -law--judgment, mercy, and faith. They were loud for the protection of -things, but silent for the protection of men. These things they ought to -have done, and not left the other undone. - -The idea that righteousness exalteth a nation, and that sin is a -reproach to any people, was, for a time, lost sight of. The -all-engrossing thought of the campaign was a judicious, discriminating -protective tariff. The great thing was protection to the wool of Ohio; -to the iron of Pennsylvania, and to American manufactures generally. -Little was said, thought, or felt about national integrity, the -importance of maintaining good faith with the freedmen or the Indian, or -the protection of the constitutional rights of American citizens, except -where such rights were in no danger. - -The great thing to be protected was American industry against -competition with the pauper labor of Europe--not protection of the -starving labor of the South. The body of the nation was everything; the -soul of the nation was nothing. It did not appear from the campaign -speeches that it was important to protect and preserve both, or that the -body was not more dependent upon bread for life than was the soul -dependent upon truth, justice, benevolence, and good faith for health -and life. In the absence of these, the soul of the nation starves, -sickens, and dies. It may not fall at once upon the withdrawal of these, -but persistent injustice will, in the end, do its certain work of moral -destruction. No nation, no party, no man can live long and flourish on -falsehood, deceit, injustice, and broken pledges. Loyalty will perish -where protection and good faith are denied and withheld, and nothing -other that this should be expected, either by a party, a man, or by a -government. On the other hand, where good faith is maintained, where -justice is upheld, where truth and right prevail, the government will be -like the wise man’s house in Scripture--the winds may blow, the rains -may descend, the flood may come and beat upon it, but it will stand, -because it is founded upon the solid rock of principle. I speak this, -not only for the Republican party, but for all parties. Though I am a -party man, to me parties are valuable only as they subserve the ends of -good government. When they persistently violate the fundamental rights -of the humblest and weakest in the land I scout them, despise them, and -leave them. - -We boast of our riches, power, and glory as a nation, and we have reason -to do so. But what is prosperity, what is power, what is national glory, -when national honor, national good faith, and national protection to the -rights of our citizens are denied? Of what avail is citizenship and the -elective franchise where a whole people are deliberately abandoned to -anarchy by the Government under which they live, and told they must -protect themselves from violence as best they may, for, practically, -this is just what the American Government has said to the colored and -white Republican voters of the South during the last eight years. -Minister Lowell was accused of not protecting the rights of -Irish-Americans in England, and our ships are just now ordered to Panama -to look after the interests of American citizens in Central America. -This is all right, but when and where have our army and navy gone to -protect the rights of American citizens at home? To say, “I am a Roman -citizen!” could once arrest the bloody scourge and cause the brutal -tyrant to turn pale. But who cares now for the citizenship of any -American Republican, black or white, in Mississippi or South Carolina? -We are rich and powerful. But we should remember that the whole vast -volume of human history is dotted all along with the wrecks of nations -which have perished amid wealth, luxury, and splendor. What doth it -profit a nation to gain the whole world if it shall lose its own soul? -Henry Clay, in 1839, made an elaborate defence of the right to hold -property in man. Two hundred years of legislation has sanctioned and -identified negro slaves as property. When warned by anti-slavery men of -the dreadful consequences of perpetuating slavery, he said that that -warning had been given fifty years before, and that it had been answered -by fifty years of unexampled prosperity. His idea was that if slavery -were a curse God would not allow a nation that upheld it to prosper. The -argument was sophistical, but it contained a great truth after all, and -time only was required to verify it. He forgot that God reigns in -eternity; that space is sometimes given for repentance. He did not -remember, as Jefferson did, that God is just, and that His justice -cannot sleep forever. - -Had Mr. Clay lived to see, as we have seen, the union of his beloved -country rent asunder at the centre, and hostile armies composed of his -beloved countrymen on the field of battle, amid dust, smoke, and fire, -blowing each other to pieces from the cannon’s mouth; had he seen five -hundred thousand of the youth and flower of both sections of this land -cut down by the sword and flung down into bloody graves; had he seen in -the wake of this fratricidal war the smoldering ruins of noble towns and -cities, and the nation staggering under a debt heavier than a mountain -of gold; had he seen the sullen discontent and deadly hate which -survived the war, and traced all these calamities and more, as he must -do, to the existence of slavery, he would, in all the bitterness of his -soul, have cursed the day when he poured out his eloquence in defence of -that system which brought upon his country these accumulated horrors. - -The lesson of this national experience is in place to-day, and it would -be well for this nation to study and learn it. Look abroad! What rocks -Europe to-day? What causes the Emperor of all the Russias to be uneasy -on his pillow? What makes Austria tremble? Why does England start up -frantically at midnight and search her premises? You know, and I know, -that these countries have aggrieved classes among them who have just -ground of complaint against their governments. - -Now, fellow-citizens, let me speak plainly. This is an age when men go -to and fro in the earth, and knowledge increases oppressed peoples all -over the world are protesting with earthquake emphasis against all forms -of injustice, some by one means and some by another. Examples, like -certain diseases, are contagious. Railroads, steam navigation, electric -wires, newspapers, and traveling emissaries are abroad. Can you be quite -sure that the oppressed laborers in this country, white and colored, -will not some day make common cause and learn some of the dangerous -modes of protest against injustice adopted in other countries? I deal in -no threats, for myself or for any of my countrymen, and am only for -peaceful methods; but I say to all oppressors, “Have a care how you goad -and imbrute the colored man of the South!” He is weak, but not -powerless. He is submissive to wrongs, but not insensible to his rights. -He is hopeful, but not incapable of despair. He can endure, but even to -him may come a time when he shall think endurance has ceased to be a -virtue. All the world is a school, and in it one lesson is just now -being taught in letters of fire and blood, and that is, the utter -insecurity of life and property in the presence of an aggrieved class. -This lesson can be learned by the ignorant as well as by the wise. Who -can blame the negro if, when he is driven from the ballot-box, the -jury-box, and the schoolhouse, denied equal rights on railroads and -steamboats, called out of his bed at midnight and whipped by regulators, -compelled to live in rags and wretchedness, and his wages kept back by -fraud, denied a fair trial when accused of crime, he shall imitate the -example of other oppressed classes and invokes some terrible explosive -power as a means of bringing his oppressors to their senses, and making -them respect the claims of justice? This would indeed be madness, but -oppression will make even a wise man mad. - -It should not be forgotten that the negro is not what he was twenty -years ago. Kossuth once said that bayonets think. The negro is beginning -to think. Years ago a book had as little to say to him and had as little -meaning for him as a brick. It was then a thing of darkness and silence. -Now it is a thing of light and speech. Education, the sheet anchor of -safety to society where liberty and justice are secure, is a dangerous -thing to society in the presence of injustice and oppression. - -I pursue this thought no further. A hint to the wise ought to be -sufficient. Let not my words be construed as a menace, but taken as I -mean them--as a warning; not interpreted as inviting disaster, but -considered as designed to avert disaster. - -Fellow-citizens, many things calculated to make us thoughtful have -occurred since I addressed you on an occasion like this, two years ago; -but nothing has occurred which ought to make us more thoughtful than the -recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States on the civil -rights bill. That decision came upon the country like a clap of thunder -from a clear sky. It came without warning. It was a surprise to enemies -and a bitter disappointment to friends. Had the bench been composed of -Democratic judges some such a decision might have come upon us without -producing any very startling effect. But the fact was otherwise. This -blow was dealt us in the house of our friends. The bench was composed -of nine learned Republican judges, and of these nine honorable men only -one came to our help, I mean Honorable Justice John M. Harlan. He stood -up for the rights of colored citizens as those rights are defined by the -fourteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States. - -It was a magnificent spectacle, this grand representation of American -justice standing alone, and the country will not soon forget it. Without -meaning any disrespect to the Supreme Court, or reflecting upon the -purity of its motives, I must say here, as I have said elsewhere, and -shall say many times over if my life is spared, that that decision is -the most striking illustration I have ever seen of how it is possible to -keep alive the letter of the law and at the same time stab its spirit to -death. Portia strictly construed the law of Venice for mercy, and this -rule of construction has the approval of all the ages, but the Supreme -Court of the United States construed American law against the weak and -in the interest of prejudice and brutality. Never before was made so -clear the meaning of Paul’s saying, “The letter killeth, but the spirit -giveth life.” - -I am glad, and I know that you are glad, that there was one man on that -bench who had the mind and heart to be as true to liberty in this its -day as was the old Supreme Court of slavery in its day. While slavery -existed all presumptions were made in its favor. The obvious intention -of the law prevailed, but now the plain intention of the law has been -strangled by the letter of the law. - -The fourteenth amendment of the Constitution was plainly intended to -secure equal rights to all citizens of the United States, without regard -to race or color, and Congress was authorized to carry out this -provision by appropriate legislation. But by this decision of the -Supreme Court the fourteenth amendment has been slain in the house of -its friends. I have no doubt that that decision contributed to the -defeat of the Republican party in the late election. I repeat, that -decision may well make colored men thoughtful. - -Kentucky has done many evil things in her time, but she has also done -many great and good things. She has recently given us a law by which -equal educational advantages have been extended to colored children. -Long ago she gave us James G. Birney, the first abolition candidate for -the presidency of the United States; a former slave-holder, but one who -emancipated his slaves on his own motion; a genuine gentleman of the old -school, and one to be gratefully remembered by every friend of liberty -in this country. She has given us Cassius M. Clay, the man who fought -his way to freedom of speech on his native soil. She has given us John -G. Fee, the earnest and devoted educator of the freedman. Nor is this -all. She has given us two of the largest hearts and broadest minds of -which our country can boast; men who had the courage of their -convictions, and who dared, at the peril of what men hold most dear, to -be true to their convictions. These strong men--one dead and the other -living--are Abraham Lincoln and John M. Harlan. Abraham Lincoln is -already enshrined in the hearts of the American people, and Justice John -M. Harlan will hold a place beside him in the hearts of his countrymen. - -You remember the public meeting held in Lincoln Hall, and the free -expression of opinion upon the unsoundness of the decision of the -Supreme Court on the civil rights bill. You will also remember that the -ablest and boldest words there spoken were from the lips of Robert G. -Ingersoll, a man everywhere spoken against as an infidel and a -blasphemer. Well, my friends, better be an infidel and a so-called -blasphemer than a hypocrite who steals the livery of the court of heaven -to serve the devil in. - -Infidel though Mr. Ingersoll may be called, he never turned his back -upon his colored brothers, as did the evangelical Christians of this -city on the occasion of the late visit of Mr. Moody. Of all the forms of -negro hate in this world, save me from that one which clothes itself -with the name of the loving Jesus, who, when on earth, especially -identified himself with the lowest classes of suffering men, and the -proof given of his Messiahship was that the poor had the Gospel preached -unto them. The negro can go into the circus, the theatre, the cars, and -can be admitted into the lectures of Mr. Ingersoll, but cannot go into -an Evangelical Christian meeting. - -I do not forget that on the occasion of the civil rights meeting I have -mentioned, one evangelical clergyman, a real man of God, gave to the -gospel trumpet a certain sound. The religion of Dr. John E. Rankin, like -the love of his Redeemer, is not bounded by race or color, but takes in -the whole human family. No truer man than he ever ascended a Washington -pulpit. - -In conclusion let me say one word more of the soul of the nation and of -the importance of keeping it sensitive and responsive to the claims of -truth, justice, liberty, and progress. In speaking of the soul of the -nation I deal in no cant phraseology. I speak of that mysterious, -invisible, impalpable something which underlies the life alike of -individuals and of nations, and determines their character and destiny. - -It is the soul that makes a nation great or small, noble or ignoble, -weak or strong. It is the soul that exalts it to happiness, or sinks it -to misery. While it modifies and shapes all physical conditions, it is -itself superior to all such conditions. It is the spiritual side of -humanity. Fire cannot burn it, water cannot quench it. Though occult and -impalpable, it is just as real as granite or iron. The laws of its life -are spiritual, not carnal, and it must conform to these laws or it -starves and dies. The outward semblance of it may survive for a time, -just as ancient temples and old cathedrals may stand long after the -spirit that inspired them has vanished. But they, too, will moulder to -ruin and vanish. The life of the nation is secure only while the nation -is honest, truthful, and virtuous; for upon these conditions depend the -life of its life. - -A few years ago a terrible and desolating fire swept over the proud -young city of Chicago, and left her architectural splendors in ashes. In -a few hours her “cloud-capped towers and gorgeous palaces” and solemn -temples crumbled to dust, and were scattered to the four winds of -heaven, so that no man could find them, but there remained the invisible -soul of a great people, full of energy, enterprise, and faith, and -hence, out of the ashes and hollow desolation, a grander Chicago than -the one destroyed arose “as if by magic.” - - “What constitutes a state? - Not high raised battlements, or labored mound, - Thick walls or moated gate; - Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crowned; - Not bays and broad armed ports, - Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride. - No, men; high-minded men! - With power as far above dull brutes endued, - In forest, brake, or den, - As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude; - Men who their duties know, - But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain.” - - - - -IN WASHINGTON, D. C., 1886. - - In introducing Mr. FREDERICK DOUGLASS, on the occasion of the - Twenty-fourth Anniversary of Emancipation in the District of - Columbia, Prof. J. M. GREGORY made the following remarks: - - -LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: For many years prior to 1861 the friends of -freedom, seeing the prominence slavery had acquired because of its -existence at the capital of the nation, and the evil influence which it -necessarily exerted upon legislation, sought in vain by petitions and -other measures for its abolition in the District of Columbia. It was -not, however, till the national conscience began to be quickened by the -reverses of our armies, and legislators to realize the dangers which -threatened the life of the nation, that the cause could muster -sufficient strength to gain a hearing in Congress. - -On the 16th of December, 1861, Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, introduced -into the Senate a bill providing for the immediate emancipation of -slaves in the District upon the payment to the owners of $300 for each -slave. As was to be expected the bill was antagonized by pro-slavery men -in the Senate and House. They feared that the measure proposed was the -entering wedge for the final overthrow of their pet institution in the -South. As subsequent events proved their fears were not without -foundation. Notwithstanding the bitter opposition which the bill -encountered, it passed both houses of Congress in less than four months -from its first introduction in the Senate, and was approved by the -President on the 16th of April, just twenty-four years ago to-day. - -The debates on this and kindred questions makes memorable the second -session of the Thirty-seventh Congress, and they are of special interest -because they indicated a new departure in the line of argument pursued -by Northern statesmen. They based their arguments for emancipation, not -upon grounds of expediency, but the great principles of right and -justice. - -The importance of this act must not be overlooked. It struck the -shackles from the limbs of 3,000 human beings and placed them in the -ranks of freemen. It took away the shame which slavery had brought upon -the National Capital. But this was not all. It elevated the nation in -its own eyes and in the eyes of the civilized world, and roused a -feeling of patriotism and pride. It called forth an expression from the -National Legislature, and a majority of the members by solemn vote -arrayed themselves on the side of emancipation and liberty, in -opposition to slavery and oppression. It was the forerunner of the great -emancipation proclamation--that proclamation which more than all his -other acts makes the name of Abraham Lincoln secure to all posterity. - -In our rejoicing on this occasion we should not forget to hold in -grateful remembrance the men whose votes secured the passage of the -bill, and especially its author, a man who by his works proved himself a -friend of the oppressed, Hon. Henry Wilson, the benefactor of the -District. - -When the emancipation bill became a law in 1862, there were 15,000 -colored people in the District of Columbia, 12,000 of whom were free and -the remainder slaves. They maintained eight schools for the education of -their children, and were the owners of twelve churches, which cost about -$75,000. With the increase of population came the demand for more -churches, so that to-day they have eighty churches and missions in the -District. Many of the churches are very valuable and located on some of -the principal streets and avenues, the new Metropolitan Church alone -being valued at $100,000. - -Under the old system the word “colored” appeared opposite the name of -each colored person paying taxes on the books of the Collector of Taxes. -Now, no such distinction is made, and there are no data from which the -number paying taxes among colored citizens can be definitely known. From -information received at the tax office, I judge that there are about 180 -persons with property assessed individually at $1,000, the assessed -valuation of real estate in this District being two-thirds to actual -cash valuation. It will be quite in keeping with the facts to say that -two of our citizens have acquired property valued at $100,000 each, two -at $75,000, six at $25,000, fifteen at $20,000, twenty at $10,000, and -fifty at $5,000, making in the aggregate at least a million of dollars. -I am positively assured that the increase in the valuation of property -owned by colored men since emancipation is 100 per cent. This, we think, -is a most creditable showing for our property interests. - -Of the 15,000 colored people in the District at the time of emancipation -there were proportionately more skilled carpenters and masons than now -in a population of 70,000. But labor has become more diversified. We are -now engaged in pursuits in which we had no experience before the war. In -1861 a colored lawyer was a personage unknown to the national capital. -Now half a dozen colored lawyers successfully practice their profession -in the courts of the District. Then we had no physicians, regular -graduates of medical schools; now a dozen or more follow the practice of -medicine in the cities of Washington and Georgetown, and are recognized -as men of skill and ability by the profession. One of these physicians, -with his assistant, is in charge of the Freedman’s Hospital, one of the -largest and most successful hospitals in the country. Government -employment tends to keep out many from some business occupations in -which the people in other large cities engage, but this disadvantage, if -disadvantage it be considered, operates no more against us than against -other citizens. - -The greatest progress made, however, and that which is necessarily the -first in order of time and importance, has been in matters of education. -The schools have increased from 8 to 174, with an average attendance of -9,000 children, giving employment to more than 100 teachers. Twelve of -the school-houses in which these schools are conducted are among the -largest and most convenient school buildings in the District. Too much -cannot be said in praise of the teachers, supervising principals, -superintendent and trustees, for it is by their combined efforts largely -that the schools have attained that degree of excellence for which they -are known. Howard University and Wayland Seminary, placed on heights -commanding beautiful views of Washington, are among the results of -emancipation. These institutions grew out of the necessities of the -times to meet the wants of colored youth for higher and professional -education. It is proper that we should take pride in our schools and -institutions of learning, for they are the chief instruments through -which our children are to receive the training which will fit them to -properly discharge the duties that will afterward devolve upon them as -men and women and to elevate the race to an equality of development and -enlightenment with other peoples. - -We often hear the question asked, “What are we to do with the -Americanized negro?” Articles have appeared in newspapers, pamphlets, -and magazines giving what the author regards as a proper solution of -the negro problem, so-called. But I ask why should there be a negro -problem any more than a problem for any other class of the American -people? We need not go far to seek the answer. It is found in the fact -that in certain parts of our country the people are not willing to -receive the negro into full fellowship and to grant him the civil and -political rights enjoyed in common by other citizens. They take from him -the means of elevation and then reproach him with inferiority. They -would rejoice to rid the country of his presence by colonization, but -seeing the utter hopelessness of the colonization scheme, they seek to -inflame the public mind against him by constant appeals to the low and -narrow prejudices entertained by certain classes of the American people. -When the 300 colored citizens from Cleveland visited President-elect -Garfield at Mentor, he said in reply to the address, to which he had -given respectful attention, that he did not profess to be more of a -friend to colored men than hundreds of others, but he was in favor of -giving, and, so far as it was consistent with the duties of his office, -would give them _opportunity_ to achieve success for themselves. This is -all we ask to-day. This is all we can reasonably ask. Give us fair play, -equal opportunity, and we will work out our own destinies. - -Ten years ago, in this city, on the occasion of the unveiling of the -Freedman’s Monument in memory of Abraham Lincoln, an eminent divine, -after congratulating the orator of the day upon his masterly portrayal -of the character of the martyr President, turned to General Grant and -said: “There is but one Frederick Douglass.” This distinguished citizen, -the orator who paid the eloquent tribute to the memory of Mr. Lincoln on -the occasion referred to, the Hon. Frederick Douglass, will now address -you. - -At the conclusion of Prof. Gregory’s remarks Mr. Douglass said: - -FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS: I appear before you again, and for the -third time since my residence among you, to assist in the celebration of -the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. And while I highly -appreciate the honor and the confidence implied in your call upon me to -do so, when I consider the importance of the task it has imposed, I can -say in all sincerity, as I have said before, that I wish that your -choice of speaker had fallen upon one of our young men, quite as well -qualified to serve you as myself. I want to see them coming to the front -as I am retiring to the rear. Then the fact that I have several times -addressed you upon subjects naturally suggested by the recurrence of -this interesting anniversary is, of itself, somewhat embarrassing. It is -not an easy task to speak many times on the same subject, before the -same audience, without repeating the same views and sentiments. If, -therefore, you find me committing this offence to-day, you will consider -the difficulty of avoiding it, and also that the same views and -sentiments are as pertinent and necessary to-day as years ago. You need -not fear, however, that I shall inflict upon you any one of my former -orations. I am not bound by any such necessity. The field is broad, and -the material is abundant. The phases of public affairs touching the -colored people of the United States are never stationary. They change -with every season, and often many times in the course of a single year. -There is no standing still for anybody in this world. We are either -rising or falling, advancing or retreating. - -Last year, at this time, we were confronted with an unusual and somewhat -alarming state of facts. We stood at the gateway of a new and strange -administration. After wandering about during twenty-four years, seeking -rest and finding none, often hungry and sometimes thirsty, and, though -not feeding swine or eating husks, yet not unfrequently found in very -low places and wasting the substance of the national family, our -prodigal Democratic son, with one tremendous effort of will, returned to -the White House, and was received with every demonstration of parental -joy and gladness. Of course this did not take place without a murmur of -complaint and disapproval. There was an elder brother here as elsewhere; -one who had remained at home, worked the old farm, kept the fences in -repair; one who had done his duty and made things in the old house -comfortable and pleasant generally. Indeed, but for his elder brother, -the Republican party, the house would have been broken up, the whole -family turned out of doors and scattered in poverty and destitution. It -was natural, therefore, when this elder brother saw the great doings at -the White House one year ago, when he heard the music and saw the -dancing, and learned what it was all about, he was not over well -pleased, and thought his father not only soft-hearted, but a little -soft-headed, and a trifle ungrateful, if not crazy withal. But elder -brothers, you know, are usually reasonable and patient, and are -generally quite submissive to parental authority, and though he knew -the bad character of the young truant who had now come home, he hoped he -had reformed. How far this cheerful and patient hope has been justified -by one year of this administration I will not now stop to say; I may, -however, remark, as a prelude to what I shall hereafter say, that as far -as the colored people of the country are concerned, their condition -seems no better and not much worse than under previous administrations. -Lynch law, violence, and murder have gone on about the same as formerly, -and without the least show of Federal interference or popular rebuke. -The Constitution has been openly violated with the usual impunity, and -the colored vote has been as completely nullified, suppressed, and -scouted as if the fifteenth amendment formed no part of the -Constitution, and as if every colored citizen of the South had been -struck dead by lightning or blown to atoms by dynamite. There have also -been the usual number of outrages committed against the civil rights of -colored citizens on highways and by-ways, by land and by water, and the -courts of the country, under the decision of the Supreme Court of the -United States, have shown the same disposition to punish the innocent -and shield the guilty, as during the presidency of Mr. Arthur. Perhaps -colored men have fared a little worse, so far as office-holding is -concerned. In some of the Departments, I am sorry to say, there have -been many dismissals, but, even in this respect, colored men have not -suffered much more than one-armed soldiers, and other loyal white men, -whose places were wanted by deserving Democrats. Upon the whole, candor -compels me to admit that this twenty-fourth year of our freedom finds us -thoughtful, somewhat mystified by what is passing around us, but -hopeful, strong to suffer, and yet strong to strive, with a moderate -degree of faith that, under the Constitution and its amendments, we -shall yet be clothed with dignity of freedom and American citizenship. -But more of this in the right place. - -I take it that no apology is needed for these annual celebrations, for, -notwithstanding the unfriendly outlook of affairs, we have yet much over -which to rejoice. Besides, such demonstrations of popular feeling in -regard to large benefits received and progress made, are consistent with -and creditable to human nature. They have been observed all along the -line of by-gone ages, and are peculiar to no class, clime, race, or -color. From the day that Moses is said to have smote the Red Sea, and -the Hebrews passed safely over from Egyptian bondage, leaving Pharaoh -overwhelmed and struggling with that hell of waters, down to the 4th of -July, 1776, when the fathers of this Republic threw off the British -yoke, declared their independence, and appealed to the god of battles, -similar events to that which we now celebrate have been gratefully and -joyfully commemorated. - -If, for any reason, I feel like apologizing to-day, it is not for this -celebration, but for an incident connected with it, and by which it is -greatly marred. For the first time since the emancipation of the slaves -of the District of Columbia we have two celebrations in progress at the -same time. This should not be so. By this fact we have said to the world -that we are not sufficiently united as a people to celebrate our freedom -together. This spectacle of division among men working for a common -cause is not pleasing in any case, and is especially displeasing and -shocking in this instance. Without attempting to show which party is to -blame in this controversy, I have no hesitation in saying that this -division itself is most unfortunate, disgraceful, and mortifying. It -cannot fail, I fear, to make an unfavorable impression for us upon -thoughtful observers. But, standing here as your mouthpiece to-day, I -beg the disgusted public to remember that colored men are but men, and -that the best men will sometimes differ, and will often differ more -widely and violently about trifles than about things of substance, where -a difference of opinion would be at least dignified. Something must, -however, be pardoned to the spirit of liberty, especially in those who -have but recently acquired liberty. There is always some awkwardness in -the gait of men who, for the first time, have on their Sunday clothes. -When we have enjoyed the blessings of liberty longer we shall put away -such childish things and shall act more wisely. We shall think more of a -common cause and its requirements and less of obligation to support the -claims of rival individual leaders. Depend upon it, a repetition of this -spectacle will bring our celebrations into disgrace and make them -despicable. - -The thought is already gaining ground, that we have not heretofore -received the best influence which this anniversary is capable of -exerting; that tinsel show, gaudy display, and straggling processions, -which empty the alleys and dark places of our city into the broad -daylight of our thronged streets and avenues, thus thrusting upon the -public view a vastly undue proportion of the most unfortunate, -unimproved, and unprogressive class of the colored people, and thereby -inviting public disgust and contempt, and repelling the more thrifty and -self-respecting among us, is a positive hurt to the whole colored -population of this city. These annual celebrations of ours should be so -arranged as to make a favorable impression for us upon ourselves and -upon our fellow-citizens. They should bring into notice the very best -elements of our colored population, and in what is said and done on -these occasions, we should find a deeper and broader comprehension of -our relations and duties. They should kindle in us higher hopes, nobler -aspirations, and stimulate us to more earnest endeavors; they should -help us to shorten the distance between ourselves and the more highly -advanced and highly favored people among whom we are. If they fail to -produce, in some measure, such results, they had better be discontinued. -I am sure that such a lecture as I have now given on this point may be -distasteful to a part of this assembly. But I can say, in all truth, -that nothing short of a profound desire to promote the best interests of -all concerned, has emboldened me to run the risk of such displeasure, -and I hope the motive will excuse my offence. - -And now, fellow-citizens, I turn away from this and other merely race -considerations, to those common to all our fellow citizens, yet happily -those in which we, too, are included. I call attention to the proposed -celebration of the centennial anniversary of our present form of -government. The year 1789 will never cease to be memorable in the -history and progress of the American people. It was in that year of -grace that the founders of the American Republic, having tested the -strength and discovered the weakness of the old articles of colonial -confederation, bravely decided to lay those articles aside as no longer -adequate to successful and permanent national existence, and resolved to -form a new compact and adopt a new constitution, better suited, in their -judgment, to their national character and to their governmental wants. -In this instrument they set forth six definite and cardinal objects to -be attained by this new departure. These were: First. “To form a more -perfect union.” Second. “To establish justice.” Third. “To provide for -the common defense.” Fourth. “To insure domestic tranquillity.” Fifth. -“To promote the general welfare.” And sixth. “Secure the blessings of -liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” Perhaps there never was an -instrument framed by men at the beginning of any national career -designed to accomplish nobler objects than those set forth in the -preamble of this constitution. They are objects worthy of a great -nation, worthy of those who gave to the world the immortal Declaration -of Independence, in which they asserted the equal rights of man, and -boldly declared in the face of all the divine right governments of -Europe the doctrine that governments derive their right to govern from -the consent of the governed. - -How far these fundamental objects, solemnly set forth in the -Constitution, have been realized by the practical operation of the -Government created under it, I will not stop just now to state or -explain. Whether the Union has been perfectly formed, whether under the -ægis of the Constitution the sacred principle of justice has been -established, whether the general welfare has been promoted, or whether -the blessings of liberty have been secured, are questions to which -reference may be made in a subsequent part of this address. For the -present I refer to this grand starting point in the nation’s history for -another purpose. I wish simply to remind you of the flight of time; that -we are now drawing near the close of the first century of our national -existence, and the notice that should be taken of that fact. Without -going into the general questions raised a moment ago, as to the -fulfillment of what was promised in the Constitution, we may, in -passing, affirm what must be admitted by all, that under this form of -government so happily described, and so faithfully upheld by the great -lamented Abraham Lincoln, as “Government of the people, by the people, -and for the people,” this nation has become rich, great, progressive, -and strong. This fact is cheerfully acknowledged by the whole sisterhood -of contemporaneous nations. From thirteen comparatively weak and -sparsely populated States, skirting and hovering along the line of our -Atlantic coast, constituting a mere string of isolated communities, we -now have thirty-eight States covering our broad continent, extending -from east to west, and from sea to sea. Under our Constitution the -desert and solitary places have been reclaimed and made to blossom as -the rose. From a population of seven millions, we have reached the -enormous number of fifty millions; and in less than half a century we -shall have double that number. Such an augmentation of wealth, power, -and population has no example in the experience of any nation in ancient -or modern times. The mind grows dizzy in contemplation of the future of -a country so great and so increasing in greatness, and to whose -greatness there seems to be no limit. The question naturally arises, -what is to be the effect of such accumulated wealth, such vast increase -of population, such expanded domain, and such augmentation of national -power? Plainly enough either one of two very opposite conditions may -arise. It may either blast or bless, it may lift us to heaven or sink us -to perdition. - -If we shall become proud, selfish, imperious, oppressive, and rapacious; -if we shall persist in trampling on the weak and exalting the strong, -worshipping the rich and despising the poor, our doom as a nation is -already foreshadowed. - -That Almighty Power recognized in one form or another by all thoughtful -men; that Almighty Power which controls every atom of the earth, and -governs the universe; that Almighty Power which stood and measured the -globe, which beheld and drove asunder the nations, will surely deal with -us in the future as that Power has dealt in the past with other wicked -nations--it will bring us to dust and ashes. The rule of life for -individuals and for nations is the same. Neither can escape the -consequences of transgression. As they sow, so shall they reap. There is -no salvation for either outside of a life of truth and justice. -Contradiction to this in theory, for either individuals or nations, is a -damning heresy; and contradiction to this in practice is certain -destruction. - -Large and imposing plans are just now proposed, and are maturing, for -the appropriate celebration of this first centennial year of our -national life. If these plans should be perfected and executed, as they -probably will be, and as they certainly should be, Washington will -witness a demonstration in this line far transcending in grandeur and -sublimity the centennial exposition in the city of Philadelphia ten -years ago. - -These celebrations, like our own, have large uses. They serve as lofty -pedestals or platforms from which the national patriotism and -intelligence may survey the past, and, in some sense, penetrate and -divine the national future. - -It is also fit and proper that our young and beautiful city of -Washington should be the theatre of such a grand national centennial -demonstration. It is the capital of the nation, and is, in some sense, -the shining sun of our national system, around which our thirty-eight -States, linked and inter-linked in one unbroken national interest, -revolve in union. Upon this spot no one citizen has more rights than -another. The right to be here is vested in all alike. Distance does not -diminish or alienate, contiguity does not increase any man’s right on -this soil. In this capital of the nation California is equal to -Virginia, and, as Webster said of Bunker Hill, “Wherever else we may be -strangers, we are all at home here.” - -As a part of the people of this great country, we may feel ourselves -included. We represent the class which has enriched our soil with its -blood, watered it with its tears, and defended it with its strong arms, -but have hitherto been excluded from all part in our national glory. -Now, however, all is changed. We may look forward with pleasure to the -promised National Centennial Exposition, and take some credit to -ourselves for helping to make the District of Columbia a suitable place -for such a display. We have at least done a large proportion of the most -laborious and needed work to this end. - -The wisdom of the framers of the Constitution of the United States in -granting to the nation, through its Congress, exclusive legislative -jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, has in nothing been more -abundantly and happily vindicated than in the abolition of slavery, and -in making it the freest territory of this country. The benefits of this -act are, however, not confined to the colored people. They are shared by -all the people of this District; not more by the colored than by the -white people. - -Washington owes nothing to Maryland or Virginia (though born of those -parents) in comparison to its debt to the nation. Through the National -Government it has become the elegant and beautiful city that it is. It -is the nation that has graded and paved its broad and far-reaching -streets and avenues; it is the nation that has fenced and beautified its -numerous parks and reservations, and made them the joy of our children, -and the admiration of our visitors; it is the nation that has adorned -its ample public squares and circles with choice flowers, flowing -fountains, and imposing statuary; it is the nation that has erected -enduring monuments of bronze and marble in honor of our statesmen, -warriors, patriots, and heroes; it is the nation that has built here -those vast structures, the different departments, and crowned yonder -hill with a Capitol, one of the proudest architectural wonders of the -world; it is the nation that has built Washington Monument, the pride of -the city, the tallest structure that ever rose from the ground toward -heaven at the bidding of human pride, patriotism, or piety, standing -there in full view of all comers, whether approaching by land or water, -with its base deep down in the earth, and its capstone against the sky, -receiving and reflecting every light and shadow of the passing hour, -steady alike in sunshine and storm, defying lightning, whirlwind, and -earthquake--its grandeur and sublimity, like Niagara, impress us more -and more the longer we hold it in range of vision. - -But the nation, as I have already said, has done more for the District -of Columbia than to clothe it with material greatness and splendor. It -has, by the act of emancipation, imparted to it a moral beauty. It has -not only made it a pleasure to the eye, but a joy to the heart. No -material adornment or addition has ever done or could do for this -District what the abolition of slavery has done. The nation did a great -and good thing fifteen years ago by giving us a local government, and a -Shepherd that lifted the city out of its deep mud and above its blinding -dust and put it on the way to its present greatness, but it did a -greater and better thing when it lifted it out of the mire of barbarism -coincident with slavery. - -Fellow-citizens, we are proud to-day, and justly proud, of the -prosperity and the increasing liberality of Washington. With all our -fellow-citizens we behold it with pride and pleasure rising and -spreading noiselessly around us, almost like the temple of Solomon, -without the sound of a hammer. New faces meet us at the corners of the -streets and greet us in the market-places. Conveniences and improvements -are multiplying on every hand. We walk in the shade of its beautiful -trees by day and in the rays of its soft electric lights by night. We -make it warm where it is cool, and cool where it is warm, and healthy -where it is noxious. Our magnificence fills the stranger and sojourner -with admiration and wonder. The contrast between the old time of slavery -and the new dispensation of liberty looms upon us on every hand. We feel -it in the very air we breathe, and in the friendly aspect of all around -us. But time would fail to tell of the vast and wonderful advancement in -civilization made in this city by the abolition of slavery. - -Perhaps a better idea could be formed of what has been done for -Washington and for us by imagining what would be the case in a return to -the old condition of things. Imagine the wheels of progress reversed; -imagine that by some strange and mysterious freak of fortune slavery, -with all its horrid concomitants, was revived; imagine that under the -dome of yonder Capitol legislation was carried on, as formerly, by men -with pistols in their belts and bullets in their pockets; imagine the -right of speech denied, the right of petition stamped out, the press of -the District muzzled, and a word in the streets against slavery the sign -for a mob; imagine a lone woman like Miss Myrtilla Miner, having to -defend her right to teach colored girls to read and write with a pistol -in her hand, here in this very city, now dotted all over with colored -schools, which rival in magnificence the white schools of any other city -of the Union; imagine this, and more, and ask yourselves the question. -What progress has been made in liberty and civilization within the -borders of this capital? Further on let us ask: Of what avail would be -our cloud-capped towers, our gorgeous palaces, and our solemn temples if -slavery again held sway here? Of what avail would be our marble halls if -once more they resounded with the crack of the slave whip, the clank of -the fetter, and the rattle of chains; if slave auctions were held in -front of the halls of justice, and chain-gangs were marched over -Pennsylvania avenue to the Long Bridge for the New Orleans market? Of -what avail would be our state dinners, our splendid receptions if, like -Babylon of old, our people were making merchandise of God’s image, -trafficking in human blood and in the souls and bodies of men? Were this -District once more covered with this moral blight and mildew you would -hear of no plans, as now, for celebrating within its borders the -centennial anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of the United -States. Bold and audacious as were the advocates of slavery in the olden -time they would have been ashamed to invite here the representatives of -the civilized world to inspect the workings of their slave system. To -have done so would have been like inviting a clean man to touch pitch, a -humane man to witness an execution, a tender-hearted woman to witness a -slaughter. In its boldest days slavery drew in its claws and presented a -velvet paw to strangers. They knew it was like Lord Granby’s character, -which could only pass without reprobation as it passed without -observation. Emancipation liberated the master as well as the slave. The -fact that our citizens are now loudly proclaiming Washington to be the -right place for the celebration of the discovery of the continent by -Columbus, and the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, is -an acknowledgement of and attestation of the higher civilization that -has, in their judgment, come here with the abolition of slavery. They no -longer dread the gaze of civilized men. They no longer fear lest a word -of liberty should fall into the ear of a trembling captive and awaken -his manhood. They are no longer required to defend with their lips what -they must have condemned in their hearts. When the galling chain dropped -from the limbs of the slave the mantle of shame dropped from the brows -of their masters. The emancipation of the one was the deliverance of the -other; so that this day, in fact, belongs to the one as truly as it -belongs to the other, though it is left to us alone to keep it in -memory. - -It is usual on occasions of this kind, not only to set forth, as I have -in some measure done, what has been gained by the abolition of slavery, -but also to speak of the causes and instrumentalities which contributed -to this grand result. If this were my first appearance before you on -similar anniversaries, I should feel it entirely proper to do so now; -but having discharged this duty faithfully and fully in several former -addresses, there is no special reason for a repetition of it in this -instance. In one of those addresses I specially endeavored to trace, and -did trace with more or less success, the history of the earliest -utterances of anti-slavery sentiments in this country and in England. I -described the rise, progress, and final triumph of the abolition -movement in both countries. I have in no case omitted to do justice to -the noble band of men and women who espoused the cause of the slave in -the early days of its weakness, and when to do so was to make themselves -of no reputation and subjects of the vilest abuse. I have held up their -example of virtuous self-sacrifice to the admiration and imitation of -all who would serve the human family in its march from barbarism to a -higher state of civilization. In my judgment there never was a band of -reformers more unselfish, more consistent with their principles, more -ardent in their devotion to any cause than were these early anti-slavery -men and women of this country. - -The charge is sometimes made that the colored people are ungrateful to -their benefactors. In my judgment no charge could be more unjust. In -whatever else they have failed, they have ever shown a laudable sense -of gratitude. The names of William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, -John P. Hale, Charles Sumner, Gerrit Smith, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. -Grant, and a host of others are never pronounced by us but with -sentiments of high appreciation and sincere gratitude. - -Of course I cannot deny that there are those amongst us who, either -thoughtlessly or selfishly, or both, dare to deny their obligations to -the great Republican party and its leaders. They insist upon it that -freedom came to them only as an act of military necessity. They see in -it no sentiment of justice, no moral preference. They profess to see no -difference between the Republican party and the Democratic party, and -insist that one party has no more claim to their support than the other. -Such men are about as ready to join one party as the other. Perhaps they -even lean a little more to the Democratic than to the Republican party. -I admit that were they fair representatives of the colored people of the -United States the charge of ingratitude might be very easily sustained. -But, happily, such men do not represent the sentiments of the colored -people, but greatly and flagrantly misrepresent them. The colored people -do see a difference between the two parties, as broad as the moral -universe and as palpable as the difference between the character of -Moses and that of Pharaoh. For one I never will forget that every -concession of liberty made to the colored people of the United States -has come to them through the action of the Republican party, and that -all the opposition made to those concessions has come from the -Democratic party. Any colored man who either denies this or endeavors to -disparage that party and belittle their concessions by attributing them -entirely to selfish and cowardly motives brands himself as unjust, -uncharitable, and ungrateful. The blindness of such men is very -surprising. Do they not see that in denying their obligations to the -Republican party they only invite the scorn and contempt of the -Democratic party? Do they not understand that they are advertising -themselves as base political ingrates? Do they not know that they are -giving notice to the Democratic party--the party that they are just now -aiming to conciliate--that they will be as unjust and ungrateful to that -party for any concessions from it as they declare themselves to be to -the Republican party for what that party has done? - -But, fellow-citizens, while I gratefully remember the important services -of the Republican party in emancipating and enfranchising the colored -people of the United States, I do not forget that the work of that party -is most sadly incomplete. We are yet, as a people, only half-free. The -promise of liberty remains unfulfilled. We stand to-day only in the -twilight of American liberty. The sunbeams of perfect day are still -behind the mountains, and the mission of the Republican party will not -be ended until the persons, the property, and the ballot of the colored -man shall be as well protected in every State of the American Union as -are such rights in the case of the white man. The Republican party is -not perfect. It is cautious even to the point of timidity; but it is, -nevertheless, the best political force and friend we have. - -And now I return to the point at which I commenced these remarks. I have -spoken to you of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States -and of the national progress and prosperity under that instrument; I -have called your attention to the noble objects announced in the -preamble of the Constitution. I did not stop then and there to inquire -how far those objects, so solemnly proclaimed to the world, and so often -sworn to, have been attained, or to point out how far they have been -practically disregarded and abandoned by the Government ordained to -practically carry them out. I now undertake to say that neither the -Constitution of 1789, nor the Constitution as amended since the war, is -the law of the land. That Constitution has been slain in the house of -its friends. So far as the colored people of the country are concerned, -the Constitution is but a stupendous sham, a rope of sand, a Dead Sea -apple, fair without and foul within, keeping the promise to the eye and -breaking it to the heart. The Federal Government, so far as we are -concerned, has abdicated its functions and abandoned the objects for -which the Constitution was framed and adopted, and for this I arraign it -at the bar of public opinion, both of our own country and that of the -civilized world. I am here to tell the truth, and to tell it without -fear or favor, and the truth is that neither the Republican party nor -the Democratic party has yet complied with the solemn oath, taken by -their respective representatives, to support the Constitution, and -execute the laws enacted under its provisions. They have promised us -law, and abandoned us to anarchy; they have promised protection, and -given us violence; they have promised us fish, and given us a serpent. A -vital and fundamental object which they have sworn to realize to the -best of their ability, is the establishment of justice. This is one of -the six fundamental objects for which the Constitution was ordained; but -when, where, and how has any attempt been made by the Federal Government -to enforce or establish justice in any one of the late slave-holding -States? Has any one of our Republican Presidents, since Grant, earnestly -endeavored to establish justice in the South? According to the highest -legal authorities, justice is the perpetual disposition to secure to -every man, by due process of law, protection to his person, his property -and his political rights. “Due process of law” has a definite and legal -meaning. It means the right to be tried in open court by a jury of one’s -peers, and before an impartial judge. It means that the accused shall be -brought face to face with his accusers; that he shall be allowed to call -witnesses in his defence, and that he shall have the assistance of -counsel; it means that, preceding his trial, he shall be safe in the -custody of the Government, and that no harm shall come to him for any -alleged offence till he is fairly tried, convicted, and sentenced by the -court. This protection is given to the vilest white criminal in the -land. He cannot be convicted while there is even a reasonable doubt in -the minds of the jury as to his guilt. But to the colored man accused of -crime in the Southern States, a different rule is almost everywhere -applied. With him, to be accused is to be convicted. The court in which -he is tried is a lynching mob. This mob takes the place of “due process -of law,” of judge, jury, witness, and counsel. It does not come to -ascertain the guilt or innocence of the accused, but to hang, shoot, -stab, burn, or whip him to death. Neither courts, jails, nor marshals -are allowed to protect him. Every day brings us tidings of these -outrages. I will not stop to detail individual instances. Their name is -legion. Everybody knows that what I say is true, and that no power is -employed by the Government to prevent this lawless violence. Yet our -chief magistrates and other officers, Democratic and Republican, -continue to go through the solemn mockery, the empty form of swearing by -the name of Almighty God that they will execute the laws and the -Constitution; that they will establish justice, insure domestic -tranquility, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our -posterity. - -Only a few weeks ago, at Carrolton Court-house, Mississippi, in the -absence of all political excitement, while the Government of the nation, -as well as the government of the Southern States, was safely in the -hands of the Democratic party; when there was no pending election, and -no pretence of a fear of possible negro supremacy, one hundred white -citizens, on horseback, armed to the teeth, deliberately assembled and -in cold blood opened a deadly fire upon a party of peaceable, unarmed -colored men, killing eleven of them on the spot, and mortally wounding -nine others, most of whom have since died. The sad thing is that, in the -average American mind, horrors of this character have become so frequent -since the slave-holding rebellion that they excite neither shame nor -surprise; neither pity for the slain, nor indignation for the slayers. -It is the old story verified: - - “Vice is a monster of such frightful mien - That, to be hated, needs but to be seen; - But seen too oft, familiar with its face, - We first endure, then pity, then embrace.” - -It is said that those who live on the banks of Niagara neither hear its -thunder nor shudder at its overwhelming power. In any other country such -a frightful crime as the Carrolton massacre--in any other country than -this a scream would have gone up from all quarters of the land for the -arrest and punishment of these cold-blooded murderers. But alas! nothing -like this has happened here. We are used to the shedding of innocent -blood, and the heart of this nation is torpid, if not dead, to the -natural claims of justice and humanity where the victims are of the -colored race. Where are the sworn ministers of the law? Where are the -guardians of public justice? - -Where are the defenders of the Constitution? What hand in House or -Senate; what voice in court or Cabinet is uplifted to stay this tide of -violence, blood, and barbarism? Neither governors, presidents, nor -statesmen have yet declared that these barbarities shall be stopped. On -the contrary, they all confess themselves powerless to protect our -class; and thus you and I and all of us are struck down, and bloody -treason flourishes over us. In view of this confessed impotency of the -Government and this apparent insensibility of the nation to the claims -of humanity, do you ask me why I expend my time and breath in denouncing -these wholesale murders when there is no seeming prospect of a favorable -response? I answer in turn, how can you, how can any man with a heart -in his breast do otherwise when, louder than the blood of Abel, the -blood of his fellow-men cries from the ground? - - “Shall tongues be mute when deeds are wrought - Which well might shame extremest hell? - Shall freeman lock the indignant thought? - Shall mercy’s bosom cease to swell? - Shall honor bleed, shall truth succumb, - Shall pen, and press, and soul be dumb? - By all around, above, below, - Be ours the indignant answer, No!” - -In a former address, delivered on the occasion of this anniversary, I -was at the pains of showing that much of the crime attributed to colored -people, and for which they were held responsible, imprisoned, and -murdered, was, in fact, committed by white men disguised as negroes. I -affirm that all presumptions in courts of law and in the community were -against the negro, and that color was the safest disguise a white man -could assume in which to commit crime; that all he had to do to commit -the worst crimes with impunity was to blacken his face and take on the -similitude of a negro, but even this disguise sometimes fails. Only a -few days ago a Mr. J. H. Justice, an eminent citizen of Granger county, -Tenn., attempted under this disguise to commit a cunningly devised -robbery and have his offence fixed upon a negro. All worked well till a -bullet brought him to the ground and a little soap and water was applied -to his face, when he was found to be no negro at all, but a very -respectable white citizen. - -Dark, desperate, and forlorn as I have described the situation, the -reality exceeds the description. In most of the Gulf States, and in some -parts of the border States, I have sometimes thought that we should be -about as well-situated for the purposes of justice if there were no -Constitution of the United States at all; as well off if there were no -law or law-makers, no constables, no jails, no courts of justice, and we -were left entirely without the pretence of legal protection, for we are -now at the mercy of midnight raiders, assassins, and murderers, and we -should only be in the same condition if these pretended safeguards were -abandoned. They now only mock us. Other men are presumed to be innocent -until they are proved guilty. We are presumed to be guilty until we are -proved to be innocent. - -The charge is often made that negroes are by nature the criminal class -of America; that they furnish a larger proportion of petty thieves than -any other class. I admit the charge, but deny that nature, race, or -color has anything to do with the fact. Any other race with the same -antecedents and the same condition would show a similar thieving -propensity. - -The American people have this lesson to learn: That where justice is -denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where -any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to -oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be -safe. I deny that nature has made the negro a thief or a burglar. Look -at these black criminals, as they are brought into your police courts; -view and study their faces, their forms, and their features, as I have -done for years as Marshal of this District, and you will see that their -antecedents are written all over them. Two hundred and fifty years of -grinding slavery has done its work upon them. They stand before you -to-day physically and mentally maimed and mutilated men. Many of their -mothers and grandmothers were lashed to agony before their birth by -cruel overseers, and the children have inherited in their faces the -anguish and resentment felt by their parents. Many of these poor -creatures have not been free long enough to outgrow the marks of the -lash on their backs, and the deeper marks on their souls. No, no! It is -not nature that has erred in making the negro. That shame rests with -slavery. It has twisted his limbs, deformed his body, flattened his -feet, and distorted his features, and made him, though black, no longer -comely. In infancy he slept on the cold clay floor of his cabin, with -quick circulation on one side, and tardy circulation on the other. So -that he has grown up unequal, unsymmetrical, and is no longer a -vertical, well-rounded man, in body or in mind. Time, education, and -training will restore him to natural proportions, for, though bruised -and blasted, he is yet a man. - -The school of the negro since leaving slavery has not been much of an -improvement on his former condition. Individuals of the race have here -and there enjoyed large benefits from emancipation, and the result is -seen in their conduct, but the mass have had their liberty coupled with -hardships which tend strongly to keep them a dwarfed and miserable -class. A man who labors ten hours a day with pickaxe, crowbar, and -shovel, and has a family to support and house rent to pay, and receives -for his work but a dollar a day, and what is worse still, he is deprived -of labor a large part of his time by reason of sickness and the weather, -in his poverty, easily falls before the temptation to steal and rob. -Hungry men will eat. Desperate men will commit crime. Outraged men will -seek revenge. It is said to be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom -of heaven. I have sometimes thought it harder still for a poor man to -enter the kingdom of heaven. Man is so constituted that if he cannot get -a living honestly, he will get it dishonestly. “Skin for skin,” as the -devil said of Job. “All that a man hath will he give for his life.” -Oppression makes even wise men mad and reckless; for illustration I pray -look at East St. Louis. - -In the Southern States to-day a landlord system is in operation which -keeps the negroes of that section in rags and wretchedness, almost to -the point of starvation. As a rule, this system puts it out of the power -of the negro to own land. There is, to be sure, no law forbidding the -selling of land to the colored people, but there is an understanding -which has the full effect of law. That understanding is that the land -must be kept in the hands of the old master class. The colored people -can rent land, it is true, and many of them do rent many acres, and find -themselves poorer at the end of the year than at the beginning, because -they are charged more a year for rent per acre than the land would bring -at auction sale. The landlord and tenant system of Ireland, which has -conducted that country to the jaws of ruin, bad as it is, is not worse -than that which prevails at this hour at the South, and yet the colored -people of the South are constantly reproached for their poverty. They -are asked to make bricks without straw. Their hands are tied, and they -are asked to work. They are forced to be poor, and laughed at for their -destitution. - -I am speaking mainly to colored men to-night, but I want my words to -find their way to the eyes, ears, heads and hearts of my white -fellow-countrymen, hoping that some among them may be made to think, -some hearts among them will be made to feel, and some of their number -will be made to act. I appeal to our white fellow-countrymen. The power -to protect is in their hands. This is and must be practically the white -man’s government. He has the numbers and the intelligence to control and -direct. To him belongs the responsibility of its honor or dishonor, its -glory or its shame, its salvation or its ruin. If they can protect the -rights of white men they can protect the rights of black men; if they -can defend the rights of American citizens abroad they can defend them -at home; if they can use the army to protect the rights of Chinamen, -they can use the army to protect the rights of colored men. The only -trouble is the will! the will! the will! Here, as elsewhere, “Where -there is a will there is a way.” - -I have now said not all that could be said but enough to indicate the -relations at present existing between the white and colored people of -this country, especially the relations subsisting between the two -classes of the late slave-holding States. Time would fail me to trace -this relation in all its ramifications; but that labor is neither -required by this audience nor by the country. The condition of the -emancipated class is known alike to ourselves and to the Government, to -pulpit and press, and to both of the great political parties. These have -only to do their duty and all will be well. - -One use of this annual celebration is to keep the subject of our -grievances before the people and government, and to urge both to do -their respective parts in the happy solution of the race problem. The -weapons of our warfare for equal rights are not carnal but simple truth, -addressed to the hearts and sense of justice of the American people. If -this fails we are lost. We have no armies or generals, no swords or -cannons to enforce our claims, and do not want any. - -We are often asked with an air of reproach by white men at the North: -“Why don’t your people fight their way to the ballot-box?” The question -adds insult to injury. Whom are we called upon to fight? They are the -men who held this nation, with all its tremendous resources of men and -money, at bay during four long and bloody years. Whom are we to fight? I -answer, not a few midnight assassins, not the rabble mob, but trained -armies, skilled generals of the Confederate army, and in the last resort -we should have to meet the Federal army. Though that army cannot now be -employed to defend the weak against the strong, means would certainly be -found for its employment to protect the strong against the weak. In such -a case insurrection would be madness. - -But there is another remedy proposed. These people are advised to make -an exodus to the Pacific slope. With the best intentions they are told -of the fertility of the soil and salubrity of the climate. If they -should tell the same as existing in the moon, the simple question, How -shall they get there? would knock the life out of it at once. Without -money, without friends, without knowledge, and only gaining enough by -daily toil to keep them above the starvation point, where they are, how -can such a people rise and cross the continent? The measure on its face -is no remedy at all. Besides, who does not know that should these people -ever attempt such an exodus, that they would be met with shot-guns at -every cross-road. Who does not know that the white landholders of the -South would never consent to let that labor which alone gives value to -their land march off without opposition? Who does not know that if the -Federal Government is powerless to protect these people in staying that -it would be equally powerless to protect them in going _en masse_? For -one, I say away with such contrivances, such lame and impotent -substitutes for the justice and protection due us. The first duty that -the National Government owes to its citizens is protection. - -While, however, I hold now, as I held years ago, that the South is the -natural home of the colored race, and that there must the destiny of -that race be mainly worked out, I still believe that means can be and -ought to be adopted to assist in the emigration of such of their number -as may wish to change their residence to parts of the country where -their civil and political rights are better protected than at present -they can be at the South. - -I adopt the suggestion of the _National Republican_, of this city, that -_diffusion_ is the true policy for the colored people of the South. All, -of course, cannot leave that section, and ought not; but some can, and -the condition of those who must remain will be better because of those -who go. Men, like trees, may be too thickly planted to thrive. If the -labor market of Mississippi were to-day not over-loaded and over -supplied, the laborers would be more fully appreciated; but this work of -diffusion and distribution cannot be carried on by the emancipated class -alone. They need, and ought to have, the material aid of both white and -colored people of the free states. A million of dollars devoted to this -purpose would do more for the colored people of the South than the same -amount expended in any other way. There is no degradation, no loss of -self-respect, in asking this aid, considering the circumstances of these -people. The white people of this nation owe them this help and a great -deal more. The keynote of the future should not be concentration, but -diffusion--distribution. This may not be a remedy for all evils now -uncured, but it certainly will be a help in the right direction. - -A word now in respect of another remedy for the black man’s ills. It -calls itself independent political action. This has, during the past few -years, been advocated with much zeal and spirit by several of our -leading colored men, and also with much ability, though I am happy to -say not with much success. First, their plan, if I understand it, is to -separate the colored people of the country from the Republican party. -This, with them, is the primary and essential condition of making the -colored vote independent. Hence all their artillery is directed to -making that party odious in the eyes of the colored voters. Colored men -who adhere to the Republican party are vilified as slaves, -office-seekers, serviles, “knuckle-close” Republicans, as tools of white -men, traitors to their race, and much more of the same sort. Perhaps no -one has been a more prominent target for such denunciation than your -humble speaker. - -Now, the position to which these gentlemen invite us is one of -neutrality between the two great political parties, and to vote with -either, or against either, according to the prevailing motive when the -time for action shall arrive. In the interval we are to have no standing -with either party, and have no active influence in shaping the policy of -either, but we are to stand alone, and hold ourselves ready to serve one -or to serve the other, or both, as we may incline at the moment. - -With all respect to these political doctors, I must say that their -remedy is no remedy at all. No man can serve two masters in politics any -more than in religion. If there is one position in life more despicable -in the eyes of man, and more condemned by nature than another, it is -that of neutrality. Besides, if there is one thing more impossible than -another, it is a position of perfect neutrality in politics. Our -friends, Fortune, Downing, and others, flatter themselves that they have -reached this perfection, but they are utterly mistaken. No man can read -their utterances without seeing their animus of hate to the Republican -party, and their preference for the Democratic party. The fault is not -so much in their intention, as in their position. They can neither act -with nor against the two parties impartially. They are compelled by -their position to either serve the one and oppose the other, and they -cannot serve or oppose both alike. Independence, like neutrality, is -also impossible. If the colored man does not depend upon the Republican -party, he will depend upon the Democratic party, and if he does neither, -he becomes a nonentity in American politics. But these gentlemen do, in -effect, ask us to break down the power of the Republican party, when to -do it is to put the Government in the hands of the Democratic party. -Colored men are already in the Republican party, and to come out of it -is to defeat it. - -For one, I must say that the Democratic party has as yet given me no -sufficient reasons for doing it any such service, nor has the Republican -party sunk so low that I must abandon it for its great rival. With all -its faults it is the best party now in existence. In it are the best -elements of the American people, and if any good is to come to us -politically it will be through that party. - -I must cease to remember a great many things and must forget a great -many things before I can counsel any man, colored or white, to join the -Democratic party, or to occupy a position of neutrality between that -party and the Republican party. Such a position of the colored people of -this country will prove about as comfortable as between the upper and -nether millstone. Those of our number now posing as Independents are -doing better service to the Democratic party under the Independent mask -than they could do if they came out honestly for the Democratic party. - -I am charged with commending the inaugural address of President -Cleveland. I am not ashamed of that charge. I said at the time that no -better words for the colored citizen had dropped from the east portico -of the Capitol since the days of Lincoln and Grant, and I say so still. -I did not say, as my traducer lyingly asserts, that Mr. Cleveland said -better words than Lincoln or Grant. But it would not have suited the man -who left Washington with malice in his heart and falsehood in his throat -to be more truthful in Petersburg than in Washington. This malcontent -accuser seeks to make the impression that those who thought and spoke -well of the inaugural address did so from selfish motives, and from a -desire to get or retain office. “Out of the abundance of the heart the -mouth speaketh.” “With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and -with what measure ye mete, the same shall be measured to you again.” He -ought to remember, however, that a serpent without a fang, a scorpion -without a sting, has no more ability to poison than a lie which has lost -its ability to deceive has to injure. It so happens that we had two -Presidents and one Vice-President prior to President Cleveland, and I -challenge my ambitious and envious accuser to find any better word for -the colored citizens of this country in the inaugural addresses of -either than is found in the inaugural address of President Cleveland. I -also beg my accuser to remember that I gave no pledge that Mr. Cleveland -would be able to live up to the sentiments of that address, but, on the -contrary I doubted even the probability of his success in doing so. I -gave him credit, however, for an honest purpose, and expressed a hope -that he might be able to do as well and better than he promised. But I -saw him in the rapids and predicted that they would be too strong for -him. Did this look like seeking favor? He did a brave thing in removing -from office an abettor of murder in Mississippi. He has expressed in a -private way, to Messrs. Bruce and Lynch, his reprobation of the recent -massacres at Carrollton, and for this we thank him. But he has done -nothing in his position as Commander-in-chief of the army and navy to -put a stop to such horrors. I am quite sure that he abhors violence and -bloodshed. He has shown this in his publicly spoken words in behalf of -persecuted and murdered Chinamen; he should do the same for the -persecuted and murdered black citizens of Mississippi. He could threaten -the law-breakers and murderers of the West with the sword of the nation, -why not the South? If it was right to protect and defend the Chinese, -why not the negro? If in the days of slavery the army could be used to -hunt slaves, and suppress slave insurrections, why, in the days of -liberty, may it not be used to enforce rights guaranteed by the -Constitution? Alas! fellow-citizens, there is no right so neglected as -the negro’s right. There is no flesh so despised as the negro’s flesh. -There is no blood so cheap as the negro’s blood. I have been saying -these things to the American people for nearly fifty years. In the order -of nature I cannot say them much longer; but, as was said by another, -“though time himself should confront me, and shake his hoary locks at my -persistence, I shall not cease while life is left me, and our wrongs are -unredressed, to thus cry aloud and spare not.” - -Fellow-citizens, I am disappointed. The accession of the Democratic -party to power has not been followed by the results I expected. When the -tiger has quenched his thirst in blood, and when the anaconda has -swallowed his prey, they cease to pursue their trembling game and sink -to rest; so I thought when the Democratic party came into power, when -the solid South gave law to the land, when there could no longer be any -pretence for the fear of negro ascendency in the councils of the nation, -persecution, violence, and murder would cease, and the negro would be -left in peace; but the bloody scenes at Carrollton, and the daily -reports of lynch law in the South, have destroyed this cherished hope -and told me that the end of our sufferings is not yet. - -But, fellow-citizens, I do not despair, and no power that I know of can -make me despair of the ultimate triumph of justice and liberty in this -country. I have seen too many abuses outgrown, too many evils removed, -too many moral and physical improvements made, to doubt that the wheels -of progress will still roll on. We have but to toil and trust, throw -away whiskey and tobacco, improve the opportunities that we have, put -away all extravagance, learn to live within our means, lay up our -earnings, educate our children, live industrious and virtuous lives, -establish a character for sobriety, punctuality, and general -uprightness, and we shall raise up powerful friends who shall stand by -us in our struggle for an equal chance in the race of life. The white -people of this country are asleep, but not dead. In other days we had a -potent voice in the Senate which awoke the nation. - -Ireland now has an advocate in the British Senate who has arrested the -eye and ear of the civilized world in championing the cause of Ireland. -There is to-day in the American Senate an opportunity for an American -Gladstone; one whose voice shall have power to awake this nation to the -stupendous wrongs inflicted upon our newly-made citizens and move the -Government to a vindication of our constitutional rights. We have in -other days had a Sumner, a Wilson, a Chase, a Conkling, a Thaddeus -Stevens, and a Morton. These did not exhaust the justice and humanity of -American statesmanship. There is heart and eloquence still left in the -councils of the nation, and these will, I trust, yet make themselves -potent in having both the Constitution of 1789 and the Constitution with -the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments made practically the law of the -land for all the people thereof. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE ADDRESSES ON THE -RELATIONS SUBSISTING BETWEEN THE WHITE AND COLORED PEOPLE OF THE UNITED -STATES *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Three addresses on the relations subsisting between the white and colored people of the United States</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Frederick Douglas</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: April 25, 2022 [eBook #67919]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Steve Mattern, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE ADDRESSES ON THE RELATIONS SUBSISTING BETWEEN THE WHITE AND COLORED PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES ***</div> -<hr class="full" /> - -<div class="c"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" height="500" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p style="border:3px solid gray; -font-variant:small-caps;font-size:100%; -text-align:center;padding:.25em; -margin:2em auto;max-width:18em;"> -<a href="#In_Louisville_KY_1883">In Louisville, KY., 1883.</a><br /> -<a href="#IN_WASHINGTON_D_C_1885">In Washington, D. C., 1885.</a><br /> -<a href="#IN_WASHINGTON_D_C_1886">In Washington, D. C., 1886.</a><br /> -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_1" id="page_1">{1}</a></span>  </p> - -<h1>THREE ADDRESSES<br /> -<br /> -<small><small>ON THE</small></small><br /><br /> - -Relations Subsisting between the White<br /><br /> -and Colored People of the<br /><br /> -United States,</h1> - -<p class="c"> -<small>BY</small><br /> -<br /><br /> -<span class="big">FREDERICK DOUGLASS.</span> -<br /><br /> -<img src="images/barr.png" -width="150" -alt="" /> -<br /><br /> -WASHINGTON:<br /><span class="smcap"> -Gibson Bros., Printers and Bookbinders.</span><br /> -1886. -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_2" id="page_2">{2}</a></span>  </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_3" id="page_3">{3}</a></span>  </p> - -<h2><a name="In_Louisville_KY_1883" id="In_Louisville_KY_1883"></a>In Louisville, KY., 1883.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>The following was delivered by <span class="smcap">Frederick Douglass</span> as an address to -the people of the United States at a Convention of Colored Men held -in Louisville, Ky., September 24, 1883:</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Fellow-Citizens:</span> Charged with the responsibility and duty of doing what -we may to advance the interest and promote the general welfare of a -people lately enslaved, and who, though now free, still suffer many of -the disadvantages and evils derived from their former condition, not the -least among which is the low and unjust estimate entertained of their -abilities and possibilities as men, and their value as citizens of the -Republic; instructed by these people to make such representations and -adopt such measures as in our judgment may help to bring about a better -understanding and a more friendly feeling between themselves and their -white fellow-citizens recognizing the great fact as we do, that the -relations of the American people and those of civilized nations -generally depend more upon prevailing ideas, opinions, and long -established usages for their qualities of good and evil than upon courts -of law or creeds of religion. Allowing the existence of a magnanimous -disposition on your part to listen candidly to an honest appeal for fair -play, coming from any class of your fellow-citizens, however humble, who -may have, or may think they have, rights to assert or wrongs to redress, -the members of this National Convention, chosen from all parts of the -United States, representing the thoughts, feelings and purposes of -colored men generally, would, as one means of advancing the cause -committed to them, most respectfully and earnestly ask your attention -and favorable consideration to the matters contained in the present -paper.</p> - -<p>At the outset we very cordially congratulate you upon the altered -condition both of ourselves and our common country. Especially do we -congratulate you upon the fact that a great reproach, which for two -centuries rested on the good name of your country, has been blotted out; -that chattel slavery is no longer the burden of the colored man’s -complaint, and that we now come to rattle no chains, to clank no -fetters, to paint no horrors of the old plantation to shock your -sensi<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_4" id="page_4">{4}</a></span>bilities, to humble your pride, excite your pity, or to kindle -your indignation. We rejoice also that one of the results of this -stupendous revolution in our national history, the Republic which was -before divided and weakened between two hostile and irreconcilable -interests, has become united and strong; that from a low plain of life, -which bordered upon barbarism, it has risen to the possibility of the -highest civilization; that this change has started the American Republic -on a new departure, full of promise, although it has also brought you -and ourselves face to face with problems novel and difficult, destined -to impose upon us responsibilities and duties, which, plainly enough, -will tax our highest mental and moral ability for their happy solution.</p> - -<p>Born on American soil in common with yourselves, deriving our bodies and -our minds from its dust, centuries having passed away since our -ancestors were torn from the shores of Africa, we, like yourselves, hold -ourselves to be in every sense Americans, and that we may, therefore, -venture to speak to you in a tone not lower than that which becomes -earnest men and American citizens. Having watered your soil with our -tears, enriched it with our blood, performed its roughest labor in time -of peace, defended it against enemies in time of war, and at all times -been loyal and true to its best interests, we deem it no arrogance or -presumption to manifest now a common concern with you for its welfare, -prosperity, honor and glory.</p> - -<p>If the claim thus set up by us be admitted, as we think it ought to be, -it may be asked, what propriety or necessity can there be for the -Convention, of which we are members? and why are we now addressing you -in some sense as suppliants asking for justice and fair play? These -questions are not new to us. From the day the call for this Convention -went forth this seeming incongruity and contradiction has been brought -to our attention. From one quarter or another, sometimes with argument -and sometimes without argument, sometimes with seeming pity for our -ignorance, and at other times with fierce censure for our depravity, -these questions have met us. With apparent surprise, astonishment, and -impatience, we have been asked: “What more can the colored people of -this country want than they now have, and what more is possible to -them?” It is said they were once slaves, they are now free; they were -once subjects, they are now sovereigns; they were once outside of all -American institutions, they are<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_5" id="page_5">{5}</a></span> now inside of all and are a recognized -part of the whole American people. Why, then, do they hold Colored -National Conventions and thus insist upon keeping up the color line -between themselves and their white fellow-countrymen? We do not deny the -pertinence and plausibility of these questions, nor do we shrink from a -candid answer to the argument which they are supposed to contain. For we -do not forget that they are not only put to us by those who have no -sympathy with us, but by many who wish us well, and that in any case -they deserve an answer. Before, however, we proceed to answer them, we -digress here to say that there is only one element associated with them -which excites the least bitterness of feeling in us, or that calls for -special rebuke, and that is when they fall from the lips and pens of -colored men who suffer with us and ought to know better. A few such men, -well known to us and the country, happening to be more fortunate in the -possession of wealth, education, and position than their humbler -brethren, have found it convenient to chime in with the popular cry -against our assembling, on the ground that we have no valid reason for -this measure or for any other separate from the whites; that we ought to -be satisfied with things as they are. With white men who thus object the -case is different and less painful. For them there is a chance for -charity. Educated as they are and have been for centuries, taught to -look upon colored people as a lower order of humanity than themselves, -and as having few rights, if any, above domestic animals, regarding them -also through the medium of their beneficent religious creeds and just -laws—as if law and practice were identical—some allowance can, and -perhaps ought to, be made when they misapprehend our real situation and -deny our wants and assume a virtue they do not possess. But no such -excuse or apology can be properly framed for men who are in any way -identified with us. What may be erroneous in others implies either -baseness or imbecility in them. Such men, it seems to us, are either -deficient in self-respect or too mean, servile and cowardly to assert -the true dignity of their manhood and that of their race. To admit that -there are such men among us is a disagreeable and humiliating -confession. But in this respect, as in others, we are not without the -consolation of company; we are neither alone nor singular in the -production of just such characters. All oppressed people have been thus -afflicted.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_6" id="page_6">{6}</a></span></p> - -<p>It is one of the most conspicuous evils of caste and oppression, that -they inevitably tend to make cowards and serviles of their victims, men -ever ready to bend the knee to pride and power that thrift may follow -fawning, willing to betray the cause of the many to serve the ends of -the few; men who never hesitate to sell a friend when they think they -can thereby purchase an enemy. Specimens of this sort may be found -everywhere and at all times. There were Northern men with Southern -principles in the time of slavery, and Tories in the revolution for -independence. There are betrayers and informers to-day in Ireland, ready -to kiss the hand that smites them and strike down the arm reached out to -save them. Considering our long subjection to servitude and caste, and -the many temptations to which we are exposed to betray our race into the -hands of their enemies, the wonder is not that we have so many traitors -among us as that we have so few.</p> - -<p>The most of our people, to their honor be it said, are remarkably sound -and true to each other. To those who think we have no cause to hold this -convention, we freely admit that, so far as the organic law of the land -is concerned, we have indeed nothing to complain of, to ask or desire. -There may be need of legislation, but the organic law is sound.</p> - -<p>Happily for us and for the honor of the Republic, the United States -Constitution is just, liberal, and friendly. The amendments to that -instrument, adopted in the trying times of reconstruction of the -Southern States, are a credit to the courage and statesmanship of the -leading men of that crisis. These amendments establish freedom and -abolish all unfair and invidious discrimination against citizens on -account of race and color, so far as law can do so. In their view, -citizens are neither black nor white, and all are equals. With this -admission and this merited reproof to trimmers and traitors, we again -come to the question, Why are we here in this National Convention? To -this we answer, first, because there is a power in numbers and in union; -because the many are more than the few; because the voice of a whole -people, oppressed by a common injustice, is far more likely to command -attention and exert an influence on the public mind than the voice of -single individuals and isolated organizations; because, coming together -from all parts of the country, the members of a National convention have -the means of a more comprehensive knowledge of the general situation, -and may, therefore, fairly be presumed to conceive more clearly and -ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_7" id="page_7">{7}</a></span>press more fully and wisely the policy it may be necessary for them -to pursue in the premises. Because conventions of the people are in -themselves harmless, and when made the means of setting forth -grievances, whether real or fancied, they are the safety-valves of the -Republic, a wise and safe substitute for violence, dynamite, and all -sorts of revolutionary action against the peace and good order of -society. If they are held without sufficient reason, that fact will be -made manifest in their proceedings, and people will only smile at their -weakness and pass on to their usual business without troubling -themselves about the empty noise they are able to make. But if held with -good cause, and by wise, sober, and earnest men, that fact will be made -apparent and the result will be salutary. That good old maxim, which has -come down to us from revolutionary times, that error may be safely -tolerated, while truth is left free to combat it, applies here. A bad -law is all the sooner repealed by being executed, and error is sooner -dispelled by exposure than by silence. So much we have deemed it fit to -say of conventions generally, because our resort to this measure has -been treated by many as if there were something radically wrong in the -very idea of a convention. It has been treated as if it were some -ghastly, secret conclave, sitting in darkness to devise strife and -mischief. The fact is, the only serious feature in the argument against -us is the one which respects color. We are asked not only why hold a -convention, but with emphasis, why hold a <i>colored</i> convention? Why keep -up this odious distinction between citizens of a common country, and -thus give countenance to the color line? It is argued that, if colored -men hold conventions, based upon color, white men may hold white -conventions based upon color, and thus keep open the chasm between one -and the other class of citizens, and keep alive a prejudice which we -profess to deplore. We state the argument against us fairly and -forcibly, and will answer it candidly and we hope conclusively. By that -answer it will be seen that the force of the objection is, after all, -more in sound than in substance. No reasonable man will ever object to -white men holding conventions in their own interests, when they are once -in our condition and we in theirs, when they are the oppressed and we -the oppressors. In point of fact, however, white men are already in -convention against us in various ways and at many important points. The -practical construction of Ameri<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_8" id="page_8">{8}</a></span>can life is a convention against us. -Human law may know no distinction among men in respect of rights, but -human practice may. Examples are painfully abundant.</p> - -<p>The border men hate the Indians; the Californian, the Chinaman; the -Mohammedan, the Christian, and <i>vice versa</i>. In spite of a common nature -and the equality framed into law, this hate works injustice, of which -each in their own name and under their own color may justly complain. -The apology for observing the color line in the composition of our State -and National conventions is in its necessity and in the fact that we -must do this or nothing, for if we move our color is recognized and must -be. It has its foundation in the exceptional relation we sustain to the -white people of the country. A simple statement of our position -vindicates at once our convention and our cause.</p> - -<p>It is our lot to live among a people whose laws, traditions, and -prejudices have been against us for centuries, and from these they are -not yet free. To assume that they are free from these evils simply -because they have changed their laws is to assume what is utterly -unreasonable and contrary to facts. Large bodies move slowly. -Individuals may be converted on the instant and change their whole -course of life. Nations never. Time and events are required for the -conversion of nations. Not even the character of a great political -organization can be changed by a new platform. It will be the same old -snake though in a new skin. Though we have had war, reconstruction and -abolition as a nation, we still linger in the shadow and blight of an -extinct institution. Though the colored man is no longer subject to be -bought and sold, he is still surrounded by an adverse sentiment which -fetters all his movements. In his downward course he meets with no -resistance, but his course upward is resented and resisted at every step -of his progress. If he comes in ignorance, rags, and wretchedness, he -conforms to the popular belief of his character, and in that character -he is welcome. But if he shall come as a gentleman, a scholar, and a -statesman, he is hailed as a contradiction to the national faith -concerning his race, and his coming is resented as impudence. In the one -case he may provoke contempt and derision, but in the other he is an -affront to pride, and provokes malice. Let him do what he will, there is -at present, therefore, no escape for him. The color line meets him -everywhere, and in a measure shuts him out from all respectable and -profitable<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_9" id="page_9">{9}</a></span> trades and callings. In spite of all your religion and laws -he is a rejected man.</p> - -<p>He is rejected by trade unions, of every trade, and refused work while -he lives, and burial when he dies, and yet he is asked to forget his -color, and forget that which everybody else remembers. If he offers -himself to a builder as a mechanic, to a client as a lawyer, to a -patient as a physician, to a college as a professor, to a firm as a -clerk, to a Government Department as an agent, or an officer, he is -sternly met on the color line, and his claim to consideration in some -way is disputed on the ground of color.</p> - -<p>Not even our churches, whose members profess to follow the despised -Nazarene, whose home, when on earth, was among the lowly and despised, -have yet conquered this feeling of color madness, and what is true of -our churches is also true of our courts of law. Neither is free from -this all-pervading atmosphere of color hate. The one describes the Deity -as impartial, no respecter of persons, and the other the Goddess of -Justice as blindfolded, with sword by her side and scales in her hand -held evenly between high and low, rich and poor, white and black, but -both are the images of American imagination, rather than American -practices.</p> - -<p>Taking advantage of the general disposition in this country to impute -crime to color, white men <i>color</i> their faces to commit crime and wash -off the hated color to escape punishment. In many places where the -commission of crime is alleged against one of our color, the ordinary -processes of the law are set aside as too slow for the impetuous justice -of the infuriated populace. They take the law into their own bloody -hands and proceed to whip, stab, shoot, hang, or burn the alleged -culprit, without the intervention of courts, counsel, judges, juries, or -witnesses. In such cases it is not the business of the accusers to prove -guilt, but it is for the accused to prove his innocence, a thing hard -for any man to do, even in a court of law, and utterly impossible for -him to do in these infernal Lynch courts. A man accused, surprised, -frightened and captured by a motley crowd, dragged with a rope about his -neck in midnight-darkness to the nearest tree, and told in the coarsest -terms of profanity to prepare for death, would be more than human if he -did not, in his terror-stricken appearance, more confirm suspicion of -guilt than the contrary. Worse still, in the presence of such hell-black -outrages, the pulpit is usually dumb, and the press in the neighborhood -is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_10" id="page_10">{10}</a></span> silent or openly takes side with the mob. There are occasional cases -in which white men are lynched, but one sparrow does not make a summer. -Every one knows that what is called Lynch law is peculiarly the law for -colored people and for nobody else. If there were no other grievance -than this horrible and barbarous Lynch law custom, we should be -justified in assembling, as we have now done, to expose and denounce it. -But this is not all. Even now, after twenty years of so-called -emancipation, we are subject to lawless raids of midnight riders, who, -with blackened faces, invade our homes and perpetrate the foulest of -crimes upon us and our families. This condition of things is too -flagrant and notorious to require specifications or proof. Thus in all -the relations of life and death we are met by the color line. We cannot -ignore it if we would, and ought not if we could. It hunts us at -midnight, it denies us accommodation in hotels and justice in the -courts; excludes our children from schools, refuses our sons the chance -to learn trades, and compels us to pursue only such labor as will bring -the least reward. While we recognize the color line as a hurtful force, -a mountain barrier to our progress, wounding our bleeding feet with its -flinty rocks at every step, we do not despair. We are a hopeful people. -This convention is a proof of our faith in you, in reason, in truth and -justice—our belief that prejudice, with all its malign accompaniments, -may yet be removed by peaceful means; that, assisted by time and events -and the growing enlightenment of both races, the color line will -ultimately become harmless. When this shall come it will then only be -used, as it should be, to distinguish one variety of the human family -from another. It will cease to have any civil, political, or moral -significance, and colored conventions will then be dispensed with as -anachronisms, wholly out of place, but not till then. Do not marvel that -we are not discouraged. The faith within us has a rational basis, and is -confirmed by facts. When we consider how deep-seated this feeling -against us is; the long centuries it has been forming; the forces of -avarice which have been marshaled to sustain it; how the language and -literature of the country have been pervaded with it; how the church, -the press, the play-house, and other influences of the country have been -arrayed in its support, the progress toward its extinction must be -considered vast and wonderful.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_11" id="page_11">{11}</a></span></p> - -<p>If liberty, with us, is yet but a name, our citizenship is but a sham, -and our suffrage thus far only a cruel mockery, we may yet congratulate -ourselves upon the fact that the laws and institutions of the country -are sound, just and liberal. There is hope for a people when their laws -are righteous whether for the moment they conform to their requirements -or not. But until this nation shall make its practice accord with its -Constitution and its righteous laws, it will not do to reproach the -colored people of this country with keeping up the color line—for that -people would prove themselves scarcely worthy of even theoretical -freedom, to say nothing of practical freedom, if they settled down in -silent, servile and cowardly submission to their wrongs, from fear of -making their color visible. They are bound by every element of manhood -to hold conventions in their own name and on their own behalf, to keep -their grievances before the people and make every organized protest -against the wrongs inflicted upon them within their power. They should -scorn the counsels of cowards, and hang their banner on the outer wall. -Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow. We do not believe, -as we are often told, that the negro is the ugly child of the national -family, and the more he is kept out of sight the better it will be for -him. You know that liberty given is never so precious as liberty sought -for and fought for. The man outraged is the man to make the outcry. -Depend upon it, men will not care much for a people who do not care for -themselves. Our meeting here was opposed by some of our members, because -it would disturb the peace of the Republican party. The suggestion came -from coward lips and misapprehended the character of that party. If the -Republican party cannot stand a demand for justice and fair play, it -ought to go down. We were men before that party was born, and our -manhood is more sacred than any party can be. Parties were made for men, -not men for parties.</p> - -<p>If the six millions of colored people of this country, armed with the -Constitution of the United States, with a million votes of their own to -lean upon, and millions of white men at their back, whose hearts are -responsive to the claims of humanity, have not sufficient spirit and -wisdom to organize and combine to defend themselves from outrage, -discrimination, and oppression, it will be idle for them to expect that -the Republican party or any other political party will organize and -combine for them or care what becomes of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_12" id="page_12">{12}</a></span> them. Men may combine to -prevent cruelty to animals, for they are dumb and cannot speak for -themselves; but we are men and must speak for ourselves, or we shall not -be spoken for at all. We have conventions in America for Ireland, but we -should have none if Ireland did not speak for herself. It is because she -makes a noise and keeps her cause before the people that other people go -to her help. It was the sword of Washington and of Lafayette that gave -us Independence. In conclusion upon this color objection, we have to say -that we meet here in open daylight. There is nothing sinister about us. -The eyes of the nation are upon us. Ten thousand newspapers may tell if -they choose of whatever is said and done here. They may commend our -wisdom or condemn our folly, precisely as we shall be wise or foolish.</p> - -<p>We put ourselves before them as honest men, and ask their judgment upon -our work.</p> - -<h3>THE LABOR QUESTION.</h3> - -<p>Not the least important among the subjects to which we invite your -earnest attention is the condition of the labor class at the South. -Their cause is one with the labor classes all over the world. The labor -unions of the country should not throw away this colored element of -strength. Everywhere there is dissatisfaction with the present relation -of labor and capital, and to-day no subject wears an aspect more -threatening to civilization than the respective claims of capital and -labor, landlords and tenants. In what we have to say for our laboring -class we expect to have and ought to have the sympathy and support of -laboring men everywhere and of every color.</p> - -<p>It is a great mistake for any class of laborers to isolate itself and -thus weaken the bond of brotherhood between those on whom the burden and -hardships of labor fall. The fortunate ones of the earth, who are -abundant in land and money and know nothing of the anxious care and -pinching poverty of the laboring classes, may be indifferent to the -appeal for justice at this point, but the laboring classes cannot afford -to be indifferent. What labor everywhere wants, what it ought to have, -and will some day demand and receive, is an honest day’s pay for an -honest day’s work. As the laborer becomes more intelligent he will -develop what capital he already possesses—that is the power to organize -and combine for its own protection. Experience demonstrates that there -may be a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_13" id="page_13">{13}</a></span> wages of slavery only a little less galling and crushing in -its effects than chattel slavery, and that this slavery of wages must go -down with the other.</p> - -<p>There is nothing more common now than the remark that the physical -condition of the freedmen of the South is immeasurably worse than in the -time of slavery; that in respect to food, clothing and shelter they are -wretched, miserable and destitute; that they are worse masters to -themselves than their old masters were to them. To add insult to injury, -the reproach of their condition is charged upon themselves. A grandson -of John C. Calhoun, an Arkansas land-owner, testifying the other day -before the Senate Committee of Labor and Education, says the “negroes -are so indolent that they fail to take advantage of the opportunities -offered them; that they will only devote so much of their time to work -as will enable them to procure the necessities of life; that there is -danger of a war of races,” etc., etc.</p> - -<p>His testimony proclaims him the grandson of the man whose name he bears. -The blame which belongs to his own class he shifts from them to the -shoulders of labor. It becomes us to test the truth of that assertion by -the light of reason, and by appeals to indisputable facts. Of course the -land-owners of the South may be expected to view things differently from -the landless. The slaveholders always did look at things a little -differently from the slaves, and we therefore insist that, in order that -the whole truth shall be brought out, the laborer as well as the -capitalist shall be called as witnesses before the Senate Committee of -Labor and Education. Experience proves that it takes more than one class -of people to tell the whole truth about matters in which they are -interested on opposite sides, and we protest against the allowance of -only one side of the labor question to be heard by the country in this -case. Meanwhile, a little reason and reflection will in some measure -bring out truth! The colored people of the South are the laboring people -of the South. The labor of a country is the source of its wealth; -without the colored laborer to-day the South would be a howling -wilderness, given up to bats, owls, wolves, and bears. He was the source -of its wealth before the war, and has been the source of its prosperity -since the war. He almost alone is visible in her fields, with implements -of toil in his hands, and laboriously using them to-day.</p> - -<p>Let us look candidly at the matter. While we see and hear<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_14" id="page_14">{14}</a></span> that the -South is more prosperous than it ever was before and rapidly recovering -from the waste of war, while we read that it raises more cotton, sugar, -rice, tobacco, corn, and other valuable products than it ever produced -before, how happens it, we sternly ask, that the houses of its laborers -are miserable huts, that their clothes are rags, and their food the -coarsest and scantiest? How happens it that the land-owner is becoming -richer and the laborer poorer?</p> - -<p>The implication is irresistible—that where the landlord is prosperous -the laborer ought to share his prosperity, and whenever and wherever we -find this is not the case there is manifestly wrong somewhere.</p> - -<p>This sharp contrast of wealth and poverty, as every thoughtful man -knows, can exist only in one way, and from one cause, and that is by one -getting more than its proper share of the reward of industry, and the -other side getting less, and that in some way labor has been defrauded -or otherwise denied of its due proportion, and we think the facts, as -well as this philosophy, will support this view in the present case, and -do so conclusively. We utterly deny that the colored people of the South -are too lazy to work, or that they are indifferent to their physical -wants; as already said, they are the workers of that section.</p> - -<p>The trouble is not that the colored people of the South are indolent, -but that no matter how hard or how persistent may be their industry, -they get barely enough for their labor to support life at the very low -point at which we find them. We therefore throw off the burden of -disgrace and reproach from the laborer where Mr. Calhoun and others of -his class would place it, and put it on the land-owner where it belongs. -It is the old case over again. The black man does the work and the white -man gets the money.</p> - -<p>It may be said after all the colored people have themselves to blame for -this state of things, because they have not intelligently taken the -matter into their own hands and provided a remedy for the evil they -suffer.</p> - -<p>Some blame may attach at this point. But those who reproach us thus -should remember that it is hard for labor, however fortunately and -favorably surrounded, to cope with the tremendous power of capital in -any contest for higher wages or improved condition. A strike for higher -wages is seldom successful, and is often injurious to the strikers; the -losses sustained are seldom compensated by the concessions<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_15" id="page_15">{15}</a></span> gained. A -case in point is the recent strike of the telegraph operators—a more -intelligent class can nowhere be found. It was a contest of brains -against money, and the want of money compelled intelligence to surrender -to wealth.</p> - -<p>An empty sack is not easily made to stand upright. The man who has it in -his power to say to a man, you must work the land for me for such wages -as I choose to give, has a power of slavery over him as real, if not as -complete, as he who compels toil under the lash. All that a man hath -will he give for his life.</p> - -<p>In contemplating the little progress made by the colored people in the -acquisition of property in the South, and their present wretched -condition, the circumstances of their emancipation should not be -forgotten. Measurement in their case should not begin from the height -yet to be attained by them, but from the depths whence they have come.</p> - -<p>It should be remembered by our severe judges that freedom came to us not -from the sober dictates of wisdom, or from any normal condition of -things, not as a matter of choice on the part of the land-owners of the -South, nor from moral considerations on the part of the North. It was -born of battle and of blood. It came across fields of smoke and fire -strewn with wounded, bleeding, and dying men. Not from the Heaven of -Peace amid the morning stars, but from the hell of war—out of the -tempest and whirlwind of warlike passions, mingled with deadly hate and -a spirit of revenge; it came, not so much as a boon to us as a blast to -the enemy. Those against whom the measure was directed were the -land-owners, and they were not angels, but men, and, being men, it was -to be expected they would resent the blow. They did resent it, and a -part of that resentment unhappily fell upon us.</p> - -<p>At first the land-owners drove us out of our old quarters, and told us -they did not want us in their fields; that they meant to import German, -Irish, and Chinese laborers. But as the passions of the war gradually -subsided we were taken back to our old places; but, plainly enough, this -change of front was not from choice, but necessity. Feeling themselves -somehow or other entitled to our labor without the payment of wages, it -was not strange that they should make the hardest bargains for our -labor, and get it for as little as possible. For them the contest was -easy; their tremendous power and our weakness easily gave them the -victory.</p> - -<p>Against the voice of Stevens, Sumner, and Wade, and other<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_16" id="page_16">{16}</a></span> far-seeing -statesmen, the Government by whom we were emancipated left us completely -in the power of our former owners. They turned us loose to the open sky -and left us not a foot of ground from which to get a crust of bread.</p> - -<p>It did not do as well by us as Russia did by her serfs, or Pharaoh did -by the Hebrews. With freedom Russia gave land and Egypt loaned jewels.</p> - -<p>It may have been best to leave us thus to make terms with those whose -wrath it had kindled against us. It does not seem right that we should -have been so left, but it fully explains our present poverty and -wretchedness.</p> - -<p>The marvel is not that we are poor in such circumstances, but rather -that we were not exterminated. In view of the circumstances, our -extermination was confidently predicted. The facts that we still live -and have increased in higher ratio than the native white people of the -South are proofs of our vitality, and, in some degree, of our industry.</p> - -<p>Nor is it to be wondered at that the standard of morals is not higher -among us, that respect for the rights of property is not stronger. The -power of life and death held over labor which says you shall work for me -on my own terms or starve, is a source of crime, as well as poverty.</p> - -<p>Weeds do not more naturally spring out of a manure pile than crime out -of enforced destitution. Out of the misery of Ireland comes murder, -assassination, fire, and sword. The Irish are by nature no worse than -other people, and no better. If oppression makes a wise man mad it may -do the same, and worse, to a people who are not reputed wise. The woe -pronounced upon those who keep back wages of the laborer by fraud is -self-acting and self-executing and certain as death. The world is full -of warnings.</p> - -<h3>THE ORDER SYSTEM.</h3> - -<p>No more crafty and effective devise for defrauding the southern laborers -could be adopted than the one that substitutes orders upon shopkeepers -for currency in payment of wages. It has the merit of a show of honesty, -while it puts the laborer completely at the mercy of the land-owner and -the shopkeeper. He is between the upper and the nether millstones, and -is hence ground to dust. It gives the shopkeeper a customer who can -trade with no other storekeeper, and thus leaves the latter no motive -for fair dealing except his own moral sense, which is never too strong. -While the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_17" id="page_17">{17}</a></span> laborer holding the orders is tempted by their worthlessness, -as a circulating medium, to get rid of them at any sacrifice, and hence -is led into extravagance and consequent destitution.</p> - -<p>The merchant puts him off with his poorest commodities at highest -prices, and can say to him take these or nothing. Worse still. By this -means the laborer is brought into debt, and hence is kept always in the -power of the land-owner. When this system is not pursued and land is -rented to the freedman, he is charged more for the use of an acre of -land for a single year than the land would bring in the market if -offered for sale. On such a system of fraud and wrong one might well -invoke a bolt from heaven—red with uncommon wrath.</p> - -<p>It is said if the colored people do not like the conditions upon which -their labor is demanded and secured, let them leave and go elsewhere. A -more heartless suggestion never emanated from an oppressor. Having for -years paid them in shop orders, utterly worthless outside the shop to -which they are directed, without a dollar in their pockets, brought by -this crafty process into bondage to the land-owners, who can and would -arrest them if they should attempt to leave when they are told to go.</p> - -<p>We commend the whole subject to the Senate Committee of Labor and -Education, and urge upon that committee the duty to call before it not -only the land-owners, but the landless laborers of the South, and thus -get at the whole truth concerning the labor question of that section.</p> - -<h3>EDUCATION.</h3> - -<p>On the subject of equal education and educational facilities, mentioned -in the call for this convention, we expect little resistance from any -quarter. It is everywhere an accepted truth, that in a country governed -by the people, like ours, education of the youth of all classes is vital -to its welfare, prosperity, and to its existence.</p> - -<p>In the light of this unquestioned proposition, the patriot cannot but -view with a shudder the widespread and truly alarming illiteracy as -revealed by the census of 1880.</p> - -<p>The question as to how this evil is to be remedied is an important one. -Certain it is that it will not do to trust to the philanthropy of -wealthy individuals or benevolent societies to remove it. The States in -which this illiteracy prevails either<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_18" id="page_18">{18}</a></span> can not or will not provide -adequate systems of education for their own youth. But, however this may -be, the fact remains that the whole country is directly interested in -the education of every child that lives within its borders. The -ignorance of any part of the American people so deeply concerns all the -rest that there can be no doubt of the right to pass laws compelling the -attendance of every child at school. Believing that such is now required -and ought to be enacted, we hereby put ourselves on record in favor of -stringent laws to this end.</p> - -<p>In the presence of this appalling picture, presented by the last census, -we hold it to be the imperative duty of Congress to take hold of this -important subject, and, without waiting for the States to adopt liberal -school systems within their respective jurisdictions, to enter -vigorously upon the work of universal education.</p> - -<p>The National Government, with its immense resources, can carry the -benefits of a sound common-school education to the door of every poor -man from Maine to Texas, and to withhold this boon is to neglect the -greatest assurance it has of its own perpetuity. As a part of the -American people we unite most emphatically with others who have already -spoken on this subject, in urging Congress to lay the foundation of a -great national system of aid to education at its next session.</p> - -<p>In this connection, and as germane to the subject of education under -national auspices, we would most respectfully and earnestly request -Congress to authorize the appointment of a commission of three or more -persons of suitable character and qualifications to ascertain the legal -claimants, as far as they can, to a large fund now in the United States -treasury, appropriated for the payment of bounties of colored soldiers -and sailors; and to provide by law that at the expiration of three or -five years the balance remaining in the treasury be distributed among -the colored colleges of the country, giving the preference as to amounts -to the schools that are doing effective work in industrial branches.</p> - -<h3>FREEDMEN’S BANK.</h3> - -<p>The colored people have suffered much on account of the failure of the -Freedman’s bank. Their loss by this institution was a peculiar hardship, -coming as it did upon them in the days of their greatest weakness. It is -certain that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_19" id="page_19">{19}</a></span> depositors in this institution were led to believe -that as Congress had chartered it and established its headquarters at -the capital the Government in some way was responsible for the safe -keeping of their money.</p> - -<p>Without the dissemination of this belief it would never have had the -confidence of the people as it did nor have secured such an immense -deposit. Nobody authorized to speak for the Government ever corrected -this deception, but on the contrary, Congress continued to legislate for -the bank as if all that had been claimed for it was true.</p> - -<p>Under these circumstances, together with much more that might be said in -favor of such a measure, we ask Congress to reimburse the unfortunate -victims of that institution, and thus carry hope and give to many fresh -encouragement in the battle of life.</p> - -<h3>BOUNTY AND PENSION LAWS.</h3> - -<p>We desire, also, to call the attention of Congress and the country to -the bounty and pension laws and to the filing of original claims. We ask -for the passage of an act extending the time for filing original claims -beyond the present limit.</p> - -<p>This we do for the reason that many of the soldiers and sailors that -served in the war of the rebellion and their heirs, and especially -colored claimants living in parts of the country where they have but -meagre means of information, have been, and still are, ignorant of their -rights and the methods of enforcing them.</p> - -<p>But while we urge these duties on Congress and the country, we must -never forget that any race worth living will live, and whether Congress -heeds our request in these and other particulars or not, we must -demonstrate our capacity to live by living. We must acquire property and -educate the hands and hearts and heads of our children whether we are -helped or not. Races that fail to do these things die politically and -socially, and are only fit to die.</p> - -<p>One great source of independence that has been sought by multitudes of -our white fellow-citizens is still open to us—we refer to the public -lands in the great West. The amazing rapidity with which the public -lands are being taken up warns us that we must lay hold of this -opportunity soon, or it will be gone forever. The Government gives to -every actual settler, under certain conditions, 160 acres of land. By -addressing a letter to the United States Land Office, Washington, D.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_20" id="page_20">{20}</a></span> -C., any person will receive full information in regard to this subject. -Thousands of white men have settled on these lands with scarcely any -money beyond their immediate wants, and in a few years have found -themselves the lords of a 160-acre farm. Let us do likewise.</p> - -<h3>CIVIL RIGHTS.</h3> - -<p>The right of every American citizen to select his own society and invite -whom he will to his own parlor and table should be sacredly respected. A -man’s house is his castle, and he has a right to admit or refuse -admission to it as he may please, and defend his house from all -intruders even with force, if need be. This right belongs to the -humblest not less than the highest, and the exercise of it by any of our -citizens toward anybody or class who may presume to intrude, should -cause no complaint, for each and all may exercise the same right toward -whom he will.</p> - -<p>When he quits his home and goes upon the public street, enters a public -car or a public house, he has no exclusive right of occupancy. He is -only a part of the great public, and while he has the right to walk, -ride, and be accommodated with food and shelter in a public conveyance -or hotel, he has no exclusive right to say that another citizen, tall or -short, black or white, shall not have the same civil treatment with -himself. The argument against equal rights at hotels is very improperly -put upon the ground that the exercise of such rights, it is insisted, is -social equality. But this ground is unreasonable. It is hard to say what -social equality is, but it is certain that going into the same street -car, hotel, or steamboat cabin does not make any man society for another -any more than flying in the same air makes all birds of one feather.</p> - -<p>Two men may be seated at the same table at a hotel; one may be a Webster -in intellect, and the other a Guiteau in feebleness of mind and morals, -and, of course, socially and intellectually, they are as wide apart as -are the poles of the moral universe, but their civil rights are the -same. The distinction between the two sorts of equality is broad and -plain to the understanding of the most limited, and yet, blinded by -prejudice, men never cease to confound one with the other, and allow -themselves to infringe the civil rights of their fellow-citizens as if -those rights were, in some way, in violation of their social rights.</p> - -<p>That this denial of rights to us is because of our color, only<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_21" id="page_21">{21}</a></span> as color -is a badge of condition, is manifest in the fact that no matter how -decently dressed or well-behaved a colored man may be, he is denied -civil treatment in the ways thus pointed out, unless he comes as a -servant. His color, not his character, determines the place he shall -hold and the kind of treatment he shall receive. That this is due to a -prejudice and has no rational principle under it is seen in the fact -that the presence of colored persons in hotels and rail cars is only -offensive when they are there as guests and passengers. As servants they -are welcome, but as equal citizens they are not. It is also seen in the -further fact that nowhere else on the globe, except in the United -States, are colored people subject to insult and outrage on account of -color. The colored traveler in Europe does not meet it, and we denounce -it here as a disgrace to American civilization and American religion and -as a violation of the spirit and letter of the Constitution of the -United States. From those courts which have solemnly sworn to support -the Constitution and that yet treat this provision of it with contempt -we appeal to the people, and call upon our friends to remember our civil -rights at the ballot-box. On the point of the two equalities we are -determined to be understood.</p> - -<p>We leave social equality where it should be left, with each individual -man and woman. No law can regulate or control it. It is a matter with -which governments have nothing whatever to do. Each may choose his own -friends and associates without interference or dictation of any.</p> - -<h3>POLITICAL EQUALITY.</h3> - -<p>Flagrant as have been the outrages committed upon colored citizens in -respect to their civil rights, more flagrant, shocking, and scandalous -still have been the outrages committed upon our political rights by -means of bull-dozing and Kukluxing, Mississippi plans, fraudulent -counts, tissue ballots, and the like devices. Three States in which the -colored people outnumber the white population are without colored -representation and their political voice suppressed. The colored -citizens in those States are virtually disfranchised, the Constitution -held in utter contempt and its provisions nullified. This has been done -in the face of the Republican party and successive Republican -administrations.</p> - -<p>It was once said by the great O’Connell that the history of Ireland -might be traced like a wounded man through a crowd<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_22" id="page_22">{22}</a></span> by the blood, and -the same may be truly said of the history of the colored voters of the -South.</p> - -<p>They have marched to the ballot-box in face of gleaming weapons, wounds, -and death. They have been abandoned by the Government, and left to the -laws of nature. So far as they are concerned, there is no Government or -Constitution of the United States.</p> - -<p>They are under control of a foul, haggard, and damning conspiracy -against reason, law, and constitution. How you can be indifferent, how -any leading colored men can allow themselves to be silent in presence of -this state of things, we cannot see.</p> - -<p>“Should tongues be mute while deeds are wrought which well might shame -extremest hell?” And yet they are mute, and condemn our assembling here -to speak out in manly tones against the continuance of this infernal -reign of terror.</p> - -<p>This is no question of party. It is a question of law and government. It -is a question whether men shall be protected by law, or be left to the -mercy of cyclones of anarchy and bloodshed. It is whether the Government -or the mob shall rule this land; whether the promises solemnly made to -us in the Constitution be manfully kept or meanly and flagrantly broken. -Upon this vital point we ask the whole people of the United States to -take notice that whatever of political power we have shall be exerted -for no man of any party who will not, in advance of election, promise to -use every power given him by the Government, State or National, to make -the black man’s path to the ballot-box as straight, smooth and safe as -that of any other American citizen.</p> - -<h3>POLITICAL AMBITION.</h3> - -<p>We are as a people often reproached with ambition for political offices -and honors. We are not ashamed of this alleged ambition. Our destitution -of such ambition would be our real shame. If the six millions and a half -of people whom we represent could develop no aspirants to political -office and honor under this Government, their mental indifference, -barrenness and stolidity might well enough be taken as proof of their -unfitness for American citizenship.</p> - -<p>It is no crime to seek or hold office. If it were it would take a larger -space than that of Noah’s Ark to hold the white criminals.</p> - -<p>One of the charges against this convention is that it seeks<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_23" id="page_23">{23}</a></span> for the -colored people a larger share than they now possess in the offices and -emoluments of the Government.</p> - -<p>We are now significantly reminded by even one of our own members that we -are only twenty years out of slavery, and we ought therefore to be -modest in our aspirations. Such leaders should remember that men will -not be religious when the devil turns preacher.</p> - -<p>The inveterate and persistent office-seeker and office-holder should be -modest when he preaches that virtue to others which he does not himself -practice. Wolsey could not tell Cromwell to fling away ambition properly -only when he had flung away his own.</p> - -<p>We are far from affirming that there may not be too much zeal among -colored men in pursuit of political preferment; but the fault is not -wholly theirs. They have young men among them noble and true, who are -educated and intelligent—fit to engage in enterprise of “pith and -moment"—who find themselves shut out from nearly all the avenues of -wealth and respectability, and hence they turn their attention to -politics. They do so because they can find nothing else. The best cure -for the evil is to throw open other avenues and activities to them.</p> - -<p>We shall never cease to be a despised and persecuted class while we are -known to be excluded by our color from all important positions under the -Government.</p> - -<p>While we do not make office the one thing important, nor the one -condition of our alliance with any party, and hold that the welfare, -prosperity and happiness of our whole country is the true criterion of -political action for ourselves and for all men, we can not disguise from -ourselves the fact that our persistent exclusion from office as a class -is a great wrong, fraught with injury, and ought to be resented and -opposed by all reasonable and effective means in our power.</p> - -<p>We hold it to be self-evident that no class or color should be the -exclusive rulers of this country. If there is such a ruling class, there -must of course be a subject class, and when this condition is once -established this Government of the people, by the people, and for the -people, will have perished from the earth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_24" id="page_24">{24}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="IN_WASHINGTON_D_C_1885" id="IN_WASHINGTON_D_C_1885"></a>IN WASHINGTON, D. C., 1885.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>On being introduced by Hon. <span class="smcap">B. K. Bruce</span>, on the occasion of the -twenty-third anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the -District of Columbia, <span class="smcap">Frederick Douglass</span> spoke as follows:</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Friends and Fellow-Citizens:</span> Your committee of arrangements were pleased -to select me as your orator of the day, on an occasion similar to this, -two years ago. At that time, while appreciating the honor conferred upon -me, I ventured to express the wish that some one of the many competent -colored young men of this city and District had been chosen to discharge -this honorable duty in my stead. There were excellent reasons for that -wish then, and there are even much better reasons for the same wish now. -Time and cultivation have largely added to the number of those from whom -a suitable selection might have been made, and one of these silent, yet -powerful, agents whose mission it is to create and destroy all things -mortal has left me much less desire for such distinguished service now -than two years ago. Happily, however, the burden is not heavy or -grievous, and the proper story of this occasion is simple, familiar, and -easily told. In observing the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in -the District of Columbia, we attract the attention of the American -people to one of the most important and significant events in their -national history, and at the same time evince a grateful and proper -sense of the wonderful changes for the better that have taken place in -our condition, and in that of the country generally. Though in its -immediate and legal operation this act of emancipation was local in its -range as to territory, and limited in its application as to the number -of persons liberated by it, morally it looms upon us as a grand, -comprehensive, and far-reaching measure.</p> - -<p>To appreciate its importance we must not consider it as a single -independent act standing alone, nor as one pertaining to this District -only, nor to the colored people only. We must regard it as a part of a -series of splendid public measures, as one of so many steps in the -national progress looking to one beneficent and glorious result, a large -contribution to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_25" id="page_25">{25}</a></span> honor and welfare of the whole country. It was the -auspicious beginning of a great movement in the councils of the nation, -made necessary by the war, and one which finally culminated in the -complete and permanent abolition of slavery, not only in the District of -Columbia, but in every part of the Republic. Thus viewed it was the one -act which broke the gloomy spell that bound the nation in the bonds of -servile, unnatural reverence and awe for slavery. It withdrew the -sympathy of European nations from the rebellion; it brought the moral -support of the civilized world to the loyal cause; it erased the foulest -blot that ever stained our national escutcheon; it gave to the war for -the Union a logical, humane, and consistent purpose; it solved a problem -which was the standing grief of good men, and the perplexity of -statesmen for ages; it gave courage and hope to our armies in the field; -it weakened the rebellion; it raised the whole nation to a higher and -happier plane of civilization, and placed the American people where they -never were before, in a position where they could consistently and -effectively preach liberty to all the nations of the world.</p> - -<p>The 16th of April, the anniversary of this great act of the nation, -strangely and erroneously enough has been considered simply as the -colored man’s day only. The business of consecrating and preserving its -memory has been, by common consent, relegated to him exclusively. But, -in this, our fellow-citizens have been more generous to us than just to -themselves. Colored men have very little more reason to hallow this day -than have white men. If it brought freedom to us, it brought peace and -safety to them, and hence they may well enough unite in this and similar -celebrations, and regard the day as theirs as well as ours. No truth -taught by our national history is more evident than this, that while -slavery dominated the southern half of the Republic, and free -institutions prevailed in the northern half, peace and harmony between -the two sections were utterly and forever impossible. No man can serve -two masters, and the attempt of our Government to do this was a -stupendous failure. The union between liberty and slavery was a marriage -without love, a house divided against itself; a couple unequally yoked -together, held together by external force, not by moral cohesion; it -brought happiness to neither, and misery to both.</p> - -<p>Like any other embodiment of social and material interest peculiar to a -given community, slavery generated its own<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_26" id="page_26">{26}</a></span> sentiments, its own morals, -manners, and religion; and begot a character in all around it in favor -of its own existence.</p> - -<p>In nearly everything indigenous and peculiar to society in the two -sections, they were as separate and distinct as are any two nations on -the globe. The longer they were thus linked together in the bonds of -outward union, the more palpable became their points of difference, and -the more passionate became their hostility to each other. Liberty became -more and more the glory of the North, and slavery more and more the idol -of the South. Not even the bonds of Christian fellowship were strong -enough to hold together the churches of the two sections.</p> - -<p>In view of this settled and growing antagonism, only one of three -courses was opened to the nation: The first was to make the country all -slaves, the second was to make it all free, and the third was to divide -the Union, and let each section set up a government of its own—the one -based upon the system of slavery, and the other based upon the -principles of the Declaration of American Independence.</p> - -<p>Thanks to the wisdom, loyalty, patriotism, courage, and statesmanship -developed by the crisis, the nation rejected equally the idea of making -the country all slaves, and permitting two separate nations, with -hostile civilizations, side by side, with a chafing, bloody border -between them, but chose to give us one country, one citizenship, and one -liberty for all the people, and hence we are here this evening. There -was never any physical reason for the dissolution of the Union. The -geographical and topographical conditions of the country all served to -unite rather than to divide the two sections. It was moral not physical -dynamite that blew the two sections asunder.</p> - -<p>We are told by the poet that—</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Lands intersected by a narrow frith, abhor each other;<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Mountains interposed make enemies of nations,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Which else, like kindred drops, had mingled into one.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>But in this case there were neither friths nor mountains to separate the -South from the North, or to make our Southern brethren hate the people -of the North. The moral cause of trouble in the system of slavery being -now removed, peace and harmony are possible, and, I doubt not, these -blessings, though long delayed, will finally come. In calling attention -to the event which makes this day precious we honor our<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_27" id="page_27">{27}</a></span>selves, and -honor the noble and brave men who brought it about. We render our humble -tribute of gratitude to-day, not only to those whose valor and whose -blood on the battlefield brought freedom to the American slave; not only -to the great generals who led our armies, but to our great statesmen as -well who framed our laws; and not to these only, but also to the noble -army of men and women which preceded both statesmen and warriors in the -cause of emancipation, and made these warriors and statesmen possible. -Neither would our gratitude forget those who supplemented the great act -of emancipation by carrying the blessings of education to the benighted -South, thus preparing the liberated freedman for the duties of -citizenship.</p> - -<p>I need not stop here to call the roll of any of these classes. The -nation knows the debt it owes them, and will never forget them. We have -but to mention the honored name of Abraham Lincoln in the Presidential -chair, of Ulysses S. Grant in the field, at whose bedside a grateful -nation now stands mute in sympathy and sad expectation; of William Lloyd -Garrison in the columns of the <i>Liberator</i>, of Wendell Phillips on the -rostrum, of Charles Sumner in the Senate, to cause a host of noble men -and women to start up and pass in review before us.</p> - -<p>But I drop this brief reference to the history and personnel of the -anti-slavery movement, and will speak of matters nearer our times and -equally pertinent to this occasion. Those who abolished slavery did -their work, and did it well. They served their day and generation with -wisdom, courage, and fortitude, and are an example to this and coming -generations. They bravely upheld the principles of liberty and justice, -and it will go well with this nation and with us if we in our time, and -if those who are to come after us in theirs, shall adhere to and uphold -these same principles with equal zeal, courage, fidelity, and fortitude. -One generation cannot safely rest on the achievements of another, and -ought not so to rest.</p> - -<p>Hitherto there has been little variety in the thoughts, resolutions, and -addresses presented for consideration on occasions similar to this. Each -celebration has been almost a <i>fac-simile</i> of its predecessors. The -speeches have been little more than echoes of those made before, because -the conditions of their utterances have been so uniform, and all one -way. To-day, however, conditions are changed, or appear to be changed. -We do not stand where we stood one year ago. We are confronted by a new -Administration. The term<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_28" id="page_28">{28}</a></span> of twenty-four years of steady, unbroken, -successful Republican rule is ended. The great Republican party that -carried the country safely through the late war against the rebellion, -emancipated the slave, saved the Union, reconstructed the government of -the Southern States, enfranchised the freedmen, raised the national -credit, improved the currency, decreased the national debt, and did more -for the honor, prosperity, and glory of the American people than was -ever done before in the same length of time by any party in any country -under similar circumstances, has been defeated, humiliated, and driven -from place and power.</p> - -<p>For the first time since the chains fell from the limbs of the slaves of -the District of Columbia; for the first time since slaves were raised -from chattels to men; for the first time since they were clothed with -the dignity of American citizenship they find themselves under the rule -of a political party which steadily opposed their every step from -bondage to freedom, and this fact may well enough give a peculiar -coloring to the thoughts and feelings with which this anniversary of -emancipation is celebrated.</p> - -<p>The great question of the hour respects the true significance of this -change in the national front. What does it portend? How will it affect -our relations to the people and government of this country? How was this -stupendous change brought about, and, in point of fact, it may be asked -with some propriety if there has really been any serious change made in -our condition by this change in the relations of parties?</p> - -<p>To the eye of the colored man the change, or apparent change, in the -political situation is very marked, and wears a very sinister aspect. He -has so long been accustomed to think the Republican party the -sheet-anchor of his liberty, the star of all his hopes, that he can see -nought but ill in the ascendancy of the Democratic party. He addresses -it much as did Hamlet his father’s ghost:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Tell why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Have burst their cerements; why the sepulchre.<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn’d,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Hath oped his ponderous and marble jaws to cast thee up again.<br /></span> -<span class="i1">What may this mean, that thou, dead corpse,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Again in complete steel, revisit’st thus the glimpses of the moon,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Making night hideous, and we, poor fools of nature,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">So horridly to shake our disposition<br /></span> -<span class="i1">With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls?”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>It is, perhaps, too early to determine the full significance<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_29" id="page_29">{29}</a></span> of the -return of the Democratic party to power, or to tell just how that return -to power came about. One thing must be admitted, and that is that the -power and vitality of the Democratic party have been vastly underrated. -It has indulged in vices and crimes enough to have killed a dozen -ordinary parties, and yet it lives. At times it has really seemed to be -dead. Some said it had died by opposing the war for the Union, but it -was not so. We thought the life had gone out of it when it took our late -friend, Horace Greely, for its candidate for the Presidency and adopted -a Republican platform, but it was not so.</p> - -<p>It was the same old party in a new dress, and time has shown that it was -as full of life and power as ever. The fact is, it was never either -honestly dead or securely buried. Even when it slept it had one eye -open, and saw better with that one eye than did the Republican party -with its two. Our mistakes concerning it have been made abundantly clear -by the late election and the dazzling splendor of the recent -inauguration. We thought the Democratic party dead when it was alive, -and the Republican party alive and strong when it was half dead. Long -continuance in power had developed rival ambitions, personal -animosities, factional combinations in the Republican party that were -fatal to its success and even endangered its life.</p> - -<p>One great lesson taught by Republican defeat is familiar to all. It is -the folly of relying upon past good behavior for present success. -Parties, like men, must act in the living present or fail. It is not -what they have done or left undone in the past that turns the scale, but -what they are doing, and mean to do now. The result shows that neither -the past good conduct of the Republican party nor the past bad conduct -of the Democratic party has had much to do with the late election.</p> - -<p>Americans have too little memory for good or bad political conduct. The -people have said in the late election, “We care nothing for your past; -but what is your present character and work?” And in rendering judgment -they have said, “We see little ground for preferring one to the other.”</p> - -<p>But, fellow-citizens, it is consoling to think that this change in the -political front justly implies no real change for the worse in the moral -convictions of the American people. On the great questions that divided -the parties during the periods of war and reconstruction there has been -no change what<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_30" id="page_30">{30}</a></span>ever. Upon all the great measures of justice, liberty, -and civilization, originated and carried through Congress by the -Republican party, I believe the heart of the nation to be still safe and -sound. If the measures then in controversy between the parties were now -submitted to the American people, I fully believe they would sustain -them one and all by an overwhelming vote.</p> - -<p>The trouble was that the Republican party in the late campaign forgot -for the moment its high mission as the party of great moral ideas, and -sought victory on grounds far below its ordinary level. It made national -pelf more important and prominent than national purity. It made the body -more important than the soul; national prosperity more important than -national justice. There was no square issue made up between the parties. -One talked in favor of the tariff and the other did not talk against it. -Both together beat the air and raised a dust, confused counsel, blinded -the voters, and rendered victory a thing of chance rather than a thing -of choice. The Republican party was not more surprised by defeat than -the Democratic party was astonished by victory. Twelve hundred votes -would have changed the result; so that nothing for the future can be -safely predicted upon the election either way. It does not imply that -the Democratic party is in power to stay, or that the Republican party -is out of power to stay, or that new parties are to arise and take the -place of the old.</p> - -<p>While it was painfully evident that the Republican party, during the -late canvass, had little or nothing to say against the outrages -committed upon the newly enfranchised people of the South, it was -equally plain that the Democratic party had nothing to say in defense of -these outrages. Yet it is not strange, in view of the history of the two -parties, that much alarm was felt by colored people all over the South -when they first learned that the great Republican party was defeated and -that the Democratic party was soon to administer the National -Government.</p> - -<p>Ignorant as the colored people of the South have been, and may still be, -about other matters of national importance, they have always been -intelligent enough as to the character and relations of political -parties. They have never been mistaken as to the historical difference -between the party which gave them liberty and the party which sought to -continue their enslavement. They had known the Democratic party long -and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_31" id="page_31">{31}</a></span> well and only as the party of the old master class. They naturally -held the triumph of that party as a victory of the old master class. In -the panic of the moment they saw in it a possible attempt to -rehabilitate the old order of government in the South, in which they -would be greatly oppressed if not enslaved.</p> - -<p>In the joy and exultation of the old master class over the defeat of the -Republican party, and over the return of the old Democratic party to -power, they read what they thought their doom. Jealous of their newly -gained liberty, as well they might be, feeling themselves in peril and -left naked to their enemies, their fears amounted to agony. But, thanks -to the kind assurances promptly given by the President-elect and by -other Democrats in high places, this alarm was transient, and has now -given way in some measure to a feeling of confidence and security.</p> - -<p>How long this feeling of confidence and security will last, however, -will depend upon the future policy of the present administration. The -inaugural address of President Cleveland was all that any friend of -liberty and justice could reasonably ask for the freedmen. It was a -frank and manly avowal, worthy of the occasion. It accepted their -citizenship as a fact settled beyond debate, and as a subject which -ought to attract attention only with a view to the improvement of their -character and their better qualification by education for the duties and -responsibilities of citizens of the Republic.</p> - -<p>No better words have dropped from the east portico of the Capitol since -the inauguration days of Abraham Lincoln and Gen. Grant. I believe they -were sincerely spoken, but whether the President will be able to -administer the government in the light of those liberal sentiments is an -open question. The one-man power in our government is very great, but -the power of party may be greater. The President is not the autocrat, -but the executive of the nation. But, happily, the executive is yet a -power, and may be able to obtain the support of the co-ordinate branches -of the government in so plain a duty as protecting the rights of the -colored citizens, with those of all other citizens of the Republic. For -one, though Republican I am, and have been, and ever expect to be, -though I did what I could to elect James G. Blaine as President of the -United States, I am disposed to trust President Cleveland. By his words, -as well as by his oath of office, solemnly subscribed to before -uncounted thousands of American citizens,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_32" id="page_32">{32}</a></span> he is held and firmly bound -to execute the Constitution of the United States in the fullness of its -spirit and in the completeness of its letter, and thus far he has shown -no disposition to shrink from that duty.</p> - -<p>The Southern question is evidently the most difficult question with -which President Cleveland will have to deal. Hard as it may be to manage -his party on the civil service question, where he has only to deal with -hungry and thirsty office-seekers, nineteen out of every twenty of whom -he must necessarily offend by failing to find desirable places for them, -he will find it incomparably harder to meet that party’s wishes in -dealing with the Southern question. There are several methods of -disposing of this Southern question open to him, and there are lions in -the way, whichever method he may adopt.</p> - -<p>First. He may adopt a policy of total indifference. He may shut his eyes -to the fact that in all of the Gulf States political rights of colored -citizens are literally stamped out; that the Constitution which he has -solemnly sworn to support and enforce is under the feet of the mob; that -in those States there is no such thing as a fair election and an honest -count. He may utterly refuse to interfere by word or deed for the -enforcement of the Constitution and for the protection of the ballot, -and let the Southern question drift whithersoever it will, to a port of -safety or to a rock of disaster. He will probably be counselled to -pursue the course of President Hayes, but I hope he will refuse to -follow it. The reasons which supported that policy do not exist in the -case of a Democratic President. Mr. Hayes made a virtue of necessity. He -had fair warning that not a dollar or a dime would be voted by a -Democratic Congress if the army were kept in the South. The cry of the -country was against what was called bayonet rule.</p> - -<p>Secondly. The President may pursue a temporizing policy; keep the word -of promise to the ear and break it to the heart, a half-hearted, a -neither hot nor cold, a good Lord and good devil policy. He may try to -avoid giving offence to any, and thus succeed in pleasing none; a policy -which no man or party can pursue without inviting and earning the scorn -and contempt of all honest men and of all honest parties.</p> - -<p>Thirdly. He may decide to accept the Mississippi plan of conducting -elections at the South; encourage violence and crime; elevate to office -the men whose hands are reddest with innocent blood; force the negroes -out of Southern politics by<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_33" id="page_33">{33}</a></span> the shot-gun and the bulldozer’s whip; -cheat them out of the elective franchise; suppress the Republican vote; -kill off their white Republican leaders, and keep the South solid; and -keep its one hundred and fifty-three electoral votes—obtained thus by -force, fraud, and red-handed violence—ready to be cast for a Democratic -candidate in 1888. This might be acceptable to a certain class of -Democrats at the South, but the Democrats of the North would abhor and -denounce it as a bloody and hell-black policy. It would hurl the party -from power in spite of the solid South, and keep it out of power another -four and twenty years.</p> - -<p>Fourthly. He may sustain a policy of absolute fidelity to all the -requirements of the Constitution as it is, and, as John Adams said of -the Declaration of Independence, he may bravely say to the South and to -the nation: “Sink or swim, survive or perish, I am for the Constitution -in all its parts! I will be true to my oath, and I will, to the best of -my ability, and to the fullest extent of my power, defend, protect, and -maintain the rights of all citizens, without regard to race or color.”</p> - -<p>There can be no doubt as to which of these methods of treating the -Southern question is the most honest and safe one. There may be many -wrong ways for individuals or nations to pursue, but there is but one -right way, and it remains to be seen if this is the one the present -administration will adopt and pursue. Left to the promptings of his own -heart and his own view of his constitutional duties, and to his own -sense of the requirements of consistency, and even expediency, I firmly -believe that President Cleveland would do his utmost to protect and -defend the constitutional rights of all classes of citizens. But he is -not left to himself, and may adopt a different policy.</p> - -<p>One thing seems plain, which it is well for all parties to know and -consider. It is this: There are 7,000,000 of colored citizens now in -this Republic. They stand between the two great parties—the Republican -party and the Democratic party—and whichever of these two parties shall -be most just and true to these 7,000,000 may safely count upon a long -lease of power in this Republic. It is not their votes alone that will -tell. There is deep down among the people of this country a love of -justice and fair play, and that fact will tell. It is now as it was in -the time of war, and it will be so in all time. The party which takes -the negro on its side will tri<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_34" id="page_34">{34}</a></span>umph. The world moves, and the conditions -of success and failure have changed.</p> - -<p>Formerly, devotion to slavery was the condition upon which the success -of the Democratic party was based. But time and events have swept away -this abhorred condition. Liberty, not slavery, is now the autocrat of -the Republic. Neither politics nor religion can succeed in the future by -pandering to the prejudices arising out of slavery. Let the great -Democratic party realize this fact, and shape its policy in accordance -with it; let it do justice to the negro, and it will certainly succeed -itself in power four years hence, and long years after.</p> - -<p>On the contrary, if it forgets the nation’s progress, falls back into -its old ruts, and seeks success on the old conditions; if it forgets -that slavery has now become an anachronism, a superstition of the past, -having no proper relation to the age and body of our times, it will be -ignominiously driven from place and power four years hence, and no arm -can, or ought to, save it.</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>This tide is now rising at the feet of President Cleveland and his -administration, and, as I have said, it remains to be seen if it will be -wisely taken at the flood. Depend upon it, if the Democratic party does -not avail itself of the colored man’s support the Republican party -certainly will. That party is still the colored man’s party, and it will -be all the more likely to consider the claims of the colored man, in -view of its late defeat, and the causes by which that defeat was brought -about. Twelve hundred more colored votes in the State of New York would -have saved that party from defeat.</p> - -<p>Unless the ballot is protected better than heretofore the Augusta speech -of the Hon. James G. Blaine, delivered after the election, will be the -keynote of the Republican campaign four years hence. There is only one -way to prevent the success of the Republican party if that issue is -permitted to be raised. The Northern people were sound for free soil; -sound for free speech; sound for the Union; sound for reconstruction in -other days, and they will be sound for justice and liberty and a free -ballot to the newly enfranchised citizens when that issue shall be -fairly presented as a living issue between the two contending parties.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_35" id="page_35">{35}</a></span></p> - -<p>The great mistake made by the leaders of the Republican party during the -late canvass was the failure to recognize the facts now stated, and -their refusal to act upon them. They had become tired of the old issues -and wanted new ones. They made their appeal to the pocket of the nation, -and not to the heart of the nation. They attended to the mint, anise, -and cummin of politics, but omitted the weightier matters of the -law—judgment, mercy, and faith. They were loud for the protection of -things, but silent for the protection of men. These things they ought to -have done, and not left the other undone.</p> - -<p>The idea that righteousness exalteth a nation, and that sin is a -reproach to any people, was, for a time, lost sight of. The -all-engrossing thought of the campaign was a judicious, discriminating -protective tariff. The great thing was protection to the wool of Ohio; -to the iron of Pennsylvania, and to American manufactures generally. -Little was said, thought, or felt about national integrity, the -importance of maintaining good faith with the freedmen or the Indian, or -the protection of the constitutional rights of American citizens, except -where such rights were in no danger.</p> - -<p>The great thing to be protected was American industry against -competition with the pauper labor of Europe—not protection of the -starving labor of the South. The body of the nation was everything; the -soul of the nation was nothing. It did not appear from the campaign -speeches that it was important to protect and preserve both, or that the -body was not more dependent upon bread for life than was the soul -dependent upon truth, justice, benevolence, and good faith for health -and life. In the absence of these, the soul of the nation starves, -sickens, and dies. It may not fall at once upon the withdrawal of these, -but persistent injustice will, in the end, do its certain work of moral -destruction. No nation, no party, no man can live long and flourish on -falsehood, deceit, injustice, and broken pledges. Loyalty will perish -where protection and good faith are denied and withheld, and nothing -other that this should be expected, either by a party, a man, or by a -government. On the other hand, where good faith is maintained, where -justice is upheld, where truth and right prevail, the government will be -like the wise man’s house in Scripture—the winds may blow, the rains -may descend, the flood may come and beat upon it, but it will stand, -because it is founded upon the solid rock of principle. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_36" id="page_36">{36}</a></span> speak this, -not only for the Republican party, but for all parties. Though I am a -party man, to me parties are valuable only as they subserve the ends of -good government. When they persistently violate the fundamental rights -of the humblest and weakest in the land I scout them, despise them, and -leave them.</p> - -<p>We boast of our riches, power, and glory as a nation, and we have reason -to do so. But what is prosperity, what is power, what is national glory, -when national honor, national good faith, and national protection to the -rights of our citizens are denied? Of what avail is citizenship and the -elective franchise where a whole people are deliberately abandoned to -anarchy by the Government under which they live, and told they must -protect themselves from violence as best they may, for, practically, -this is just what the American Government has said to the colored and -white Republican voters of the South during the last eight years. -Minister Lowell was accused of not protecting the rights of -Irish-Americans in England, and our ships are just now ordered to Panama -to look after the interests of American citizens in Central America. -This is all right, but when and where have our army and navy gone to -protect the rights of American citizens at home? To say, “I am a Roman -citizen!” could once arrest the bloody scourge and cause the brutal -tyrant to turn pale. But who cares now for the citizenship of any -American Republican, black or white, in Mississippi or South Carolina? -We are rich and powerful. But we should remember that the whole vast -volume of human history is dotted all along with the wrecks of nations -which have perished amid wealth, luxury, and splendor. What doth it -profit a nation to gain the whole world if it shall lose its own soul? -Henry Clay, in 1839, made an elaborate defence of the right to hold -property in man. Two hundred years of legislation has sanctioned and -identified negro slaves as property. When warned by anti-slavery men of -the dreadful consequences of perpetuating slavery, he said that that -warning had been given fifty years before, and that it had been answered -by fifty years of unexampled prosperity. His idea was that if slavery -were a curse God would not allow a nation that upheld it to prosper. The -argument was sophistical, but it contained a great truth after all, and -time only was required to verify it. He forgot that God reigns in -eternity; that space is sometimes given for repentance. He did not<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_37" id="page_37">{37}</a></span> -remember, as Jefferson did, that God is just, and that His justice -cannot sleep forever.</p> - -<p>Had Mr. Clay lived to see, as we have seen, the union of his beloved -country rent asunder at the centre, and hostile armies composed of his -beloved countrymen on the field of battle, amid dust, smoke, and fire, -blowing each other to pieces from the cannon’s mouth; had he seen five -hundred thousand of the youth and flower of both sections of this land -cut down by the sword and flung down into bloody graves; had he seen in -the wake of this fratricidal war the smoldering ruins of noble towns and -cities, and the nation staggering under a debt heavier than a mountain -of gold; had he seen the sullen discontent and deadly hate which -survived the war, and traced all these calamities and more, as he must -do, to the existence of slavery, he would, in all the bitterness of his -soul, have cursed the day when he poured out his eloquence in defence of -that system which brought upon his country these accumulated horrors.</p> - -<p>The lesson of this national experience is in place to-day, and it would -be well for this nation to study and learn it. Look abroad! What rocks -Europe to-day? What causes the Emperor of all the Russias to be uneasy -on his pillow? What makes Austria tremble? Why does England start up -frantically at midnight and search her premises? You know, and I know, -that these countries have aggrieved classes among them who have just -ground of complaint against their governments.</p> - -<p>Now, fellow-citizens, let me speak plainly. This is an age when men go -to and fro in the earth, and knowledge increases oppressed peoples all -over the world are protesting with earthquake emphasis against all forms -of injustice, some by one means and some by another. Examples, like -certain diseases, are contagious. Railroads, steam navigation, electric -wires, newspapers, and traveling emissaries are abroad. Can you be quite -sure that the oppressed laborers in this country, white and colored, -will not some day make common cause and learn some of the dangerous -modes of protest against injustice adopted in other countries? I deal in -no threats, for myself or for any of my countrymen, and am only for -peaceful methods; but I say to all oppressors, “Have a care how you goad -and imbrute the colored man of the South!” He is weak, but not -powerless. He is submissive to wrongs, but not insensible to his rights. -He is hopeful, but not incapa<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_38" id="page_38">{38}</a></span>ble of despair. He can endure, but even to -him may come a time when he shall think endurance has ceased to be a -virtue. All the world is a school, and in it one lesson is just now -being taught in letters of fire and blood, and that is, the utter -insecurity of life and property in the presence of an aggrieved class. -This lesson can be learned by the ignorant as well as by the wise. Who -can blame the negro if, when he is driven from the ballot-box, the -jury-box, and the schoolhouse, denied equal rights on railroads and -steamboats, called out of his bed at midnight and whipped by regulators, -compelled to live in rags and wretchedness, and his wages kept back by -fraud, denied a fair trial when accused of crime, he shall imitate the -example of other oppressed classes and invokes some terrible explosive -power as a means of bringing his oppressors to their senses, and making -them respect the claims of justice? This would indeed be madness, but -oppression will make even a wise man mad.</p> - -<p>It should not be forgotten that the negro is not what he was twenty -years ago. Kossuth once said that bayonets think. The negro is beginning -to think. Years ago a book had as little to say to him and had as little -meaning for him as a brick. It was then a thing of darkness and silence. -Now it is a thing of light and speech. Education, the sheet anchor of -safety to society where liberty and justice are secure, is a dangerous -thing to society in the presence of injustice and oppression.</p> - -<p>I pursue this thought no further. A hint to the wise ought to be -sufficient. Let not my words be construed as a menace, but taken as I -mean them—as a warning; not interpreted as inviting disaster, but -considered as designed to avert disaster.</p> - -<p>Fellow-citizens, many things calculated to make us thoughtful have -occurred since I addressed you on an occasion like this, two years ago; -but nothing has occurred which ought to make us more thoughtful than the -recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States on the civil -rights bill. That decision came upon the country like a clap of thunder -from a clear sky. It came without warning. It was a surprise to enemies -and a bitter disappointment to friends. Had the bench been composed of -Democratic judges some such a decision might have come upon us without -producing any very startling effect. But the fact was otherwise. This -blow was dealt us in the house of our friends. The bench was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_39" id="page_39">{39}</a></span> composed -of nine learned Republican judges, and of these nine honorable men only -one came to our help, I mean Honorable Justice John M. Harlan. He stood -up for the rights of colored citizens as those rights are defined by the -fourteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States.</p> - -<p>It was a magnificent spectacle, this grand representation of American -justice standing alone, and the country will not soon forget it. Without -meaning any disrespect to the Supreme Court, or reflecting upon the -purity of its motives, I must say here, as I have said elsewhere, and -shall say many times over if my life is spared, that that decision is -the most striking illustration I have ever seen of how it is possible to -keep alive the letter of the law and at the same time stab its spirit to -death. Portia strictly construed the law of Venice for mercy, and this -rule of construction has the approval of all the ages, but the Supreme -Court of the United States construed American law against the weak and -in the interest of prejudice and brutality. Never before was made so -clear the meaning of Paul’s saying, “The letter killeth, but the spirit -giveth life.”</p> - -<p>I am glad, and I know that you are glad, that there was one man on that -bench who had the mind and heart to be as true to liberty in this its -day as was the old Supreme Court of slavery in its day. While slavery -existed all presumptions were made in its favor. The obvious intention -of the law prevailed, but now the plain intention of the law has been -strangled by the letter of the law.</p> - -<p>The fourteenth amendment of the Constitution was plainly intended to -secure equal rights to all citizens of the United States, without regard -to race or color, and Congress was authorized to carry out this -provision by appropriate legislation. But by this decision of the -Supreme Court the fourteenth amendment has been slain in the house of -its friends. I have no doubt that that decision contributed to the -defeat of the Republican party in the late election. I repeat, that -decision may well make colored men thoughtful.</p> - -<p>Kentucky has done many evil things in her time, but she has also done -many great and good things. She has recently given us a law by which -equal educational advantages have been extended to colored children. -Long ago she gave us James G. Birney, the first abolition candidate for -the presidency of the United States; a former slave-holder, but one<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_40" id="page_40">{40}</a></span> who -emancipated his slaves on his own motion; a genuine gentleman of the old -school, and one to be gratefully remembered by every friend of liberty -in this country. She has given us Cassius M. Clay, the man who fought -his way to freedom of speech on his native soil. She has given us John -G. Fee, the earnest and devoted educator of the freedman. Nor is this -all. She has given us two of the largest hearts and broadest minds of -which our country can boast; men who had the courage of their -convictions, and who dared, at the peril of what men hold most dear, to -be true to their convictions. These strong men—one dead and the other -living—are Abraham Lincoln and John M. Harlan. Abraham Lincoln is -already enshrined in the hearts of the American people, and Justice John -M. Harlan will hold a place beside him in the hearts of his countrymen.</p> - -<p>You remember the public meeting held in Lincoln Hall, and the free -expression of opinion upon the unsoundness of the decision of the -Supreme Court on the civil rights bill. You will also remember that the -ablest and boldest words there spoken were from the lips of Robert G. -Ingersoll, a man everywhere spoken against as an infidel and a -blasphemer. Well, my friends, better be an infidel and a so-called -blasphemer than a hypocrite who steals the livery of the court of heaven -to serve the devil in.</p> - -<p>Infidel though Mr. Ingersoll may be called, he never turned his back -upon his colored brothers, as did the evangelical Christians of this -city on the occasion of the late visit of Mr. Moody. Of all the forms of -negro hate in this world, save me from that one which clothes itself -with the name of the loving Jesus, who, when on earth, especially -identified himself with the lowest classes of suffering men, and the -proof given of his Messiahship was that the poor had the Gospel preached -unto them. The negro can go into the circus, the theatre, the cars, and -can be admitted into the lectures of Mr. Ingersoll, but cannot go into -an Evangelical Christian meeting.</p> - -<p>I do not forget that on the occasion of the civil rights meeting I have -mentioned, one evangelical clergyman, a real man of God, gave to the -gospel trumpet a certain sound. The religion of Dr. John E. Rankin, like -the love of his Redeemer, is not bounded by race or color, but takes in -the whole human family. No truer man than he ever ascended a Washington -pulpit.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_41" id="page_41">{41}</a></span></p> - -<p>In conclusion let me say one word more of the soul of the nation and of -the importance of keeping it sensitive and responsive to the claims of -truth, justice, liberty, and progress. In speaking of the soul of the -nation I deal in no cant phraseology. I speak of that mysterious, -invisible, impalpable something which underlies the life alike of -individuals and of nations, and determines their character and destiny.</p> - -<p>It is the soul that makes a nation great or small, noble or ignoble, -weak or strong. It is the soul that exalts it to happiness, or sinks it -to misery. While it modifies and shapes all physical conditions, it is -itself superior to all such conditions. It is the spiritual side of -humanity. Fire cannot burn it, water cannot quench it. Though occult and -impalpable, it is just as real as granite or iron. The laws of its life -are spiritual, not carnal, and it must conform to these laws or it -starves and dies. The outward semblance of it may survive for a time, -just as ancient temples and old cathedrals may stand long after the -spirit that inspired them has vanished. But they, too, will moulder to -ruin and vanish. The life of the nation is secure only while the nation -is honest, truthful, and virtuous; for upon these conditions depend the -life of its life.</p> - -<p>A few years ago a terrible and desolating fire swept over the proud -young city of Chicago, and left her architectural splendors in ashes. In -a few hours her “cloud-capped towers and gorgeous palaces” and solemn -temples crumbled to dust, and were scattered to the four winds of -heaven, so that no man could find them, but there remained the invisible -soul of a great people, full of energy, enterprise, and faith, and -hence, out of the ashes and hollow desolation, a grander Chicago than -the one destroyed arose “as if by magic.”</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">“What constitutes a state?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Not high raised battlements, or labored mound,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Thick walls or moated gate;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crowned;<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Not bays and broad armed ports,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride.<br /></span> -<span class="i2">No, men; high-minded men!<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With power as far above dull brutes endued,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">In forest, brake, or den,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude;<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Men who their duties know,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain.”<br /></span> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_42" id="page_42">{42}</a></span></div></div> -</div> - -<h2><a name="IN_WASHINGTON_D_C_1886" id="IN_WASHINGTON_D_C_1886"></a>IN WASHINGTON, D. C., 1886.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>In introducing Mr. <span class="smcap">Frederick Douglass</span>, on the occasion of the -Twenty-fourth Anniversary of Emancipation in the District of -Columbia, Prof. <span class="smcap">J. M. Gregory</span> made the following remarks:</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Ladies and Gentlemen:</span> For many years prior to 1861 the friends of -freedom, seeing the prominence slavery had acquired because of its -existence at the capital of the nation, and the evil influence which it -necessarily exerted upon legislation, sought in vain by petitions and -other measures for its abolition in the District of Columbia. It was -not, however, till the national conscience began to be quickened by the -reverses of our armies, and legislators to realize the dangers which -threatened the life of the nation, that the cause could muster -sufficient strength to gain a hearing in Congress.</p> - -<p>On the 16th of December, 1861, Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, introduced -into the Senate a bill providing for the immediate emancipation of -slaves in the District upon the payment to the owners of $300 for each -slave. As was to be expected the bill was antagonized by pro-slavery men -in the Senate and House. They feared that the measure proposed was the -entering wedge for the final overthrow of their pet institution in the -South. As subsequent events proved their fears were not without -foundation. Notwithstanding the bitter opposition which the bill -encountered, it passed both houses of Congress in less than four months -from its first introduction in the Senate, and was approved by the -President on the 16th of April, just twenty-four years ago to-day.</p> - -<p>The debates on this and kindred questions makes memorable the second -session of the Thirty-seventh Congress, and they are of special interest -because they indicated a new departure in the line of argument pursued -by Northern statesmen. They based their arguments for emancipation, not -upon grounds of expediency, but the great principles of right and -justice.</p> - -<p>The importance of this act must not be overlooked. It struck the -shackles from the limbs of 3,000 human beings and placed them in the -ranks of freemen. It took away the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_43" id="page_43">{43}</a></span> shame which slavery had brought upon -the National Capital. But this was not all. It elevated the nation in -its own eyes and in the eyes of the civilized world, and roused a -feeling of patriotism and pride. It called forth an expression from the -National Legislature, and a majority of the members by solemn vote -arrayed themselves on the side of emancipation and liberty, in -opposition to slavery and oppression. It was the forerunner of the great -emancipation proclamation—that proclamation which more than all his -other acts makes the name of Abraham Lincoln secure to all posterity.</p> - -<p>In our rejoicing on this occasion we should not forget to hold in -grateful remembrance the men whose votes secured the passage of the -bill, and especially its author, a man who by his works proved himself a -friend of the oppressed, Hon. Henry Wilson, the benefactor of the -District.</p> - -<p>When the emancipation bill became a law in 1862, there were 15,000 -colored people in the District of Columbia, 12,000 of whom were free and -the remainder slaves. They maintained eight schools for the education of -their children, and were the owners of twelve churches, which cost about -$75,000. With the increase of population came the demand for more -churches, so that to-day they have eighty churches and missions in the -District. Many of the churches are very valuable and located on some of -the principal streets and avenues, the new Metropolitan Church alone -being valued at $100,000.</p> - -<p>Under the old system the word “colored” appeared opposite the name of -each colored person paying taxes on the books of the Collector of Taxes. -Now, no such distinction is made, and there are no data from which the -number paying taxes among colored citizens can be definitely known. From -information received at the tax office, I judge that there are about 180 -persons with property assessed individually at $1,000, the assessed -valuation of real estate in this District being two-thirds to actual -cash valuation. It will be quite in keeping with the facts to say that -two of our citizens have acquired property valued at $100,000 each, two -at $75,000, six at $25,000, fifteen at $20,000, twenty at $10,000, and -fifty at $5,000, making in the aggregate at least a million of dollars. -I am positively assured that the increase in the valuation of property -owned by colored men since emancipation is 100 per cent. This, we think, -is a most creditable showing for our property interests.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_44" id="page_44">{44}</a></span></p> - -<p>Of the 15,000 colored people in the District at the time of emancipation -there were proportionately more skilled carpenters and masons than now -in a population of 70,000. But labor has become more diversified. We are -now engaged in pursuits in which we had no experience before the war. In -1861 a colored lawyer was a personage unknown to the national capital. -Now half a dozen colored lawyers successfully practice their profession -in the courts of the District. Then we had no physicians, regular -graduates of medical schools; now a dozen or more follow the practice of -medicine in the cities of Washington and Georgetown, and are recognized -as men of skill and ability by the profession. One of these physicians, -with his assistant, is in charge of the Freedman’s Hospital, one of the -largest and most successful hospitals in the country. Government -employment tends to keep out many from some business occupations in -which the people in other large cities engage, but this disadvantage, if -disadvantage it be considered, operates no more against us than against -other citizens.</p> - -<p>The greatest progress made, however, and that which is necessarily the -first in order of time and importance, has been in matters of education. -The schools have increased from 8 to 174, with an average attendance of -9,000 children, giving employment to more than 100 teachers. Twelve of -the school-houses in which these schools are conducted are among the -largest and most convenient school buildings in the District. Too much -cannot be said in praise of the teachers, supervising principals, -superintendent and trustees, for it is by their combined efforts largely -that the schools have attained that degree of excellence for which they -are known. Howard University and Wayland Seminary, placed on heights -commanding beautiful views of Washington, are among the results of -emancipation. These institutions grew out of the necessities of the -times to meet the wants of colored youth for higher and professional -education. It is proper that we should take pride in our schools and -institutions of learning, for they are the chief instruments through -which our children are to receive the training which will fit them to -properly discharge the duties that will afterward devolve upon them as -men and women and to elevate the race to an equality of development and -enlightenment with other peoples.</p> - -<p>We often hear the question asked, “What are we to do with the -Americanized negro?” Articles have appeared in newspapers, pamphlets, -and magazines giving what the author re<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_45" id="page_45">{45}</a></span>gards as a proper solution of -the negro problem, so-called. But I ask why should there be a negro -problem any more than a problem for any other class of the American -people? We need not go far to seek the answer. It is found in the fact -that in certain parts of our country the people are not willing to -receive the negro into full fellowship and to grant him the civil and -political rights enjoyed in common by other citizens. They take from him -the means of elevation and then reproach him with inferiority. They -would rejoice to rid the country of his presence by colonization, but -seeing the utter hopelessness of the colonization scheme, they seek to -inflame the public mind against him by constant appeals to the low and -narrow prejudices entertained by certain classes of the American people. -When the 300 colored citizens from Cleveland visited President-elect -Garfield at Mentor, he said in reply to the address, to which he had -given respectful attention, that he did not profess to be more of a -friend to colored men than hundreds of others, but he was in favor of -giving, and, so far as it was consistent with the duties of his office, -would give them <i>opportunity</i> to achieve success for themselves. This is -all we ask to-day. This is all we can reasonably ask. Give us fair play, -equal opportunity, and we will work out our own destinies.</p> - -<p>Ten years ago, in this city, on the occasion of the unveiling of the -Freedman’s Monument in memory of Abraham Lincoln, an eminent divine, -after congratulating the orator of the day upon his masterly portrayal -of the character of the martyr President, turned to General Grant and -said: “There is but one Frederick Douglass.” This distinguished citizen, -the orator who paid the eloquent tribute to the memory of Mr. Lincoln on -the occasion referred to, the Hon. Frederick Douglass, will now address -you.</p> - -<p>At the conclusion of Prof. Gregory’s remarks Mr. Douglass said:</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Friends and Fellow-Citizens:</span> I appear before you again, and for the -third time since my residence among you, to assist in the celebration of -the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. And while I highly -appreciate the honor and the confidence implied in your call upon me to -do so, when I consider the importance of the task it has imposed, I can -say in all sincerity, as I have said before, that I wish that your -choice of speaker had fallen upon one of our young men, quite as well -qualified to serve you as myself. I want to see them coming to the front -as I am retiring to the rear.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_46" id="page_46">{46}</a></span> Then the fact that I have several times -addressed you upon subjects naturally suggested by the recurrence of -this interesting anniversary is, of itself, somewhat embarrassing. It is -not an easy task to speak many times on the same subject, before the -same audience, without repeating the same views and sentiments. If, -therefore, you find me committing this offence to-day, you will consider -the difficulty of avoiding it, and also that the same views and -sentiments are as pertinent and necessary to-day as years ago. You need -not fear, however, that I shall inflict upon you any one of my former -orations. I am not bound by any such necessity. The field is broad, and -the material is abundant. The phases of public affairs touching the -colored people of the United States are never stationary. They change -with every season, and often many times in the course of a single year. -There is no standing still for anybody in this world. We are either -rising or falling, advancing or retreating.</p> - -<p>Last year, at this time, we were confronted with an unusual and somewhat -alarming state of facts. We stood at the gateway of a new and strange -administration. After wandering about during twenty-four years, seeking -rest and finding none, often hungry and sometimes thirsty, and, though -not feeding swine or eating husks, yet not unfrequently found in very -low places and wasting the substance of the national family, our -prodigal Democratic son, with one tremendous effort of will, returned to -the White House, and was received with every demonstration of parental -joy and gladness. Of course this did not take place without a murmur of -complaint and disapproval. There was an elder brother here as elsewhere; -one who had remained at home, worked the old farm, kept the fences in -repair; one who had done his duty and made things in the old house -comfortable and pleasant generally. Indeed, but for his elder brother, -the Republican party, the house would have been broken up, the whole -family turned out of doors and scattered in poverty and destitution. It -was natural, therefore, when this elder brother saw the great doings at -the White House one year ago, when he heard the music and saw the -dancing, and learned what it was all about, he was not over well -pleased, and thought his father not only soft-hearted, but a little -soft-headed, and a trifle ungrateful, if not crazy withal. But elder -brothers, you know, are usually reasonable and patient, and are -generally quite submissive to parental authority, and though he knew<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_47" id="page_47">{47}</a></span> -the bad character of the young truant who had now come home, he hoped he -had reformed. How far this cheerful and patient hope has been justified -by one year of this administration I will not now stop to say; I may, -however, remark, as a prelude to what I shall hereafter say, that as far -as the colored people of the country are concerned, their condition -seems no better and not much worse than under previous administrations. -Lynch law, violence, and murder have gone on about the same as formerly, -and without the least show of Federal interference or popular rebuke. -The Constitution has been openly violated with the usual impunity, and -the colored vote has been as completely nullified, suppressed, and -scouted as if the fifteenth amendment formed no part of the -Constitution, and as if every colored citizen of the South had been -struck dead by lightning or blown to atoms by dynamite. There have also -been the usual number of outrages committed against the civil rights of -colored citizens on highways and by-ways, by land and by water, and the -courts of the country, under the decision of the Supreme Court of the -United States, have shown the same disposition to punish the innocent -and shield the guilty, as during the presidency of Mr. Arthur. Perhaps -colored men have fared a little worse, so far as office-holding is -concerned. In some of the Departments, I am sorry to say, there have -been many dismissals, but, even in this respect, colored men have not -suffered much more than one-armed soldiers, and other loyal white men, -whose places were wanted by deserving Democrats. Upon the whole, candor -compels me to admit that this twenty-fourth year of our freedom finds us -thoughtful, somewhat mystified by what is passing around us, but -hopeful, strong to suffer, and yet strong to strive, with a moderate -degree of faith that, under the Constitution and its amendments, we -shall yet be clothed with dignity of freedom and American citizenship. -But more of this in the right place.</p> - -<p>I take it that no apology is needed for these annual celebrations, for, -notwithstanding the unfriendly outlook of affairs, we have yet much over -which to rejoice. Besides, such demonstrations of popular feeling in -regard to large benefits received and progress made, are consistent with -and creditable to human nature. They have been observed all along the -line of by-gone ages, and are peculiar to no class, clime, race, or -color. From the day that Moses is said to have smote the Red Sea, and -the Hebrews passed safely over<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_48" id="page_48">{48}</a></span> from Egyptian bondage, leaving Pharaoh -overwhelmed and struggling with that hell of waters, down to the 4th of -July, 1776, when the fathers of this Republic threw off the British -yoke, declared their independence, and appealed to the god of battles, -similar events to that which we now celebrate have been gratefully and -joyfully commemorated.</p> - -<p>If, for any reason, I feel like apologizing to-day, it is not for this -celebration, but for an incident connected with it, and by which it is -greatly marred. For the first time since the emancipation of the slaves -of the District of Columbia we have two celebrations in progress at the -same time. This should not be so. By this fact we have said to the world -that we are not sufficiently united as a people to celebrate our freedom -together. This spectacle of division among men working for a common -cause is not pleasing in any case, and is especially displeasing and -shocking in this instance. Without attempting to show which party is to -blame in this controversy, I have no hesitation in saying that this -division itself is most unfortunate, disgraceful, and mortifying. It -cannot fail, I fear, to make an unfavorable impression for us upon -thoughtful observers. But, standing here as your mouthpiece to-day, I -beg the disgusted public to remember that colored men are but men, and -that the best men will sometimes differ, and will often differ more -widely and violently about trifles than about things of substance, where -a difference of opinion would be at least dignified. Something must, -however, be pardoned to the spirit of liberty, especially in those who -have but recently acquired liberty. There is always some awkwardness in -the gait of men who, for the first time, have on their Sunday clothes. -When we have enjoyed the blessings of liberty longer we shall put away -such childish things and shall act more wisely. We shall think more of a -common cause and its requirements and less of obligation to support the -claims of rival individual leaders. Depend upon it, a repetition of this -spectacle will bring our celebrations into disgrace and make them -despicable.</p> - -<p>The thought is already gaining ground, that we have not heretofore -received the best influence which this anniversary is capable of -exerting; that tinsel show, gaudy display, and straggling processions, -which empty the alleys and dark places of our city into the broad -daylight of our thronged streets and avenues, thus thrusting upon the -public view a vastly undue proportion of the most unfortunate, -unim<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_49" id="page_49">{49}</a></span>proved, and unprogressive class of the colored people, and thereby -inviting public disgust and contempt, and repelling the more thrifty and -self-respecting among us, is a positive hurt to the whole colored -population of this city. These annual celebrations of ours should be so -arranged as to make a favorable impression for us upon ourselves and -upon our fellow-citizens. They should bring into notice the very best -elements of our colored population, and in what is said and done on -these occasions, we should find a deeper and broader comprehension of -our relations and duties. They should kindle in us higher hopes, nobler -aspirations, and stimulate us to more earnest endeavors; they should -help us to shorten the distance between ourselves and the more highly -advanced and highly favored people among whom we are. If they fail to -produce, in some measure, such results, they had better be discontinued. -I am sure that such a lecture as I have now given on this point may be -distasteful to a part of this assembly. But I can say, in all truth, -that nothing short of a profound desire to promote the best interests of -all concerned, has emboldened me to run the risk of such displeasure, -and I hope the motive will excuse my offence.</p> - -<p>And now, fellow-citizens, I turn away from this and other merely race -considerations, to those common to all our fellow citizens, yet happily -those in which we, too, are included. I call attention to the proposed -celebration of the centennial anniversary of our present form of -government. The year 1789 will never cease to be memorable in the -history and progress of the American people. It was in that year of -grace that the founders of the American Republic, having tested the -strength and discovered the weakness of the old articles of colonial -confederation, bravely decided to lay those articles aside as no longer -adequate to successful and permanent national existence, and resolved to -form a new compact and adopt a new constitution, better suited, in their -judgment, to their national character and to their governmental wants. -In this instrument they set forth six definite and cardinal objects to -be attained by this new departure. These were: First. “To form a more -perfect union.” Second. “To establish justice.” Third. “To provide for -the common defense.” Fourth. “To insure domestic tranquillity.” Fifth. -“To promote the general welfare.” And sixth. “Secure the blessings of -liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” Perhaps there never was an -instrument framed by men at the be<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_50" id="page_50">{50}</a></span>ginning of any national career -designed to accomplish nobler objects than those set forth in the -preamble of this constitution. They are objects worthy of a great -nation, worthy of those who gave to the world the immortal Declaration -of Independence, in which they asserted the equal rights of man, and -boldly declared in the face of all the divine right governments of -Europe the doctrine that governments derive their right to govern from -the consent of the governed.</p> - -<p>How far these fundamental objects, solemnly set forth in the -Constitution, have been realized by the practical operation of the -Government created under it, I will not stop just now to state or -explain. Whether the Union has been perfectly formed, whether under the -ægis of the Constitution the sacred principle of justice has been -established, whether the general welfare has been promoted, or whether -the blessings of liberty have been secured, are questions to which -reference may be made in a subsequent part of this address. For the -present I refer to this grand starting point in the nation’s history for -another purpose. I wish simply to remind you of the flight of time; that -we are now drawing near the close of the first century of our national -existence, and the notice that should be taken of that fact. Without -going into the general questions raised a moment ago, as to the -fulfillment of what was promised in the Constitution, we may, in -passing, affirm what must be admitted by all, that under this form of -government so happily described, and so faithfully upheld by the great -lamented Abraham Lincoln, as “Government of the people, by the people, -and for the people,” this nation has become rich, great, progressive, -and strong. This fact is cheerfully acknowledged by the whole sisterhood -of contemporaneous nations. From thirteen comparatively weak and -sparsely populated States, skirting and hovering along the line of our -Atlantic coast, constituting a mere string of isolated communities, we -now have thirty-eight States covering our broad continent, extending -from east to west, and from sea to sea. Under our Constitution the -desert and solitary places have been reclaimed and made to blossom as -the rose. From a population of seven millions, we have reached the -enormous number of fifty millions; and in less than half a century we -shall have double that number. Such an augmentation of wealth, power, -and population has no example in the experience of any nation in ancient -or modern times. The mind grows dizzy in contemplation of the future<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_51" id="page_51">{51}</a></span> of -a country so great and so increasing in greatness, and to whose -greatness there seems to be no limit. The question naturally arises, -what is to be the effect of such accumulated wealth, such vast increase -of population, such expanded domain, and such augmentation of national -power? Plainly enough either one of two very opposite conditions may -arise. It may either blast or bless, it may lift us to heaven or sink us -to perdition.</p> - -<p>If we shall become proud, selfish, imperious, oppressive, and rapacious; -if we shall persist in trampling on the weak and exalting the strong, -worshipping the rich and despising the poor, our doom as a nation is -already foreshadowed.</p> - -<p>That Almighty Power recognized in one form or another by all thoughtful -men; that Almighty Power which controls every atom of the earth, and -governs the universe; that Almighty Power which stood and measured the -globe, which beheld and drove asunder the nations, will surely deal with -us in the future as that Power has dealt in the past with other wicked -nations—it will bring us to dust and ashes. The rule of life for -individuals and for nations is the same. Neither can escape the -consequences of transgression. As they sow, so shall they reap. There is -no salvation for either outside of a life of truth and justice. -Contradiction to this in theory, for either individuals or nations, is a -damning heresy; and contradiction to this in practice is certain -destruction.</p> - -<p>Large and imposing plans are just now proposed, and are maturing, for -the appropriate celebration of this first centennial year of our -national life. If these plans should be perfected and executed, as they -probably will be, and as they certainly should be, Washington will -witness a demonstration in this line far transcending in grandeur and -sublimity the centennial exposition in the city of Philadelphia ten -years ago.</p> - -<p>These celebrations, like our own, have large uses. They serve as lofty -pedestals or platforms from which the national patriotism and -intelligence may survey the past, and, in some sense, penetrate and -divine the national future.</p> - -<p>It is also fit and proper that our young and beautiful city of -Washington should be the theatre of such a grand national centennial -demonstration. It is the capital of the nation, and is, in some sense, -the shining sun of our national system, around which our thirty-eight -States, linked and inter-linked in one unbroken national interest, -revolve in union. Upon this spot no one citizen has more rights than -another.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_52" id="page_52">{52}</a></span> The right to be here is vested in all alike. Distance does not -diminish or alienate, contiguity does not increase any man’s right on -this soil. In this capital of the nation California is equal to -Virginia, and, as Webster said of Bunker Hill, “Wherever else we may be -strangers, we are all at home here.”</p> - -<p>As a part of the people of this great country, we may feel ourselves -included. We represent the class which has enriched our soil with its -blood, watered it with its tears, and defended it with its strong arms, -but have hitherto been excluded from all part in our national glory. -Now, however, all is changed. We may look forward with pleasure to the -promised National Centennial Exposition, and take some credit to -ourselves for helping to make the District of Columbia a suitable place -for such a display. We have at least done a large proportion of the most -laborious and needed work to this end.</p> - -<p>The wisdom of the framers of the Constitution of the United States in -granting to the nation, through its Congress, exclusive legislative -jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, has in nothing been more -abundantly and happily vindicated than in the abolition of slavery, and -in making it the freest territory of this country. The benefits of this -act are, however, not confined to the colored people. They are shared by -all the people of this District; not more by the colored than by the -white people.</p> - -<p>Washington owes nothing to Maryland or Virginia (though born of those -parents) in comparison to its debt to the nation. Through the National -Government it has become the elegant and beautiful city that it is. It -is the nation that has graded and paved its broad and far-reaching -streets and avenues; it is the nation that has fenced and beautified its -numerous parks and reservations, and made them the joy of our children, -and the admiration of our visitors; it is the nation that has adorned -its ample public squares and circles with choice flowers, flowing -fountains, and imposing statuary; it is the nation that has erected -enduring monuments of bronze and marble in honor of our statesmen, -warriors, patriots, and heroes; it is the nation that has built here -those vast structures, the different departments, and crowned yonder -hill with a Capitol, one of the proudest architectural wonders of the -world; it is the nation that has built Washington Monument, the pride of -the city, the tallest structure that ever<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_53" id="page_53">{53}</a></span> rose from the ground toward -heaven at the bidding of human pride, patriotism, or piety, standing -there in full view of all comers, whether approaching by land or water, -with its base deep down in the earth, and its capstone against the sky, -receiving and reflecting every light and shadow of the passing hour, -steady alike in sunshine and storm, defying lightning, whirlwind, and -earthquake—its grandeur and sublimity, like Niagara, impress us more -and more the longer we hold it in range of vision.</p> - -<p>But the nation, as I have already said, has done more for the District -of Columbia than to clothe it with material greatness and splendor. It -has, by the act of emancipation, imparted to it a moral beauty. It has -not only made it a pleasure to the eye, but a joy to the heart. No -material adornment or addition has ever done or could do for this -District what the abolition of slavery has done. The nation did a great -and good thing fifteen years ago by giving us a local government, and a -Shepherd that lifted the city out of its deep mud and above its blinding -dust and put it on the way to its present greatness, but it did a -greater and better thing when it lifted it out of the mire of barbarism -coincident with slavery.</p> - -<p>Fellow-citizens, we are proud to-day, and justly proud, of the -prosperity and the increasing liberality of Washington. With all our -fellow-citizens we behold it with pride and pleasure rising and -spreading noiselessly around us, almost like the temple of Solomon, -without the sound of a hammer. New faces meet us at the corners of the -streets and greet us in the market-places. Conveniences and improvements -are multiplying on every hand. We walk in the shade of its beautiful -trees by day and in the rays of its soft electric lights by night. We -make it warm where it is cool, and cool where it is warm, and healthy -where it is noxious. Our magnificence fills the stranger and sojourner -with admiration and wonder. The contrast between the old time of slavery -and the new dispensation of liberty looms upon us on every hand. We feel -it in the very air we breathe, and in the friendly aspect of all around -us. But time would fail to tell of the vast and wonderful advancement in -civilization made in this city by the abolition of slavery.</p> - -<p>Perhaps a better idea could be formed of what has been done for -Washington and for us by imagining what would be the case in a return to -the old condition of things. Imagine<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_54" id="page_54">{54}</a></span> the wheels of progress reversed; -imagine that by some strange and mysterious freak of fortune slavery, -with all its horrid concomitants, was revived; imagine that under the -dome of yonder Capitol legislation was carried on, as formerly, by men -with pistols in their belts and bullets in their pockets; imagine the -right of speech denied, the right of petition stamped out, the press of -the District muzzled, and a word in the streets against slavery the sign -for a mob; imagine a lone woman like Miss Myrtilla Miner, having to -defend her right to teach colored girls to read and write with a pistol -in her hand, here in this very city, now dotted all over with colored -schools, which rival in magnificence the white schools of any other city -of the Union; imagine this, and more, and ask yourselves the question. -What progress has been made in liberty and civilization within the -borders of this capital? Further on let us ask: Of what avail would be -our cloud-capped towers, our gorgeous palaces, and our solemn temples if -slavery again held sway here? Of what avail would be our marble halls if -once more they resounded with the crack of the slave whip, the clank of -the fetter, and the rattle of chains; if slave auctions were held in -front of the halls of justice, and chain-gangs were marched over -Pennsylvania avenue to the Long Bridge for the New Orleans market? Of -what avail would be our state dinners, our splendid receptions if, like -Babylon of old, our people were making merchandise of God’s image, -trafficking in human blood and in the souls and bodies of men? Were this -District once more covered with this moral blight and mildew you would -hear of no plans, as now, for celebrating within its borders the -centennial anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of the United -States. Bold and audacious as were the advocates of slavery in the olden -time they would have been ashamed to invite here the representatives of -the civilized world to inspect the workings of their slave system. To -have done so would have been like inviting a clean man to touch pitch, a -humane man to witness an execution, a tender-hearted woman to witness a -slaughter. In its boldest days slavery drew in its claws and presented a -velvet paw to strangers. They knew it was like Lord Granby’s character, -which could only pass without reprobation as it passed without -observation. Emancipation liberated the master as well as the slave. The -fact that our citizens are now loudly proclaiming Washington to be the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_55" id="page_55">{55}</a></span> -right place for the celebration of the discovery of the continent by -Columbus, and the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, is -an acknowledgement of and attestation of the higher civilization that -has, in their judgment, come here with the abolition of slavery. They no -longer dread the gaze of civilized men. They no longer fear lest a word -of liberty should fall into the ear of a trembling captive and awaken -his manhood. They are no longer required to defend with their lips what -they must have condemned in their hearts. When the galling chain dropped -from the limbs of the slave the mantle of shame dropped from the brows -of their masters. The emancipation of the one was the deliverance of the -other; so that this day, in fact, belongs to the one as truly as it -belongs to the other, though it is left to us alone to keep it in -memory.</p> - -<p>It is usual on occasions of this kind, not only to set forth, as I have -in some measure done, what has been gained by the abolition of slavery, -but also to speak of the causes and instrumentalities which contributed -to this grand result. If this were my first appearance before you on -similar anniversaries, I should feel it entirely proper to do so now; -but having discharged this duty faithfully and fully in several former -addresses, there is no special reason for a repetition of it in this -instance. In one of those addresses I specially endeavored to trace, and -did trace with more or less success, the history of the earliest -utterances of anti-slavery sentiments in this country and in England. I -described the rise, progress, and final triumph of the abolition -movement in both countries. I have in no case omitted to do justice to -the noble band of men and women who espoused the cause of the slave in -the early days of its weakness, and when to do so was to make themselves -of no reputation and subjects of the vilest abuse. I have held up their -example of virtuous self-sacrifice to the admiration and imitation of -all who would serve the human family in its march from barbarism to a -higher state of civilization. In my judgment there never was a band of -reformers more unselfish, more consistent with their principles, more -ardent in their devotion to any cause than were these early anti-slavery -men and women of this country.</p> - -<p>The charge is sometimes made that the colored people are ungrateful to -their benefactors. In my judgment no charge could be more unjust. In -whatever else they have failed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_56" id="page_56">{56}</a></span> they have ever shown a laudable sense -of gratitude. The names of William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, -John P. Hale, Charles Sumner, Gerrit Smith, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. -Grant, and a host of others are never pronounced by us but with -sentiments of high appreciation and sincere gratitude.</p> - -<p>Of course I cannot deny that there are those amongst us who, either -thoughtlessly or selfishly, or both, dare to deny their obligations to -the great Republican party and its leaders. They insist upon it that -freedom came to them only as an act of military necessity. They see in -it no sentiment of justice, no moral preference. They profess to see no -difference between the Republican party and the Democratic party, and -insist that one party has no more claim to their support than the other. -Such men are about as ready to join one party as the other. Perhaps they -even lean a little more to the Democratic than to the Republican party. -I admit that were they fair representatives of the colored people of the -United States the charge of ingratitude might be very easily sustained. -But, happily, such men do not represent the sentiments of the colored -people, but greatly and flagrantly misrepresent them. The colored people -do see a difference between the two parties, as broad as the moral -universe and as palpable as the difference between the character of -Moses and that of Pharaoh. For one I never will forget that every -concession of liberty made to the colored people of the United States -has come to them through the action of the Republican party, and that -all the opposition made to those concessions has come from the -Democratic party. Any colored man who either denies this or endeavors to -disparage that party and belittle their concessions by attributing them -entirely to selfish and cowardly motives brands himself as unjust, -uncharitable, and ungrateful. The blindness of such men is very -surprising. Do they not see that in denying their obligations to the -Republican party they only invite the scorn and contempt of the -Democratic party? Do they not understand that they are advertising -themselves as base political ingrates? Do they not know that they are -giving notice to the Democratic party—the party that they are just now -aiming to conciliate—that they will be as unjust and ungrateful to that -party for any concessions from it as they declare themselves to be to -the Republican party for what that party has done?<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_57" id="page_57">{57}</a></span></p> - -<p>But, fellow-citizens, while I gratefully remember the important services -of the Republican party in emancipating and enfranchising the colored -people of the United States, I do not forget that the work of that party -is most sadly incomplete. We are yet, as a people, only half-free. The -promise of liberty remains unfulfilled. We stand to-day only in the -twilight of American liberty. The sunbeams of perfect day are still -behind the mountains, and the mission of the Republican party will not -be ended until the persons, the property, and the ballot of the colored -man shall be as well protected in every State of the American Union as -are such rights in the case of the white man. The Republican party is -not perfect. It is cautious even to the point of timidity; but it is, -nevertheless, the best political force and friend we have.</p> - -<p>And now I return to the point at which I commenced these remarks. I have -spoken to you of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States -and of the national progress and prosperity under that instrument; I -have called your attention to the noble objects announced in the -preamble of the Constitution. I did not stop then and there to inquire -how far those objects, so solemnly proclaimed to the world, and so often -sworn to, have been attained, or to point out how far they have been -practically disregarded and abandoned by the Government ordained to -practically carry them out. I now undertake to say that neither the -Constitution of 1789, nor the Constitution as amended since the war, is -the law of the land. That Constitution has been slain in the house of -its friends. So far as the colored people of the country are concerned, -the Constitution is but a stupendous sham, a rope of sand, a Dead Sea -apple, fair without and foul within, keeping the promise to the eye and -breaking it to the heart. The Federal Government, so far as we are -concerned, has abdicated its functions and abandoned the objects for -which the Constitution was framed and adopted, and for this I arraign it -at the bar of public opinion, both of our own country and that of the -civilized world. I am here to tell the truth, and to tell it without -fear or favor, and the truth is that neither the Republican party nor -the Democratic party has yet complied with the solemn oath, taken by -their respective representatives, to support the Constitution, and -execute the laws enacted under its provisions. They have promised us -law, and abandoned us to anarchy; they have promised protection, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_58" id="page_58">{58}</a></span> -given us violence; they have promised us fish, and given us a serpent. A -vital and fundamental object which they have sworn to realize to the -best of their ability, is the establishment of justice. This is one of -the six fundamental objects for which the Constitution was ordained; but -when, where, and how has any attempt been made by the Federal Government -to enforce or establish justice in any one of the late slave-holding -States? Has any one of our Republican Presidents, since Grant, earnestly -endeavored to establish justice in the South? According to the highest -legal authorities, justice is the perpetual disposition to secure to -every man, by due process of law, protection to his person, his property -and his political rights. “Due process of law” has a definite and legal -meaning. It means the right to be tried in open court by a jury of one’s -peers, and before an impartial judge. It means that the accused shall be -brought face to face with his accusers; that he shall be allowed to call -witnesses in his defence, and that he shall have the assistance of -counsel; it means that, preceding his trial, he shall be safe in the -custody of the Government, and that no harm shall come to him for any -alleged offence till he is fairly tried, convicted, and sentenced by the -court. This protection is given to the vilest white criminal in the -land. He cannot be convicted while there is even a reasonable doubt in -the minds of the jury as to his guilt. But to the colored man accused of -crime in the Southern States, a different rule is almost everywhere -applied. With him, to be accused is to be convicted. The court in which -he is tried is a lynching mob. This mob takes the place of “due process -of law,” of judge, jury, witness, and counsel. It does not come to -ascertain the guilt or innocence of the accused, but to hang, shoot, -stab, burn, or whip him to death. Neither courts, jails, nor marshals -are allowed to protect him. Every day brings us tidings of these -outrages. I will not stop to detail individual instances. Their name is -legion. Everybody knows that what I say is true, and that no power is -employed by the Government to prevent this lawless violence. Yet our -chief magistrates and other officers, Democratic and Republican, -continue to go through the solemn mockery, the empty form of swearing by -the name of Almighty God that they will execute the laws and the -Constitution; that they will establish justice, insure domestic -tranquility, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our -posterity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_59" id="page_59">{59}</a></span></p> - -<p>Only a few weeks ago, at Carrolton Court-house, Mississippi, in the -absence of all political excitement, while the Government of the nation, -as well as the government of the Southern States, was safely in the -hands of the Democratic party; when there was no pending election, and -no pretence of a fear of possible negro supremacy, one hundred white -citizens, on horseback, armed to the teeth, deliberately assembled and -in cold blood opened a deadly fire upon a party of peaceable, unarmed -colored men, killing eleven of them on the spot, and mortally wounding -nine others, most of whom have since died. The sad thing is that, in the -average American mind, horrors of this character have become so frequent -since the slave-holding rebellion that they excite neither shame nor -surprise; neither pity for the slain, nor indignation for the slayers. -It is the old story verified:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Vice is a monster of such frightful mien<br /></span> -<span class="i1">That, to be hated, needs but to be seen;<br /></span> -<span class="i1">But seen too oft, familiar with its face,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">We first endure, then pity, then embrace.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>It is said that those who live on the banks of Niagara neither hear its -thunder nor shudder at its overwhelming power. In any other country such -a frightful crime as the Carrolton massacre—in any other country than -this a scream would have gone up from all quarters of the land for the -arrest and punishment of these cold-blooded murderers. But alas! nothing -like this has happened here. We are used to the shedding of innocent -blood, and the heart of this nation is torpid, if not dead, to the -natural claims of justice and humanity where the victims are of the -colored race. Where are the sworn ministers of the law? Where are the -guardians of public justice?</p> - -<p>Where are the defenders of the Constitution? What hand in House or -Senate; what voice in court or Cabinet is uplifted to stay this tide of -violence, blood, and barbarism? Neither governors, presidents, nor -statesmen have yet declared that these barbarities shall be stopped. On -the contrary, they all confess themselves powerless to protect our -class; and thus you and I and all of us are struck down, and bloody -treason flourishes over us. In view of this confessed impotency of the -Government and this apparent insensibility of the nation to the claims -of humanity, do you ask me why I expend my time and breath in denouncing -these wholesale murders when there is no seeming prospect of a favorable -re<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_60" id="page_60">{60}</a></span>sponse? I answer in turn, how can you, how can any man with a heart -in his breast do otherwise when, louder than the blood of Abel, the -blood of his fellow-men cries from the ground?</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Shall tongues be mute when deeds are wrought<br /></span> -<span class="i3">Which well might shame extremest hell?<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Shall freeman lock the indignant thought?<br /></span> -<span class="i3">Shall mercy’s bosom cease to swell?<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Shall honor bleed, shall truth succumb,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Shall pen, and press, and soul be dumb?<br /></span> -<span class="i1">By all around, above, below,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Be ours the indignant answer, No!”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>In a former address, delivered on the occasion of this anniversary, I -was at the pains of showing that much of the crime attributed to colored -people, and for which they were held responsible, imprisoned, and -murdered, was, in fact, committed by white men disguised as negroes. I -affirm that all presumptions in courts of law and in the community were -against the negro, and that color was the safest disguise a white man -could assume in which to commit crime; that all he had to do to commit -the worst crimes with impunity was to blacken his face and take on the -similitude of a negro, but even this disguise sometimes fails. Only a -few days ago a Mr. J. H. Justice, an eminent citizen of Granger county, -Tenn., attempted under this disguise to commit a cunningly devised -robbery and have his offence fixed upon a negro. All worked well till a -bullet brought him to the ground and a little soap and water was applied -to his face, when he was found to be no negro at all, but a very -respectable white citizen.</p> - -<p>Dark, desperate, and forlorn as I have described the situation, the -reality exceeds the description. In most of the Gulf States, and in some -parts of the border States, I have sometimes thought that we should be -about as well-situated for the purposes of justice if there were no -Constitution of the United States at all; as well off if there were no -law or law-makers, no constables, no jails, no courts of justice, and we -were left entirely without the pretence of legal protection, for we are -now at the mercy of midnight raiders, assassins, and murderers, and we -should only be in the same condition if these pretended safeguards were -abandoned. They now only mock us. Other men are presumed to be innocent -until they are proved guilty. We are presumed to be guilty until we are -proved to be innocent.</p> - -<p>The charge is often made that negroes are by nature the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_61" id="page_61">{61}</a></span> criminal class -of America; that they furnish a larger proportion of petty thieves than -any other class. I admit the charge, but deny that nature, race, or -color has anything to do with the fact. Any other race with the same -antecedents and the same condition would show a similar thieving -propensity.</p> - -<p>The American people have this lesson to learn: That where justice is -denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where -any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to -oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be -safe. I deny that nature has made the negro a thief or a burglar. Look -at these black criminals, as they are brought into your police courts; -view and study their faces, their forms, and their features, as I have -done for years as Marshal of this District, and you will see that their -antecedents are written all over them. Two hundred and fifty years of -grinding slavery has done its work upon them. They stand before you -to-day physically and mentally maimed and mutilated men. Many of their -mothers and grandmothers were lashed to agony before their birth by -cruel overseers, and the children have inherited in their faces the -anguish and resentment felt by their parents. Many of these poor -creatures have not been free long enough to outgrow the marks of the -lash on their backs, and the deeper marks on their souls. No, no! It is -not nature that has erred in making the negro. That shame rests with -slavery. It has twisted his limbs, deformed his body, flattened his -feet, and distorted his features, and made him, though black, no longer -comely. In infancy he slept on the cold clay floor of his cabin, with -quick circulation on one side, and tardy circulation on the other. So -that he has grown up unequal, unsymmetrical, and is no longer a -vertical, well-rounded man, in body or in mind. Time, education, and -training will restore him to natural proportions, for, though bruised -and blasted, he is yet a man.</p> - -<p>The school of the negro since leaving slavery has not been much of an -improvement on his former condition. Individuals of the race have here -and there enjoyed large benefits from emancipation, and the result is -seen in their conduct, but the mass have had their liberty coupled with -hardships which tend strongly to keep them a dwarfed and miserable -class. A man who labors ten hours a day with pickaxe, crowbar, and -shovel, and has a family to support and house rent<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_62" id="page_62">{62}</a></span> to pay, and receives -for his work but a dollar a day, and what is worse still, he is deprived -of labor a large part of his time by reason of sickness and the weather, -in his poverty, easily falls before the temptation to steal and rob. -Hungry men will eat. Desperate men will commit crime. Outraged men will -seek revenge. It is said to be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom -of heaven. I have sometimes thought it harder still for a poor man to -enter the kingdom of heaven. Man is so constituted that if he cannot get -a living honestly, he will get it dishonestly. “Skin for skin,” as the -devil said of Job. “All that a man hath will he give for his life.” -Oppression makes even wise men mad and reckless; for illustration I pray -look at East St. Louis.</p> - -<p>In the Southern States to-day a landlord system is in operation which -keeps the negroes of that section in rags and wretchedness, almost to -the point of starvation. As a rule, this system puts it out of the power -of the negro to own land. There is, to be sure, no law forbidding the -selling of land to the colored people, but there is an understanding -which has the full effect of law. That understanding is that the land -must be kept in the hands of the old master class. The colored people -can rent land, it is true, and many of them do rent many acres, and find -themselves poorer at the end of the year than at the beginning, because -they are charged more a year for rent per acre than the land would bring -at auction sale. The landlord and tenant system of Ireland, which has -conducted that country to the jaws of ruin, bad as it is, is not worse -than that which prevails at this hour at the South, and yet the colored -people of the South are constantly reproached for their poverty. They -are asked to make bricks without straw. Their hands are tied, and they -are asked to work. They are forced to be poor, and laughed at for their -destitution.</p> - -<p>I am speaking mainly to colored men to-night, but I want my words to -find their way to the eyes, ears, heads and hearts of my white -fellow-countrymen, hoping that some among them may be made to think, -some hearts among them will be made to feel, and some of their number -will be made to act. I appeal to our white fellow-countrymen. The power -to protect is in their hands. This is and must be practically the white -man’s government. He has the numbers and the intelligence to control and -direct. To him belongs the responsibility of its honor or dishonor, its -glory or its shame, its salvation or its<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_63" id="page_63">{63}</a></span> ruin. If they can protect the -rights of white men they can protect the rights of black men; if they -can defend the rights of American citizens abroad they can defend them -at home; if they can use the army to protect the rights of Chinamen, -they can use the army to protect the rights of colored men. The only -trouble is the will! the will! the will! Here, as elsewhere, “Where -there is a will there is a way.”</p> - -<p>I have now said not all that could be said but enough to indicate the -relations at present existing between the white and colored people of -this country, especially the relations subsisting between the two -classes of the late slave-holding States. Time would fail me to trace -this relation in all its ramifications; but that labor is neither -required by this audience nor by the country. The condition of the -emancipated class is known alike to ourselves and to the Government, to -pulpit and press, and to both of the great political parties. These have -only to do their duty and all will be well.</p> - -<p>One use of this annual celebration is to keep the subject of our -grievances before the people and government, and to urge both to do -their respective parts in the happy solution of the race problem. The -weapons of our warfare for equal rights are not carnal but simple truth, -addressed to the hearts and sense of justice of the American people. If -this fails we are lost. We have no armies or generals, no swords or -cannons to enforce our claims, and do not want any.</p> - -<p>We are often asked with an air of reproach by white men at the North: -“Why don’t your people fight their way to the ballot-box?” The question -adds insult to injury. Whom are we called upon to fight? They are the -men who held this nation, with all its tremendous resources of men and -money, at bay during four long and bloody years. Whom are we to fight? I -answer, not a few midnight assassins, not the rabble mob, but trained -armies, skilled generals of the Confederate army, and in the last resort -we should have to meet the Federal army. Though that army cannot now be -employed to defend the weak against the strong, means would certainly be -found for its employment to protect the strong against the weak. In such -a case insurrection would be madness.</p> - -<p>But there is another remedy proposed. These people are advised to make -an exodus to the Pacific slope. With the best intentions they are told -of the fertility of the soil and salubrity of the climate. If they -should tell the same as ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_64" id="page_64">{64}</a></span>isting in the moon, the simple question, How -shall they get there? would knock the life out of it at once. Without -money, without friends, without knowledge, and only gaining enough by -daily toil to keep them above the starvation point, where they are, how -can such a people rise and cross the continent? The measure on its face -is no remedy at all. Besides, who does not know that should these people -ever attempt such an exodus, that they would be met with shot-guns at -every cross-road. Who does not know that the white landholders of the -South would never consent to let that labor which alone gives value to -their land march off without opposition? Who does not know that if the -Federal Government is powerless to protect these people in staying that -it would be equally powerless to protect them in going <i>en masse</i>? For -one, I say away with such contrivances, such lame and impotent -substitutes for the justice and protection due us. The first duty that -the National Government owes to its citizens is protection.</p> - -<p>While, however, I hold now, as I held years ago, that the South is the -natural home of the colored race, and that there must the destiny of -that race be mainly worked out, I still believe that means can be and -ought to be adopted to assist in the emigration of such of their number -as may wish to change their residence to parts of the country where -their civil and political rights are better protected than at present -they can be at the South.</p> - -<p>I adopt the suggestion of the <i>National Republican</i>, of this city, that -<i>diffusion</i> is the true policy for the colored people of the South. All, -of course, cannot leave that section, and ought not; but some can, and -the condition of those who must remain will be better because of those -who go. Men, like trees, may be too thickly planted to thrive. If the -labor market of Mississippi were to-day not over-loaded and over -supplied, the laborers would be more fully appreciated; but this work of -diffusion and distribution cannot be carried on by the emancipated class -alone. They need, and ought to have, the material aid of both white and -colored people of the free states. A million of dollars devoted to this -purpose would do more for the colored people of the South than the same -amount expended in any other way. There is no degradation, no loss of -self-respect, in asking this aid, considering the circumstances of these -people. The white people of this nation owe them this help and a great -deal more. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_65" id="page_65">{65}</a></span> keynote of the future should not be concentration, but -diffusion—distribution. This may not be a remedy for all evils now -uncured, but it certainly will be a help in the right direction.</p> - -<p>A word now in respect of another remedy for the black man’s ills. It -calls itself independent political action. This has, during the past few -years, been advocated with much zeal and spirit by several of our -leading colored men, and also with much ability, though I am happy to -say not with much success. First, their plan, if I understand it, is to -separate the colored people of the country from the Republican party. -This, with them, is the primary and essential condition of making the -colored vote independent. Hence all their artillery is directed to -making that party odious in the eyes of the colored voters. Colored men -who adhere to the Republican party are vilified as slaves, -office-seekers, serviles, “knuckle-close” Republicans, as tools of white -men, traitors to their race, and much more of the same sort. Perhaps no -one has been a more prominent target for such denunciation than your -humble speaker.</p> - -<p>Now, the position to which these gentlemen invite us is one of -neutrality between the two great political parties, and to vote with -either, or against either, according to the prevailing motive when the -time for action shall arrive. In the interval we are to have no standing -with either party, and have no active influence in shaping the policy of -either, but we are to stand alone, and hold ourselves ready to serve one -or to serve the other, or both, as we may incline at the moment.</p> - -<p>With all respect to these political doctors, I must say that their -remedy is no remedy at all. No man can serve two masters in politics any -more than in religion. If there is one position in life more despicable -in the eyes of man, and more condemned by nature than another, it is -that of neutrality. Besides, if there is one thing more impossible than -another, it is a position of perfect neutrality in politics. Our -friends, Fortune, Downing, and others, flatter themselves that they have -reached this perfection, but they are utterly mistaken. No man can read -their utterances without seeing their animus of hate to the Republican -party, and their preference for the Democratic party. The fault is not -so much in their intention, as in their position. They can neither act -with nor against the two parties impartially. They are<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_66" id="page_66">{66}</a></span> compelled by -their position to either serve the one and oppose the other, and they -cannot serve or oppose both alike. Independence, like neutrality, is -also impossible. If the colored man does not depend upon the Republican -party, he will depend upon the Democratic party, and if he does neither, -he becomes a nonentity in American politics. But these gentlemen do, in -effect, ask us to break down the power of the Republican party, when to -do it is to put the Government in the hands of the Democratic party. -Colored men are already in the Republican party, and to come out of it -is to defeat it.</p> - -<p>For one, I must say that the Democratic party has as yet given me no -sufficient reasons for doing it any such service, nor has the Republican -party sunk so low that I must abandon it for its great rival. With all -its faults it is the best party now in existence. In it are the best -elements of the American people, and if any good is to come to us -politically it will be through that party.</p> - -<p>I must cease to remember a great many things and must forget a great -many things before I can counsel any man, colored or white, to join the -Democratic party, or to occupy a position of neutrality between that -party and the Republican party. Such a position of the colored people of -this country will prove about as comfortable as between the upper and -nether millstone. Those of our number now posing as Independents are -doing better service to the Democratic party under the Independent mask -than they could do if they came out honestly for the Democratic party.</p> - -<p>I am charged with commending the inaugural address of President -Cleveland. I am not ashamed of that charge. I said at the time that no -better words for the colored citizen had dropped from the east portico -of the Capitol since the days of Lincoln and Grant, and I say so still. -I did not say, as my traducer lyingly asserts, that Mr. Cleveland said -better words than Lincoln or Grant. But it would not have suited the man -who left Washington with malice in his heart and falsehood in his throat -to be more truthful in Petersburg than in Washington. This malcontent -accuser seeks to make the impression that those who thought and spoke -well of the inaugural address did so from selfish motives, and from a -desire to get or retain office. “Out of the abundance of the heart the -mouth speaketh.” “With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and -with what measure ye mete, the same shall be<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_67" id="page_67">{67}</a></span> measured to you again.” He -ought to remember, however, that a serpent without a fang, a scorpion -without a sting, has no more ability to poison than a lie which has lost -its ability to deceive has to injure. It so happens that we had two -Presidents and one Vice-President prior to President Cleveland, and I -challenge my ambitious and envious accuser to find any better word for -the colored citizens of this country in the inaugural addresses of -either than is found in the inaugural address of President Cleveland. I -also beg my accuser to remember that I gave no pledge that Mr. Cleveland -would be able to live up to the sentiments of that address, but, on the -contrary I doubted even the probability of his success in doing so. I -gave him credit, however, for an honest purpose, and expressed a hope -that he might be able to do as well and better than he promised. But I -saw him in the rapids and predicted that they would be too strong for -him. Did this look like seeking favor? He did a brave thing in removing -from office an abettor of murder in Mississippi. He has expressed in a -private way, to Messrs. Bruce and Lynch, his reprobation of the recent -massacres at Carrollton, and for this we thank him. But he has done -nothing in his position as Commander-in-chief of the army and navy to -put a stop to such horrors. I am quite sure that he abhors violence and -bloodshed. He has shown this in his publicly spoken words in behalf of -persecuted and murdered Chinamen; he should do the same for the -persecuted and murdered black citizens of Mississippi. He could threaten -the law-breakers and murderers of the West with the sword of the nation, -why not the South? If it was right to protect and defend the Chinese, -why not the negro? If in the days of slavery the army could be used to -hunt slaves, and suppress slave insurrections, why, in the days of -liberty, may it not be used to enforce rights guaranteed by the -Constitution? Alas! fellow-citizens, there is no right so neglected as -the negro’s right. There is no flesh so despised as the negro’s flesh. -There is no blood so cheap as the negro’s blood. I have been saying -these things to the American people for nearly fifty years. In the order -of nature I cannot say them much longer; but, as was said by another, -“though time himself should confront me, and shake his hoary locks at my -persistence, I shall not cease while life is left me, and our wrongs are -unredressed, to thus cry aloud and spare not.”</p> - -<p>Fellow-citizens, I am disappointed. The accession of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_68" id="page_68">{68}</a></span> Democratic -party to power has not been followed by the results I expected. When the -tiger has quenched his thirst in blood, and when the anaconda has -swallowed his prey, they cease to pursue their trembling game and sink -to rest; so I thought when the Democratic party came into power, when -the solid South gave law to the land, when there could no longer be any -pretence for the fear of negro ascendency in the councils of the nation, -persecution, violence, and murder would cease, and the negro would be -left in peace; but the bloody scenes at Carrollton, and the daily -reports of lynch law in the South, have destroyed this cherished hope -and told me that the end of our sufferings is not yet.</p> - -<p>But, fellow-citizens, I do not despair, and no power that I know of can -make me despair of the ultimate triumph of justice and liberty in this -country. I have seen too many abuses outgrown, too many evils removed, -too many moral and physical improvements made, to doubt that the wheels -of progress will still roll on. We have but to toil and trust, throw -away whiskey and tobacco, improve the opportunities that we have, put -away all extravagance, learn to live within our means, lay up our -earnings, educate our children, live industrious and virtuous lives, -establish a character for sobriety, punctuality, and general -uprightness, and we shall raise up powerful friends who shall stand by -us in our struggle for an equal chance in the race of life. The white -people of this country are asleep, but not dead. In other days we had a -potent voice in the Senate which awoke the nation.</p> - -<p>Ireland now has an advocate in the British Senate who has arrested the -eye and ear of the civilized world in championing the cause of Ireland. -There is to-day in the American Senate an opportunity for an American -Gladstone; one whose voice shall have power to awake this nation to the -stupendous wrongs inflicted upon our newly-made citizens and move the -Government to a vindication of our constitutional rights. We have in -other days had a Sumner, a Wilson, a Chase, a Conkling, a Thaddeus -Stevens, and a Morton. These did not exhaust the justice and humanity of -American statesmanship. There is heart and eloquence still left in the -councils of the nation, and these will, I trust, yet make themselves -potent in having both the Constitution of 1789 and the Constitution with -the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments made practically the law of the -land for all the people thereof.</p> - -<hr class="full" /> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE ADDRESSES ON THE RELATIONS SUBSISTING BETWEEN THE WHITE AND COLORED PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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