New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-08-29

which freedom was a substancoless pleasure,
the ballot-the party whose success is the
only guarantee that they shall remain free
fully free, without any Ifs or 'bars-but the
most illiterate black man under the shadow
Of his former master in the South cannot have
his faith shaken, by death even, in the Repub-
lcan party.
The mysterious spirit which pierced the
darkness of the slave days and whispered
liberty to the souls Of the bGndmcn is still
with the colored race, and whispering 80
them, keep my commandments, " be We
fiithfuln
Tarmt them with ignorance and poverty,
but there is an intelligence which never
cTs-thc intelligence which comes from God;
there IS wealth greater than gl:ttcriEg
baubles-the wealth Of people who are
true to themselves and 10 the principles which
protect and give them liberty.
These are the causes which keep the coll
orcd race steady as an army of veterans
under fire, even while some Of their officers
are rccrcant.
Tor popai, yor Dci, is Illustrated in the
attitude of the colorcd people to-day. The
voice OF the people IS the voice Of God Bm
unless the people are cody people, humble,
grateful and trying to do right, God will not
speak through them. Should the voice of a
people who have become STEPPED in sin, who
have become FESTIVE in the ways Of God and
are GemoraIizcd by vice, rise up in Clam0rous
dscoriancc and cry out for the destruction
OF this Goycrnmcnt--as men have done and
as thcy may yet dO-that voice would be the
voice OF the devil, and not of God. But
where people Ike the Irish, for instance.
who have kept faith with God, cry out for
npcrty, as they have cried for seven centu-
RES, thefc God speaks, and He SiqU be kcqyy
Not all the thunders of ten thousand armies
can drown such voice. 1t can neither be
stilIed IN the dungeon, strangled on the scat
told, dulled by time, nor lost in exile.
30, also, with the cOlored people of Amer
lca. tor generations they cried out for lib
crty. This was the voice of n peonIa and
the voice Of God, for they were rs tn,n to
God as their surroundings and position would
allow. The voice was heard and the slaves
were made free
In their freedom they have acted with q
more !appreciativc dignity than any otherrace
on this continent, circumstances being taken
into account
The experiment, which even those who is
sued the emancipation feared, of llingmgmen
deD2rred from educational opportunities into
SudGGh freedom, Is passed. Man a slave is
unreliable, but man free is transformed intoo
higher being. Owning himself he sets \
hiShcr value upon himself and demeans him
accordingly.
mus, when Mr.. Greeley tuned back on his
tracks, to undo what he had done. he found
no cO!ored men to follow him. Clay and
brown and SchuuZ and others appealed one
by one to the black man. but in vain! Then
came sumner who was supposed to hold the
heart-strngs of the colorcd race in bis hand,
lie also turns and calls to the colored people
to follow, but his voice has lost its sweetness.
While he spoke of liberty there was magic in
his voice While lie led men to liberty they
followed. but when he spoke of going back
TO the house OF bondage again they said it is
the form OF Sumner but the voice of Davis.
NO, no, MI. Sumner and Mr.. Greeley and
Mr.. Schurz, we loved you for what YOU were.
but although you helped us ont Of the land of
bondage you cannot lead lis back again.
And so while men of all other races have
convinced themselves that duty required them
to break up the Republican party. the colored
race have remained mistaken. They apprc-
cate the fact that within our party lies their
safety. All that they have got-and all they
have got they have used nobly-has been
gwen to them by the Republican party; and
1t is better to remain in the house of their
friends than go into the house of their enc
mics. They know that il Brown was their
TREND Wilson was their greater friend. They
know that while Mr.. Greeley wrotc-at very
long range-about their liberty, Grant, at the
head OF his army, in the face of the fire of bat
tie, shattered the chains which bound them
a work which Il cycle of ages Of ink splashinr
in editorial sanctums would be impotent to
accomplish.
All these things are fixed in the hearts of
the colored race, and hence neither threats
nor brides can drive or coax them from their
allegiance 10 the PARTY.
All honor to then, for their truth and graf
itude. II is only what they should do but
what People can do more, and what people do
all HAT they should do?