The national leader., 1889-04-27

PIC Ludt du lliuStIlUuS lawyer duUpO6us
namely, always to try cause first
against his client.
1t is easy to indulge in the illusions
of hope, and to rejoice over what we
have gained, and 1t is always more or
less painful to contemplate the possi-
bllity of misfortune and disaster. But
a brave man will not shrink from
looking trtth SOU irely in the face, no
matter what may be the consequences,
and you and l, and all Of us know that
if slavery is not re-established in the
southern states, 1t will not be because
there Is any power inside those states,
at present, to prevent this practice and
return to barbarlsm.
From every view have been able to
take of the present situation in rela-
tiOn to the cOlored people Of the United
States am forced to the conclusion
that the irrepressible conflict, Of which
we heard so much before the war of
the rebellion and during the war, is
still in progress. 1t is still the battle
between two opposite Civilizations
the one created and sustained by sla.
very. and the other framed and fash.
ioned In the spirit of liberty and
humanity, and this conflict will not be
ended until one or the other shall be
completely adopted in every section of
our common country.
THE SOUTH is STILL THE SOUTH,
and under the doctrine of local self.
government it shelters the vicious idea
that 1t can defy the constitution and
the laws of the United States, espec-
tally those laws which respect the
enfranchisement of colored citizens.
The idea of local self-government de-
stroyed the Freedman's bureau, drove
United States soldiers out of the south,
expelled northern immigrants, exclu-
ded negro citizens from state leglsla-
lures, and gave all power to the south
ern slave masters. Such is the situa-
tiOn to-day, and 1t remains to be seen
whether it is to be permanent or tran
slent. In my opinion this state of
things cannot be permanent.
While revolutions may for time
seem to roll back wards; while reaction
ary tendencies and forces may arrest
the wheels of progress, and while the
colcred man of the South may still
have to suffer the lash and sting of q
by-gOne condition, there are forces and
influences silently and yet powerfully
working out his dellverance. The in
dividual southern states are great, but
the nation is greater. Justice, honor,
liberty, and fidelity to the constitution
and laws may seem to sleep, but they
are not dead. They are alive and had
more to do with bringing our Republi-
can President into the presidential
chair than is sometimes supposed. The
red-shirted rifle companies Of Carolina
and Mississippi may rule for time,
but only for time. They may rob the
negro of bis vote to-day, but the negro
Twill have his vote tomorrow. The
spirit Of the age is with him. Slavery
is vanishing from even the darkest
corners of the earth. The schoolmas-
ter is abroad-even in the South. The
negro of the plantation may be ignor-
ant. but the negro of the town and
the city will be intelligent. The light
of education which has illuminated
the one will in time, illuminate the
other.
But there is another force to be relied
upon. 1t is the fact that the repre-
sentatives of the best civilization of our
times are compelled, in self-defense, to
extirpate the illegal, unconstitutional
barbarism of the late slave-holding
states.
There is yet good reason to believe
in the virtue of the loyal American
people. They hate fraud, lOathe rap1ne,
and desplse meanness. 1t was no reckless
freak or madness that made them pour
out their blood and their treasure in
the late war, and there was a deep
moral and patriotic purpose at the bot
tom of that sacrifice; purpose that Is
not yet extinct, and will not be easily
abandoned. If the Republican party
shall fail to carry out this purpose, God
will raise up another party which will
be faithful. They resented secession,
and fought to make free, strong, and
united nation. It was the aim Of good
men then, and it is the aim of good
men now, and the effort to gain it will
continue till that end shall be obtained.
They may be patient and lOng-suffer-
ing. They have been patient and long
suffering. But patience itself will
cease to be virtue.
Do you ask me what can be done? I
answer, we can at least purify the
ballot box by requiring that no man
shall hold a seat in Congress, who
reaches it by fraud, violence. and in
timldation; by requiring that every
man from the South, and from the
North, and from verywhere else. shall
come into that body by means uncor-
rupted by fraud. and unstained by
blood. They will yet see to it that
murder and assassination shall not be
the passport to seat in the councils
of the nation. There is to-day man
i in that body who holds his place be-