The national leader., 1889-04-27


the nations thought as he was out
side the nations law and the nations
religion. But now all Is changed. His
freedom makes him discussed on every
hand. The platform, the pulpit, the
press, and the legislative hall regard
him and struggle with him as great
and difficult problem, one that requires
almost divine wisdom to solve.
Now 1t is this gigantic representa-
tiOn to which | object. deny that
the negro is correctly represented by it.
The statement of 1t is a prejudice to
the negro's cause. 1t denotes the
presence Of the death dealing
shadow of an ancient curse. We had
fondly hoped, and had reason to hope.
that when the negro ceased to be a
slave. when he ceased to be a thing
and became man, when he ceased to
be an allen and became citizen, when
the constitution of the United States
ceased to be the charter of slavery and
became the charter OF liberty, the
negro problem was solved and settled
forever. The whole contention now
raised over him is an anachronism, a
misnomer. false pretense, deluslon
and sham. crafty substitution of a
false issue for the true one.
1 deny and utterly scout the idea
that there is now, properly speaking,
any such thing as negro problem
now before the American people. 1t
is not the negro, educated or illiterate,
intelligent or ignorant, who Is on trial
WhnQn mi
to the nation. The real problem lies
in the other direction. 1t is not so
much what the negro Is. what he has
been, or what be NAV be that consti-
tutes the problem. Here, as elsewhere,
the lesser is included In the greater.
The negrO's significance is dwarfed by
factor vastly larger than himself.
The real question, the all-com-
manding question, is whether Ameri.
can justice, American liberty, Ameri-
can civilization. American law, and
American Christianity can be made to
include and protect alike and forever
all American citizens in the rights
which, in a generous moment in the
nations life. have been guaranteed to
them by the organic and fundamental
law of the land. 1t is whether this
great nation shall conquer its preju-
dices, rise to the dignity Of It's profess
siOns, and proceed in the sublime
course OF truth and liberty marked out
for itself since the late war, or swing
back to its ancient moorings of slavery
and barbarism. The negro is of in
ferlor activity and power in the solu-
tion of this problem. He is the clay,
the nation is the potter. He is the
subject, the nation is the sovereign. 1t
is not what he shall be or do, but what
the nation shall be and do, which is
TO SOLVE THIS GREAT NATIONAL
PROBLEM,
Speaking for him, 1 can com mend
him upon every ground. He IS loyal
and patriotic; service is the badge Of
all his tribe. He has proved it before,
and he will prove it again. The country
has never called upon hlm in vain.
What he has been in the past in this
respect that he will be in the future.
All he asks now, all he has ever
asked, all he will ever ask, is that the
nation shall fulfill toward him its own
tions. When he asks for bread he will
not accept a stone. When he asks for
fish he will not accept serpent. His
protest now is against being cheated by
cunningly devised judicial decisions,
by frauds upon the ballot box, or by
brutal violence of red-shirted rebels
He only asks the American people to
adjust the practice to the justice and
wisdom of their laws, and he holds
that this is first. midst. and last, and
the only problem to be solved.
While, however, the negro may very
properly protest against the popular
statement of the question, and while
he may insist that the one just stated
Is the proper one, and the only one;
while he may hold that primarily and
fundamentally it is an American prob
lem and not a negro problem, he may
materially assist in its solution. He
can assume an attitude, develop a
character, improve his condition. and.
in measure, compel the respect and
esteem of his fellow men.
In order to do this we have. first of
all, to learn and to understand thor
oughly the nature of the social. moral,
and political forces that surround us,
and how to shape our ends and wisely
determine our destiny. We should en-
deavor to discover the true sources of
our danger-whether they be within
ourselves or in circumstances external
to ourselves. If 1 am here for any
useful purpose, it is in some measure
to answer the question, ''What of the
night?"
For the present have seemed to
forget that this is an occasion of joy.
have thus far spoken mainly in sorrow
rather than IN gladness; of grief rather
than in gratitude. Like the resolution
of Hamlet, my outlook has been
slcklied o'er with the pale cast of
thought.
1f