Year: 1865

n


law, in which he urged the appointment
If POmpey to the supreme command Of


the army, as the only means by which
this crime and offence 10 Rome might be
avenged in common with other crimes


and wrongs which the State had suffered


at the hands Of its enemies.


BY the Emancipation Proclamation we
nave taken the intitatOry steps toward
the freedom OF the negro; bat how are
liberties secured? Are there labOring men
mere tonight? What security have they
for the integrity of their families? What
security have they for the benefit of the
writ of haJeas corpus, What security have


they for the education Of their children at


the public expense? What security have


they that their testimony shall be taken


in a court of justise? Their security Is


in the ballot We say that men possess


certain natural essential and unaieHa-


ole rights" How are those rights TO be
defended? Either by the bayouet or by
the ballot. If the negroes are to pro


tect themselves in their rights, It Is for
the country to give them the means by
giving them the ballot. And it Is not
less in favor Of the South than Of the
whole country that we advocate negro


suffrage We of Massachusetts, remem-
ber the difficulties in Rhode Island, less
than a quarter Of a century ago, when
men of our own race having the political


power of the State in their own hands
exclusively, refused to recognize the
rights OF other men of the same race,
! The same blood, equally quallhed with
themselves, until the concession was eS-


torted from them by revolution; and do


YOU expect that the white men OF the
South, if you allow them to institute gov
'rnments with political power IN their
own hands, exclusively, will ever cOncede


II to the negroes, until the negroes eXtorb
it from them at the point OF the bayOnet?
These negroes are four million today
rhey viii increase through decades and
centuries until they are eight, ten, twen-


ty million. and If yOu do not give them


the right of suffrage now, at some future


time they or their prOsterity viii demand


it and secure it by force. Instead, there
fore Of being the enemies of the South,
when we demand negro suffrage. we are
its real friends, becaus we take security


IN their behalf, at this early day, that


hereafter they shall be saved from lntes-


tine cOmmotion, from civil and social


WVrs.


Perversion and misrepresentation
are powerless, and argument thus far


has not been heard, in behalf OF the
monstrOus proposition that the North
should consent to such u recOnstruc-


JiOn of this government as will guar
antee perpetually to two white men
ia the South the political power that
is accorded TO three white men 10 the


North. Who are they and what are
they, if they exist at all within the
limits of the loyal States. who are pre-
pared to maintain the doctrine that
Virginia, South Carolina, Florida and
Texas have the same immediate and
indiSputable right of representation
as is enjoyed by New York, Illinois,
Pennsylvania and California? That
they have not this right is conceded
by all, or by nearly all among US
No one is prepared to accept South
Carolina with her old constitution.
The veriest stickler for State rights
demands some alteration. This de-
mand however slight it may seem in
its practical application, is the equiv
alent in principle Of the demand L
make South Carolina is in the Un-
ion with her constitution of 1860, or
as Il political organization known as
4 State she is not in the Union at ali;
and if she is not in the Union as q
state, her application for admission
may be rejected until she appears
with frame of government in sub
stantial harmony with the policy Of
the nation You must be JUST TO the
negro. When you invited him to
assume the uniform of the army of
the republic, when you put the mus
ket into his hand, when you asked
him tOjeopard, and if need be, to
sacrifice his litein defence of the cOUn-
try, you did, in fact, if not in terms,
agree that if the eause-his cause as
well as your Own-was successful,
be had the same part in the govern
ment as yourselves, and therefore
you cannot, without the basest in
gratitude, now reject him. l am
compelled to declare toyou my friends
IN all sincerity, heinOus Us are the
crimes of these Southern men, iufa-
NOUS as they will be upon the page
of history, that if the people OF the
North, now that they have secured
the restoration of the Union by the
services and sacrifices of the negro,
in common with their own services
and their own sacrifices, should sur
render him, bound hand and foot,
as he will be, if he does not enjoy
the right ofsuffrage, into the custody
of your enemies also, your position
of his enemies, made doubly ferOeious
by the events of this war, and into
the custody upon the page of history,
and in the judgement of pOsterity
will be only less infamous than theirs.
| know OF no excuse that we can Of
fer to ourselves, know of no excuse
that we can offer to this gene. alton in
other countries, 1 knOwoi know excuse
that we can offer to this generation
in other countries, l know of no ex-
cuSe that we can offer to mankind in
the coming ages, if after having ae-
cepted the serI ices and the blood Of
these men in defence Of the flag, of
liberty and of the Union, we turn and
cOnspire with these their ancient op-
pressors and trample our faithful al
lies in the dust Let it not be that
this infamy, is reserved for the people
OF this country. Of all the woes of
which we have drunk through these
four years, of all the instances Of deg
radiation which have been treasured
up in the long annals OF mankind,
know OF none which will compare with
the woe and degradationof free peO-
pie, who have secured their own lib
critics by the blood of their fellow
men, with base ingratitude offered
their allies TO the common enemy, to
the enemy of the country, Of liberty
and mankind.


L have thus, gentlemen, attempted
to demonstrate the existence Of sut-
ticient and constitutional power in the
government to enable Congress
-