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 The Negro as a Political Problem 
 
 Oration by the 
 
 Hon. George W* Williams 
 
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1862" EMANCIPATION DAY-1884 
 
 |b I egro as a jJ0litttal ; jroWcm. 
 
 OR ATIO N 
 
 Hon. GEORGE W. WILLIAMS, 
 
 OF m:assa.ciittsbtts. 
 
 A8BURY CHURCH, WASHINGTON, D. C, 
 
 A.pril 16, 1884^ - 
 
 From every hill instinct with life is sent 
 Gratitude — a mental sacrament, 
 That from their neck they loosen'd felt the yol^ — 
 That the first link in slavery's chain was brok 
 
 BOSTON: 
 ALFRED MUDGE & SON, PRINTERS 
 
 No. 24 Franklin Street. 
 1884. 
 
0K,-A.TI01T. 
 
 THE NEGRO AS A POLITICAL PROBLEM. 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
 
 From the waters of the Potomac to the liberty- 
 crowned dome of the Capitol of the nation the bells of 
 liberty have been ringing. The prayer of gratitude has 
 been said, and the dirge has been sung at the tomb of 
 slavery. The stirring strains of martial music, the 
 swinging battalions of troops, the citizens in holiday at- 
 tire, the bright faces and glad voices of the day, proclaim 
 this an occasion of more than ordinary interest. And 
 now, at the close of this anniversary day, while the 
 pride, pomp, and circumstance of the occasion pass to 
 their place in history, let us turn to the muse of medita- 
 tion. Under this sacred shelter, whose platform has 
 been the fortress of every honest and humane interest, 
 we may find all the conditions friendly to reflection and 
 instruction. Experience holds in lifted hand the flam- 
 ing torch of knowledge, while our hearts know full 
 well the serious lessons this day would teach us. There 
 are but two rational reasons for going back into the 
 past: one is where we can gather the fadeless flowers 
 
of memory whose aroma may yet cheer the present ; 
 the other is where the bitter herbs of experience may 
 act as a tonic upon a debiUtated moral effort amid the 
 living issues of the present. 
 
 Few, indeed, and odorless and colorless, are the flow- 
 ers of memory that we as a race care to turn back and 
 pluck. Passion flowers innumerable we might find. 
 But were we to turn and touch them, every stamen and 
 petal would instantly become vocal with a thousand 
 tongues. They would tell the story of tribes cheated, 
 villages burned, and murder perpetrated by the re- 
 morseless hand of gain. They would relate the story 
 of the middle passage, of young men and innocent 
 maidens, of old men and helpless women, forced into 
 the horrible middle passage; how that the ocean 
 became a voracious sepulchre for hundreds of thou- 
 sands of the hapless victims of the slave-trade, and will 
 forever chant a ceaseless requiem over their watery 
 grave; they would voice the deep plaint of innocent 
 womanhood led into captivity, of broken hearts and 
 sundered families; they Would tell the long and mourn- 
 ful story of a race's wrongs and sufferings, — of hope 
 and piety, love and fear ; we should hear how the race 
 was mobbed in the Korth and sold at the South ; how 
 malice and vengeance, lash, knife, gun, dungeon, fire, 
 water, and insanity, performed their hateful work. God 
 forbid that we should undertake so dreadful a task! 
 For were we thus to review the past we would find lit- 
 tle else save a cemetery. And as we walked abroad we 
 should find naught but graves of buried rights, hopes, 
 
and loves ; of manly aspirations foully murdered, and 
 pious protests cruelly strangled. Over such terrible 
 things we must let the pall drop. We must turn only 
 to those facts of history that may act as a tonic and 
 inspiration for the discharge of duties present and 
 future. 
 
 SLAVERY IN THIS DISTRICT 
 
 was always an anomaly. The District was ceded to 
 the United States government by Maryland and Vir- 
 ginia; but the portion belonging to Yirginia was sub- 
 sequently ceded back to that State. Thus the District 
 was ceded entirely by Maryland. This was consum- 
 mated in 1790, and comprised sixty-four square miles. 
 In 1634 the Colony of Maryland was formed out of a 
 portion of the territory belonging to Yirginia. And 
 Maryland, as the other Southern Colonies, held slaves 
 until the war for the Union destroyed the institution. 
 When Congress appointed a committee to secure a per- 
 manent seat for the government, instructions were also 
 given to provide a place where it should have authority 
 also. This was done; and in December, 1800, the Con- 
 gress of the United States moved into the District. 
 
 In the articles of concession, the people then living 
 in the District of Columbia did not reserve any vested 
 rights. They had no indefeasible possessory right to 
 slave property. There was nothing in the Constitution 
 justifying the existence of the evil at the very seat of 
 the American government. So, then, the crime was 
 permitted for more than sixty years. 
 
 
4 
 
 The following table exhibits the number of free and 
 bond persons of color in the District for the space of 
 six decades: — 
 
 Year. Free Negroes. Slave Negroes. 
 
 1800 490 3,244 
 
 1810 1,527 5,395 
 
 1820 2,758 6,377 
 
 1830 4,604 6,119 
 
 1840 6,499 4,694 
 
 1850 10,059 3,687 
 
 1860 11,131 3,181 
 
 In 1870 there were 43,404 Negroes in the District; 
 and in 1880, 59,596. 
 
 That it was clearly within the power of Congress to 
 abolish it no clear-headed statesman ever doubted. It 
 was tolerated in the States because the people had the 
 right to support it by State Constitution, or abolish it 
 by amendment. But all government territory was 
 under the immediate and absolute control of Congress. 
 If it were claimed by Northern apologists that the 
 Union could not have been formed except slavery were 
 allowed in the Southern States, there was certainly no 
 good excuse for tolerating the crime in the District of 
 Columbia. And yet for more than two generations 
 slavery built its altars under the gegis of the American 
 Capitol; the slave-hound bayed his human victims, and 
 the black shadow of the accursed institution sent a chill 
 of death through thousands of hearts. 
 
In 1800, as we have shown, there were 3,244 slaves in 
 the District of Columbia. Ten years later the slave 
 population had increased to 5,3^)5, in 1820 it was 6,877, 
 in 1830 it was 6,119, in 1840 it was 4,694, in 1850 it 
 was 3,687, and in 1860 there were only 3,186. By these 
 figures we see that at the end of six decades there were 
 less slaves in the District than there were at the begin- 
 ning of the century. The largest number was in 1820, 
 6,377. This was the year in which the Missouri Com- 
 promise occasioned so much excitement. From that 
 year down to the breaking out of the Rebellion, the 
 slave population was on a steady decrease. Slavery, 
 existing within the District without sanction of law, 
 attracted the attention of anti-slavery men from the be- 
 ginning. In 1827 William Lloyd Garrison began his ca- 
 reer as an anti-slavery agitator by addressing a petition 
 to Congress for the abolition of slavery in the District 
 of Columbia. The friends of freedom saw the glaring 
 inconsistency of allowing the slave-trade to go on at 
 the capital of a free republic, and thus they felt it to be 
 a patriotic duty to labor for the abolition of the evil in 
 the District. But the influence of the South was over- 
 whelming. Avarice and cotton were more than a match 
 for humanity, and the clank of the slaves' chains was 
 heard in your streets. Justice tarried; the nation 
 halted at its plain, constitutional duty, and failed to use 
 its authority. The years flew apace, until at last even- 
 handed justice lifted the bitter chalice of war to the 
 nation's lips. 
 
 The shock of embattled arms, that had been the na- 
 
tion's lullaby, was heard in dreadful reverberations 
 throughout the land. A year of an unbroken series of 
 Union disasters humbled the national pride. While 
 the nation was struggling and gasping for life, while 
 all the powers of Congress were invoked to tear, one 
 by one, the steel fingers of armed rebellion from the 
 nation's throat, in the slave marts of the capital bonds- 
 men, with brows beaded with the sweat of unrequited 
 toil, lifted their pinioned hands to yon goddess of lib- 
 erty in vain. The heart of the nation was as hard as 
 the brazen images on the Capitol that had witnessed for 
 years that the Constitution of this great Republic was a 
 tissue of lies. The national treasury was depleted; the 
 bonds were depreciated; the commerce that had 
 whitened all seas had largely disappeared; the work- 
 shops were deserted; treason lurked in the high places; 
 the rebel forces were closing in upon the capital, and 
 the red fields of inglorious conflict admonished the 
 Congress to wipe the foul stain of slavery from the 
 District of Columbia. 
 
 THE MORAL EFFECT 
 
 of emancipation in the District of Columbia was marked. 
 Anti-slavery men regarded this as the entering wedge. 
 It was the thermometer of Congressional patriotism; it 
 was the glorious reward of patient and consistent labor; 
 it was the answer to agonizing prayers, — a prophecy of 
 victory, long delayed, for the cause of the Union. It 
 became the theme of the pulpit, the topic of editorial 
 
discussion, the inspiration of our army, the bright star 
 of a nation's hope, suddenly breaking into a long night 
 of distress and perplexity. 
 
 From field and mountain, from cabin and cot, from 
 hamlet and village, the long, dark stream of eager freed- 
 men poured into the capital of the Kepublic. In the 
 more evil days they shrank from the name of Washing- 
 ton as from some deadly reptile. Washington was the 
 place where legal chains were forged for their unwilling 
 limbs. Under the goddess of liberty laws had been 
 enacted that charged every power of the government to 
 hunt down, at all hazards, and regardless of cost, the 
 fugitive flying for life, and hurry him back to the hell 
 of slavery. Under the dome of that Capitol a Chief 
 Justice had declared that " a Kegro had no rights that a 
 white is bound to respect." ISTo l^^egro had been allowed 
 to walk under the shadow of the Capitol or darken its 
 door, except as nurse or servant to some Southern slave- 
 holder. 
 
 Horrible indeed were the thoughts of Washington to 
 the poor slaves beyond its borders. But the news of 
 emancipation had come to them in their dark Isle of 
 Patmos, and was heard above the mad storm of civil 
 war. Washington was transformed from a prison to a 
 castle. To the poor fugitive and bondman it seemed 
 now to be the only secure place in all the land. It 
 stood as a lone island in the midst of an angry sea, and 
 every wave of rebellion seemed anxious to devour it. 
 But there it stood, amid the boom of cannon, the 
 glare of the lightnings of war, safe even amidst the 
 
8 
 
 machinations and plottings of treason. And here the 
 curious JS'egro found rest and security. Under the 
 ample folds of " the stars and stripes," the poetry of all 
 loyal hearts, thousands of homeless, nameless, and pen- 
 niless freedmen went and came through these streets 
 without let or hindrance. 
 
 EDUCATED NEGROES 
 
 came into Washington also. They felt some security 
 now, and were willing to serve the race and nation as 
 opportunity offered; and history should not fail to re- 
 cord the fact that such Colored men as Douglass, 
 Langston, Walls, Cook, Yashon, Garnet, Downing, and 
 others exerted a good influence over the President and 
 the Congress in the interest of the race. The Freed- 
 men's Bureau, Bank, and barracks, the founding of 
 night schools and hospitals, were brought about and 
 managed not without the aid of intelligent and patriotic 
 men of the N^egro race. Industrious, sober, and edu- 
 cated leaders of the race in the District have wrought 
 mightily for good; and since the close of the war 
 Washington has contained a larger number of educated 
 men and women of the Negro race than any other city 
 in the United States, according to its population. The 
 District of Columbia is the home of Frederick Douglass, 
 and he will always remain the great historic Negro. 
 Hon. John Mercer Langston, United States Minister to 
 Hayti, Wm. E. Matthews, the broker, Capt. O. B. S. 
 Walls, are among the foremost men of Washington; 
 
and the professions contain noble representatives of the 
 race. Howard University and Wayland Seminary, 
 Sumner High School and the seventy-five public schools 
 for Colored pupils alone, are equal to the educational 
 work to be accomplished in the District. 
 
 THE OFT^ICE-HOLDEKS 
 
 in Washington are not all white persons; there are 
 six hundred and twenty persons of color in the de- 
 partments. The collector of taxes, the register of 
 deeds, and the register of the United States treasury 
 are able men of the ^egro race. But, notwithstand- 
 ing this showing, we must see through the lenses 
 of experience that office-seeking or oflSce-holding 
 is not a healthy employment for young men. It is 
 true that there must be trained men for these positions 
 of government trust and emolument, but there are 
 always more horses than stalls. The evil is in making 
 a government position a profession. This idea once 
 espoused, a young man is unfitted for any other posi- 
 tion in civil life. When an office-holder has saved some 
 money — but few ever do — he should resign, and go 
 into some business for which he is especially fitted. 
 We know that few officials die, and none resign. But 
 two resignations gave the ISTegro race a successful 
 broker and an historian. Let others follow these exam- 
 ples. 
 
10 
 
 SUFFRAGE IN THE DISTRICT 
 
 would do much good to all classes of people. It was 
 tried once, but purblind prejudice sought its destruc- 
 tion before the results were reached. 
 
 I^evertheless, Alexander Shepard sowed wisely, and 
 to-day all of the people of the District are enjoying the 
 fruit of his wise labors. If suffrage for the people of 
 this District is objected to because it would grant a 
 power to a large number of ignorant people, we would 
 say that such an objection but begs the question. To 
 advance such an objection is to confess universal man- 
 hood suffrage a failure. And, furthermore, if suffrage 
 is witJiheld on account of ignorance in the District of 
 Columbia, it should be withdrawn in !N'ew York City 
 for the same reason. Ignorance in the majority cannot 
 dominate an intelligent and patriotic minority : one of 
 the latter can chase a thousand of the former, and two 
 can put ten thousand to flight. With a competent man 
 as governor of the territory, with a careful House of 
 Delegates and a Council, reforms could be inaugurated, 
 abuses corrected, and such public improvements made 
 as to make Washington the best regulated and most 
 beautiful city in all the wide world. 
 
 RACE PREJUDICE 
 
 should be driven from Washington, suffrage or no suf- 
 frage. It is a national disgrace that nearly every hotel 
 in Washington closes its doors against the ^N'egro. He 
 
11 
 
 comes, if he come at all, amply prepared to pay his 
 way; and the fact that he goes to a first-class hotel 
 should be regarded as prima facie evidence of decent 
 personal appearance, good manners, and good sense. 
 Circumstances govern these cases, or ought to. Hotel 
 proprietors are more to be blamed than the public. 
 They are in a position to educate the travelling public; 
 and, to cater to this absolute and wicked prejudice, is to 
 retard the moral growth and intellectual expansion of 
 the public. Hotels are licensed and protected by law. 
 The law-makers are the servants of the people. They 
 intend, in serving and representing the people, that 
 public inns shall provide for the wants of travellers 
 without regard to race, color, or previous condition of 
 servitude. 
 
 A prejudice so pronounced and hurtful should be 
 abolished here at the capital of the nation. In this good 
 work Colored men themselves can accomplish a great 
 deal. Visitors to the capital of the nation are very ob- 
 serving. They form their judgments from what they 
 see. And whom do they see first, last, and all the time 
 they are here? The idle, shiftless, unkempt Negroes 
 who lounge at the corners of the streets, doze on the 
 City Hall steps, and whose deportment and idle col- 
 loquy make every decent person blush for very shame. 
 Every clergyman in the District ought to make it a part 
 of his ministry to teach these poor people the use of 
 water and soap, of comb and brush. Cleanliness is 
 next to godliness. And the most distressing part of 
 this public exhibition of rags, ignorance, and idleness is, 
 
12 
 
 our respectable, industrious citizens are not seen. Here, 
 then, a great injustice is done to all the Colored citizens 
 of the District. Let us remove the beam from our own 
 eye, then we shall see clearly the mote in the eye of a 
 prejudiced and misguided public. 
 
 THE I^EGRO PROBLEM 
 
 is older than our government, l^ot that the Negro has 
 thrust himself upon the attention of the world, but the 
 world has been interested in him for various and con- 
 flicting reasons. Strangely enough, the Kegro has ap- 
 peared at the central points in the history of the world. 
 Simon, of Cyrene, appeared in time to bear the cross of 
 the Saviour to Calvary. 
 
 In [N'orth Africa, in the second century of the Christian 
 era, the Negro bore the brunt of Saracen persecution, 
 and clung to the Christian faith. In fact Africa was the 
 battle-ground upon which the organic life of the Chris- 
 tian church was tested; and from that point of history 
 and victory it went forth to civilize Northern Europe. 
 
 The trend of the great forces of the world's best civ- 
 ilization, arms, commerce, letters, religion, and science 
 has been around Africa. Touched but gently on the 
 outer edge, the heart of the great continent is yet a 
 stranger to the noblest impulses of the world's best life. 
 For the most part only the defiling hand of slavery has 
 been lain upon her. For nearly five centuries the slave- 
 trade, domestic and foreign, shut out the light of 
 knowledge as storm-clouds veil the brightness of the 
 sun. In 1562 Sir John Hawkins, Sir Lionel Duchet, 
 
13 
 
 Sir Thomas Lodge, and Sir William Winter laid the 
 foundation of the slave-trade during the reign of Eliza- 
 beth. At first the queen expressed herself as horrified; 
 but later on encouraged the most pestiferous crime that 
 ever cursed the seas. In 1702 her "most gracious 
 Majesty," Queen Anne, in her elaborate instructions to 
 the royal governors of the British Colonies in I^orth 
 America, urged that the people "take especial care 
 that God Almighty be devoutly and duly served," and 
 that the " Koyal African Company, of England," "take 
 especial care that the said Province may have a con- 
 stant and suflacient supply of merchantable ;N'egroes at 
 moderate rates." " The British Board of Trade " never 
 lost sight of the slave-trade ; while Parliament never 
 thought the question of trafficking in human beings be- 
 neath its notice. 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE COLONIES 
 
 was as early as anything connected with them. Along- 
 side of the church and schoolhouse the colonists built 
 the slave-pen. And with their prayers for religious 
 and political liberty they supplicated both the earthly 
 and heavenly throne for " merchantable l!^egroes." The 
 evil grew, as evils do, until it was no less a serious 
 question than the Stainj) Act or the icrits of assistance. 
 
 THE REVOLUTION ART WAR 
 
 demonstated how difficult a problem the N'egro was. 
 On the 24:th of October, 1774, the Continental Congress 
 
14 
 
 passed the non-importation coven-ant. All the del- 
 egates from the twelve Colonies signed this covenant, 
 that " We will neither import nor purchase any slave 
 imported after the first day of December next ; after 
 which time we will wholly discontinue the slave-trade, 
 and will neither be concerned in it ourselves, nor will 
 we hire our vessels, nor sell our commodities or manu- 
 factures to those who are concerned in it." This mag- 
 nificent article, one of the two passed by the Congress 
 then in session at Philadelphia, gives us a fair idea of 
 the magnitude of the l!^egro problem. And it shows 
 also, in the light of subsequent history, how false gov- 
 ernments can be to themselves and how cruel to their 
 subjects. 
 
 GEORGE WASHIN^GTON 
 
 was chairman of a meeting held at Fairfax Court 
 House, Ya., on the 18th of July, 1774, to protest against 
 the slave-trade. Twenty-four resolutions were pre- 
 sented and unanimously adopted; three of the resolu- 
 tions were directly against the slave-trade. 
 
 " 17. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meet- 
 ing, that, during our present difficulties and distress, no 
 slaves ought to be imported into any of the British 
 Colonies on this continent; and we take this opportunity 
 of declaring our most earnest Welshes to see an entire 
 stop forever put to such a wicked, cruel, and unnatural 
 trade." 
 
 Coming from Yirginia, the mother of slavery before 
 she was the mother of Presidents, meant a great deal; 
 
15 
 
 but the feeling of concern about the slave-trade was 
 not confine.d to any one Colony; all of them took action 
 of some kind, and the interest was deep and genuine. 
 TheColonies heard the low reverberations of the thunders 
 of war; the clouds were gathering; they wanted to get 
 into line with the anti-slavery sentiment of the provinces, 
 to be in harmony with the increasing humanity of Eu- 
 rope, to break the favorite hobby of the Crown, and to 
 secure the sympathy of the slave population at home. 
 
 On the 29th of May, 1775, the Committee of Safety 
 for the Province of Massachusetts discussed the ques- 
 tion of the military employment of ^N'egroes. The 
 question again made its appearance in the deliberations 
 of this committee on the 6th of June, and once more on 
 the 10th of July. On the 29th of September, 1775, the 
 Negro question was warmly discussed in the Continental 
 Congress, and on the 8th of October it entered the mil- 
 itary conference at Cambridge. On the 18th and 23d 
 of October, 1775, it was discussed, and on the 12th of 
 N'ovember, 1775, Gen. George Washington made it the 
 subject of a general order. On the 30th of December, 
 Gen. "Washington again made it the subject of another 
 general order, and on the next day, 31st December, 
 wrote the President of the Continental Congress; 
 and on the 16th of January, 1776, l^egroes were 
 admitted to serve as soldiers in the Continental Army. 
 
 THE MINISTEKIAL ARMY 
 
 craved the services of the Kegro, and its leaders were 
 not idle. On the 16th of November, 1775, Lord Dun- 
 
16 
 
 more issued a proclamation, offering protection, free- 
 dom, the British uniform, and bounty to all I^egroes 
 who should join his standards; and for a time this proc- 
 lamation had a disastrous effect upon the Negroes of 
 Virginia in particular, and upon those of other Colonies 
 in general. The struggle to secure the valuable ser- 
 vices of the Negro went on until after the procla- 
 mation of Sir Henry Clinton, June 30, 1799. This 
 proclamation appeared again in the Royal Gazette of 
 I^ew York, on the 3d of July, but the !N'egro had cast 
 his lot with the colonial army. He heard the warning 
 shots at Lexington, and the victorious guns of Ro- 
 chambeau, Lafayette, and Washington at Yorktown ; 
 and when the war was over he heard the order of 
 "Washington read to the victorious troops that the 
 British General, Sir Guy Carleton, in evacuating N'ew 
 York, was "not to carry away Negroes and other 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION 
 
 could not be made without a long, bitter discussion on 
 the i^egro question. This question overshadowed all 
 others. It puzzled, perplexed, and annoyed the conven- 
 tion of distinguished gentlemen who had met to make 
 a Constitution for the new government, born of the 
 struggle between despotism and liberty. There were 
 generals and statesmen, orators and authors, philanthro- 
 pists and lawyers; there were soldiers, with the halo of 
 battle still upon their brows, fresh from victorious fields, 
 where they had witnessed the valor, efficiency, and 
 
17 
 
 humanity of Negro troops. The famous declaration of 
 Jefferson, " that all men were created equal, that they 
 are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable 
 rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pur- 
 suit of happiness," had become the shibboleth of all 
 true Americans. Every memory and incident of the 
 glorious Revolutionary struggle, every garland of vic- 
 tory, every impulse of humanity, the dictum of reason, 
 the groans and tears of the slaves, and the voice of con- 
 science cried aloud for consistency and justice. But the 
 South wanted unpaid slaves, and the North wanted free 
 ships. Slaves and ships were the paramount question. 
 The Southern delegates shrewdly sought to restrict 
 all navigation laws to a two-thirds vote, and by relieving 
 the Southern States from duties on exports, and upon 
 the importation of slaves, New England had to take 
 what she could get. By denying Congress the authority 
 of giving preference to American over foreign shipping, 
 it was designed to secure cheap transportation for 
 Southern exports; but, as the shipping was largely 
 owned in the Eastern States, their delegates were zeal- 
 ous in their efforts to prevent any restriction of the 
 power of Congress to enact navigation laws. The pro- 
 hibition of duties on the importation of slaves was 
 demanded by the delegates from South Carolina and 
 Georgia. They assured the convention that without 
 such a provision they could never give their assent to 
 the Constitution. The Northern delegates gave their 
 support to the restriction, and the Negro became a fixed 
 quality in this great political equation. 
 
18 
 
 WITH SLAVERY CONCEDED 
 
 to the Southern States, maintainable by constitutional 
 authority, an element in the basil condition of Congres- 
 sional representation, there was no way out of this con- 
 spiracy against human liberty. Ichabod, the glory had 
 departed from the Constitution. It had conceived sin 
 and was to bring forth death. "What would be the 
 logic of this constitutional position? Legislation in 
 harmony with constitutional recognition of slavery. 
 On the 6th of April, 1789, the first day of the first ses- 
 sion of the first Congress under the present Constitu- 
 tion, the Negro question made its appearance in the 
 tarifi" bill presented by Mr. Parker, of Virginia. In 
 every session of Congress, until the year 1800, the 
 ISTegro question appeared in one form or another. It 
 could not be said to have subsided for any considerable 
 time. 
 
 Pained by the past, expecting ills to come. 
 In some dread moment by the fates assigned, 
 
 the Congress knew not the hour or character in which 
 the insoluble question might come. 
 
 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 
 
 opened with an earnest struggle for the extinction of 
 the slave-trade to the coast of Guinea. On the 2d 
 of January, 1800, a committee of intelligent citizens of 
 color, from Philadelphia, presented a petition to Con- 
 gress protesting against the continuance of the slave- 
 
19 
 
 trade on the seas. It was presented by the member 
 from the county of Philadelphia, and provoked imme- 
 diate and sharp discussion. The tone and manner of 
 the Southern members clearly indicated that they were 
 committed to the policy of non-interference with slavery 
 on the part of the l!^orthern members. 
 
 On the 2d of April, 1802, Georgia ceded the territory 
 lying west of her present limits, now embracing the 
 States of Alabama and Mississippi. By the ordinance 
 of 1787, passed on the 13th of July that same year, 
 slavery was excluded from the western territory. In 
 the Georgia articles of concession, slavery was allowed; 
 and the demand of Georgia for the spread of the evil 
 was acceded to. When the Territory of Indiana de- 
 sired to be formed into a State and admitted into the 
 Union, an attempt was made to repeal the ordinance of 
 1787. Accordingly, on the 2d of March, 1803, the 
 select committee, to whom the prayer of the inhabitants 
 of Indiana Territory had been referred, took the matter 
 under consideration. It dragged its lazy lengths 
 through the entire session of this Congress, and 
 slept only during the recess. On the 17th of February, 
 1804, it was again under discussion. The committee 
 reported that the sixth article of the ordinance of 1787, 
 excluding slavery from the western territory, should 
 " be suspended in a qualified manner for ten years." 
 The Congress did not reach the matter, but the friends 
 of slavery did not lose sight of it. So again, in the 
 Congress of 1805-G, another attempt was made in the 
 interest of the measure. On the 11th of February, 
 
20 
 
 1806, the committee having the memorial in charge 
 made a favorable report. The report was made the 
 special order for a day certain, but was crowded out by 
 other business. ^Nothing daunted. Gen. Harrison, gov- 
 ernor of the Indiana Territory, with resolves from his 
 territorial legislature, addressed a letter urging a sus- 
 pension of the ordinance of 1787. On the Hist of Janu- 
 ary, 1807, his letter, with enclosures, was received, and 
 sent to a special committee. On the 12th of February, 
 
 1807, the committee made a favorable report. Again 
 the matter was made the special order, but was never 
 called up. Two other attempts were made, when the 
 matter subsided. 
 
 THE SLAVE POPULATION 
 
 increased thirty-three per cent during these years of ex- 
 citement, and slavery as an institution was sending its 
 dark death-roots into the organic life of the nation. In 
 1817, Dec. 10, Mississippi applied for admission into the 
 Union. The trial of slaves by grand juries was dis- 
 pensed with, and the regulations for the system were 
 exacting and cruel. 
 
 OUE NAVY 
 
 policed the seaboard for several years to prevent the 
 slave-trade from foreign parts. Congress had at- 
 tempted to make the old fugitive slave law more effi-^ 
 cient by amendment. In the session of 1817-18, it 
 passed the House by a vote of eighty-four to sixty-nine. 
 Amended in the Senate, it passed by a vote of seventeen 
 
21 
 
 to thirteen, but was tabled in the House. Anti-slavery 
 sentiment began to take shape, and many stammering 
 tongues were cut loose. Men who had only thought, 
 now began to speak and act. But the activity and zeal 
 were not all on one side. 
 
 In the month of March, 1818, the delegate from Mis- 
 souri presented a petition from the people praying to be 
 admitted into the Union as a State. It went to the ap- 
 propriate committee, where it remained till the next ses- 
 sion. Then followed a fierce and prolonged struggle. 
 The admission of Missouri with a slave Constitution, 
 after denying the prayer of Indiana, was a bold move. 
 But the violation of the sacred ordinance of 1787, that 
 aimed to preserve the western territory from the defiling 
 touch of slavery, was nothing less than a gigantic political 
 crime. 
 
 KESTRICTIOX OR EXTENSION 
 
 of slavery was now the battle-cry. Missouri was the 
 storm-line ; and the political sky was filled with porten- 
 tous clouds. The struggle between the friends and 
 enemies of slavery was long and bitter; but the end 
 came at last, and Mr. Clay's famous compromise was 
 adopted. The Missouri Legislature made a solemn 
 agreement not to pass any act " by which any other 
 citizens of either of the States should be excluded from 
 the enjoyment of the privileges and immunities to which 
 they were entitled under the Constitution of the United 
 States." Thus on the 27th of February, 1821, Missouri 
 was admitted into the Union. 
 
22 
 
 ANTI-SLAYERY SENTIMENT 
 
 began to be felt; local societies were forming through- 
 out the Northern States, and anti-slavery became a topic 
 of discussion in colleges and lyceuras. All this work 
 was a preparation for a grand organization. The lonely 
 voice of Benjamin Lundy had already been heard as 
 one crying in the wilderness. He had organized the 
 press and platform for the cause of the slave; had en- 
 listed woman in the work, and had put his worldly for- 
 tune upon the altar of the righteous cause. 
 
 In the fulness of time came "William Lloyd Garrison. 
 From obscurity, poverty, down from the wind-swept 
 and snow-capped mountains of Yermont, he came into 
 the great moral conflict. He threw down the gage of 
 battle at the feet of the haughty Goliath of slavery. 
 He organized a party; he founded a great journal; he 
 converted the conservatism of 'New England; he 
 attacked the Constitution and the pulpit, and brought 
 not " peace, but a sword." His clarion call to battle 
 startled the slave power from its security ; and by his 
 iron will, steady purpose, and unflagging zeal aroused 
 the country as no one man had ever done before. 
 
 DIVERSIFIED METHODS 
 
 there were, but all of them aimed at the common enemy, 
 led to the same end. Anti-slavery societies multiplied. 
 The GanHsonian, Heterodox, Political Abolition, Eco- 
 nomic, Aggressive, Colonization, Under-ground and 
 
23 
 
 Free Soil parties enlisted in the cause of the slave. The 
 slave power was correspondingly industrious. Southern 
 legislatures enacted severer laws, and subjected their 
 victims to a most rigorous state of bondage. Suspicion 
 fell with merciless fury upon every Northern person 
 who went into the slave States. An embargo was laid 
 against I^orthern anti-slavery publications of every 
 description; and Southern executive and legislative 
 dignity was not lowered by offering rewards for anti- 
 slavery books and heads. Books were written from 
 both points of view ; the pew became as deeply con- 
 cerned as the 'change, and the pulpit began to imitate 
 the platform. 
 
 THE DEED SCOTT DECISION 
 
 added more fuel to the flame. Then the Burns rescue 
 case, the struggle in Kansas, and last, but more than 
 all else, the bold stroke of grand old John Brown at 
 Harper's Ferry carried the IS'egroes' case on appeal from 
 the court of reason to the court of war. 
 
 THE SLAVERY REBELLI0:N' 
 
 was begun by the South at Charleston, and ended by 
 the Korth at Appomattox. You know the story of the 
 Negroes' wrongs and trials in that memorable struggle. 
 I need not tell you how he was first counted on the 
 outside, hunted down by Union troops, clubbed, shot, 
 and burned in the North; first given a spade, then in- 
 trusted with a musket. He had to conquer the prejudice 
 of the Union army; and then, upon |7.00 a month, — 
 
24 
 
 half pay, — defeat the skilled soldiery of the Southern 
 Confederacy. He did this, and more; and history, not 
 grudgingly but cheerfully, records, " The Colored 
 TroojJS fought nobly. ^'' 
 
 RECONSTRUCTION^ 
 
 followed the destruction wrought by the great military 
 struggle. Homeless and nameless, penniless and friend- 
 less, four million freedmen stood alone under the open 
 sky. 1^0 Egyptians were there from whom to borrow 
 finger-rings and jewelry; no sandals, no staff in hand, 
 no wise leadership, no pillar of cloud by day and fire 
 by night. There they stood; and their faith in God 
 and the government of the United States flickered 
 through the dark mists of uncertainty; and they did 
 not faint. Upon this inexperienced people grave re- 
 sponsibilities were placed ; and, taking all their disad- 
 vantages under consideration, they did better than might 
 have been expected. We will not subject their work 
 to a critical test, but after twenty-two years of freedom 
 let us recount the progress they have made. 
 
 There were 271,421 j^egroes in the United States 
 army during the war for the Union, and they partici- 
 pated in 219 battles. In the Freedmen's Savings Bank 
 and in other banks, froiji 1866 to 1873, the Kegroes of the 
 country deposited $53,000,000. There have been seven 
 lieutenant-governors, four secretaries of state, three 
 State auditors, two State treasurers, two United States 
 senators, fifteen members of the United States House 
 of Representatives, one register of the United States 
 
25 
 
 treasury, and one collector of taxes, one United States 
 marshal, one recorder of deeds in the District of 
 Columbia; nine ISTegroes have served in the diplomatic 
 service, and there are at present 620 in the departments 
 at Washington. There are 14,889 schools for Negroes, 
 with 720,803 pupils in them. This was the result in 
 1880, and now, in 1884, we may safely add a quarter 
 of a million more pupils. There are also 188 Colored 
 students in the junior and senior classes of colleges in 
 the Northern States, and thousands of Colored children 
 in the common schools of the Korth. 
 
 THE CIVIL EIGHTS 
 
 of the Colored people have been overthrown by a recent 
 decision of theUnited States Supreme Court, followed by 
 a disastrous moral eifect at the South. The Civil Rights 
 Bill was the crowning act in the life of our devoted 
 friend, the late Charles Sumner. It was the offspring 
 of a rare scholarship, broad statesmanship, and peerless 
 philanthropy. The bill was subjected to the severest 
 scrutiny and criticism by its friends and enemies; and, 
 after passing through the fires of debate, it became 
 the law of the land. After remaining in force for 
 nearly a decade, the United States Supreme Court was 
 called to pass upon its constitutionality. The Court, 
 with but one noble exception, — Justice Harlan, — de- 
 cided that the bill was unconstitutional. In the Dred 
 Scott case, Judge Taney gave the decision of the 
 Court, Justice McLean dissenting, upon the ques- 
 tion of the citizenship of a IS'egro under the Con- 
 
26 
 
 stitution. He admitted that the words negro, slave, 
 and colored person did not appear in the Consti- 
 tution ; but maintained that it was the duty of the 
 Court to consider the intention of the framers of 
 the Constitution; that the Yfoxdi person was intended to 
 be construed as meaning slave, and, that, therefore, 
 Dred Scott being a !N"egro, was not a citizen, but a 
 slave. If Judge Taney, as Chief Justice, under a Dem- 
 ocratic administration, could interpret the Constitution 
 liberally in the interest of slavery, it ought not to have 
 been a difficult matter for Judge Waite, Chief Justice 
 under a Republican administration, to interpret the Con- 
 stitution liberally in the interest of freedom. "We had 
 fought four years and one half to destroy slavery ; we 
 had made 500,000 graves ; we had mained 300,000 men; 
 we had expended |3,000,000,000 ; we had emancipated 
 4,500,000 human beings. In the light of these facts it 
 was clear to be seen that civil rights were but the inci- 
 dents of freedom, and followed as naturally as heat 
 does light or the rising of the sun. A liberal interpre- 
 tation of this law would have been in line and in har- 
 mony with the great civilization of the nineteenth 
 century. Kot only the Supreme Court, but political 
 parties have turned to abstractions rather than to the 
 great questions of humanity. Materialism reigns every- 
 where. 
 
 THE negroes' past 
 
 political action was the irresistible logic of gratitude. 
 He entered the ranks of his political friends. He voted 
 
27 
 
 as he had fought, for the Union. Any other poUtical 
 action would have earned the execrations of God and 
 man. Moreover, the Negro's ballot was as indispen- 
 sable to the successful work of reconstruction as the 
 N^egro's bullet was to the successful prosecution of the 
 war. The ex-rebels were sullen and intractable during 
 the entire period of reconstruction. Some of them went 
 off to Mexico, Brazil, England, and Egypt; others re- 
 mained in a state of inertia ; while a very small minor- 
 ity accepted the situation like men, and put their ener- 
 gies into the work of reconstruction. The carpet-bagger, 
 scallaiuag, and Negro had control of the Southern 
 States. These were not the most desirable forces to 
 effect so great a work ; but they were to be preferred to 
 traitors. The failure of reconstruction must be charged 
 to Congress, and to the educated native white men of 
 the South. Congress could have enacted wiser laws, 
 and the white men of the South could have secured 
 better government there, by methods of prudence and 
 humanity. 
 
 THE POLITICAL FIDELITY 
 
 of the ]!*Tegro is the marvel of all political history. He 
 stood by his friends through evil and through good 
 report. And when the white Republicans had been 
 reduced to a mere corporal's guard, the JS'egro remained 
 loyal to his party. In fact he was more faithful than his 
 friends. For his fidelity he was rewarded by being 
 deserted by his friends and by being shot by his enemies. 
 Thousands upon thousands of brave black Republicans 
 
28 
 
 were murdered for political opinion's sake; and political 
 suffrage in the South has had a name to live, but is 
 dead. 
 
 GEN. GRANT 
 
 owed his election in 1868 and in 1872 to the patriotic 
 fidelity of the Negro voters of the South. And when 
 the destiny of the Republican party and nation was in 
 the hands of the Negro members of the returning 'boards 
 of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida, in 1876, it was 
 secure beyond all temptation. Rather than betray their 
 friends those ]J^egroes chose to go to prison on bread and 
 water. Several fortunes were at their disposal if they 
 would only consent to alter the returns, but they indig- 
 nantly declined the bribe. They could neither be bought 
 nor bullied. They were good men and true. And, 
 opposite their fidelity, a bargain was consummated be- 
 tween their friends and enemies by which, when the 
 President the Kegroes had made should be inaugurated^ 
 the three doubtful States should pass to the control of 
 red-shirt and white-line leagues. The conspiracy 
 triumphed, and the Negroes who saved the Republican 
 party in 1876 were disfranchised, and are exiles in this 
 free Republic until this day. 
 
 EUTHERFORD B. HAYES 
 
 is not alone to blame for this crime against truth, virtue, 
 and fidelity. The Korthern press, and a one-eyed, nar- 
 row, prejudiced public sentiment made the crime possi- 
 ble. The liberal movement of 1872 broke the confidence 
 
29 
 
 of the ^orth in the Southern N'egro, and the great 
 financial panic of 1873 stifled the voice of compassion, 
 and palsied the helping hand that was extended to aid 
 the persecuted blacks. A deaf ear was turned to all 
 stories of Southern outi'age, and materialism congealed 
 the feelings of humanity, and the poor Negro went down 
 to inhospitable and bloody political graves before the 
 white-line banners, upon which was inscribed the 
 motto, " We must carry these States : j)6aceaUi/, if loe 
 can; forcibly, if we must." 
 
 JAMES A. GARFIELD 
 
 owed his election to the Presidency to the o!ann;«hness 
 of the Negro vote of the North. The Negro vote in the 
 following Northern States in 1880 was as follows: — 
 
 Connecticut 11,547 
 
 Illinois 4(3,368 
 
 Indiana . . . . . . . 39,228 
 
 Kansas 43,107 
 
 Massachusetts 18,697 
 
 Michigan 15,100 
 
 New Jersey 65,104 
 
 New York 631,277 
 
 Ohio 79,900 
 
 Pennsylvania 85,535 
 
 Total 935,843 
 
30 
 
 "We have only taken the Northern States where the 
 Colored people are in largest numbers. So we have 
 nearly one million of them in ten States. We have at 
 least three hundred thousand Negro votes in these 
 States. Had the Negro vote of Ohio been thrown for 
 Gen. Hancock, Garfield would have lost his own State; 
 and the Negro vote of Indiana and New York could 
 have given Gen. Hancock an overwhelming majority 
 in the Electoral College. The loyal Negro elected the 
 last President. 
 
 A SOLID SOUTH 
 
 is a fact. It will stand in the face of Northern senti- 
 ment and refuse to be broken. The next Presidential 
 candidate of the Bepublican party must carry a 
 solid North, or suffer defeat. But it is said by 
 some that the Negro question is settled; that the 
 North is weary of it; that the Negro goes from 
 the South to the national convention, insists upon 
 the nomination of a candidate, towards whose selection 
 by the Electoral College he can contribute no aid; 
 that we must have other issues than the Negro ques- 
 tion, — tariff, civil service, internal improvements, etc. 
 If this be true, and if this is to be the policy of the Re- 
 publican party, the Negro says. Amen ! If civil-service 
 reform is of more importance than human liberty, let 
 the party abandon the Negro. Then what has the party 
 to say of the Negro's abandonment of Pepublicanism? 
 It is a poor rule that does not work both ways. The 
 Republican party voluntarily assumed the task of eman- 
 
31 
 
 cipating the 'Negro ; it followed up this great and good 
 work by making him a soldier, a citizen, a voter, and 
 an office-holder. Is the work of the party ended? Is 
 its mission completed? Oh, no. fellow-citizens! not 
 until the humblest, blackest citizen in all the land shall 
 be amply protected in the constitutional exercise of the 
 political rights conferred upon him by the Constitution 
 of these United States ! To stop short of this would 
 be cowardice; to close its otherwise glorious career 
 without making free citizenship as broad as the conti- 
 nent, would be to go down to history as an inglorious 
 failure. The Republican party cannot afford to surren- 
 der its magnificent history and splendid possibilities to 
 the shot-gun policy of the South. It cannot afford to 
 say to civilized Europe, " We made the Negro a freeman 
 and a citizen; he helped us win glorious victories in war 
 and in politics, but now we cannot defend our defend- 
 ers ! " 
 
 THE I^ATION POWEKLESS 
 
 to protect its citizens? It is a libel upon our free 
 government to offer such a miserable apology for its 
 stolid indifference to murder and arson. Under the 
 internal revenue laws the government requires a tax 
 on every gallon of distilled spirits. If any manufac- 
 turer refuses to pay the tax, or attempts to evade the 
 law, he is taken in hand. If he resists, he is shot. 
 ^Nobody complains, and the government goes on. A 
 loyal human life ought to be equal in value to a 
 gallon of whiskey ! The men who formed the Con- 
 
32 
 
 stitution reserved the right to the people to change 
 it whenever their interests required it. The creator 
 is greater than the creature ; the people are more 
 important than the Constitution ! If there is no 
 power in the Constitution by which the people at the 
 South can be protected, then let the Republican party 
 recast the Constitution ; and let it be made a shield of 
 burnished steel, large enough, strong enough, to protect 
 every citizen. East and West, ]S"orth and South, black 
 and white. Democrat and Republican, from the golden 
 shores of the Pacific to the pearly coast of the Atlantic. 
 This can be donej this must be done. 
 
 PUBI>IC SENTIMENT 
 
 annoys many of our statesmen. They would be perfectly 
 willing to do more for the ^egro if it were not for 
 pubhc sentiment. When the statesmen in Athens 
 were asked why they desired to banish Aristides, 
 they replied that they were weary hearing of Aris- 
 tides the Just, and desired to get rid of him. 
 A shell was handed to Aristides in the streets of 
 Athens by a citizen who did not know him. He 
 was asked to cast his vote to banish Aristides. He 
 wrote his own name on the shell without asking a ques- 
 tion, and passed on. Is the Republican party weary 
 hearing about the Negro? and would it have him con- 
 sent to be abandoned, and pass on as a poUtical exile 
 and orphan? The party must speak at Chicago, and 
 the Korth must answer our question at the IS'ovember 
 
33 
 
 ballot-box. Do we ask too much? Yerily not. All 
 we ask is that party platforms, promises, and resolves 
 may be translated into honest action and hearty fulfil- 
 ment. We ask that our persons, pj'operty, families, and 
 lives may be defended from assassins and bulldozers; 
 that our labor may have its just compensation; that 
 justice may not tip the scales in favor of our enemies; 
 that public inns, common-carrier companies, work- 
 shops, and schools may be open to us, as they are to 
 the white race ; and that we may be permitted to cast 
 an honest ballot, have it fairly counted, and receive a 
 truthful declaration of the count. Could we ask 
 less? "Would the country have us ask less? By our 
 adherence to the Republican party we have drawn the 
 fire and intensified the malice of our enemies. And 
 now if we cannot be protected by the party we have 
 served, self-preservation, the first law of nature, 
 demands us to save ourselves at all hazards. For this 
 salvation we must organize, remembering that eternal 
 vigilance is the price of liberty. 
 
 EEVENGE 
 
 has been suggested by some madcaps. God forbid I 
 We are but a handful in this country, and we must not 
 destroy our reputation for gentleness. The Negro has 
 taught the world the gospel of forgiveness. Seven million 
 Negroes may not hope to strike at forty-three million 
 whites. Copiah and Danville first sicken the heart; 
 then horrify, then madden us. They will be thoroughly 
 investigated. Republican orators will ring the changes 
 
34 
 
 on them until after election, and the government will 
 do — nothing, simply nothing, 
 
 " Not mine sedition's trumpet blast 
 
 And threatening word ; 
 I read the lesson of the past, 
 That firm endurance wins at last 
 
 More than the sword. 
 
 " clear-eyed Faith and Patience, thou 
 
 So calm and strong, 
 Lend strength to weakness ; teach us how 
 The sleepless eyes of God look through 
 
 This night of wrong." 
 
 EMIGRATION 
 
 has virtue in the judgment of some of our discouraged 
 and gloomy brethren. This is an error of judgment. 
 America is the theatre of the JSTegro's noblest acts. 
 The graves of his ancestry are here. He was married 
 and was given in marriage here. His children were born 
 here; and, while undergoing the crucial test of man- 
 hood and citizenship, he can not afford to withdraw. 
 
 This is our own, our native land, 
 
 and under American institutions we are to demonstrate 
 our claims to manhood, and our fitness for the duties of 
 citizenship. 
 
 THE MORAL PHASE 
 
 of the Kegro question is worthy of profound study. 
 "We have not the time to examine the ethics of the anti- 
 
35 
 
 slavery movement, but venture the statement that the 
 American people owe much of their moral breadth to 
 the Negro question. The Negro problem was the other 
 side of American materialism. The leading men of 
 the last century obtained their greatness in the struggle 
 the Colonies passed through. The constant dwelling 
 upon the questions of personal rights made them moral 
 giants; and all the marked men of the present century 
 owe their greatness to the Negro problem. It was 
 natural that a young nation in a new country would be 
 given over to materialism. The obstructions across the 
 path of its physical advancement were numerous and 
 stubborn. The bread-winner in such a country and 
 nation would not be humane as a rule. Invironment 
 is a profound factor in the problem of civilization. 
 Constant contact with the rougher phases of nature 
 makes men correspondingly rough. The humanity 
 and social life of young colonies in new countries 
 are scarcely ever of a high order. But some injured 
 right of humanity crying aloud for redress keeps 
 the moral senses of society from slumbering, and holds 
 the affections in healthful tension. Fortunate, indeed, 
 for the permanent fame of the American nation, that 
 the Negro problem has been ever before them. The 
 poor Negro saved America from the grossest material- 
 ism, and furnished the condition for the production of 
 her ablest men. The great French preacher, Fenelon 
 began his eulogy over the body of the dead king of 
 France by exclaiming, " God only is great ! " And there 
 is, certainly, no earthly greatness but goodness. The 
 
greatness of the foremost Americans of the nineteenth 
 century was distilled through the tears and bloody 
 sweat of the ^egro slave; and every ray of lasting 
 glory that rests upon the brow of the Republic was 
 born in the deepest vale of the slave's degradation. 
 The republic of letters owes the Kegro a debt of 
 gratitude. Poetry and prose, history and biography, 
 have gleaned in this field; and fiction, approaching 
 with tardy step, will yet be blessed with a rich store of 
 fact and fancy unequalled in the world's history. 
 
 If there had been no 'Negro slavery there would 
 have been no anti-slavery agitation ; and having no 
 anti-slavery agitation, we could have had no Lundy, no 
 Garrison, no Phillips, no Sumner, no Stevens, no Lin- 
 coln. And there being no contest between slavery and 
 freedom, there would have been no rebellion ; and, 
 hence, Grant and Thomas, Sheridan and McPherson, 
 would have been as obscure as South Sea Islanders. 
 The fame of Lincoln rests upon the Emancipation edict; 
 the fame of Sumner rests upon his two great speeches, 
 The Barbarism of Slavery^ The Crime against Kan- 
 sas, and his Civil Rights Bill. The only Americans 
 immortal in history are those who emptied themselves 
 for humanity. Other men have striven to make a place 
 in history, but as in the zoological classification of ani- 
 mals, so they will find their proper group. By their 
 works ye shall know them. 
 
37 
 
 THE BLAIK EDUCATIONAL BILL 
 
 is the grandest measure of our times. It is broad, com- 
 prehensive, and beneficent. It is a prophecy of better 
 things to come ; and a pledge that this country is not to 
 be Europeanized or turned over to native ignorance, 
 and the nihilism of Russia, the communism of France, 
 the socialism of Germany. What we want is more 
 light in America. The electric light in the streets of 
 Washington is more than your police force. Light in 
 this country is more than our army, stretching from 
 Lake Itasca to where the Mississippi mingles his golden 
 thread in the deep blue of the Gulf of Mexico; more 
 than our navy, overshadowing the ocean. 
 
 as Gen. James B. Gordon puts it, must aid this work. 
 A happy solution of the Negro problem can be speedily 
 reached if the white people of the South will take an 
 interest in this question. Three things must be done by 
 the white people there, viz., the chain-gang system 
 should be abolished; the iniquitous, cheating planta- 
 tion credit system should be abandoned; and every 
 child, white and black, should be sent to school for at 
 least seven months in every year. 
 
 The Negro is thirsting for knowledge, and should be 
 gratified. Some years before the war, an artist of Phila- 
 delphia was secured by the State of South Carolina to 
 paint some national emblematic picture for her State 
 
38 
 
 House. Jefferson Davis was invited to act with the 
 South Carolina committee at "Washington, in criticising 
 the studies of this work. The most creditable sketch 
 presented was a design representing the North by 
 various mechanical implements; the West by a prairie 
 and plough; while the South was represented by various 
 things, the centre-piece, however, being a cotton-bale 
 with a I^egro upon it fast asleep. When Mr. Davis 
 saw it, he said, "Gentlemen, this will never do; what 
 will become of the South when the Negro wakes up?" 
 
 THE SOUTHERN REBELLION 
 
 startled the Negro; the reconstruction struggle brought 
 him to his feet; he has yawned, and, to-day, with open 
 eyes, he is manfully looking the serious questions of 
 life squarely in the face. He is learning the practical 
 lessons of life with ease and thoroughness; and all he 
 requires is kind treatment and fair dealing from the 
 whites, and no people in the country will more heartily 
 rejoice that he was aroused from his slumbers than the 
 Southern people themselves. 
 
 THE VALLEY OF THE CONGO, 
 
 in Africa, is attracting intelligent attention. Every 
 Negro in the United States should have an honest 
 pride in the African question. Africa is yet going to 
 pay this nation dollar for dollar of the three billions 
 spent in prosecuting the war; and America is going to 
 compensate Africa for stealing her children by placing 
 
39 
 
 the means of civilization in her waiting and willing 
 hands. Thanks to his Excellency President Arthur 
 for his message on the Congo, and loud huzzas for the 
 United States Senate for recognizing the International 
 African Association. Africa is sure to be the scene of 
 the world's greatest civilization. She will be quickened 
 in every nerve and fibre by the power of commerce; 
 and Christian civilization will give tone to her sluggish 
 moral pulse. Africa will be regenerated; tribes will 
 be converted; states will be founded; arts and letters 
 will flourish ; peace will reign in her mountains and smile 
 in her valleys; ships and cables, journals and literature, 
 science and discovery, will bind her to the civilized 
 world in bonds of eternal friendship. 
 
 NEW LEADERS 
 
 for the ]S'egro race are needed. ^N'ot the time-servmg 
 lickspittle, not the self-seeking parasite, not the obse- 
 quious, cringing go-between, not swaggering insolence 
 or skulking cowardice in leadership, nor any man who 
 is either ashamed of being, or mean enough to deny that 
 he is, a Negro. We want, we demand leaders, first of 
 all, who are not ashamed of the race; who are j)Ossessed 
 of brains, character, courage, zeal, and tact. We want 
 leaders who know the history of the race's trials, strug- 
 gles, and achievements-; and who can, from that history, 
 draw inspiration for the great work to be accomplished. 
 We demand leaders who are the friends of mechanical 
 education for the rising young men; and who are pledged 
 
40 
 
 to a system of thorough education for our young women. 
 "We demand leaders who will neither touch, taste, nor 
 handle, nor put to their neighbors' lips, in private or 
 public, at home or abroad, on land or sea, the accursed 
 cup of drink. Men they must be of noble instincts and 
 generous impulses; who have a genius for hard, self- 
 sacrificing labor to build up the race. Such leaders will 
 have the skill to detect the condition of our people, and 
 the genius and heroism to lead the way to the heart of 
 the race's moral need. God grant that such men may 
 be forthcoming. 
 
 MORAL EMANCIPATION 
 
 is what we most need now. Many salutary lessons are 
 taught us by the bitter past. Let us lay them to 
 heart, and, taking fresh courage, turn to the great 
 work that awaits us on every hand. All that remains 
 of this tempestuous state of things is but the rocking of 
 a troubled sea to rest. For He whose chariot the winds 
 are, and the clouds, the dust that waits upon His sultry 
 march shall visit us in mercy; shall descend propitious 
 in His chariot, paved with love. 
 
This book is due at the WALTER R. DAVIS LIBRARY on 
 the last date stamped under "Date Due." If not on hold it 
 may be renewed by bringing it to the library. 
 
 
 
 DATE 
 DUE 
 
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 DUE 
 
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UNIYERSITY OF N C AT CHAPEL