16' everything. You will be divided on other bases, in accordance with other principles, in other proportions, and with a view to other ends—it will be henceforth only the normal conflict which characterizes the life of free countries. And, to put an end to the negro question, you do not need to amend your Constitution. This would be, I grant, a difficult undertaking. But why add a new amendment to that which abolishes slavery. Let the political equality of the races be established in fact, and it will be established by law. Your Constitution recognizes no middle-ground between slavery and freedom. It may have tolerated slavery; it certainly has not sanctioned in advance the proscription of four millions of men who would be neither slaves nor citizens, although born on your soil. It has made no provision for Helots. NEGRO SUFFRAGE. V. Everything brings us back, as you see, to the great problem which contains within itself your whole future, to that great problem which it is necessary to resolve with wisdom, with prudence, with moderation, with good sense, but also with firmness—negro suffrage. This problem is not only great in itself, it is great through its close connection with the debates on slavery. This regulated, your conflict is ended, you have completed your gigantic work, and the nineteenth century has witnessed an incomparable progress. To finish in this manner what you have commenced, you have at your disposal the power which has so well served you hitherto, the power of principle. What is it that has made your strength ? Your principles. This was well known by the enemies who strove to prove that slavery was not the point in question. The South had unfurled the flag of slavery ; and this is why no European state, however powerful, was able to recog
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM4ODY=