29 enemies, by the complete refusal of the rights of citizens, will have but one recourse—insurrection. Insurrection will increase the hatred ; hatred will multiply the insurrections ; and the end will be the destruction of a race—a destruction escorted to the end by the chimera of expatriation in a body. Have you measured this scandal and this crime—the race that you have freed, delivered over, delivered over uncondi- tionally to the mercy of their former masters ? The right of suffrage changes everything. This is, I repeat, as important in what concerns the race, as it is insignificant in what concerns individuals. By this fact alone, the abolition of slavery is finished, the negro becomes a citizen, human dignity is protected, and the state of affairs is radically transformed. They are men. They set themselves up as the equals of other men. They labor, according to your counsels, Mr. President, to render themselves worthy of their new position. They aspire to instruction and property. Under the eye of that God of the gospel, whom they have learned to love, they set out to attain that moral independence which has its seat in the heart. I do not pretend, although this fact must also be taken into account in a free country, accustomed to political manoeuvres—I do not pretend that the vote of a part of the negroes would from the first moment confer upon them political importance, and that they would aspire to play a part in your internal debates. Politicians would not begin to court them on the spot, and to endeavor to influence their still scanty suffrages, yet the framers of platforms would not perhaps be always indifferent to the thought of securing these loose votes. However this may be, men clothed with a civic capacity will be treated with a little more consideration. They will learn to protect and to respect themselves. Become citizens, they will set about using their rights. Supported by political equality, civil equality will tend to become transformed into a reality. This process will be difficult and slow. In spite of the
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM4ODY=