42 with its powerful hands, first in the Southern states, then in Cuba and Brazil. You will do me this justice that, if I claim the rights of the negroes, I never urge them to insurrection. Perhaps my voice will be heard by some among them. If there is a fundamental thought in my life, it is the struggle against that iniquity which is in the process of disappearing, and the disappearance of which will be the glory of the nineteenth century. Ever since I have been able to hold a pen, ever since I have been able to mount a rostrum, I have fought for the abolition of slavery and the social elevation of the negro race. Ever since I have known how to pray, I have asked of God the favor that He, who had placed in the hearts of many of the negroes the internal liberty founded on faith, would give them also the external liberty founded on human laws. It should not be said that, in a country in which the Gospel exercises a profound influence, men refuse to treat as fellow-citizens those whom they love and respect as brethren in Christ. I regret to speak again of myself; but have I not the right to say anything that may tend to overcome prejudices and gain friends to the cause which I defend ? I venture therefore, to remark, Mr. President, that he who has the honor to address you to-day is a moderate man, who has given proofs of moderation. Some delight in maintaining, that, to demand negro suffrage, one must be either an adversary of your administration or a radical. Well, lam neither. There are some hasty men who refuse to take one step after another, and who endanger the success of their cause by the folly of their exorbitant demands. I venture to affirm that I am not one of these. Under Mr. Lincoln’s presidency, I understood that he was advancing prudently and gradually in the solution of the problem of abolition. Under your presidency, I have applauded, as* you know, the gentleness of your conduct toward the South. If I have blamed anything, it has been the exception which you seemed to make by refusing the amnesty to citizens possessing twenty thousand dollars. I have always been opposed to confiscations, opposed to foreign wars, opposed to the policy of the prolonged military occupation and, in some sort, the conquest of the
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