expressly to determine the constitutionality of the Alabama Constitution.
The Court declared itself without jurisdiction, and in the same breath
went into the merits of the case far enough to deny relief, without
passing upon the real issue. Had it said, as it might with absolute
justice and perfect propriety, that the Alabama Constitution is a bold and
impudent violation of the Fifteenth Amendment, the purpose of the lawsuit
would have been accomplished and a righteous cause vastly strengthened.

But public opinion cannot remain permanently indifferent to so vital a
question. The agitation is already on. It is at present largely academic,
but is slowly and resistlessly, forcing itself into politics, which is the
medium through which republics settle such questions. It cannot much
longer be contemptuously or indifferently elbowed aside. The South itself
seems bent upon forcing the question to an issue, as, by its arrogant
assumptions, it brought on the Civil War. From that section, too, there
come now and then, side by side with tales of Southern outrage, excusing
voices, which at the same time are accusing voices; which admit that the
white South is dealing with the Negro unjustly and unwisely; that the
Golden Rule has been forgotten; that the interests of white men alone have
been taken into account, and that their true interests as well are being
sacrificed. There is a silent white South, uneasy in conscience, darkened
in counsel, groping for the light, and willing to do the right. They are
as yet a feeble folk, their voices scarcely audible above the clamor of
the mob. May their convictions ripen into wisdom, and may their numbers
and their courage increase! If the class of Southern white men of whom
Judge Jones of Alabama, is so noble a representative, are supported and
encouraged by a righteous public opinion at the North, they may, in time,
become the dominant white South, and we may then look for wisdom and
justice in the place where, so far as the Negro is concerned, they now
seem well-nigh strangers. But even these gentlemen will do well to bear in