mind that so long as they discriminate in any way against the Negro's
equality of right, so long do they set class against class and open the
door to every sort of discrimination. There can be no middle ground
between justice and injustice, between the citizen and the serf.

It is not likely that the North, upon the sober second thought, will
permit the dearly-bought results of the Civil War to be nullified by any
change in the Constitution. As long as the Fifteenth Amendment stands, the
_rights_ of colored citizens are ultimately secure. There were would-be
despots in England after the granting of Magna Charta; but it outlived
them all, and the liberties of the English people are secure. There was
slavery in this land after the Declaration of Independence, yet the faces
of those who love liberty have ever turned to that immortal document. So
will the Constitution and its principles outlive the prejudices which
would seek to overthrow it.

What colored men of the South can do to secure their citizenship to-day,
or in the immediate future, is not very clear. Their utterances on
political questions, unless they be to concede away the political rights
of their race, or to soothe the consciences of white men by suggesting
that the problem is insoluble except by some slow remedial process which
will become effectual only in the distant future, are received with scant
respect--could scarcely, indeed, be otherwise received, without a voting
constituency to back them up,--and must be cautiously made, lest they meet
an actively hostile reception. But there are many colored men at the
North, where their civil and political rights in the main are respected.
There every honest man has a vote, which he may freely cast, and which is
reasonably sure to be fairly counted. When this race develops a sufficient
power of combination, under adequate leadership,--and there are signs
already that this time is near at hand,--the Northern vote can be wielded