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 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.  So 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 irresistibly for the defense of the rights of their Southern brethren.