t as a whole
given up to deeds of violence, will at least wink at them, when
committed by men either in or out of its own ranks. What the
South needs to-day is ballots, not bullets.

I leave out of the question the ultimate educating power of the
ballot, though I would like to make you an argument upon that
alone. But I say give the poor men, ignorant men the ballot for
purposes of self-defense, and because we could not live in safety
in our homes otherwise. New York is poorly governed, we say,
to-day, and getting to be a pretty dangerous place to live in.
But what would it be if every foreigner and every ignorant man
could not go out on election day, and prove that he was as good
as anybody? That is human nature, and it is human nature, and
plenty of it too, that we have to deal with. And now, let me ask
you, what are these men sent here for and who sent them? We have
got all Europe, and all Asia is coming, and who sends them? When
God put into that good ship _Mayflower_ those two great ribs of
oak, personal liberty and personal responsibility, He knew the
precious freight she was to bear, and all the hopes bound up in
her, and He pledged Himself by both the great eternities, the
past and the future, that that ship should weather all storms and
come safe to port with all she had on board. And what God has
promised He will perform. So I beg of you not to think for a
moment of limiting manhood suffrage.

And if men can not live in this country in safe homes, except
their neighbor men are enfranchised, can they live without
enfranchised women any more? If you can not live in safety with
irresponsible men in your midst, how can you live with
irresponsible women? Much more, how can you grow into the stature
of perfect men in Christ Jesus our Lord; how can you become
perfect legislators, except your mothers are instructed on these
great subjects you are called to legislate upon, that they may
instruct you in their turn? You do not know anything so well as
what your mothers have taught you; but they have not taught you
political economy. It is not their fault that they have not, nor
yours, perhaps. No man nor woman studies a subject profoundly
except he or she is called upon to act upon it. What business man
studies a business foreign to his