e
consent of the governed, then it follows that the American government
is in duty bound to seek to know our will as respects the laws and the
men who are to govern us.

"But instead of seeking to know our will, they employ every device
that human ingenuity can contrive to prevent us from expressing our
opinion. The monarchial trait seems not to have left their blood. They
have apparently chosen our race as an empire, and each Anglo-Saxon
regards himself as a petty king, and some gang or community of negroes
as his subjects.

"Thus our voice is not heard in the General Government. Our kings,
the Anglo-Saxons, speak for us, their slaves. In some states we are
deprived of our right to vote by frauds, in others by violence, and
in yet others by statutory enactment. But in all cases it is most
effectually done.

"Burdens may be put upon our shoulders that are weighing us down,
but we have no means of protesting. Men who administer the laws may
discriminate against us to an outrageous degree, but we have no power
to remove or to punish them.

"Like lean, hungry dogs, we must crouch beneath our master's table
and snap eagerly at the crumbs that fall. If in our scramble for these
crumbs we make too much noise, we are violently kicked and driven
out of doors, where, in the sleet and snow, we must whimper and whine
until late the next morning when the cook opens the door and we can
then crouch down in the corner of the kitchen.

"Oh! my Comrades, we cannot longer endure our shame and misery!

"We can no longer lay supinely down upon our backs and let oppression
dig his iron heel in our upturned pleading face until, perchance, the
pity of a bystander may meekly request him to desist.

"Fellow Countrymen, we must be free. The sun that bathes our land in
light yet rises and sets upon a race of slaves.

"The question remaining before us, then, is, How we are to obtain this
freedom? In olden times, revolutions were effected by the sword and
spear. In modern times the ballot has been used for that purpose. But
the ballot has been snatched from our hands. The modern implement of
revolutions has been denied us. I need not say more. Your minds will
lead you to the only gate left open.

"But this much I will say: let not so light, so common, so universal a
thing as that which we call death be allowed to frighten you from the
path that leads to true liberty and absolute equality. Let that which
under any circumstances must come