pinion. When the
Negro was first given the ballot he used it to convey expression of
love and gratitude to the North, while it bore to the South a message
of hate and revenge. No Negro, on pain of being ostracised or probably
murdered, was allowed to exercise the ballot in any other way than
that just mentioned. They voted in a mass, according to the dictates
of love and hate.

"The ballot was never designed for such a purpose. The white man
snatched the ballot from the Negro. His only crime was, in not
snatching it from him also, for he was voting on the same principle.
Neither race was thinking. They were both simply feeling, and ballots
are not meant to convey feelings.

"But happily that day has passed and both races are thinking and are
better prepared to vote. But the white man is still holding on to
the stolen ballot box and he must surrender it. If we can secure
possession of that right again, we shall use it to correct the many
grievous wrongs under which we suffer. That is the one point on which
all of our efforts are focused. Here is the storm center. Let us carry
this point and our flag will soon have all of our rights inscribed
thereon. The struggle is on, and my beloved Congress, let me urge one
thing upon you. Leave out revenge as one of the things at which to
aim.

"In His Holy Word our most high God has said: 'Vengeance is mine.'
Great as is this Imperium, let it not mount God's throne and attempt
by violence to rob Him of his prerogatives. In this battle, we want
Him on our side and let us war as becometh men who fear and reverence
Him. Hitherto, we have seen vengeance terrible in his hands.

"While we, the oppressed, stayed upon the plantation in peace, our
oppressors were upon the field of battle engaged in mortal combat; and
it was the blood of our oppressor, not our own, that was paid as the
price of our freedom. And that same God is alive to-day; and let us
trust Him for vengeance, and if we pray let our prayer be for mercy on
those who have wronged us, for direful shall be their woes.

"And now, I have a substitute proposition. Fellow Comrades, I am not
for internecine war. O! Eternal God, lend unto these, my Comrades, the
departed spirit of Dante, faithful artist of the horrors of hell, for
we feel that he alone can paint the shudder-making, soul-sickening
scenes that follow in the wake of fast moving internecine war.

"Now, hear my solution of the race problem. The Anglo-Saxon does not