4. Enter into secret negotiations with all of the foreign enemies of
the United States, acquainting them of our military strength and men
aboard the United States war ships.

5. Secure an appropriation from Congress to hold a fair at Galveston,
inviting the Governor of Texas to be present. It will afford an excuse
for all Negro families to pour into Texas. It will also be an excuse
for having the war ships of nations friendly to us, in the harbor for
a rendezvous.

6. While the Governor is away, let the troops proceed quietly to
Austin, seize the capitol and hoist the flag of the Imperium.

7. We can then, if need be, wreck the entire navy of the United States
in a night; the United States will then be prostrate before us and our
allies.

8. We will demand the surrender of Texas and Louisiana to the
Imperium. Texas, we will retain. Louisiana, we will cede to our
foreign allies in return for their aid. Thus will the Negro have an
empire of his own, fertile in soil, capable of sustaining a population
of fifty million people.

Belton ceased reading the paper and returned it to Bernard.

"What is your opinion of the matter, Belton?"

"It is treason," was Belton's terse reply.

"Are you in favor of it?" asked Bernard.

"No. I am not and never shall be. I am no traitor and never shall be
one. Our Imperium was organized to secure our rights within the United
States and we will make any sacrifice that can be named to attain that
end. Our efforts have been to wash the flag free of all blots, not to
rend it; to burnish every star in the cluster, but to pluck none out.

"Candidly, Bernard, I love the Union and I love the South. Soaked as
Old Glory is with my people's tears and stained as it is with their
warm blood, I could die as my forefathers did, fighting for its honor
and asking no greater boon than Old Glory for my shroud and native
soil for my grave. This may appear strange, but love of country is one
of the deepest passions in the human bosom, and men in all ages have
been known to give their lives for the land in which they had known
nothing save cruelty and oppression. I shall never give up my fight
for freedom, but I shall never prove false to the flag. I may fight
to keep her from floating over cesspools of corruption by removing the
cesspool; but I shall never fight to restrict the territory in which
she is to float. These are my unalterable opinions."

Bernard said: "Well, Belton, we have at last arr