n go, it never will cease beating for what is held dear
and sacred to you. But I came here to speak to those of our new
fellow-citizens, who are not seeking the light of truth.

"It is said that two races now stand in open antagonism to each
other--that the colored man is the natural enemy of the white
man, and, hereafter, no communion of interests, feelings and past
associations, can fill the gulf which divides them.

"But who is it that says so? Is it the Federal soldier who fought
for the freedom of that race? Is it even the political leader
whose eloquence stirred up the North and West to the rescue of
that race? No; it is none of these. It is not even the
intelligent and educated men of that class, for I now stand on
the very spot where one of them, Mr. Trenier, disclaimed those
disorganizing principles, and eloquently vindicated the cause of
truth and reason.

"Why, then, should there be any strife between us? Why should not
our gods be their gods--our happiness be their happiness? Has
anything happened which should break up concert of action,
harmony, and concord in the great--the main objects of life--the
pursuit of happiness?

"Where can that happiness spring from? Is it from the midst of a
community divided against itself, or from one blessed with peace
and harmony?

"In what particular have our relations changed? In what case have
our interests in the general welfare been divided? Is not today
the colored man as essential to our prosperity as he was before?

"Is not our soil calling for the energetic efforts of his sinewy
arms? Can we, in fact, live without him? But while we want his
labor he wants our lands, our capital, our industry, our
influence in the commerce and finances of the world.

"And if, coming down from those higher functions in society, we
descend to our domestic relations, where do we find that those
relations are changed?

"Does not the intelligent freedman know that neither he nor we
are accountable to God for the condition in which we were
respectively born?

"Does he not know that, for generations past, the institution of
slavery had been forced upon us by the avarice, the love of power
of the North? Does he not know that to-day we have in him the
same implicit faith and reliance we had