votes cast; and finally threats
and violence were practiced directly upon the masses of voters in
such measure and strength as to produce grave apprehensions for
personal safety and as to deter them from the exercise of their
political franchises.

It was in this speech that Senator Bruce replied to the erstwhile
criticism that the Negro was a coward because he endured every kind of
indignity without retaliating. Taking the prevalent view of
progressive thought of the nineteenth century, he spoke as follows:

It will not accord with the laws of nature or history to brand
colored people a race of cowards. On more than one historic
field, beginning in 1776 and coming down to the centennial year
of the Republic, they have attested in blood their courage as
well as a love of liberty. I ask Senators to believe that no
consideration of fear or personal danger has kept us quiet and
forbearing under the provocations and wrongs that have so sorely
tried our souls. But feeling kindly towards our white
fellow-citizens, appreciating the good purposes and offices of
the better classes, and, above all, abhorring war of races, we
determined to wait until such time as an appeal to the good sense
and justice of the American people could be made.[7]

This pronouncement of Senator Bruce exalting the manly virtue of
patience, even in the face of grave injustices, was preeminently
representative of the most highly educated Negro thought of the
century in which Senator Bruce lived, and must be interpreted in terms
of the philosophy of his day. If it should be objected to by some of
the most highly developed Negro thought of the present day, the
increasing tendency towards retaliation should be attributed partly to
the American Negro's metamorphosis since the colossal struggle for
that Utopian dream--a World's Democracy.

Perhaps the part of Senator Bruce's speech which has given most
impetus to similar modern expression is contained in the following
excerpt:

The sober American judgment must obtain in the South as elsewhere
in the Republic, that the only distinctions upon which parties
can be safely organized and in harmony with our institutions are
differences of opinion relative to principles and policies of
government, and that differences of religion, nationality, or
race can neither with safety nor propriety be permitted