murdered people; a White League with its "covenant of
death and agreement with hell." And who cares? What city pauses one hour
to drop a pitying tear over these mangled corpses, or has forged against
the perpetrator one thunderbolt of furious protest? But let there be a
supposed or real invasion of Southern rights by our soldiers, and our
great commercial emporium will rally its forces from the old man in his
classic shades, to clasp hands with "dead rabbits" and "plug-uglies" in
protesting against military interference. What we need to-day in the
onward march of humanity is a public sentiment in favor of common
justice and simple mercy. We have a civilization which has produced
grand and magnificent results, diffused knowledge, overthrown slavery,
made constant conquests over nature, and built up a wonderful material
prosperity. But two things are wanting in American civilization--a
keener and deeper, broader and tenderer sense of justice--a sense of
humanity, which shall crystallize into the life of the nation the
sentiment that justice, simple justice, is the right, not simply of the
strong and powerful, but of the weakest and feeblest of all God's
children; a deeper and broader humanity, which will teach men to look
upon their feeble brethren not as vermin to be crushed out, or beasts of
burden to be bridled and bitted, but as the children of the living God;
of that God whom we may earnestly hope is in perfect wisdom and in
perfect love working for the best good of all. Ethnologists may differ
about the origin of the human race. Huxley may search for it in
protoplasms, and Darwin send for the missing links, but there is one
thing of which we may rest assured,--that we all come from the living
God and that He is the common Father. The nation that has no reverence
for man is also lacking in reverence for God and needs to be instructed.

As fellow citizens, leaving out all humanitarian views--as a mere matter
of political economy it is better to have the colored race a living
force animated and strengthened by self-reliance and self-respect, than
a stagnant mass, degraded and self-condemned. Instead of the North
relaxing its efforts to diffuse education in the South, it behooves us
for our national life, to throw into the South all the healthful
reconstructing influences we can command. Our work in this country is
grandly constructive. Some races have come into this world and
overthrown and destroyed. But if it is glor