restrain or punish them for crimes
committed upon the poor and defenseless colored citizens, of course they
have pushed them to the wall. The inequality between the two races in
all that constitutes protective forces was such as to render that result
inevitable as soon as Federal protection was withdrawn, and I do not
hesitate to affirm that unless some means are devised to enforce respect
for the rights of the colored citizens of the South, their
enfranchisement will prove a curse instead of a benefit to the country.
Emancipated to cripple the South and enfranchised to strengthen the
North, the colored race was freed and its people made citizens in the
interest of the Republic. Its fundamental law declares them citizens,
and the Fifteenth Amendment expressly states that: "The right of
citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged
by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or
previous condition of servitude." The faith and honor of the Nation are
pledged to the rigid enforcement of the law in this, as in every other
respect, and the interests of the 40,000,000 white people in the
Republic demand it. If the law, both constitutional and statutory,
affecting the rights and privileges of the colored citizens can be
defiantly ignored and disobeyed in eleven States of the Union in a
matter of such grave import as this--a matter involving the very essence
of republican government, _i. e._, the right of the majority to
rule--who can tell where it will end and how long it will be before
elections in all of the States will be armed conflicts, to be decided by
the greatest prowess and dexterity in the use of the bowie knife,
pistol, shot-gun and rifle?

White men of the North, I tell you this practise of controlling
elections in the South by force and fraud is contagious! It spreads with
alarming rapidity and unless eradicated, will overtake and overwhelm you
as it has your friends in the South. It showed its horrid head in Maine,
and came very near wresting that State from a lawful majority. Employed
in the South first to drive Republicans from a few counties, it has
grown from "autumnal outbreaks" into an almost perpetual hurricane and,
gathering force as it goes, has violently seized State after State,
mastered the entire South, and is even now thundering at the gates of
the national Capital. Whether it shall capture it too, and spread its
blighting influence all over the land, is th