history, I do so only by way of
admonition and not to question the well-attested gallantly of the true
Kentuckian, and to the gentleman that it would be well that he should
not flaunt his heraldry so proudly while he bears this bar-sinister on
the military escutcheon of his State--a State which answered the call of
the Republic in 1861, when treason thundered at the very gates of the
Capital, by coldly declaring her neutrality in the impending struggle.
The Negro, true to that patriotism and love of country that have ever
marked and characterized his history on this continent, came to the aid
of the Government in its efforts to maintain the Constitution. To that
Government he now appeals; that Constitution he now invokes for
protection against outrage and unjust prejudices founded upon caste.

But, sir, we are told by the distinguished gentleman from Georgia (Mr.
Stephens) that Congress has no power under the Constitution to pass such
a law, and that the passage of such an act is in direct contravention
of the rights of the States. I cannot assent to any such proposition.
The Constitution of a free government ought always to be construed in
favor of human rights. Indeed, the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth
amendments, in positive words, invest Congress with the power to protect
the citizen in his civil and political rights. Now, sir, what are civil
rights? Rights natural, modified by civil society. Mr. Lieber says: "By
civil liberty is meant, not only the absence of individual restraint,
but liberty within the social system and political organism--a
combination of principles, and laws which acknowledge, protect, and
favor the dignity of man * * * civil liberty is the result of man's two
fold character as an individual and social being, so soon as both are
equally respected."[7]

[Note 7: Lieber on Civil Liberty, page 25.]

Alexander Hamilton, the right-hand man of Washington in the perilous
days of the then infant Republic; the great interpreter and expounder of
the Constitution, says: "Natural liberty is the gift of a beneficent
Creator to the whole human race; civil liberty is founded on it, civil
liberty is only natural liberty modified and secured by civil
society."[8]

[Note 8: Hamilton's History of the American Republic, Vol. I, page
70.]

* * * * *

Are we then, sir, with the amendments to our constitution staring us in
the face; with these grand truths of history before our eyes; with
innumerable w