of
the vast assembly. At each National Convention of the Republican party
representatives of the race have shown not alone oratorical power, but
an intelligent grasp of the political situation. At this period of
General Grant's nomination, the nation's heart still jubilant with the
success of the Federal arms; its conscience awakened by the dread
penalty paid by contributions from every loyal hearthstone for the
subjugation of slavery, was now eager and active in providing that the
Negro who had been faithful in peace and heroic in war, should enjoy the
rights of an American citizen. It was history repeating itself, for in
England's history we read that it was Henry at Ajincourt who said: "Who
this day sheds his blood with me today shall be my brother; were he
ne'er so vile, today shall gentle his condition." For the Civil War, as
it matured, became no ordinary case of political contention; the soul of
its suppression sprang from the most sacred impulses in the mind of man.
It was response to the self-retort of Cain that came echoing down the
ages, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Answer came in shot and shell.

But as time receded from these historic epochs, engrossed more and more
in national development, mercantile aspirations, internal improvements,
rivalry of parties, self-aggrandizement--in short, all the agencies and
factors inseparable from human nature that influence on material lines,
have effaced much of the general solicitude that formerly existed. This
decadence of purpose is not unnatural; a wardship is a duty, and should
not be a continuous necessity, its greatest blessing a consciousness
that its ideals and purposes have been assimilated by its wards, and
lifted higher in humanity's scale. Too much dependence is as hurtful as
entire neglect. The more persistent the call for the forces within the
greater the response from the assistants without. The lethargy or
neglect to give the Negro protection in the exercise of his
constitutional rights is developing a spirit of self-help and intensity
of purpose, to find and adopt a course and measures remedial that may be
practical and efficient; to ignore the sentimentality of politics and
subordinate them to conditions irrespective of party. He has found that
"the mills of the gods grind slowly;" that the political lever needs for
its fulcrum a foundation as solidly material as equitably sentimental.

Proclaim brotherhood, justice, and equal rights ever so much, men w