physical force to extract justice and lawful
methods from an unwilling constituency; that the reaction from a forced
compulsion in the moral world was as evident and unfailing under the
conditions as from compression in the physical. I was hopeful of good
results, and so expressed myself in an interview with the President. He
replied that he was "sincere in his policy, and should adhere to it
unless it seemed impracticable that the policy of force and musket had
been tried in the South and had failed and public sentiment now demanded
a change." We had and have the change, and it would have been a bright
jewel in the autonomy of many of the Southern States had it been more
liberal and righteous.

[Illustration: PROF. I. G. ISH.

Principal of High School, Little Rock, Arkansas. An Erudite Scholar and
Zealous Tutor.]

History, as a record of the lower to a higher status of civilization
increases in intensity and value as it records superior conditions, and
the degree of unrest and earnestness of appeal for the abrogation of
oppression is indicative of the appreciation and fitness for the rights
of citizenship.

It should be remembered that as it became men dowered with the proud
title of American Citizen, the Negro has not been remiss in stating his
grievances and appealing for justice. To have done less would have
banished sympathy and invited contempt. In Arkansas and some other
Southern States there is a growing demand for the forms of law and the
maintenance of order, and, while not attaining the zenith of
accomplishment, it will be observable when contrasted with the
lawlessness depicted in the following resolutions of a convention of
colored men held in Little Rock August 29, 1883. They contain views and
convictions I there presented, the equity of which 'tis fondly hoped
have not been lost by lapse of time:

"Be it resolved, That this convention of colored men of the State of
Arkansas have still to complain that violence and injustice to their
race still exists to an alarming extent. In most cases the perpetrators
go unwhipped of justice. That when they are arraigned the law is
administered with such laxity and partiality that the escape of the
criminal is both easy and possible. In no instance is the penalty of the
law enforced against a white man for the murder of a Negro, however
palpable the case may be; whilst in most instances the bare accusation
of a Negro committing a homicide upon a white man is suffi