he penned the _text-words_ of disenthrallment: 'All
men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'
Where is to be found the evidence that these rights have been forfeited?
Who dare deny the right of the colored man morally, religiously, or
politically, to assert them? It is true, we have hitherto acted in
defiance of these acknowledged rights. We have outraged them. We have
waged a shameful and shameless warfare against them. The sequences of
that warfare are now upon us. The sin is now being atoned for in blood.
It has not yet been ordained that the principles of injustice should
have permanent duration. If not restrained by humane rationality, they
will culminate in convulsion. The light is now breaking upon the
heretofore obscured vision of the American people. We can now begin to
see with clearness that the colored man's disenthrallment is to become
the white man's future security. This would almost seem to be the
harmony of divine justice in the affairs of men.

No substantial amelioration in the depressed condition of race or class
has yet been brought about in disconnection with the powerful agency of
such race or class. Human nature forbids it. The selfish tenacity of
advantage, resting on what is misnamed 'vested rights,' but having its
foundation in vested wrongs, yields only on compulsion. It is only when
the depressed race or class, acting in somewhat intelligent concert,
exhibits the disposition to aid in the purposes of protection, that the
mercenary power succumbs to necessity. History furnishes no examples to
the contrary. It may not be impossible that our own times may make
history to corroborate the truth of these premises.

When it is asserted that the colored man is wanting in bravery, and is
not endowed with the natural courage to assert and maintain his rights,
we are apt to forget that physical bravery is a thing of cultivation.
There is not the least evidence that, with military discipline and
something to fight for, the colored population of the United States
would not prove as brave as the black regiment of the Revolution. With
such bravery as that regiment exhibited, the four millions and their
prospective increase would require a gigantic force to make profitable
slaves of them. Again, there is something beyond the protection from
domestic violence that demands consideration, in connection with th