Civil Rights Laws to proclaim and enforce his social equality throughout the land. But the ballot dropped a useless weapon from his untutored hand, and the enactments designed to secure his civil rights, passed with such vociferous acclaim, kept the promise of social equality to his ear only to break it to his hope. The earnest effort has been to tell the story of Lincoln's relation to the problem and to set forth his views of its solution as the words fell from his own lips and pen during the period of his prolonged service on behalf of the negro race. It may be added that nowhere is there to be found in his published works any indication that he ever found occasion to modify or change his sentiments upon this subject. On the contrary, his state papers abound with fugitive expressions on the differing aspects of the topic, denoting that this solution was continually present in his thoughts as he pondered over the problems of national concern. Was Was Lincoln right in his proposed solution of the negro problem? He was a man of profound belief in the capacity of human nature, in its impulses for good, in its desire for spiritual attainment. He was peculiarly gifted with the instinct of unswerving justice and was incapable of long advocating a plan involving the slightest violation of human rights. He saw all qualities of human dealing with a learned and benign spirit. Did he then fail to comprehend the principles upon which alone a solution is possible? Other great problems confronted him, and to their solution he brought the same resolution and perspicacity that marked his dealing with the negro question. In his domination of other strong men he was masterful of purpose and successful in result. Who but he could by degrees have consolidated the divided North and moulded it into a unit for the suppression of the rebellion? What hand but his could so tactfully have guided our foreign relations as to have averted the intervention of England and France in behalf of the South without sacrifice of the national dignity? Did he not, in his dealing with military as well as civil affairs, display acumen, foresight, courage, and commanding intelligence? Familiar with the past, wise in present action, with seerlike vision, he read the future and predicted the very evils described in this work from which the land is now suffering and which it is our duty to remove. WAS HE NOT RIGHT IN HIS PROPOSED SOLUTION OF THE NEGRO PROBLEM? And if the solution was right in 1865, is it not equally right to-day? Emancipation first, and colonization afterward. Fortunately, he lived to see the first effected; in some form the second is yet to come. Each passing year emphasizes the tremendous error of the reversal of Lincoln's long-cherished and profoundly contemplated plan for the solution of the problem by means of a policy of colonization. In its magnified dimensions the difficulty has descended to us, and unless our faith, courage, and devotion to duty mount in proportion to its increasing magnitude, and unless our wisdom prove itself equal to cope with the ever-increasing perplexity of the situation, we are likely to transmit the problem, unsolved, to vex our children and our children's children to the remotest generations. Nobly did Lincoln bear his part. The present duty is ours. Can we, then, do better than to take up the task where it fell unfinished from Lincoln's tired hands, and on his lines and in his spirit of malice toward none, and charity for all, work out the solution of the problem? THE CHAPTER I THE PROPOSED SOLUTION Reform it altogether.-HAMlet. HE purpose of the discussion contained in the foregoing pages, however imperfectly executed, has been accurately to describe the present condition of the negro problem, and to set it before the readers in all the gravity of its naked reality. The endeavor has been made to describe its origin and history, its magnitude, its difficulties and dangers, and especially to emphasize its ever-pressing demand for solution. The effort has been to demonstrate that the existence of an alien, inferior, and unassimilable race, separated by insurmountable racial barriers from the great majority of the citizens of the United States, is incompatible with the genius of our democratic institutions, and that the continuance of the present condition operates as a perpetual menace to the peace and prosperity of the country. The Let us briefly summarize the discussion to this point: (1) We have seen that the problem derives its origin from the presence of this alien, inferior, and unassimilable race, and that its solution is to be found in the adoption Discussion of a policy by which the two races may co-operate Summarized. in securing for each the fullest opportunity for development, and in carrying such a policy into practical operation. (2) We have carefully examined the current remedies proposed for the admitted evil, and have found each in turn to be inadequate for the purpose: |