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Show 252 EXTRACT. disputed. Sir, were I a white m:1n, speaking for the right of wlJitc men, I should in this country have n. smooth sen. ancl n. fair wind. It is, pcrhn.pf:, creditable to the American people (and 1 am not the man to detract from their credit) that they listen eagerly to the report of wrongs cnd.urccl by distant nations. 'rho IInngarian, the Italian, the Irishman, the Jew and the Gentile, all find in this goodly lund a home; and when any of them, or all of them, desire to speak, they find willing cars, "·arm hearts, and open hands. For these people, the Americans have principles of justice, maxims of mercy, sentiments of religion, ami feelings of brotherhood in abundance. But for my poor people, (alas, how poor I)-enslaved, scourged, blasted, overwhelmed, and ruined, it would appear that America had neither justice, mercy, nor religion. She has no scales in which to weigh our wrongs, and no standard by which to measure our rights. Just here lies the grand difficulty of the colored man's cause. It is found in the fact, that we may not avail ourselves of the just force of admittccl American prin· ciples. If I do not misinterpret the feel ings and philosophy of my white fellow-countrymen generally, they wish ns to· understand distinctly ancl fully that they ExTRACT. 253 ha,·c no other usc for us whatever, than to coin dollars out of our blood. Our position here is anomalous, unequal, ancl extraordinary. It is a position to which tllC most coura,.cous of our race cannot look without deep concc~n. Sir, we arc a hopeful people, and in this we arc fortunate; but for this trait of our character, we slJOuld have, long before this seemingly unpropitious hour, sunk down under a sense of utter despair. Look at it, sir. llcrc, upon the soil of our birth in . ' a country which has known us for two centuries, among a people who diU not wait for us to seek them, but who sought us, found us, and brought us to ttcir own chosen bnd,-a. people for whom we ha,·c performed the humblest service~, and whose greatest cornforts and luxuries lJavc been won from the soil by our sable and sinewy arms,-I say, sir, among such a. people, and with such obvious recommendations to favor, we arc far less cstccmecl than the verie~t stranger and sojourner. Aliens arc we in onr native land. 'l'hc fundamental principles of the republic, to which the humblest white man, whether born here or elsewhere, may appeal With confidence in the hope of awakening a favorable |