The negro question will be settled when the education of the
white man is complete.
We make every allowance for ourselves. We expect mankind
to make every allowance for us. We expect to be forgiven
for our own wrong-doing. We easily forgive our own white
fellow citizens for the unutterable and terrible cruelties
they have committed on men of other races. But if a people
just coming out of slavery or barbarism commit a hundredth
part of the same offence our righteous indignation knows no
bounds. We have no recognition for their eager desire for
civilization or for liberty, no generous appreciation of their
improvement and promise. And the thousand things in them
that give promise of good in the future are disregarded if
there be any trace left in them of the old barbarism.
Has Reconstruction been a failure? Let us see about that.
We must remember that the relations of the black and white
races to each other, which have existed almost from the foundation
of the world, cannot be changed in a single generation. It
is but thirty-three years since General Grant and the two
Houses of Congress, in political accord with him and with
each other, took possession of the Government.
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