Gentlemen, in thus answering your two inquiries, I have shown why
you, as colored fellow-citizens, and also all who would uphold your
rights and save the colored race from indignity, should refuse to
sanction the reëlection of the President, and should put trust in
Horace Greeley. I ought to add, that with him will be associated
as Vice-President Gratz Brown, whom I have known for years as a
most determined Abolitionist. The two together will carry into the
National Government an unswerving devotion to your rights, not to be
disturbed by partisan dictation or sectional prejudice.
Besides all this, which may fitly guide you in determining between
the two candidates, it is my duty to remind you, that, as citizens
of the United States, and of part of the country, your welfare is
indissolubly associated with that of the whole country. Where all are
prosperous you will be gainers. Therefore, while justly careful of
your own rights, you cannot be indifferent to the blessings of good
government. It is for you to consider whether the time has not come
for something better than the sword, and whether a character like
Horace Greeley does not give stronger assurance of good government
than can be found in the insulter of the colored race, already famous
for the rings about him and his plain inaptitude for civil life.
The supporters of President Grant compel us to observe his offences
and shortcomings, and thus the painful contrast with Horace Greeley
becomes manifest. It will be for others in the present canvass to
hold it before the American people.