Alas that he is not here to help in the battle now at hand!

With what force and beauty, with what intensity and eloquence, he would have illustrated the congenial theme!

It is hard to strike strong blows without leaving bruises.

It is hard to restrain the rage of a generous indignation so that it will not seem severe.

Honor them for their virtues, but do not expect everybody to carry into the deadly controversy with Slavery that softness which must surely fail.

Words boiled and bubbled from his wrought soul, and he did not hesitate to call things by their right names.

His warm nature glowed at the thought of wrong or usurpation; nor could he check the currents of his soul, even if they threatened to dash against persons powerful in place or influence.

A President like Abraham Lincoln was not above his honest, fearless criticism.

And as the conflict deepened, he was among the foremost to see that Slavery was the great Rebel.

In striking against Slavery, he set an example to his fellow-citizens everywhere.

If he, whose home was in a Slave State, and whose friends were slave-masters, could strike such blows, it was hard to see how citizens of other places, where Slavery did not prevail, could hesitate.

Better for his memory than any triumph of genius at the bar will be his devoted championship of Human Freedom.

Such praise is more than any other praise, for it comes from neighbors and wards who knew him well, and it is the voice of that oppressed race he had served so faithfully.

He was true to his country, and a tried friend to the colored people,--never faltering in the time of need.

In Congress he fought as a hero for our people, and at home he labored assiduously for the bondman, and espoused the cause of Liberty, Justice, and Truth, up to the time of his death.

Remember, O my friends, the laws, the rights, The generous plan of power delivered down From age to age by your renowned forefathers, So dearly bought, the price of so much blood: Oh, let it never perish in your hands!

But if any among you thinks that Philip will maintain his power by having occupied forts and havens and the like, this is a mistake.… Impossible is it, impossible, Athenians, to acquire a solid power by injustice and perjury and falsehood.

He insisted always upon the equal title of all to rights of white citizens, whether civil or political, and he wished to act directly.

Not doubting the plenary powers of Congress to provide for the equal rights of all, political as well as civil, especially since the Constitutional Amendment prohibiting Slavery, he pressed action by “appropriate legislation.

His speech, after asserting the equal rights of all, vindicated the plenary powers of Congress, especially under the clause requiring the United States to guaranty a republican form of government.

I had hoped the day of compromise with wrong had gone forever.

I may be mistaken, Sir, but I think it difficult to read this proposition without being painfully impressed by the discord and defilement it will introduce into the National Constitution, having among specific objects the guaranty of a…

For some time we have been carefully expunging from the statute-book the word “white,” and now it is proposed to insert in the Constitution itself a distinction of color.

An amendment, according to the dictionaries, is “an improvement,” “a change for the better.” Surely the present proposition is an amendment which, like the crab, goes backward.

Still among us are four million citizens robbed of all share in the government of a common country, while, at the same time, according to their means, they are taxed, directly and indirectly, for the support of the Government.