The demand I make stands on necessity. You must grant it, or you will peril the peace of the Republic, and postpone indefinitely the great day of security and reconciliation. Therefore, in the name of that national safety which is the supreme law, I begin my appeal. Whatever is required for the national safety is constitutional. Not only it _may_ be done, but it _must_ be done. Not to do it is to fail in duty. The Republic must be saved. When I speak of necessity, I mean that overruling compulsion which cannot be disobeyed. In the present case it is compounded of moral duty and the instinct of self-preservation. The moral duty to perform these promises is plain as the Decalogue. The instinct of self-preservation, impelling us to save the Republic, is in harmony with the requirement of moral duty. In denying justice now, you are not only guilty of grievous wrong, but you expose your country to incalculable calamity. The case is too clear for debate. The irresistible argument for Emancipation was always twofold,--first, its intrinsic justice, and, secondly, its necessity for the safety of the Republic; all of which was expressed by President Lincoln in the closing words of his great Proclamation:-- “And upon this act, sincerely believed to be _an act of justice warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity_, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.” But the argument for Enfranchisement, which is nothing but the complement of Emancipation, is the same. Enfranchisement is not only intrinsically just, but necessary to the safety of the Republic. There is no reason, point, or argument once urged for Emancipation which may not be urged now for Enfranchisement. I do not err, when I say that Emancipation itself will fail without Enfranchisement. By Enfranchisement I mean the establishment of the Equal Rights of All, so that there shall be no exclusion of any kind, civil or political, founded on color, and the promises of the Fathers shall be fulfilled. Such a measure will be, in the words of President Lincoln, “an act of justice warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity.” As an act of justice, Enfranchisement has a necessity of its own. No individual and no people can afford to be unjust. Such an offence carries a curse, which, sooner or later, must drag its perpetrator to ruin. But here necessity from considerations of justice is completed and intensified by positive requirements of the national safety, plainly involved in the performance of these promises.