In leaving this question, which I have opened to you so imperfectly, I am impressed anew with its grandeur. The best interests of our country and the best interests of mankind are involved in the answer. Let Caste prevail, and Civilization is thwarted. Let Caste be trampled out, and there will be a triumph which will make this Republic more than ever an example. The good influence will extend in prolonged pulsations, reaching the most distant shores. Not a land which will not feel the spread, just in proportion to its necessities. Above all, Africa will feel it; and the surpassing duty which Civilization owes to this whole continent, where man has so long degraded his fellow-man, will begin to be discharged, while the voice of the Great Shepherd is heard among its people. In the large interests beyond, I would not lose sight of the practical interests at home. It is important for our domestic peace, not to speak of our good name as a Republic, that this question should be settled. Long enough has its shadow rested upon us, and now it lowers from an opposite quarter. How often have I said in other places that nothing can be settled which is not right! And now I say that there can be no settlement here except in harmony with our declared principles and with universal truth. To this end Caste must be forbidden. “Haply for I am black,” said Othello; “Haply for I am yellow,” repeats the Chinese: all of which may be ground for personal like or dislike, but not for any denial of rights, or any exclusion from that equal copartnership which is the promise of the Republic to all men.