I then proceeded,--not adopting the term “universal suffrage,” employed by the eminent Frenchman,--as follows:-- “It is _impartial suffrage_ that I claim, without distinction of color, so that there shall be one equal rule for all men. And this, too, must be placed under the safeguard of Constitutional Law.”[256] I followed up this effort by a communication to that powerful and extensively circulated paper, the New York “Independent,” under date of Boston, October 29, 1865, where I expressed myself as follows:-- “For the sake of the whole country, which suffers from weakness in any part,--for the sake of the States lately distracted by war, which above all things need security and repose,--for the sake of agriculture, which is neglected there,--for the sake of commerce, which has fled,--for the sake of the national creditor, whose generous trust is exposed to repudiation,--and, finally, for the sake of reconciliation, which can be complete only when justice prevails, we must insist upon Equal Rights as the condition of the new order of things.” Mark, if you please, Sir, “as the condition of the new order of things,”--or, as I called it on other occasions, the corner-stone of Reconstruction. “So long as this question remains unsettled, there can be no true peace. Therefore I would say to the merchant who wishes to open trade with this region, to the capitalist who would send his money there, to the emigrant who seeks to find a home there, Begin by assuring justice to all men. This is the one essential condition of prosperity, of credit, and of tranquillity. Without this, mercantile houses, banks, and emigration societies having anything to do with this region must all fail, or at least suffer in business and resources. To Congress we must look as guardian, under the Constitution, of the national safety.”[257] Meanwhile the President adopted a policy of reaction. I was at home in Massachusetts, and from Boston, under date of November 12, 1865, I addressed him a telegraphic dispatch, as follows:-- “TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, WASHINGTON.