The rejoinder was made by Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Rebellion, in a not-to-be forgotten speech at Savannah, March 21, 1861, when he did not hesitate to declare of the pretended Government, that-- “Its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon _the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man_.” Then, glorying in this terrible shame, he added:-- “This, our new Government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.” “This stone, which was rejected by the first builders, is become the chief stone of the corner.”[178] To this unblushing avowal Abraham Lincoln replied in that marvellous, undying utterance at Gettysburg,--fit voice for the Republic, greater far than any victory: “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new Nation, _conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal_.” Thus, in precise conformity with the Declaration, was it announced that our Republic is dedicated to the Equal Rights of All; and then the prophet-President, soon to be a martyr, asked his countrymen to dedicate themselves to the great task remaining, highly resolving “that this Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of Freedom; and that Government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.”[179] The victory of the war is vain without the grander victory through which the Republic is dedicated to the axiomatic, self-evident truth declared by our fathers, and reasserted by Abraham Lincoln. With this mighty truth as a guiding principle, the National Constitution is elevated, and made more than ever a protection to the citizen. All this is so plain that it is difficult to argue it. What is the Republic, if it fails in this loyalty? What is the National Government, coextensive with the Republic, if fellow-citizens, counted by the million, can be shut out from equal rights in travel, in recreation, in education, and in other things, all contributing to human necessities? Where is that great promise by which “the pursuit of happiness” is placed, with life and liberty, under the safeguard of axiomatic, self-evident truth? Where is justice, if this ban of color is not promptly removed? Where is humanity? Where is reason? TWO EXCUSES. The two excuses show how irrational and utterly groundless is this pretension. They are on a par with the pretension itself. One is, that the question is of society, and not of rights, which is clearly a misrepresentation; and the other is, that the separate arrangements provided for colored persons constitute a substitute for equality in the nature of an equivalent,--all of which is clearly a contrivance, if not a trick: as if there could be any equivalent for equality. NO QUESTION OF SOCIETY.