But where are representatives in Congress to-day, and where are the colored Senators and others in the legislative halls of the Southern States? For the present they have been wiped out, and so far Uncle Sam has given way, and backed down once more to the violent South for the sake of keeping peace in the house. It may be argued that coming but recently out of slavery, as we did, we were unfitted for the full privilege of freemen and voters. Perhaps there is some reason in that view of the question. As a nation we certainly could not be expected to be college-bred in 1865. But that is over thirty years ago, and both we ourselves and our children have been to almost all the schools, seminaries and colleges in the land since then. If we were ignorant in 1865, sure we cannot as a race be called ignorant now. In my own opinion, I think it is about time that the last three amendments to the Constitution were now carried out to the fullest extent, and that we should be no longer contented merely to vote for the white man, but vote for colored men, too, who run for office. As the South has been so violent over the matter of ruling her own States to the exclusion of the colored man, the grand hue and cry among some of our own people has been raised, "Let politics alone, and attend to your own business, and let the white man rule!" So far as I can see there is neither sense nor justice in such a cry as that. If the white man has a right to vote, so has the colored man. To stuff the ballot-boxes with manufactured votes, or to throw out those that colored men have voted, is simply breaking the law, and the central government should punish it as such. If an ambitious young colored man desires to represent his country in the field of politics, it stands neither in law nor reason for any white man to presume to stop him. If he be a man of great talent, like Frederick Douglass, or John M. Langston, or Blanche K. Bruce, that is just so much more the reason why he should go to Congress, or represent his own country and State at home. The colored man must receive every fair play at the elections: his vote must not be tampered with any more than the white man’s vote. By all means let him have his vote, for he will never be satisfied with anything less. Let every infringement of the law be pushed to the utmost extent; let a few examples be made, and tampering with other men’s votes will come to an end. For the very life of me I can see no reason why colored men should abstain from politics any more than white men. There is no reason why they should do so if they wish to enter into political life. We can also attend to other business at home, like the rest of the population. To discharge our duties at the polls, indeed, is one of the very first duties of every citizen, and we have a perfect right to vote under the law of the land.