At present the black voter is politically conquered. The “white man’s government” is established, and it is the purpose of the white man that it shall remain so. This has been easily attained in the States where the white majority is undoubted. In the few States where the blacks are in the majority, the white man is determined to rule, peaceably if he can, forcibly if he must. The Chisholm murder and the Hamburg massacre are but samples of the methods that will be resorted to if the effort is pushed persistently to restore the supremacy of the black man in politics. When we remember how that supremacy in those States was abused, how can we ask the restoration if the abuse must again follow? The problem is difficult. It can be solved only by one formula. The black man must be protected in his political rights, and he must be so enlightened as to use and not abuse those rights. There will be no permanent advantage from a mere partisan triumph of the black man. If achieved, as matters now stand, bayonets will again be needed to sustain it, and will become once more a source of angry discussion at the North and of concentrated bitterness at the South. The experiment may again be necessary; but a far better thing should be speedily, steadily and efficiently pushed forward—the training of the colored voter for an intelligent and responsible manhood and citizenship. If every colored voter could be accompanied to the polls by a file of soldiers armed with muskets, his ballot would represent the musket and not the man. But if he becomes a property owner, with all the interest in the welfare of the community which property gives; if he is educated and can take an _intelligent_ interest in the welfare of the community; and if he acquires a weight of character that challenges respect, he will need no soldiers to guard him to the polls, and his vote will represent the man and not the musket. When the black man shall reach such a position he conquers caste-prejudice and wipes out the color-line in politics. Color is significant only as it represents condition. Change the condition and the color is of no consequence. With that change the white and black men at the South will divide on politics as white men do at the North, from differing views as to the best measures to promote public weal.