proposition, the effect of which will
be to sanction and approve the questionable methods by which the colored
Republicans in several Southern States have been disfranchised. I cannot
believe that this convention can be induced to favorably consider any
proposition, the effect of which will be the sending of a message of
sympathy and encouragement to the Democrats of North Carolina, who are
now engaged in an effort to disfranchise the colored Republicans of that
State.

"The colored Americans ask no special favors as a class,--and no special
protection as a race. All they ask and insist upon is equal civil and
political rights, and a voice in the government under which they live,
and to which they owe allegiance, and for the support of which they are
taxed. They feel that they are entitled to such consideration and
treatment, not as a matter of favor but as a matter of right. They came
to the rescue of their country when its flag was trailing in the dust of
treason and rebellion, and freely watered the tree of liberty with the
precious and patriotic blood that flowed from their loyal veins.

"There sits upon the floor of this convention to-day a distinguished
gentleman whose name is upon the lips of every patriotic American
citizen. The gentleman to whom I refer, is the member from the great and
important State of New York, Theodore Roosevelt, who, as the brave
leader of the American troops, led the charge upon San Juan Hill. In
following the lead of that gallant officer on that momentous occasion,
the colored American again vindicated his right to a voice in the
government of his country. In his devotion to the cause of liberty and
justice the colored American has shown that he was not only willing and
ready at any and all times to sacrifice his life upon the altar of his
own country, but that he is also willing to fight side by side with his
white American brother in an effort to plant the tree of liberty upon a
foreign soil. Must it now be said, that, in spite of all this, the
colored American finds himself without a home, without a country,
without friends, and even without a party? God forbid!

"Mr. Chairman, the colored American has been taught to believe that when
all other parties and organizations are against him, he can always look
with hope and encouragement to conventions of the Republican party. Must
that hope now be destroyed? Must he now be made to feel and to realize
the unpleasant fact that, as an Ame