s duly waited upon by a committee of my brother
delegates, which had been appointed by other honorable delegates,
to represent to me the undesirableness of my attendance upon the
National Loyalists' Convention. The spokesman of these
sub-delegates was a gentleman from New Orleans with a very French
name, which has now escaped me, but which I wish I could recall,
that I might credit him with a high degree of politeness and the
gift of eloquence. He began by telling me that he knew my history
and my works, and that he entertained a very high respect for me,
that both himself and the gentlemen who sent him, as well as
those who accompanied him, regarded me with admiration; that
there was not among them the remotest objection to sitting in the
convention with me, but their personal wishes in the matter they
felt should be set aside for the sake of our common cause; that
whether I should or should not go into the convention was purely
a matter of expediency; that I must know that there was a very
strong and bitter prejudice against my race in the North as well
as at the South; and that the cry of social and political
equality would not fail to be raised against the Republican party
if I should attend this loyal national convention. He insisted
that it was a time for the sacrifice of my own personal feeling,
for the good of the Republican cause; that there were several
districts in the State of Indiana so evenly balanced that a very
slight circumstance would be likely to turn the scale against us,
and defeat our Congressional candidates and thus leave Congress
without a two-thirds vote to control the headstrong and
treacherous man then in the presidential chair. It was urged that
this was a terrible responsibility for me or any other man to
take.

I listened very attentively to this address, uttering, no word
during its delivery; but when it was finished, I said to the
speaker and the committee, with all the emphasis I could throw
into my voice and manner: "Gentlemen, with all respect, you might
as well ask me to put a loaded pistol to my head and blow my
brains out, as to ask me to keep out of this convention, to which
I have been duly elected. Then, gentlemen, what would you gain by
this exclusion? Would not the charge of cowardice, certain to be