trance
without the aid of a policeman. President William McKinley attended this
meeting, as did also the members of his Cabinet, many foreign ministers,
and a large number of army and navy officers, many of whom had
distinguished themselves in the war which had just closed. The speakers,
besides myself, on Sunday evening, were Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch, Father
Thomas P. Hodnett, and Dr. John H. Barrows.

The Chicago Times-Herald, in describing the meeting, said of my
address:--

He pictured the Negro choosing slavery rather than extinction; recalled
Crispus Attucks shedding his blood at the beginning of the American
Revolution, that white Americans might be free, while black Americans
remained in slavery; rehearsed the conduct of the Negroes with Jackson
at New Orleans; drew a vivid and pathetic picture of the Southern slaves
protecting and supporting the families of their masters while the latter
were fighting to perpetuate black slavery; recounted the bravery of
coloured troops at Port Hudson and Forts Wagner and Pillow, and praised
the heroism of the black regiments that stormed El Caney and Santiago
to give freedom to the enslaved people of Cuba, forgetting, for the time
being, the unjust discrimination that law and custom make against them
in their own country.

In all of these things, the speaker declared, his race had chosen the
better part. And then he made his eloquent appeal to the consciences of
the white Americans: "When you have gotten the full story of the heroic
conduct of the Negro in the Spanish-American war, have heard it from the
lips of Northern soldier and Southern soldier, from ex-abolitionist and
ex-masters, then decide within yourselves whether a race that is
thus willing to die for its country should not be given the highest
opportunity to live for its country."

The part of the speech which seems to arouse the wildest and most
sensational enthusiasm was that in which I thanked the President for his
recognition of the Negro in his appointments during the Spanish-American
war. The President was sitting in a box at the right of the stage. When
I addressed him I turned toward the box, and as I finished the sentence
thanking him for his generosity, the whole audience rose and cheered
again and again, waving handkerchiefs and hats and canes, until the
President arose in the box and bowed his acknowledgements. At that
the enthusiasm broke out again, and the demonstration was almost
indescribable.