The fate of the lamb has been left to the mercy of the lion and the tiger.
The "party of great moral ideas," having emancipated the slave, and enfranchised disorganized ignorance and poverty, finally finished its mission, relinquished its right to the respect and confidence of mankind when, in 1876, it abandoned all effort to enforce the provisions of the war amendments.

That party stands today for organized corruption, while its opponent stands for organized brigandage.

The black man, who was betrayed by his party and murdered by the opponents of his party, is absolved from all allegiance which _gratitude_ may have dictated, and is to-day free to make conditions the best possible with any faction which will insure him in his right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The black men of the United States are, today, free to form whatever alliances wisdom dictates, to make sure their position in the social and civil system of which, in the wise providence of a just God, they are a factor, for better or for worse.
FOOTNOTES: [13] "Southerners fire up terribly, as has been noted in these columns again and again, when the subject of intermarriage between whites and negroes is discussed.

But the terrible state of immorality which exists there, involving white men and colored women, is something upon which the papers of that region are silent as a rule.

Not so the grand jury that met recently at Madison, Ga., which thus spoke out in its presentment with all plainness of the Old Testament: "After several days of laborious investigation we have found the moral state of our country in a fair condition, and the freedom of our community from any great criminal offenses is a subject for congratulation to our people.