I believe the right of the black man to freedom, and security for freedom, as a result of the war, to be incontestible. I assert it as a simple matter of justice.

In my judgment, the safety of nations, as well as of individuals, stands in justice. It is a true saying, that, “he who walketh uprightly walketh surely.” The man or the nation that joins hands with justice and truth, and relies steadfastly on God’s providence, is sure to issue from every trial safely and triumphantly. Great struggles may have to be gone through; great sacrifices made; great dangers encountered; even great martyrdoms suffered. We have experienced all these. Multitudes of martyrs have perished in this war; the noblest of them all fell but lately by an assassin’s hand; but our great cause has thus far triumphed. There may be still perils ahead. Other martyrdoms may be needed. But over all, and through all, the just cause will surely come out triumphant in the end; for a just God is on the throne, and He wills the triumph of justice.

I have said that the battle is over and the victory won. The armies of rebellion are disbanded; peace is coming, and with it the duties of peace. What are these?

The condition of the country is peculiar. A great race, numbering four millions of souls, has been suddenly enfranchised. All men are now looking to see whether the prophecies of the enemies of that race will be fulfilled or falsified.

The answer to that question, men and women of color, is with you. Your enemies say that you will be disorderly, improvident, lazy; that wages will not tempt you to work; that you will starve rather than labor; that you will become drones and vagabonds. And while your enemies scatter these predictions, many who are not your enemies fear their fulfillment. It remains with you whether they shall be fulfilled or not.

You need not feel much anxiety about what people say of you. Feel rather that, under God, your salvation must come of yourselves. If, caring little about men’s sayings, you go straight on in the plain ways of duty; if by honesty, temperance, and industry, by faithfulness in all employments and to all trusts, and by readiness to work for fair wages, you prove yourselves useful men and women; if out of economical savings from each week’s earnings you lay up something for yourselves in a wet day; if, as cultivators of the soil, as mechanics, as traders, in this employment or that employment, you do all in your power to increase the products and the resources of your county and State; and if, whatever you do, you make proofs of honesty, sobriety, and good will, you will save yourselves and fulfill the best hopes of your friends.

God forbid that I shall have yet, before I die, to hang my head and say—well, I expected a great deal of this people; that they would bear freedom; that they would be honest, industrious, and orderly; that they would make great progress in learning, in trades, in arts, and, finally, run the race, side by side, with the whites; but I find I was mistaken; they have allowed wretched prejudices and evil passions to grow up among them; they have neglected their opportunities and wasted their means; they have cherished mean envy and low jealousy, where they should have fostered noble emulation and generous rivalry in all good works; they have failed because unwilling to take their lot cheerfully, and persevere courageously in the work of self-improvement.

I may say, with the apostle, “I hope better things of you, though I thus speak.” I know the heart of the working-man, for I have known his experience. When a boy on a farm, in Ohio, where then the unbroken forest lay close to our dwelling, I knew what work was. In our rough log cabins we fared as hard and labored as hard as you fare or labor. All we had to go upon—all the capital we had—was good wills to work, patient endurance, and fair opportunity for education, which every white in the country, thank God, could have then; and every black boy, thank God again, can have now. It was on this capital we went to work, and we came to something; [loud cheers, and cries of “That you did!”] and you may go to work on the same capital and come to something also, if you will. I believe you will. You wont spend your time in fretting because this or that white man has a better time than you have, or more advantages; nor will you, I hope, take short cuts to what looks like success, but nine times out of ten will turn out to be failure.

I talk to you frankly and sincerely, as one who has always been your friend. As a friend, I earnestly advise you to lay your foundations well in morality, industry, education, and, above all, religion. Go to work patiently, and labor diligently; if you are soldiers, fight well; if preachers, preach faithfully; if carpenters, shove the plane with might and main; if you till the ground, grow as much cotton as the land will yield; if hired, work honestly for honest wages, until you can afford to hire laborers yourselves, and then pay honest wages. If you act thus, nobody need doubt your future. The result will gloriously surpass your hopes.

Now about the elective franchise. Major Delany has told you that he heard me say, in the Capitol at Washington, that the black man ought to have his vote. If he had happened to hear me twenty years ago in Cincinnati, he would have heard me say the same thing. [Cheers and prolonged applause.]