CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR. HOWE. 607 



race. Far from it. They are entitled to their 

 freedom, to the regulation of their own des- 

 tiny, to the enjoyment of their life, of their 

 earnings, of their family circle. But with all 

 this nowhere do they appear to have been ca- 

 pable of rising, by themselves, to the level o 

 the civilized communities of the whites, and 

 therefore I hold that they are incapable of 

 living on a footing of social equality with the 

 whites in one and the same community with- 

 out becoming an element of social disorder. 1 



I am not prepared to state what political 

 privileges they are fit to enjoy now; though 

 I have no hesitation in saying that they should 

 be equal to other men before the law. The 

 right of owning property, of bearing witness, 

 of entering into contracts, of buying and sell- 

 ing, of choosing their own domicile, would 

 give them ample opportunity of showing in a 

 comparatively short time what political rights 

 might properly and safely be granted to them 

 in successive installments. No man has a right 



1 I fear the expression " social equality " may be misunder- 

 stood in this connection. It means here only the relations 

 which would arise from the mixture of the two races, and 

 thus affect the organization of society as a whole. It does 

 not refer to any superficial or local social rules, such as shar- 

 ing on common ground public conveyances, public accommo- 

 dations, and the like. ED. 



