Fight like a lion! do
acts of courage and splendor! and you shall never rise above the rank of
a private soldier. For you there is neither money nor honor, rights
secured, nor fame gained. Dying, you fall into a nameless grave: living,
you come back to your old estate of insult and wrong. If you refuse
these tempting offers, we brand you cowards. If, under these infamous
restraints and disadvantages, you fail to equal the white troops by your
side, you are written down--inferiors. If you equal them, you are still
inferiors. If you perform miracles, and surpass them, you are, in a
measure, worthy commendation at last; we consent to see in you human
beings, fit for mention and admiration,--not as types of your color and
of what you intrinsically are, but as exceptions; made such by the habit
of association, and the force of surrounding circumstances.'
"These are the terms the American people offer you, these the terms
which you stoop to accept, these the proofs that they are learning a
lesson of justice! So be it! there is need. Let them learn it to the
full! let this war go on 'until the cities be wasted without inhabitant,
and the houses without man, and the land be utterly destroyed.' Do not
you interfere. Leave them to the teachings and the judgments of God."
Ercildoune had spoken with such impassioned feeling, with such fire in
his eyes, such terrible earnestness in his voice, that Robert could not,
if he would, interrupt him; and, in the silence, found no words for the
instant at his command.
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