Library of Congress Subject Headings, 21st edition, 1998

Languages Used:

• English

LC Subject Headings:

• Abolitionists -- United States -- Biography.
  
• African American abolitionists -- Biography.
  
• African American orators -- Biography.
  
• African Americans -- Maryland -- Biography.
  
• Antislavery movements -- United States.
  
• Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895 -- Oratory.
  
• Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895.
  
• Fugitive slaves -- Maryland -- Biography.
  
• Slaves -- Maryland -- Biography.
  

Revision History:

• 2001-10-10,
  Celine Noel and Wanda Gunther
  revised TEIHeader and created catalog record for the electronic edition.
  
  
• 2001-04-09,
  Natalia Smith, project manager,
  finished TEI-conformant encoding and final proofing.
  
  
• 2001-03-23,
  Lee Ann Morawski
  finished TEI/SGML encoding
  
  
• 2001-03-04,
  Apex Data Services, Inc.
  finished transcribing the text.
  
  

[Cover Image]

Yours truly,
Jas. M. Gregory.

[Frontispiece Image]

[Title Page Image]

[Title Page Verso Image]

FREDERICK DOUGLASS
THE ORATOR.
CONTAINING
AN ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE; HIS EMINENT PUBLIC
SERVICES; HIS BRILLIANT CAREER AS
ORATOR; SELECTIONS FROM HIS
SPEECHES AND WRITINGS.

BY

JAMES M. GREGORY, A. M.,
PROFESSOR OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE,
HOWARD UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON, D. C.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
W. S. SCARBOROUGH, A. M.,
PROFESSOR NEW TESTAMENT, GREEK AND LITERATURE,
PAYNE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY,
WILBERFORCE, OHIO.

ILLUSTRATED.

SPRINGFIELD, MASS.:
WILLEY & CO.
1893.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1893,
BY JAMES M. GREGORY, A. M.,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C. SPRINGFIELD PRINTING AND BINDING COMPANY,
ELECTROTYPERS, PRINTERS AND BINDERS,
SPRINGFIELD, MASS.

        TO THE STUDENTS
WHO HAVE PASSED UNDER MY INSTRUCTION DURING
THE LAST TWENTY YEARS
THIS BIOGRAPHY
OF
AN EMINENT ORATOR AND A CHAMPION OF
HUMAN FREEDOM
IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED.

        W. S. SCARBOROUGH.

INTRODUCTION.

        WHEN it was announced that Professor James M. Gregory of Howard University would edit a volume bearing upon some phase of the remarkable career of one of the most remarkable men of our times, the Hon. Frederick Douglass, all became expectant, and felt that a worthier chronicler of a worthier sire would be difficult to find.

        Both the writer of this volume and his hero as well are eminent citizens in their respective spheres, and will doubtless receive the respectful attention they merit--the former as a representative of the younger generation, and hence the product of the new dispensation; the latter, of the older generation, but the product of two dispensations, the old and the new.

        Professor James M. Gregory by education and by training is in a high degree qualified for the task he has undertaken. Having passed through the Cleveland (O.) city schools, he became a student of Oberlin College, and then a graduate of Howard University, Washington, D. C., where he took high honors.

        Immediately upon graduation he was made tutor of mathematics in the preparatory department

of his alma mater. After four years as instructor here he was made professor of Latin in the college department, and was for two successive years dean of that department. He was also instructor of political economy and general history.

        Professor Gregory is a forcible writer, a fluent speaker, and an acceptable orator. Aside from this he is a man of sound judgment and great executive ability. As an educator he ranks among the first and easily holds his own. He was the first executive officer of the American Association of Educators of Colored Youth, organized under the auspices of the alumni of Howard University, and has since been annually re-elected to that important office. This in itself is conclusive proof of his eminent fitness for the position he holds.

        He also served as a member of the board of trustees of the Washington city public schools for six years, and during that time was chairman of the committee on teachers. Here as in other positions he distinguished himself by his efficient service and strict integrity.

        The hero of this volume is too well known for even a reference from me, but a few observations will not be out of keeping with the plan and scope of this work. Without exception, the most celebrated negro now living is the Hon. Frederick Douglass. Born in the lap of slavery and reared

by slavery's fireside at least until he succeeded in making his escape from bondage, Mr. Douglass has demonstrated beyond contradiction the possibilities of his race even against the most fearful odds. There are other prominent colored men in America--doctors, lawyers, theologians, orators, statesmen, and scholars--but none of them from a national standpoint has attained the celebrity or the prestige of the "Sage of Anacostia." The pious Mrs. Auld, when she was "learning Fred how to read," little suspected that she, in reality, was shaping the future of him (though then a slave and a member of one of the despised races) who in time was destined to become one of the most distinguished men of his generation. Thus it was.

        Mr. Douglass himself tells us, in his autobiography, that he made such rapid progress in mastering the alphabet and in spelling words of three and four syllables, that his old master forbade his wife to teach him, declaring that learning would spoil the best "nigger" in the world, as it forever unfits him to be a slave. He added that he should know nothing but the will of his master, and should learn to obey it. As to Fred, learning will do him no good, but a great deal of harm, making him disconsolate and unhappy. If you teach him how to read, he will want to know how to write, and this accomplished he will be running

away with himself. Such in substance was his old master's opinion, and that it was a true prediction the life and career of Mr. Douglass, which have been fully told elsewhere, are a sufficient proof.

        Mr. Douglass's superior ability as an orator and as a writer was early recognized by the friends of the race, and from that day to this his services in behalf of his people have ever been in demand. On the other hand he has been ready to sacrifice his own best interests for his race, and he has not failed to make the sacrifice. He is a brilliant orator, a fluent talker, and an interesting conversationalist. He has an excellent memory, and can recall dates and facts of history with perfect ease. A day in his society is a rare treat, a privilege that might well be coveted by America's greatest citizens. The greatness of the man and the inspiration that comes from every word that he utters, make one wonder how it was possible for such a remarkable character to have ever been a slave; and, further, how even now it is possible for any discourtesies to be shown him because of his color. It is nevertheless true, however, that this distinguished American citizen must suffer with the rest of his fellows and share like indignities--and all because of his race.

        Socrates used to say that all men are sufficiently eloquent in that which they understand.

Cicero says that, though this is plausible, it is not strictly true. He adds that no man can be eloquent even if he understands the subject ever so well but is ignorant how to form and to polish his speech. We take these views for what they are worth, but venture to add that eloquence is a spontaneous outburst of the human soul.

        The cause of the oppressed could not have found a more eloquent defender than Mr. Douglass. Himself oppressed and denied the rights and privileges of a freeman, he felt what he said and said what he felt. The negro's cause was his cause, and his cause was the negro's cause. In defending his people he was defending himself. It was here that the brilliancy of his oratorical powers was most manifest. It was here that he was most profoundly eloquent.

        Themistocles, Pericles, and Demosthenes may be said to represent the three ages of Greek eloquence. Themistocles was undoubtedly the greatest orator of Athens before the time of Pericles. "His eloquence was characterized," says Cicero, "by precision and simplicity, penetrating acuteness, rapidity, and fertility of thought."

        Pericles was a finished orator, the most perfect type of his school, and was regarded by Cicero as the best specimen of the oratorical art of Athens--eloquentissimus Athenis Pericles. But the third representative was one whose oratorical greatness

seemed destined to remain forever uneclipsed. In Demosthenes political eloquence in Greece culminated. He was without doubt the greatest of all Athenian orators, and, to use the language of Longinus, "his eloquence was like a terrible sweep of a vast body of cavalry." It mowed down everything before it.

        Certainly a noble ambition, if, as we learn elsewhere, the sole purposes for which he labored were to animate a people renowned for justice, humanity, and valor; to warn them of the dangers of luxury, treachery, and bribery, of the ambition and perfidy of a powerful foreign enemy; to recall the glory of their ancestors, to inspire them with resolution, vigor, and unanimity, to correct abuses, to restore discipline, to revive and restore the generous sentiments of patriotism and public spirit. Laudable as was this ambition, it was no more laudable than that which actuated Frederick Douglass during all the years of his active life.

        The scathing invectives and fiery eloquence of Mr. Douglass were the inevitable outcome of a soul longing for freedom in all that the term implies, not only for himself but for an oppressed race. His sole purpose was to stir the hearts of the American people against the system of slavery and color prejudice; to touch the philanthropic chord of the nation so as to induce it to recognize the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood

of God. A tremendous task was his, but he never gave up the struggle. Day and night he pleaded for freedom, for citizenship, for equality of rights, for justice, for humanity. Could a higher sentiment of philanthropy and patriotism pervade a human soul than this?

        Lincoln, Grant, Sumner, Morton, Phillips, Garrison, Garfield, Blaine, Wilson, Conkling, Wade, Thaddeus Stevens, Chase, and other advocates of freedom have all passed away, but they have left behind them influences that survive. The echoes of their words in senate chambers and public halls will resound throughout all ages; their heroic lives and their philanthropic deeds will live when time shall have passed into eternity. These, however, were of Anglo-Saxon extraction. On the other side stands one of African extraction, to some extent their co-laborer, the hero of this volume. In point of ability and all the virtues that go to make up a well rounded citizenship Mr. Douglass compares well with them all--the only difference being that they represent white American and he black America.

        This grand old patriot will always live in the hearts of his countrymen as one of the greatest of America's noblemen. His hard-fought battles and victories won will prove an incentive to generations yet to come. His virtuous life and noble deeds will always remain to warn us to

bestir ourselves in the interest of manhood rights, in the interest of justice to all men regardless of color or nationality.

W. S. SCARBOROUGH.

PREFACE.

        IT has seemed to the author that a volume which should give the important incidents in the life of Frederick Douglass, and which should treat of him as orator and thinker, would find favor with the public. His speeches and lectures have been carefully examined, and the best selections from these incorporated in the biography.

        No pretensions are made to the discovery of new facts. Where practicable Mr. Douglass is permitted to speak in his own language. Most of the quoted passages are from that inimitable autobiography, "The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass," and are here introduced by permission of Mr. Douglass, and the publishers, Messrs. De Wolf, Fiske & Co. Such other publications have been consulted as were deemed necessary.

        The main purpose of this book is one of usefulness. If it shall be instrumental in leading our youth to study the character of this remarkable man and to draw from it lessons that will urge them to high and noble effort, the time and labor spent in its preparation will not have been in vain.

J. M. G.

CONTENTS.

• CHAPTER I.
  BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE.--ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY, 17
• CHAPTER II.
  CAREER AS AN ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATOR.--FIRST VISIT TO GREAT BRITAIN, 28
• CHAPTER III.
  EDITOR OF THE "NORTH STAR."--CONNECTION WITH JOHN BROWN, 32
• CHAPTER IV.
  SECOND VISIT TO ENGLAND.--THE WAR OF THE REBELLION, 50
• CHAPTER V.
  CONTINUED LITERARY EFFORTS.--FREEDMEN'S BANK.--OFFICIAL CAREER IN WASHINGTON.--VISIT TO HIS OLD MARYLAND HOME, 54
• CHAPTER VI.
  BANQUET IN RECOGNITION OF HIS PUBLIC SERVICES.--THE DOUGLASS IN HIS HALL, 61
• CHAPTER VII.
  VISIT ABROAD.--RETURN HOME AND RECEPTION.--MINISTER RESIDENT AND CONSUL GENERAL TO HAYTI, 71

  ---

  Page 15

• CHAPTER VIII.
  AS ORATOR AND WRITER, 89
• CHAPTER IX.
  EXTRACTS FROM HIS SPEECHES AND LECTURES, 97
• CHAPTER X.
  EXTRACTS FROM HIS SPEECHES AND LECTURES CONTINUED, 122
• CHAPTER XI.
  EXTRACTS FROM HIS SPEECHES AND LECTURES CONCLUDED, 173
• CHAPTER XII.
  MEMBERS OF THE DOUGLASS FAMILY, 199
• CHAPTER XIII.
  HIS HOME.--PERSONAL TRAITS AND CHARACTERISTICS, 207

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PORTRAITS.

• AUTHOR'S PORTRAIT.
• FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
• FREDERICK DOUGLASS, JR.
• CHARLES R. DOUGLASS.
• LEWIS H. DOUGLASS.
• MRS. R. D. SPRAGUE (Daughter of Frederick Douglass).
• JOHN BROWN.
• JAMES A. GARFIELD.
• U. S. GRANT.
• JOHN M. HARLAN.
• RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.
• HYPPOLITE.
• ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
• W. S. SCARBOROUGH.
• CHARLES SUMNER.

VIEWS.

• RESIDENCE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS (Cedar Hill, Anacostia, D. C.).
• FRONT VIEW.
• SIDE VIEW.
• "MR. DOUGLASS' DEN."

        FREDERICK DOUGLASS.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS,
THE ORATOR.

CHAPTER I.
BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE.--ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY.

        AMONG the great men America has produced whose achievements will be narrated to posterity and remembered, is Frederick Douglass. His name is so identified with the anti-slavery movement that no account of this eventful period of our national existence will be complete in which the historian neglects to tell of the remarkable career of this eminent man, and to assign him that place which the services he has rendered his race and mankind deserve.

        It is often argued that great crises produce great men, and, conversely, great men bring about great crises, but it will be found difficult to establish the truth of either of these propositions to the exclusion of the other, inasmuch as the forces that operate and co-operate in each are factors of a common product. Observation shows that when the exigencies of the times have demanded leaders, those were chosen whose training and experience fitted them for the particular

emergency. An ancient author relates that when an inhabitant of the barren island Seriphus in the Ægean sea, to which the Romans banished their criminals, claimed that Themistocles had acquired distinction not through his own glory but through that of his native Greece, Themistocles replied: "Neither, by Hercules, if I had been a man of Seriphus, should I ever have been eminent, nor, if you had been an Athenian, would you ever have been renowned."

        It sometimes happens that one circumstance or chain of circumstances singles out a man from among his fellowmen and places him in the number of those whose fame shall endure and grow brighter with time. Father of his Country is the title which appropriately belongs to Washington, because, under his leadership, success crowned our arms in the war for independence. The fame of John Brown is made secure by his raid upon Harper's Ferry and his subsequent martyrdom. If the other acts of President Lincoln be forgotten, the one act of signing the Emancipation Proclamation will insure him the remembrance of posterity. Hero of Appomattox is the designation by which Grant will be known through the ages. The name of Frederick Douglass will survive as the fugitive slave who became one of the most eloquent orators as well as profound thinkers of his time.

        Frederick Douglass was born at Tuckahoe, in Talbot county, Maryland, in February, 1817. The place was not distinguished either for the fertility of the soil, the beauty of the surroundings, or the thrift and intelligence of its inhabitants. His mother was Harriet Bailey. Of his father he has no knowledge. He lived with his grandmother till he was five years of age, and during that period saw his mother only a few times. He was now taken to the home plantation of Colonel Lloyd, about two miles from his birthplace. Here, along with the other children, he was placed in the care of Aunt Katy, whom Mr. Douglass describes as a cruel and ill-natured person.

        At the age of ten he was sent to Baltimore to live with Mr. Hugh Auld, whose wife, Mrs. Sophia Auld, was his first teacher, and she continued her instructions until objection was made to it by her husband. Frederick, however, found other means of accomplishing his desire. Having procured a spelling book he learned to read through the assistance of his white playmates whom he met in the streets. When about thirteen years of age he bought a book entitled the "Columbian Orator," with money earned by blacking boots. The speeches of Sheridan, Lord Chatham, William Pitt, and Fox, which he read in this book, increased his information and supply of words, enabling

him to give expression to the thoughts that now began to form in his mind. By reading and observation he was led at this early age to understand something of the wicked system of slavery.

        About this time he became acquainted with a pious man by the name of Lawson, whom he visited at his home. Father Lawson inspired him in his search for knowledge by the assurance, "The Lord has a great work for you to do, and you must prepare yourself for it." It was soon after his acquaintance with this good man that he learned to write by copying letters with chalk on fences and pavements. Left in charge of the house he wrote upon the vacant spaces of copy books which his young master had used in school. He further continued his studies, seated in the kitchen loft late at night when the other inmates of the household were asleep, in transcribing from the Bible, the Methodist hymn book and other books, a barrel head serving him the purpose of a table.

        Upon the death of his former owners Frederick became the property of Mr. Thomas Auld, who then resided at St. Michael's. Here he was cruelly treated, having the coarsest food, and not enough of that to satisfy the cravings of his appetite. Several difficulties occurred between Mr. Auld and Frederick, in consequence of which Mr. Auld sent him to Covey, a notorious "negro-breaker"

in the neighborhood, for discipline. He had not been long with Covey before he was subjected to the greatest cruelty. The details of one difficulty between them we give in Mr. Douglass' own language, as it serves to show the methods pursued in "breaking" slaves, and at the same time furnishes an example of his powers of narration, for which he is especially distinguished.

        "Mr. Covey sent me, very early in the morning of one of our coldest days in the month of January, to the woods, to get a load of wood. He gave me a team of unbroken oxen, telling me which was the inside ox, and which the off-hand one. He then tied the end of a large rope around the horns of the in-hand ox, and gave me the other end of it, and told me, if the oxen started to run, that I must hold on upon the rope. I had never before driven oxen, and of course I was very awkward. I, however, succeeded in getting to the edge of the woods with little difficulty, but I had got a very few rods into the woods, when the oxen took fright and started full tilt, carrying the cart against trees, and over stumps, in the most frightful manner. I expected every moment that my brains would be dashed out against the trees. After running thus for a considerable distance, they finally upset the cart, dashing it with great force against a tree, and threw themselves into a dense thicket. How I escaped death, I do

not know. There I was, entirely alone, in a thick wood, in a place new to me. My cart was upset and shattered, my oxen were entangled among the young trees, and there was none to help me. After a long spell of effort, I succeeded in getting my cart righted, my oxen disentangled, and again yoked to the cart. I now proceeded with my team to the place where I had, the day before, been chopping wood, and loaded my cart pretty heavily, thinking in this way to tame my oxen. I then proceeded on my way home. I had now consumed one-half of the day. I got out of the woods safely, and now felt out of danger. I stopped my oxen to open the wooden gate; and just as I did so, before I could get hold of my ox-rope, the oxen again started, rushed through the gate, catching it between the wheel and the body of the cart, tearing it to pieces, and coming within a few inches of crushing me against the gate-post. Thus twice, in one short day, I escaped death by the merest chance. On my return, I told Mr. Covey what had happened, and how it happened. He ordered me to return to the woods again immediately. I did so, and he followed on after me. Just as I got into the woods, he came up and told me to stop my cart, and that he would teach me how to trifle away my time, and break gates. He then went to a large gum-tree, and with his ax cut three large switches, and,

after trimming them up neatly with his pocket-knife, he ordered me to take off my clothes. I made him no answer, but stood with my clothes on. He repeated his order. I still made him no answer, nor did I move to strip myself. Upon this he rushed at me with the fierceness of a tiger, tore off my clothes, and lashed me till he had worn out his switches, cutting me so savagely as to leave the marks visible for a long time after. This whipping was the first of a number just like it, and for similar offenses."

        After the affair just narrated, Frederick's sufferings were increased, and he was driven to such desperation by the treatment of Covey, that he determined to defend himself. In the next encounter which they had Covey was handled so roughly by the young man that he never again raised his hand against him. This conflict with Covey had a most inspiring effect upon the youth. By resistance he asserted his manhood, increased his own self-respect, and confidence in himself. From this day on he was never whipped while in slavery, though he had several fights.

        Leaving Covey in January, 1834, Frederick went to live with Mr. William Freeland, whom he found to be a very good man. He for more than a year after that time conducted a Sabbath-school, where he taught his fellow slaves to read. He also devoted three evenings in each week to a

similar purpose. While at Mr. Freeland's the following year he made up his mind to make an attempt to secure his liberty. He consulted with those slaves who he believed would be willing to co-operate in this movement with him. But they had in mind no definite place to which they could flee and enjoy their freedom. Mr. Douglass has beautifully and graphically described the thoughts that passed through their minds at the time they were planning to run away. Here is what he says: "At every gate through which we had to pass we saw a watchman; at every ferry a guard; on every bridge a sentinel, and in every wood a patrol or slave-hunter. We were hemmed in on every side. The good to be sought and the evil to be shunned were flung in the balance and weighed against each other. On the one hand stood slavery, a stern reality, glaring frightfully upon us, with the blood of millions in its polluted skirts, terrible to behold, greedily devouring our hard earnings and feeding upon our flesh. This was the evil from which to escape. On the other hand, far away, back in the hazy distance, where all forms seemed but shadows under the flickering light of the north star, behind some craggy hill or snow-capped mountain, stood a doubtful freedom, half frozen, beckoning us to her icy domain. This was the good to be sought. The inequality was as great as that between certainty

and uncertainty. This in itself was enough to stagger us; but when we came to survey the untrodden road and conjecture the many possible difficulties, we were appalled, and at times, as I have said, were upon the point of giving over the struggle altogether. The reader can have little idea of the phantoms which would flit in such circumstances before the uneducated mind of the slave. Upon either side we saw grim death, assuming a variety of horrid shapes. Now it was starvation, causing us, in a strange and friendless land, to eat our own flesh. Now we were contending with the waves and were drowned. Now we were hunted by dogs and overtaken, and torn to pieces by their merciless fangs. We were stung by scorpions, chased by wild beasts, bitten by snakes, and, worst of all, after having succeeded in swimming rivers, encountering wild beasts, sleeping in the woods, suffering hunger, cold, heat, and nakedness, overtaken by hired kidnapers, who, in the name of law and for the thrice-cursed reward, would, perchance, fire upon us, kill some, wound others, and capture all. This dark picture, drawn by ignorance and fear, at times greatly shook our determination, and not unfrequently caused us to

                         "Rather bear the ills we had,
                         Than flee to others which we knew not of.' "

        But just as they were about to start they found

that they had been betrayed, and their plans revealed. As a result of this discovery they were all bound with cords and driven off to the Easton jail. The slaveholders now demanded that Frederick be removed from the neighborhood. Captain Auld therefore sent him back to Baltimore to live with his brother Hugh, where he might learn a trade. Soon after going there he was hired to Mr. William Gardner, a ship builder, for the purpose of learning to calk vessels. He made no progress in the business at this place. The white apprentices thought it degrading to work with a slave, and on one occasion made an assault upon him. In the struggle which ensued Frederick, although bruised and severely beaten, resisted as best he could; but at last had to yield because of the great numbers against him. He was afterwards hired to Mr. Walter Price, where he learned calking, and soon commanded the highest wages.

        During his leisure hours he reflected much upon his condition; and the more he reflected, the more he hated slavery, and the more discontented he became. He therefore determined to make another attempt to secure his liberty, and, with this end in view, obtained from a friend a "Sailor's protection," which in this instance served the purpose of free papers. Disguised as a sailor, he left Baltimore, September 3, 1838, now

twenty-one years of age, and made his way to New York, where he was introduced to Mr. Ruggles, secretary of the New York Vigilance Committee. As soon as she could be sent for, his affianced wife, Anna, came on, and they were married by the Rev. J. W. C. Pennington, of the Presbyterian church. Acting upon the advice of Mr. Ruggles, he went to New Bedford, and was kindly received by Mr. Nathan Johnson. In slavery Frederick's name was Frederick Augustus Bailey. At the suggestion of Mr. Johnson his name was now changed to Frederick Douglass, by which title he has ever since been known. In New Bedford he found employment in putting away coal, sawing wood, moving rubbish, working on the wharves, and in a brass foundry; and thus earned the means to support his family. It was here that he became a subscriber of Mr. Garrison's paper, the Liberator. Mr. Douglass says this paper took the place in his heart, "second only to the Bible." Not long after subscribing for the Liberator, he had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Garrison himself, and from this time on entertained for the distinguished agitator the highest admiration. By reading the Liberator he came in possession of the principles of the abolition movement. The spirit that animated its friends in their efforts to put down human slavery had already been awakened within him.

CHAPTER II.
CAREER AS AN ANTI-SLAVERY AGITATOR.--FIRST VISIT TO GREAT BRITAIN.

        On the 11th of August, 1841, an anti-slavery convention was held at Nantucket. Many distinguished abolitionists were present, among whom was Mr. Garrison. Mr. Douglass had come to the convention that he might learn something further of the principles and measures of these reputed fanatics. Being invited to speak he at first declined to say anything. Urged by a friend, he at last came forward with great reluctance and embarrassment, and addressed the meeting. So great was the impression made upon the audience by his eloquent words, that it was the means of opening to him that field in which he has won so many laurels as a platform speaker and orator. Not long after this he was appointed a lecturing agent of the Anti-Slavery Society.

        In the same year he made speeches in Rhode Island, where an attempt was made to set aside the old colonial charter by a constitution in which was a provision to deprive colored men there of the elective franchise. At this time there were very strong prejudices against the negro in that

state. Speaking of his work in Rhode Island, Mr. Douglass says: "In Grafton, I was alone, and there was neither house, hall, church, nor market-place in which I could speak to the people, but, determined to speak, I went to the hotel and borrowed a dinner bell, with which in hand I passed through the principal streets, ringing the bell and crying out, 'Notice! Frederick Douglass, recently a slave, will lecture on American slavery, on Grafton common this evening at seven o'clock. Those who would like to hear of the great workings of slavery, by one of the slaves, are respectfully invited to attend.' This notice brought a large audience, after which the largest church in town was open to me."

        In what is known as the "hundred conventions," which in the year 1843 were held in New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, Mr. Douglass took an active and leading part. He experienced the same difficulty in procuring places in which to speak, and often he was compelled to hold his meetings in the open air. A memorable meeting was held at Pendleton, Indiana. No building of any kind could be procured in which to hold the assemblage, and consequently they convened in the woods near by, where an infuriated mob rushed upon and assaulted them. Mr. Douglass, in attempting to fight his way through the crowd,

had his arm broken, was knocked down, and left unconscious by his cowardly assailants. At Buffalo, where one of these meetings was convened, he took part in a convention of colored men assembled about the same time to discuss questions of importance to the race.

        Mr. Douglass, some time after his speech at the Nantucket convention, wrote an account of his life and published it in pamphlet form. These pamphlets were widely circulated and read, and they, together with the addresses he had delivered as agent of the Anti-Slavery Society, attracted to himself the attention of the country. For this reason he was now in danger of being seized and carried back into slavery. With the view of avoiding the possibility of such a misfortune, he was induced to seek refuge abroad.

        The visit which Mr. Douglass at this time made to Great Britain was of much benefit to him, as it gave opportunity of seeing the great cities of the mother country, of studying the character of its people and their institutions, of hearing the great orators of the age, and of meeting many eminent literary and educated men. He heard in parliamentary debate, Cobden, Bright, Peel, Disraeli, O'Connell, Lord John Russell, Lord Brougham, and other renowned statesmen. Of all these distinguished men, he thought Lord Brougham the best speaker. He was kindly received

and hospitably entertained by eminent men in England, Scotland, and Ireland. On the 7th of August, 1846, the World's Temperance Convention was held in Covent Garden Theater, London. To Mr. Douglass was extended an invitation to speak, with which he complied, his remarks having special reference to the condition of the colored people in the United States.

        A question of importance was being discussed in Scotland whither he now went. The Free Church there received contributions from slaveholders, and, by so doing, gave its sanction to slavery. This system was condemned by many of the leading men of Glasgow. Some undertook to defend in the name of the Bible not only this system but the holding of fellowship with slaveholders. Scotland was roused with excitement over the question. Much good resulted from the agitation which followed. Slavery was thoroughly discussed, and its pernicious practices exposed. To Mr. Douglass more than to any other at the time was given the credit of awakening the moral and religious sentiment of the people against the holding of human beings in bondage. Before his return to America, which soon after followed, some friends raised the money and purchased his freedom from his owner, Captain Auld of Maryland, the amount charged being one hundred and fifty pounds sterling.

CHAPTER III.
EDITOR OF THE "NORTH STAR."--CONNECTION WITH JOHN BROWN.

        ON his return to the United States Mr. Douglass determined to establish a newspaper, his idea being that a newspaper in the hands of a colored man, if properly conducted, would greatly assist in creating public sentiment for the overthrow of slavery. At that time there was no newspaper in this country under the control of colored men, though at intervals efforts had been made to establish one. The name given to the paper which he subsequently published at Rochester, New York, was the North Star, but it was afterwards called Frederick Douglass' Paper. The publication of this journal reached a large circulation and was a source of incalculable benefit to its founder. He was required to write editorials and other matter, and had, therefore, to inform himself upon the subjects about which he wrote. Much time was necessarily spent in reading and research, so that, under the circumstances, his paper was for him the very best educator. In his early anti-slavery life he was a disciple of Mr. Garrison and believed with him in the pro-slavery character of the constitution of the United

States--that slavery could only be effectually destroyed by dissolving the union. He now held the opposite view, and ably defended his changed opinions through the columns of the North Star.

        In June, 1872, he suffered a severe loss. His house was burned down, and among the other losses he sustained was that of twelve volumes of his paper. These he has been able to replace only in part. The destruction of these volumes is not a loss to the editor alone; it is also a loss to the country, for they contained some of his best thoughts upon many of the most important questions which were before the people from 1848 to 1860.

        Mr. Douglass during one winter delivered a course of lectures on Sunday evening of each week in Corinthian Hall, in Rochester, and these lectures contributed in creating a healthy anti-slavery sentiment in that city and western New York. In the midst of all these duties he also found time to act as conductor of the Underground railroad. It was his business to receive fugitive slaves, secrete them, raise means, and send them on to Canada.

        Soon after he began to publish his paper, he became acquainted with John Brown, then residing in Springfield, Mass. Mr. Douglass on invitation visited that personage, who afterwards became so famous, and thus describes him: "In

person he was lean, strong, and sinewy; of the best New England mold, built for times of trouble, fitted to grapple with the flintiest hardships. Clad in plain American woolen, shod in boots of cowhide leather, and wearing a cravat of the same substantial material; under six feet high, less than a hundred and fifty pounds in weight, aged about fifty, he presented a figure straight and symmetrical as a mountain pine. His bearing was singularly impressive. His head was not large, but compact and high. His hair was coarse, strong, slightly gray, and closely trimmed, and grew low on his forehead. His face was smoothly shaved, and revealed a strong, square mouth, supported by a broad and prominent chin. His eyes were bluish gray, and in conversation they were full of light and fire. When on the street, he moved with a long, springing, race-horse step, absorbed in his own reflections, neither seeking nor shunning observation. Such was Captain Brown, whose name has now passed into history as one of the most marked characters and greatest heroes known to American fame."

        Mr. Brown explained the plan he had formed of freeing the bondmen of the South. It then was not his purpose to cause an insurrection of the slaves; but he proposed that certain reliable men whom he would select and place at different points in the mountains of Virginia and Maryland,

        From Harper's Weekly
        Copyright, 1877, by Harper & Brothers
        JOHN BROWN.

should go down into the lowlands, as opportunity offered, and induce slaves to escape. These should then be sent to Canada through means which would be provided. This in substance was Mr. Brown's plan. Mr. Douglass was very much impressed with his visit to John Brown, and began to doubt that slavery could ever be destroyed by peaceful means. From this time on his speeches showed that this impression had become a firm belief.

        Nothing was attempted by Brown in this matter till after the Kansas difficulty was settled. The two men continued friends from their very first acquaintance, and frequently exchanged visits. Just after the Kansas trouble Brown came to Rochester and remained with Mr. Douglass several weeks. While there he prepared a constitution which he intended should govern those associated with him. Mr. Douglass has now a copy of this constitution in Brown's own handwriting. It had been Brown's purpose to begin work in 1858, but, on account of the exposure of his plans by an Englishman whom he had met in Kansas, operations were postponed a year later.

        This year brought some changes in the original plans. Three weeks before he made his raid on Harper's Ferry, he wrote to Mr. Douglass to come to Chambersburg, Penn., as he wished to

confer with him. The place selected for the meeting was an old stone quarry in the suburbs of the city. Thither Mr. Douglass went, taking with him Shields Green, a fugitive slave from South Carolina whom Brown had met at Mr. Douglass' house in Rochester. What took place in that memorable conference August 19, we will set forth in the exact language of Mr. Douglass as he has himself related it: "When I reached Chambersburg, a good deal of surprise was expressed (for I was instantly recognized), that I should come there unannounced, and I was pressed to make a speech to them, with which invitation I readily complied. Meanwhile, I called upon Mr. Henry Watson, a simple-minded and warm-hearted man, to whom Captain Brown had imparted the secret of my visit, to show me the road to the appointed rendezvous. Watson was very busy in his barber's shop, but he dropped all and put me on the right track. I approached the old quarry very cautiously, for John Brown was generally well armed and regarded strangers with suspicion. He was there under the ban of the government, and heavy rewards were offered for his arrest, for offenses said to have been committed in Kansas. He was passing under the name of John Smith. As I came near, he regarded me rather suspiciously, but soon recognized me, and received me cordially. He had in

his hand when I met him, a fishing-tackle, with which he had apparently been fishing in a stream hard by; but I saw no fish, and I did not suppose he cared much for his 'fisherman's luck.' The fishing was simply a disguise, and was certainly a good one. He looked every way like a man of the neighborhood, and as much at home as any of the farmers around there. His hat was old, and storm beaten, and his clothing was about the color of the stone quarry itself--his then present hiding place.

        "His face wore an anxious expression, and he was much worn by thought and exposure. I felt that I was on a dangerous mission, and I was as little desirous of discovery as himself, though no reward had been offered for me.

        "We--Mr. Kagi, Captain Brown, Shields Green, and myself--sat down among the rocks and talked over the enterprise which was about to be undertaken. The taking of Harper's Ferry, of which Captain Brown had merely hinted before, was now declared as his settled purpose, and he wanted to know what I thought of it. I at once opposed the measure with all the arguments at my command. To me, such a measure would be fatal to running off slaves (as was the original plan), and fatal to all engaged in doing so. It would be an attack upon the federal government, and would array the whole country against us.

Captain Brown did most of the talking on the other side of the question. He did not at all object to rousing the nation; it seemed to him that something startling was just what the nation needed. He had completely renounced his old plan, and thought that the capture of Harper's Ferry would serve as notice to the slaves that their friends had come, and as a trumpet to rally them to his standard. He described the place as to its means of defense, and how impossible it would be to dislodge him if once in possession. Of course I was no match for him in such matters, but I told him, and these were my words, that all his arguments, and all his descriptions of the place, convinced me that he was going into a perfect steel trap, and that once in he would never get out alive; that he would be surrounded at once and escape would be impossible. He was not to be shaken by anything I could say, but treated my views respectfully, replying that even if surrounded he would find means for cutting his way out; but that would not be forced upon him; he should have a number of the best citizens of the neighborhood as his prisoners at the start, and that holding them as hostages, he should be able if worse came to worse, to dictate terms of egress from the town. I looked at him with some astonishment that he could rest upon a reed so weak and broken, and told him that Virginia

would blow him and his hostages sky-high, rather than that he should hold Harper's Ferry an hour. Our talk was long and earnest; we spent the most of Saturday and a part of Sunday in this debate--Brown for Harper's Ferry, and I against it; he for striking a blow which should instantly rouse the country, and I for the policy of gradually and unaccountably drawing off slaves to the mountains, as at first suggested and proposed by him. When I found that he had fully made up his mind and could not be dissuaded, I turned to Shields Green and told him he heard what Captain Brown had said; his old plan was changed, and that I should return home, and if he wished to go with me he could do so. Captain Brown urged us both to go with him, but I could not do so, and could but feel that he was about to rivet the fetters more firmly than ever on the limbs of the enslaved. In parting he put his arms around me in a manner more than friendly, and said: 'Come with me, Douglass, I will defend you with my life. I want you for a special purpose. When I strike, the bees will begin to swarm, and I shall want you to help hive them.' But my discretion or my cowardice made me proof against the dear old man's eloquence--perhaps it was something of both which determined my course. When about to leave I asked Green what he had decided to do, and was surprised

by his coolly saying in his broken way, 'I b'leve I'll go wid de ole man.' Here we separated; they to go to Harper's Ferry, and I to Rochester."

        On their way to Chambersburg Mr. Douglass and Shields Green stopped at Mrs. E. A. Gloucester's in Brooklyn, August 18, who sent through Mr. Douglass to Captain Brown a letter and a small amount of money. The following is a copy of a letter signed by colored citizens of Philadelphia, which was found among the papers at the Kennedy farm, Brown's headquarters before moving on to Harper's Ferry, and was sent to Mr. Douglass at Rochester in September: "F. D., Esq., Dear Sir,--The undersigned feel it to be of the utmost importance that our class be properly represented in a convention to come off right away (near) Chambersburg, in this state. We think you are the man of all others to represent us; and we severally pledge ourselves that in case you will come right on we will see your family well provided for during your absence, or until your safe return to them. Answer to us and to John Henrie, Esq., Chambersburg, Penn., at once. We are ready to make you a remittance, if you go. We have now quite a number of good but not very intelligent representatives collected. Some of our numbers are ready to go on with you." It was never known why this letter

was sent to Mr. Douglass. He thinks, however, that the sending of it was prompted by Kagi, who was present at the Chambersburg interview, and had heard him say that he could not go to Harper's Ferry in the way proposed. Kagi probably thought a letter signed as this was would induce Mr. Douglass to reconsider his determination and at last consent to accompany Brown.

        The report of the capture of Harper's Ferry was received by Mr. Douglass in Philadelphia. Information soon followed to the effect that Brown had been captured, and that a carpet bag had been found containing letters from abolitionists, among which were some from Mr. Douglass. Leaving the city upon the advice of friends, Mr. Douglass went to New York. There he learned that the government intended to arrest all who had been in any way connected with the raid at Harper's Ferry. Alarmed at this intelligence he sent a message to his son Lewis at home to secure the important papers which were in his "high desk." Arriving at Rochester, he ascertained through Lieutenant Governor Selden, his neighbor, that the governor of New York would surrender him upon legal demand by the governor of Virginia. Mr. Selden advised him to leave the country without delay. Canada being the nearest refuge, he went thither. Governor Wise, hearing that he had gone to Michigan,

made a demand upon the governor of that state for his detention and surrender to the Virginia authorities. The following letter, which was sent to Mr. Douglass by the historian, B. J. Lossing, after the war, shows that he acted wisely at the time in taking the advice of friends and thus putting himself beyond the danger of apprehension:--

(Confidential.)

To His Excellency, James Buchanan, President of the United States, and to the Honorable Postmaster-General of the United States:--

        GENTLEMEN,--I have information such as has caused me, upon proper affidavit, to make requisition upon the executive of Michigan for the delivery up of the person of Frederick Douglass, a negro man, supposed now to be in Michigan, charged with murder, robbery, and inciting servile insurrection in the state of Virginia. My agents for the arrest and reclamation of the person so charged are Benjamin M. Morris and William N. Kelly. The latter has the requisition, and will wait on you to the end of obtaining nominal authority as post office agent. They need be very secretive in this matter, and some pretext for traveling through the dangerous section for the execution of the law in this behalf, and some protection against obtrusive, unruly, or lawless violence. If it be proper so to do, will the postmaster-general be pleased to give to Mr. Kelly, for each of these men, a permit and authority to act as detectives for the post office department, without pay, but to pass and repass without question, delay, or hindrance?

Respectfully submitted by
Your obedient servant,

HENRY A. WISE.

        It was evident that Mr. Douglass could not hope for a fair trial before a Virginia jury. He

also doubtless felt that even in Canada he was not safe, for there was danger of being kidnaped and brought back to the United States; hence he left for England on the 12th of the same month. He remained abroad six months, speaking upon anti-slavery and other subjects in England and Scotland, at the end of which time he was summoned home by the death of his daughter Annie.

        Some were disposed to criticise Mr. Douglass for the course he pursued in the Harper's Ferry affair, and went so far as to assert that he deserted Brown on that occasion. It is no doubt true that these criticisms grew out of the reports telegraphed over the country, after the capture of Brown, in which Cook, one of Brown's men, was made to say that Mr. Douglass had promised to be present in person on this famous expedition. Mr. Douglass, before taking his departure for Europe, wrote a letter which was published in the Rochester Democrat and American, in which he emphatically denied these statements, thus attributed to Cook. The one sentence I quote is characteristic of the whole letter: "I therefore declare that there is no man living and no man dead who, if living, could truthfully say that I ever promised him or anybody else, either conditionally or otherwise, that I would be present in person at the Harper's Ferry insurrection." Mr.

Douglass, in this letter quoted from, also promised at the proper time, when it could be done without compromising the friends of the slaves, to tell all he knew of the attempt of John Brown to liberate the bondmen of Virginia and Maryland. As the country knows, he has faithfully kept that promise in a published statement giving all the facts as far as he knew them. Subsequent history also verifies what he wrote to the Rochester Democrat and American while in Canada. The recent publication of the Life and Letters of John Brown, by his friend, F. B. Sanborn, in which all the particulars of the foray at Harper's Ferry are given to the public, coincides with what Mr. Douglass has said. I quote Mr. Sanborn, page 418:--

        "John Brown's long meditated plan of action in Virginia was wholly his own, as he more than once declared, and it was not until he had long formed and matured it, that he made it known to the few friends outside of his own household who shared his confidence in that matter. I cannot say how numerous these were, but beyond his family and the armed followers who accompanied him, I have never supposed that his Virginia plan was known to fifty persons. Even to those few it was not fully communicated, though they knew that he meant to fortify himself somewhere in the mountains of Virginia or Tennessee, and

from that fastness, with his band of soldiers, sally out and emancipate slaves, seize hostages, and levy contributions on the slaveholders. Moreover, from the time he first matured it, there were several changes, amounting at last to an entire modification of the scheme. As he declared it to me in 1858 in the house of Gerrit Smith at Peterboro, it was very different from the plan he had unfolded to Thomas and to that other Maryland freedman, Frederick Douglass, at Brown's own house in Springfield in 1847."

        I believe there is no one who, in the light of developments, will say that Mr. Douglass acted in bad faith to John Brown. The interview at Chambersburg shows that Brown never lost confidence in his friend. Mr. Douglass never saw Cook, had no communication with him whatever. Even if Cook did say what was imputed to him, it can be shown by Brown himself that he was not always truthful. Brown, on his way to the scaffold, said to Cook, who had made a confession, "You have made false statements--that I sent you to Harper's Ferry; you know I protested against your coming."

        The following statement, which recently appeared in a leading journal, will throw additional light upon the facts connected with the hurried departure of Mr. Douglass for Canada just after John Brown was taken at Harper's Ferry.

        " 'Yes, sir; I am the man who saved Fred. Douglass' life when "Old John Brown" was captured at Harper's Ferry. I suppressed a dispatch addressed to the sheriff of Philadelphia, instructing him to arrest Douglass, who was then in that city, as proofs of his complicity in the memorable raid were discovered when John Brown was taken into custody.'

        "Seated on the doorstep of his cozy cottage, a few miles outside of Vineland, New Jersey, was John W. Hurn, a pleasant, gray-bearded man of sixty, who, when questioned, answered as above respecting the aid rendered by him to the noted abolitionist.

        " 'At that time I was a telegraph operator located in Philadelphia,' continued Mr. Hurn, 'and when I received the dispatch I was frightened nearly out of my wits. As I was an ardent admirer of the great ex-slave, I resolved to warn Douglass of his impending fate, no matter what the result might be to me. The news had just been spread throughout the country of the bold action of John Brown in taking Harper's Ferry. Everybody was excited and public feeling ran high. Before the intelligence came that Brown had been captured, the dispatch I have mentioned was sent by the sheriff of Franklin county, Penn., to the sheriff of Philadelphia, informing him that Douglass had been one of the

leading conspirators, and requesting that he should be immediately apprehended.

        " 'Though I knew it was illegal to do so, I quietly put the dispatch in my pocket, and, asking another operator to take my place, started on my search for Fred. Douglass. I went directly to Miller McKim, the secretary of the contraband, underground, fugitive railway office in Philadelphia, and inquired for my man. Mr. McKim hesitated to tell me, whereupon I showed him the dispatch and promised him not to allow it to be delivered within three hours. I told him I would not do this unless he agreed to get Mr. Douglass out of the states. This he readily assented to, for it was his business to spirit escaped slaves beyond the reach of the authorities. I returned to the telegraph office and kept a sharp lookout for similar dispatches. None arrived, however, and when the allotted time expired I sent the belated message to its destination.

        " 'In the mean time those intrusted with my secret saw Mr. Douglass and urged him to leave the town as quickly as possible. He was loath to do so at first, but the expostulation of his friends overcame his objections, and in an hour he left on a railroad train. He reached his home in Rochester, New York, in safety, destroying the compromising documents, and then packed his

gripsack and started for Canada. It was fortunate for him that he left so soon as he did, for immediately after his departure from Rochester his home was surrounded by officers.' "

        We take the liberty of quoting in this connection for the information of the reader an incident which occurred in the early acquaintance of Mr. Douglass with Brown, related by a writer who styles himself the "Rambler," in an article published in a New England paper.

        "In the spring of '57, just after the Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court, the Rambler (being then a resident of Worcester, Mass., fondly called by the citizens `The Heart of the Commonwealth') was getting up a lecture for Frederick Douglass. He secured the then mayor of the city to preside, it being the first time that the mayor of an American city had presided at an address of Mr. Douglass. The Rambler called at the house of Hon. Eli Thayer, then member of Congress from the ninth district, to ask him to sit on the platform. Here he found a stranger, a man of tall, gaunt form, with a face smooth shaven, destitute of the full beard that later became a part of history. The children were climbing over his knees; he said, `The children always come to me.' The Rambler was introduced to John Brown of Ossawatomie. How little one imagined then that, within less than three years,

the name of this plain, homespun man would fill America and Europe.

        "Mr. Brown kindly consented to occupy a place on the platform, and at the urgent request of the audience spoke briefly. It is one of the curious facts, that many men who can do it are utterly unable to tell about it. John Brown, a flame of fire in action, was dull in speech. How many men are a living flame on the platform, who are nowhere in action. John Brown taught the world one lesson among others. If a man fully, absolutely, believes what he says, and if he has laid aside all fear, so that death has no terrors for him, that man is a power, that man is to be feared."

CHAPTER IV.
SECOND VISIT TO ENGLAND.--THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.

        MR. DOUGLASS returned from England in time to take part in the great presidential campaign of 1860. He entered into that contest with earnestness and enthusiasm, for he believed that it was a struggle which would decide the fate of slavery in the United States. Later on when the war had been in progress three years, and the government decided to accept colored volunteers, he became conspicuous for the support and encouragement he gave in the enlistment of colored troops. When Governor Andrew of Massachusetts was given authority by President Lincoln to put into the field two colored regiments, the 54th and 55th, Mr. Douglass made a most eloquent appeal through his paper to the colored people of the North to enlist. There being few colored men in Massachusetts, it was found necessary to go outside of that state to recruit. Mr. Douglass not only urged and induced others to go, but gave his two sons, Lewis and Charles, to the cause; the latter of whom was the first colored man to enlist in the state of New York. Some time later his third and last son, Frederick, Jr., also entered the service.

        ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

        It was proposed in Pennsylvania to raise ten regiments, and Mr. Douglass was again requested to give his assistance in the work of recruiting. He entered this service with the understanding that when they enlisted colored men should receive the same treatment that was accorded to white soldiers. The government, however, did not do in this respect what was expected of it; on which account Mr. Douglass, thoroughly disheartened, suspended his labors for a time. But finally, urged by Mr. Stearns, who had first sought his assistance in enlisting men, he went to Washington and presented the matter to the president and secretary of war. He thus describes his first meeting with President Lincoln: "I shall never forget my first interview with this great man. I was accompanied to the executive mansion and introduced to President Lincoln by Senator Pomeroy. The room in which he received visitors was the one now used by the president's secretaries. I entered it with a moderate estimate of my own consequence, and yet there I was to talk with, and even to advise, the head of a great nation. Happily for me there was no vain pomp and ceremony about him. I was never more quickly or more completely put at ease in the presence of a great man than in that of Abraham Lincoln. He was seated, when I entered, in a low arm-chair, with his feet extended on the

floor, surrounded by a large number of documents and several busy secretaries. The room bore the marks of business, and the persons in it, the president included, appeared to be much overworked and tired. Long lines of care were already deeply written on Mr. Lincoln's brow, and his strong face, full of earnestness, lighted up as soon as my name was mentioned. As I approached and was introduced to him, he rose and extended his hand, and bade me welcome. I at once felt myself in the presence of an honest man--one whom I could love, honor, and trust without reserve or doubt. Proceeding to tell him who I was, and what I was doing, he promptly but kindly stopped me, saying, 'I know who you are, Mr. Douglass. Mr. Seward has told me all about you. Sit down; I am glad to see you.' I then told him the object of my visit; that I was assisting to raise colored troops; that several months before I had been very successful in getting men to enlist, but that now it was not easy to induce the colored men to enter the service, because there was a feeling among them that the government did not deal fairly with them in several respects. Mr. Lincoln asked me to state particulars. I replied that there were three particulars which I wished to bring to his attention. First, that colored soldiers ought to receive the same wages as those paid to white soldiers. Second,

that colored soldiers ought to receive the same protection when taken prisoners, and be exchanged as readily, and on the same terms, as other prisoners, and if Jefferson Davis should shoot or hang colored soldiers in cold blood, the United States government should retaliate in kind and degree without delay upon Confederate prisoners in its hands. Third, when colored soldiers, seeking the 'bauble reputation at the cannon's mouth,' performed great and uncommon service on the battlefield, they should be rewarded by distinction and promotion precisely as white soldiers are rewarded for like services."

        Mr. Lincoln was impressed with the argument of Mr. Douglass, and in his reply spoke encouragingly of the intentions of the administration. After this interview with the president, and a subsequent one with Secretary Stanton, Mr. Douglass felt encouraged and went away feeling assured that the government would, as fast as conditions warranted, deal justly by the colored soldier.

        He was one of the crowd that listened to the second inauguration address of President Lincoln. In the evening of the same day he attended the president's reception. No colored person had hitherto presented himself on such an occasion. When conducted to the president's room, Mr. Lincoln received him with marks of great respect and attention.

CHAPTER V.
CONTINUED LITERARY EFFORTS.--FREEDMEN'S BANK.--OFFICIAL CAREER IN WASHINGTON.--VISIT TO HIS OLD MARYLAND HOME.

        AFTER the war closed and the country had returned to pursuits of peace, Mr. Douglass began to think of what calling he should follow. His great life work, the abolition of slavery, had been accomplished, and it seemed that now there was little for him to do. He had about made up his mind to spend the remainder of his days in farming, when invitations came to him to deliver lectures before colleges and literary societies. Thus a new vocation was opened to him, by which he might improve his knowledge and better his pecuniary condition. While employed by the Anti-Slavery Society he had been paid a salary of $450 a year, now he was offered $100 and often $200 for one lecture.

        Mr. Douglass early saw that the greatest protection of the colored man after emancipation would be the ballot--in fact, it would prove his only safety; he, therefore, was among the very first to begin the agitation of the question, suffrage for the negro. This question was discussed in the National Loyalists' Convention, which was

        U. S. GRANT.

held in Philadelphia in 1866. Mr. Douglass, as a delegate from Rochester, attended this gathering and made an earnest speech, urging a free and untrammeled ballot to all citizens of the country. The convention, though divided at first in opinion, before it adjourned passed resolutions favoring the enfranchisement of the freedman. The question grew rapidly in public favor. President Grant recommended the measure to Congress, and erelong the ballot was made secure to the negro by the adoption of the 15th amendment to the constitution.

        In the year 1869, having been induced by some friends, Mr. Douglass came to Washington and established the New National Era newspaper. This paper was finally turned over to his sons, Lewis and Frederick.

        About this time he was elected president of the Freedmen's Bank, an institution intended as a secure depository for the savings of the colored people. The intentions of the founders of this organization were no doubt good, but by bad management the bank was brought to ruin. Mr. Douglass had previously been elected a trustee of this corporation, while residing in Rochester, and had attended a few of its meetings, but he knew nothing personally of its true condition. He himself says: "About four months before this splendid institution was compelled to close its

doors in the starved and deluded faces of its depositors, and while I was assured by its president and by its secretary of its sound condition, I was solicited by some of its trustees to allow them to use my name in the board as a candidate for its presidency. So I waked up one morning to find myself seated in a comfortable arm-chair, with gold spectacles on my nose, and to hear myself addressed as President of the Freedmen's Bank. I could not help reflecting on the contrast between Frederick the slave boy, running about at Colonel Lloyd's with only a tow linen shirt to cover him, and Frederick, president of a bank, counting its assets by millions. I had heard of golden dreams, but such dreams had no comparison with this reality. And yet this seeming reality was scarcely more substantial than a dream. My term of service on this golden height covered only the brief space of three months." Mr. Douglass, when he found out by careful investigation the facts in reference to the condition of the bank, to use his own words, when he discovered that he was "married to a corpse," he immediately went before the Senate Finance Committee, of which Hon. John Sherman was chairman, and gave it as his opinion that the bank was insolvent and could not recover from its losses. The committee took the same view and immediately three commissioners were appointed

by Congress to wind up the affairs of the company.

        Mr. Douglass was sent by President Grant with Messrs. Wade, Howe, and White, commissioners to Hayti. He took the position with General Grant in favor of annexation of that country to the United States. Mr. Sumner championed the opposite view in the Senate and held that annexation meant the extinction of the Haytian people as such. Mr. Douglass held that a union would give protection to the weaker state and prosperity beyond what it could ever enjoy as a separate government. On this question the opinion of the country was divided. There were strong arguments used for and against the scheme.

        In the year 1872 General Grant was nominated a second time for the presidency. The independent republicans, dissatisfied with his administration, nominated Horace Greeley. In the national convention of colored men held in New Orleans in the same year, over which Mr. Douglass presided, an effort was made to get that body to indorse the independent candidate. Mr. Douglass used his influence to prevent such action, and had he not been present it is probable that the convention would have passed resolutions indorsing Mr. Greeley for the presidency. Having been chosen an elector at large of the state of New York on the Republican ticket, he was

commissioned by the electoral college of the state to carry the vote to the capitol at Washington.

        Mr. Douglass had been appointed by President Grant in his first term a member of the council of the District of Columbia, but was compelled, by the pressure of other duties, to resign after a short time, and his son Lewis was appointed to the position. When Mr. Hayes became president, he appointed Mr. Douglass marshal of the district. Immediately a great cry was made against this act of the president, and representatives of the bar appeared before the Senate committee for the purpose of defeating his confirmation. Mr. Conkling, then a member of the Senate, in executive session, made an able speech in support of Mr. Douglass. Other members came to his aid, and the Senate promptly confirmed the appointment. One of the objections made to Mr. Douglass holding the office of marshal was that he would be required to introduce guests to the president on state occasions. But this duty did not by law devolve upon that officer. The president could as well designate any other officer at the capital to perform such service. Mr. Douglass did, however, introduce to President Hayes during his term of office many distinguished persons, and he on such occasions was always treated with the greatest courtesy by this

        RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

chief magistrate. Great credit should be given Mr. Hayes for the courage he displayed in appointing Mr. Douglass in opposition to the wishes of the pro-slavery sentiment of the District, and that he could not be induced to revoke the appointment.

        It had long been the cherished desire of Mr. Douglass to visit his old Maryland home. During slavery times he did not think it safe to gratify his wishes in this respect. The opportunity to do so, however, presented itself while he was holding this office. He went first to St. Michael's upon the invitation of Mr. Charles Caldwell, a colored man. Arriving there he was invited by his old master, Captain Auld, now eighty years of age, to visit him, he at this time being on his deathbed. When Mr. Douglass entered the room in which the sick man lay, the captain addressed him as Marshal Douglass and treated him with great respect. The interview was a most affecting one, but lasted only a few minutes, owing to the weak condition of the aged veteran. Mr. Douglass while in this neighborhood also visited the Eastern jail, where in youth he had been confined with other slaves for attempting to run away from their masters.

        He some time after paid a visit to the Lloyd plantation in Talbot county, which he left when he was only eight years old, in 1825. He there

met with the kindest reception from the Lloyds, who were still living on the premises. He was entertained in the old family mansion; was escorted over the grounds, saw the buildings, many of them standing just as he was accustomed to see them in former times. He conversed with many of the colored people who were children when he was a boy, and whom he then knew; looked into the kitchen where he had last seen his mother, and his eyes grew dim with tears. He visited the family burying-ground, and while there Mr. Howard Lloyd kindly presented him a bouquet of flowers, taken from the graves of those he had known in his childhood days.

        Mr. Douglass, on Decoration day, May 30, 1881, was invited to deliver his lecture on John Brown at Storer College, an institution established in the interest of the colored race at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. On the platform sat Andrew J. Hunter, who was the prosecuting attorney when the old hero was convicted. He applauded parts of the lecturer's remarks heartily. Truly the times had changed, and the sentiments and feelings of that community had changed with them.

        When Mr. Garfield, in 1881, became president, Mr. Douglass was appointed recorder of deeds of the District of Columbia, which position he held till the appointment of Mr. James C. Matthews, in the spring of 1886.

        JAMES A. GARFIELD.

CHAPTER VI.
BANQUET IN RECOGNITION OF HIS PUBLIC SERVICES.--THE DOUGLASS IN HIS HALL.

        On the first of January, 1883, the twentieth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, a banquet was tendered Hon. Frederick Douglass, in recognition of his high personal attainments, and of his eminent public services in behalf of his race and humanity, at Freund's, Washington, D. C. The entertainment was not only a social event of unusual interest, but one worthy of the occasion. No more brilliant array of talent has ever assembled to do honor to a great man of our race. The tables were beautifully decorated, and laden with the choicest viands. They were so arranged as to group the company about the distinguished guest, who sat at the head of the central table. There were present doctors of divinity, bishops, lawyers, doctors of medicine, members of Congress and northern state legislatures, professors of colleges, authors, and editors of newspapers.

        After prayer by Bishop John M. Brown, the company spent two hours in partaking of the excellent dinner placed before them. It was ten o'clock when ex-Senator Bruce introduced Mr.

Douglass in an appropriate and eulogistic address, closing with these words: "I now, gentlemen, have the honor to present to you Frederick Douglass, the distinguished guest of this happy occasion, whose fame as an orator and an earnest and effective worker in the cause of human liberty is not confined to one continent, but known throughout the civilized world, and whose name is a household word, cherished and loved by millions who, from writhing under the cruel chains of slavery, have at last been brought into the bright sunlight of freedom. He will now respond to the toast, 'The Day,' this, the twentieth anniversary of the one fixed by the sainted Lincoln, when the Emancipation Proclamation should go into full force and effect."

        In responding to the sentiment Mr. Douglass said:--

        "Mr. President and gentlemen, since you have taken me into your confidence, my life, as most of you know, was begun under a great shadow. Before I was made part of this breathing world the chains were forged for my limbs, and the whip of a slave master was plaited for my back, and while I have labored and suffered in the cause of justice and liberty, I have no doleful words to utter here to-night. It was said of a great Irish orator, speaking of Irish liberty, that he had rocked it in its cradle and had followed it to its

grave. I can say of the colored man's liberty, I have rocked it in its cradle and witnessed its manhood, for I stand to-night in the presence of emancipated millions. He would be a gloomy man indeed who could live to see the desire of his soul accomplished, and yet spend his life in grief. I am happy to say now and here that while my life has been more of cloud than sunshine, more of storm than calm, it has nevertheless been a cheerful life, with many compensations on every hand, and not the least among those compensations, I reckon the good word and will which have come to me on the present occasion. This high festival of ours is coupled with a day which we do well to hold in sacred and everlasting honor, a day memorable alike in the history of the nation and in the life of an emancipated people. This is the twentieth anniversary of the proclamation of emancipation by Abraham Lincoln--a proclamation which made the name of its author immortal and glorious throughout the civilized world. That great act of his marked an epoch in the life of the whole American nation. Reflection upon it opens to us a vast wilderness of thought and feeling. Man is said to be an animal looking before and after. To him alone is given the prophetic vision, enabling him to discern the outline of his future through the mists and shadows of the past. The day we celebrate

affords us an eminence from which we may in a measure survey both the past and the future. It is one of those days which may well count for a thousand years.

        "Until this day twenty years ago there was a vast incubus on the breast of the American people, which baffled all the wisdom of American statesmanship. Slavery, the sum of all villainies, like a vulture, was gnawing at the republic. Until this day there stretched away behind us an awful chasm of darkness and despair of more than two centuries. Until this day the American slave, bound in chains, tossed his fettered hands on high and groaned for freedom's gift in vain. Until this day the colored people of the United States lived in the shadow of death, hell, and the grave, and had no visible future.

                         " 'Agonized heart throbs convulsed them while sleeping,
                         And the wind whispered death, while over them sweeping.' "

        "Until this day we knew not when or how the war for the union would end; until this day it was doubtful whether liberty and union would triumph, or slavery and barbarism. Until this day victory had largely followed the arms of the Confederate army. Until this day the mighty conflict between the North and South appeared to the eye of the civilized world, as destitute of moral qualities. Until this day the sympathies of the world were largely in favor of the Southern

rebellion. Until this day the man of sable hue had no country and no glory. Until this day he was not permitted to lift a sword, to carry a gun, or wear the United States uniform. Until this day the armies of the republic fought the rebels in fetters, for they fought for slavery as well as for the union. Until this day we presented the spectacle of that weakness, indecision, and blindness which builds up with one hand while it tears down with the other. Until this day we fought the rebels with only one hand, while we chained and pinioned the other behind us. On this day, twenty years ago, thanks to Abraham Lincoln and the great statesmen by whom he was supported, this spell of blasted hopes and despair, this spell of inconsistency and weakness, was broken, and our government became consistent, logical, and strong, for from this hour slavery was doomed, liberty made certain, and the union established.

        "We do well to commemorate this day. It was the first gray streak of morning after a long and troubled night of all abounding horrors.

        "The future as well as the past claims consideration on this day. Freedom has brought duties, responsibilities, and created expectations which must be fulfilled. There is no disguising the fact that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, and, if we maintain our high estate in this republic,

we must be something more than driftwood in a stream. We must keep pace with the nation in all that goes to make a nation great, glorious, and free. Natural equality we have long pleaded, and righteously, but now that the fetters are off, we must be able to plead practical equality, equality of industry, equality of morality, equality of education, equality of wealth, equality of general attainments. I hardly need say here that to all this there are formidable obstacles and discouragements; that we have entered the race of civilization at an immense disadvantage is manifest to the candid judgment of all men. No people ever entered the portals of freedom under circumstances more unpropitious than the American freedmen. They were flung overboard on an unknown sea in the midst of a storm, without planks, ropes, oars, or life preservers, and told they must swim or perish. They were without money, without friends, without shelter, and without bread. The land which they had watered with their tears, enriched with their blood, tilled with their hard hands, was owned by their enemies. They were told to leave their old quarters and seek food and shelter elsewhere. In view of this condition of things the marvel is not so much that they have made little progress, but that they are not exterminated. I regret to observe that even colored men are heard to deny that any

improvement has taken place in their condition during the last twenty years. How they can do this I am utterly unable to see. Twenty years ago there was perhaps not a single schoolhouse for colored children in the Southern states. Now there are two hundred thousand colored children regularly attending school in those states.

        "That fact, which does not stand alone, is sufficient to refute all the gloomy stories of croakers as to the progress of the colored freedmen of the South. The trouble with these croakers is that they do not consider the point of the freedmen's departure. They know the heights which they have still to reach, but do not measure the depths from which they have come.

        "Twenty years, though a long time in the life of an individual, is but a moment in the life of a nation, and no final judgment can be predicated of facts transpiring within that limited period.

        "For one, I can say in conclusion that nothing has occurred within these twenty years which has dimmed my hopes or caused me to doubt that the emancipated people of this country will avail themselves of their opportunities; and by enterprise, industry, invention, discovery, and manly character vindicate the confidence of their friends, and put to silence and to shame the gloomy predictions of all their enemies."

        At the conclusion of the remarks of Mr. Douglass

rapturous applause followed, many of the guests rising from their seats and coming forward to congratulate the venerable orator. After a few minutes the speaking continued. The following gentlemen, in short speeches, responded to sentiments: Hon. John R. Lynch of Mississippi, Colored Men in the South; Hon. John P. Green of the Ohio legislature, The Colored Man as a Legislator; Rev. B. T. Tanner, D. D., The Negro Press; Hon. George W. Williams, The Negro Author; T. Thomas Fortune of the New York Globe, Independent Journalism; Prof. R. T. Greener, The Negro's Adherence to the Republican Party; Hon. Robert Smalls of South Carolina, The Exodus from the South; Prof. J. M. Gregory, The Color Line; Bishop John M. Brown, The A. M. E. Church; William E. Matthews, The Orator and Orators; Dr. John R. Francis, The Profession of Medicine; Jesse Lawson, Our Presiding Officer; J. B. Devaux, The Ladies; E. M. Hewlett, Life Insurance, its Necessity; G. W. Cook, Howard University; Judge Samuel Lee of South Carolina, Co-operation; J. H. Green of Mississippi, The Slater Fund; R. J. Smith, Disunion, Consequent Weakness; W. H. Richards, The Profession of the Law; Joseph Brooks, William Lloyd Garrison; Dr. E. W. Blyden, The Republic of Liberia.

        At one time while the speaking was in progress

Mr. Douglass became so impressed with what was said that he rose of his own accord and delivered one of his old time speeches, full of fiery eloquence, in which he contrasted his past life with that of the young men before him, and concluded his impromptu remarks with an earnest appeal to the youth to make the most of their opportunities, show themselves worthy of the great privileges they enjoy and equal to the demands of the age. As soon as Mr. Douglass had resumed his seat Professor R. T. Greener proposed three cheers for the "Old Man Eloquent," which were given with a hearty good will.

        Before the company separated, Dr. B. T. Tanner of the Christian Recorder approached Mr. Charles R. Douglass, son of the guest of the evening, and, in the hearing of the writer, made this remark which we think will prove of prophetic import: "From the fact that this company is made up chiefly of young men, we may conclude that the future of your venerable father is secure. He who can command the fealty of the men of his own generation is only secure in his reputation while they survive; but he who has the strength or fitness to command the fealty of the generation coming immediately after him, may count the future as secure."

        Thus the entertainment was agreeably prolonged by speaking and conversation, till the lateness

of the hour brought the proceedings to a close, and the guests retired feeling that they had spent a pleasant and profitable evening.

CHAPTER VII.
VISIT ABROAD.--RETURN HOME AND RECEPTION.--MINISTER RESIDENT AND CONSUL GENERAL TO HAYTI.

        FOR some time prior to his retirement from public office, Mr. Douglass had contemplated a trip to Great Britain and other countries of the old world. He desired to know more of their people, their government, and institutions. Being released from the cares and responsibilities imposed by official life, he gladly welcomed the opportunity to revisit the scenes of his first two journeys abroad, and to extend his travels to classic Athens, historic Rome, Paris, the most elegant city of the world, free Switzerland, the home of the legendary hero, William Tell, Germany, the country of scholars, and Egypt, the land of pyramids and hieroglyphics. Having made all preparations for the voyage, he and Mrs. Douglass, in September, 1886, left New York for Liverpool on the steamer City of Rome.

        He returned to the United States after a year's absence, and on his arrival in Washington was tendered a public reception by his fellow citizens in the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church of that city, one of the largest and most

handsome edifices owned by colored people in the country. The church, beautifully and tastefully decorated with flags and bunting, was illuminated with lights of various colors. Rev. Dr. T. G. Stewart presided. After music by the choir of the church, Rev. Walter Brooks recited the following original poem:--

ODE OF WELCOME.

                         Honor the statesman now returning
                         From the shores of France and Spain,
                         From the British Isles and mainland,
                         To his native home again.

                         Honor the man whose potent speeches
                         In the world both old and new,
                         Now for him a fame undying
                         Made the bondman friends most true.

                         Honor the old man in his glory,
                         Read the story of his life,
                         Tell it to your sons and daughters
                         Till they feel the bitter strife.

                         Strife for freedom, land, and manhood,
                         Strife for all the rights of men,
                         Hold him up the friend of letters,
                         In his threescore years and ten.

                         Hold him up a people's leader,
                         In the struggle which we wage
                         'Gainst oppression dark and cruel,
                         Honor him, the prince and sage.

                         Honor him, and hail him welcome,
                         Welcome Frederick Douglass here,
                         Where he made long fight for freedom,
                         Wielding tongue of fire e'er.

                         Honor him with shouts of gladness,
                         Bid the nation honor, too,
                         For in him the cause of justice
                         Finds a champion strong and true.

                         Champion of the rights of all men,
                         What their color, what their clime,
                         Does not matter--he is loyal,
                         Honor him, the Old Sublime!

                         Honor to him and praise Jehovah,
                         Who from bondage called him out,
                         To deliver from their thraldom
                         Christ's own people, true, devout.

                         Honor him, though seeing never,
                         Angels sent to break his chains,
                         Bidding him to flee his serfdom,
                         And command a living name.

                         Angels sent to guide his footsteps
                         And to clothe his tongue with speech,
                         Touch his heart with fire from heaven,
                         While he freedom bravely preach.

                         Honor him, God's chosen prophet,
                         Sent against his people vile,
                         Who for sordid gain in barter,
                         Did themselves with blood defile.

                         Blood of their own brothers bleeding,
                         Bleeding under chain and lash,
                         As they toiled and prayed and waited,
                         Freedom's coming, slavery's crash.

                         Honor him, the people's hero,
                         Praying God might make it plain
                         That the blow he struck for freedom
                         Was God's wrath unloosed again.

                         Wrath that burned like fire consuming,
                         Till this nation rent in twain,
                         On the issue denouncing bondage,
                         With its blood washed out the stain.

        Mr. Brooks having concluded his poem, which throughout the recital pleased and entertained the audience, Professor W. S. Montgomery, in scholarly language, made the opening address, and then Rev. C. W. Handy welcomed the distinguished guest in the following eloquent words:--

        "Mr. Douglass, permit me on behalf and in the name of your fellow citizens, not only of the District of Columbia, but of our common country, to most cordially congratulate you upon your safe return to the land of your home, to the scenes of your labors, the old arena of your almost matchless triumphs.

        "Honored sir, we come to greet you, we come to talk and have you talk with us, we come as old friends, as good neighbors, to shake your honest hand and to congratulate you on your return home from England, France, Germany, from all Europe, from Egypt and the dark continent. Again, sir, we welcome you to your home, your family, and to your friends. Long may you live, far and wide may your influence and usefulness be felt, ever may you be under the fostering care of the great I Am, until time with you shall emerge into the ocean of eternity. I now take great pleasure

in introducing to you Hon. Frederick Douglass."

        So hearty and continued was the applause after Mr. Handy's address, that it was some minutes before Mr. Douglass could proceed with his address. At length quiet being restored he came forward and said:--

        "Friends, this is indeed an honor which I had not expected. I am certainly a very proud man to-night. Who would not be proud at such a grand ovation as this? I thank you with all my heart; you want to hear something about my trip to Europe and to Egypt, etc. Well, I will commence at the starting point. The passage from New York to Liverpool on the splendid steamer City of Rome, the largest ship afloat except the Great Eastern, was exceedingly pleasant. The winds and waves were in their most amiable mood, and we made the voyage from land to land in seven days. In nothing has there been more progress and improvement than in naval architecture and in navigation. Five and forty years ago fourteen days was a short trip from New York to Liverpool--now it can be made in six days. Fifty years ago the great scientist, Dyonisius Lardner, proved by facts and figures to his own satisfaction, that no vessel could carry enough coal to propel her across the Atlantic, but theories amount to nothing against facts accomplished. The City

of Rome consumes a ton of coal every five minutes during her voyages. She has sixty furnaces and a crew, including all hands, of two hundred and fifty persons. To walk her decks is like walking a populous street; she is a small town, not on wheels, but on the waves. Our voyage to Liverpool was marked by two incidents in which you will be interested, since they illustrate the gradual wearing away of race prejudice. There was on board the Rev. Henry Wayland, son of the great Dr. Wayland, late president of Brown University. Mr. Wayland had known me years ago, and had been my friend in Rochester. He is one of God's freemen. Through him I was made known to many of the passengers, and this resulted in a strong invitation to address the passengers in the saloon, with which I complied. After this I was called upon by Capt. Monroe to move a vote of thanks in a brief speech to Lord Porchester, who had presided at a concert given in the grand saloon by some talented musicians; thus my privacy was at an end, and I had much talking to do which I could not avoid. The contrast between the treatment I received during this voyage and that of forty years ago, was as striking as it was gratifying. Then I could not obtain a first-class passage--even on a British steamship--and was compelled to go in the forward cabin. Now I found myself not only welcome in the first

cabin, but treated by everybody with special marks of interest and esteem. It is true, that although I belonged in the forward cabin forty years ago, I made many friends during that voyage, and was then, as on the late voyage, invited to deliver an address on the saloon deck of the Cambria, but I did not comply till invited to do so by the captain. There were several slaveholders on board, and a number of dough-faces from the North. I had hardly been speaking ten minutes when one of the wildest, bitterest, and most devilish rows occurred that I ever saw. It was only put down by the captain calling upon the boatswain to bring up the irons and threatening to put anyone in irons who dared to disturb me. A most unfair account of this outbreak of pro-slavery violence has gone into the history of the Cunard line, denouncing me as the cause of the disturbance on the same principle that the slaves used to be denounced as the cause of the war. The fact is, slaveholders at that time were dictators on sea and land, and the Cunard line, although flying the British flag, found it for their interest to yield to slaveholding dictation, but I believe I am the last man of color proscribed on the Cunard line. I made such a noise in England about it at the time that Samuel Cunard himself publicly declared that there should be no more proscription on his ships on account of race and color. Contemplation

of the forces of nature is enlarging. Standing on the deck of the City of Rome, and moving among its company of passengers so unlike in appearance and character, and then looking out upon the broad, dashing billows of the Atlantic, suggested to my mind the formula that the types of mankind are various. They differ like the waves, but are one like the sea.