"SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the general business and object of the Corporation hereby created shall be, to receive on deposit such sums of money as may, from time to time, be offered therefor, by or on behalf of persons heretofore held in slavery in the United States, or their descendants, and investing the same in the stocks, bonds, Treasury notes, or other securities of the United States.

"SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Trustees of the Corporation to invest, as soon as practicable, in the securities named in the next preceding section, all sums received by them beyond an available fund, not exceeding one third of the total amount of deposits with the Corporation, at the discretion of the Trustees, which available funds may be kept by the Trustees, to meet current payments of the Corporation, and may by them be left on deposit, at interest or otherwise, or in such available form as the Trustees may direct.

"SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the Corporation may, under such regulations as the Board of Trustees shall, from time to time, prescribe, receive any deposit hereby authorized to be received, upon such trusts and for such purposes, not contrary to the laws of the United States, as may be indicated in writing by the depositor, such writing to be subscribed by the depositor and acknowledged or proved before any officer in the civil or military service of the United States, the certificate of which acknowledgment or proof shall be endorsed on the writing; and the writing, so acknowledged or proved, shall accompany such deposit and be filed among the papers of the Corporation, and be carefully preserved therein, and may be read in evidence in any court or before any judicial officer of the United States, without further proof; and the certificate of acknowledgment or proof shall be prima facie evidence only of the due execution of such writing.

"SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That all sums received on deposit shall be repaid to such depositor when required, at such time, with such interest, not exceeding seven per centum per annum, and under such regulations as the Board of Trustees shall, from time to time, prescribe, which regulations shall be posted up in some conspicuous place in the room where the business of the Corporation shall be transacted, but shall not be altered so as to affect any deposit previously made.

"SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That all trusts upon which, and all purposes for which any deposit shall be made, and which shall be indicated in the writing to accompany such deposit, shall be faithfully performed by the Corporation, unless the performing of the same is rendered impossible.

"SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That when any depositor shall die, the funds remaining on deposit with the Corporation to his credit, and all accumulations thereof, shall belong and be paid to the personal representatives of such depositor, in case he shall have left a last will and testament, and in default of a last will and testament, or of any person qualifying under a last will and testament, competent to act as executor, the Corporation shall be entitled, in respect to the funds so remaining on deposit to the credit of any such depositor, to administration thereon in preference to all other persons, and letters or administration shall be granted to the Corporation accordingly in the manner prescribed by law in respect to granting of letters of administration, with the will annexed, and in cases of intestacy.

"SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That in the case of the death of any depositor, whose deposit shall not be held upon any trust created pursuant to the provisions hereinbefore contained, or where it may prove impossible to execute such trust, it shall be the duty of the Corporation to make diligent efforts to ascertain and discover whether such deceased depositor has left a husband, wife, or children, surviving, and the Corporation shall keep a record of the efforts so made, and of the results thereof; and in case no person lawfully entitled thereto shall be discovered, or shall appear, or claim the funds remaining to the credit of such depositor before the expiration of two years from the death of such depositor, it shall be lawful for the Corporation to hold and invest such funds as a separate trust fund, to be applied, with the accumulations thereof, to the education and improvement of persons heretofore held in slavery, or their descendants, being inhabitants of the United States, in such manner and through such agencies as the Board of Trustees shall deem best calculated to effect that object; Provided, That if any depositor be not heard from within five years from the date of his last deposit, the Trustees shall advertise the same in some paper of general circulation in the State where the principal office of the Company is established, and also in the State where the depositor was last heard from; and if, within two years thereafter, such depositor shall not appear, nor a husband, wife, or child of such depositor, to claim his deposits, they shall be used by the Board of Trustees as hereinbefore provided for in this section.

"SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That no President, Vice-President, Trustee, officer, or servant of the Corporation shall, directly or indirectly, borrow the funds of the Corporation or its deposits, or in any manner use the same, or any part thereof, except to pay necessary expenses, under the direction of the Board of Trustees. All certificates or other evidences of deposit made by the proper officers shall be as binding on the Corporation as if they were made under their common seal. It shall be the duty of the Trustees to regulate the rate of interest allowed to the depositors, so that they shall receive, as nearly as may be, a rateable proportion of all the profits of the Corporation, after deducting all necessary expenses; Provided, however, That the Trustees may allow to depositors to the amount of five hundred dollars or upward one per centum less than the amount allowed others; And provided, also, Whenever it shall appear that, after the payment of the usual interest to depositors, there is in the possession of the Corporation an excess of profits over the liabilities amounting to ten per centum upon the deposits, such excess shall be invested for the security of the depositors in the Corporation; and thereafter, at each annual examination of the affairs of the Corporation, any surplus over and above such ten per centum shall, in addition to the usual interest, be divided rateably among the depositors, in such manner as the Board of Trustees shall direct.

"SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That whenever any deposits shall be made by any minor, the Trustees of the Corporation may, at their discretion, pay to such depositor such sum as may be due to him, although no guardian shall have been appointed for such minor, or the guardian of such minor shall not have authorized the drawing of the same; and the check, receipt, or acquittance of such minor shall be as valid as if the same were executed by a guardian of such minor, or the minor were of full age, if such deposit was made personally by such minor. And whenever any deposits shall have been made by married women, the Trustees may repay the same on their own receipts.

"SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That the Trustees shall not directly or indirectly receive any payment or emolument for their services as such, except the President and Vice-President.

"SEC. 15. And be it further enacted, That the President, Vice-President, and subordinate officers and agents of the Corporation, shall respectively give such security for their fidelity and good conduct as the Board of Trustees may, from time to time, require, and the Board shall fix the salaries of such officers and agents.

"SEC. 16. And be it further enacted, That the books of the Corporation shall, at all times during the hours of business, be open for inspection and examination to such persons as Congress shall designate or appoint.

"Approved March 3, 1865."

Eleven of these banks were established in 1865, nine in 1866, three in 1868, one in 1869, and the remainder in 1870, after the charter had been amended as follows:

"AN ACT TO AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED 'AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE FREEDMAN'S SAVINGS AND TRUST COMPANY,' APPROVED MARCH THIRD, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE.

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Stales of America, in Congress assembled, That the fifth section of the Act entitled 'An Act to Incorporate the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company,' approved March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding thereto at the end thereof the words following: 'and to the extent of one half in bonds or notes, secured by mortgage on real estate in double the value of the loan; and the corporation is also authorized hereby to hold and improve the real estate now owned by it in the city of Washington, to wit: the west half of lot number three; all of lots four, five, six, seven, and the south half of lot number eight, in square number two hundred and twenty-one, as laid out and recorded in the original plats or plan of said city: Provided, That said corporation shall not use the principal of any deposits made with it for the purpose of such improvement.'

"SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That Congress shall have the right to alter or repeal this amendment at any time.

"Approved May 6, 1870."

The company was organized on the 16th of May, 1865, and the trustees made their first report on the 8th of June, 1865. Deposits up to this date were $700, besides $7,956.38 transferred from the Military Savings Bank at Norfolk, Virginia, on the 3d of June. On the 1st of August the first branch office was opened at Washington, D. C., and on the 1st of September it had a balance due its depositors of $843.84.

Other branches were opened during the year at Louisville, Richmond, Nashville, Wilmington, Huntsville, Memphis, Mobile, and Vicksburg. December 14, 1865, the Military Bank at Beaufort, organized October 16, 1865, was, by order of General Saxton, transferred to this company, with its balance of $170,000. At the end of the first year, March 1, 1866, fourteen branch offices had been opened, and the balance due depositors was $199,283.42.

The total deposits made by freedmen in them, from their establishment up to July 1, 1870, was $16,960,336, of which over $2,000,000 still remained on deposit. The total amount of deposits in the Richmond branch up to that date was $318,913, and the balance undrawn $84,537. The average amount deposited by the various depositors was nearly $284. So far as the facts were obtained, it appeared that about seventy per cent. of the money drawn from these banks was invested in real estate and in business.

By the financial statement of the banking company, for August, 1871, it appears that in the thirty-four banks then in operation the deposits made during that month, which was considered "dull," amounted to $882,806.67, and that the total amount to the credit of the depositors was $3,058,232.81. In the Richmond branch, the deposits for that month were $17,790.60, and the total amount due depositors was $123,733.75; all of which was to the credit of Colored people, except $6,929.19. A branch shortly before had been established in Lynchburg, which showed a balance due depositors of $7,382.83.

The following table shows the business of the company for the years 1866-1871:

Table Showing the Relative Business of the Company for Each Fiscal Year.

For year ending Total amount of Total amount of Balance due March 1. deposits. drafts. depositors. ———————- ———————- ———————- ——————- 1866 $305,167 00 $105,883 58 $199,283 42 1867 1,624,853 33 1,258,515 00 366,338 33 1868 3,582,378 36 2,944,079 36 638,299 00 1869 7,257,798 63 6,184,333 32 1,073,465 31 1870 12,605,781 95 10,948,775 20 1,657,006 75 1871 19,952,647 36 17,497,111 25 2,455,836 11

For year ending Deposits each Drafts each Gain each March 1. year. year. year. ———————- ——————- ——————- —————— 1866 $305,167 00 $105,883 58 $199,283 42 1867 1,319,686 33 1,152,631 42 167,054 91 1868 1,957,525 03 1,685,564 36 271,960 67 1869 3,675,420 27 3,240,253 96 435,166 31 1870 5,347,983 32 4,764,441 88 583,341 44 1871 7,347,165 41 6,548,336 05 798,829 36

The total amount of deposits received from the organization of the company to October 1, 1871—six years from the opening of the first branch—was $25,977,435 48 Total drafts during the same period were 22,850,926 47 ——————— Leaving due depositors October 1, 1871 3,126,509 01 The total assets of company on same day amounted to 3,157,206 17 ——————— The interest paid during this time amounted to 180,565 35

In 1872 the trustees made the following interesting statement:

THE FREEDMAN'S SAVINGS AND TRUST COMPANY.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST, 1872.

Deposits for Drafts for Total amount Total amount Balance due BRANCHES. the month. the month. of Deposits. of Drafts. Depositors. ———————————- —————— ————— ——————- ——————- —————- Atlanta, Georgia $9,419 68 $11,242 30 $245,200 27 $223,020 17 $22,180 10 Augusta, Georgia 10,771 99 9,217 94 367,653 16 284,406 14 83,247 02 Baltimore, Maryland 29,755 52 18,644 57 1,278,042 32 996,371 98 281,670 34 Beaufort, South Carolina 189,600 74 184,924 40 2,993,873 30 2,944,441 88 49,431 42 Charleston, South Carolina 67,668 83 84,464 53 3,100,641 65 2,795,176 24 305,465 41 Columbus, Mississippi 2,426 15 4,364 34 132,036 46 121,776 67 10,259 79 Columbia, Tennessee 2,552 55 2,086 05 34,088 97 15,738 76 18,350 21 Huntsville, Alabama 7,343 50 10,127 61 416,617 72 364,382 51 52,235 21 Jacksonville, Florida 67,292 09 57,307 54 3,312,424 55 3,234,445 72 77,978 83 Lexington, Kentucky 14,383 85 11,221 13 238,680 22 188,308 76 50,371 46 Little Rock, Arkansas 7,871 27 9,506 37 172,392 10 154,914 42 17,477 68 Louisville, Kentucky 18,311 01 17,535 74 1,057,587 71 914,504 61 143,083 10 Lynchburg, Virginia 3,104 48 1,242 56 36,880 98 18,354 87 18,526 11 Macon, Georgia 6,808 98 7,061 52 197,050 01 156,308 75 40,741 26 Memphis, Tennessee 20,045 40 27,197 06 970,096 09 840,218 91 129,877 18 Mobile, Alabama 11,136 05 18,645 62 1,039,097 05 933,424 30 105,672 75 Montgomery, Alabama 8,522 90 8,679 60 238,106 08 213,861 71 24,244 37 Natchez, Mississippi 25,548 53 15,005 17 649,256 70 612,985 74 36,270 96 Nashville, Tennessee 15,731 46 17,098 58 739,691 88 625,166 40 114,525 48 New Berne, North Carolina 38,113 83 37,775 73 1,057,688 32 1,001,645 74 56,042 58 New Orleans, Louisiana 193,145 48 207,878 53 2,393,584 08 2,171,056 95 222,527 13 New York, New York 133,209 58 74,461 61 1,673,249 36 1,227,449 57 445,799 79 Norfolk, Virginia 16,771 88 17,757 38 1,048,762 05 916,047 59 132,714 46 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 11,451 12 9,887 49 357,924 89 278,641 10 79,283 79 Raleigh, North Carolina 5,663 28 4,660 18 231,685 82 202,032 44 29,653 38 Richmond, Virginia 64,112 51 53,900 72 1,082,152 71 912,933 45 169,219 26 Savannah, Georgia 30,951 23 27,066 33 1,031,173 38 893,321 30 137,852 02 Shreveport, Louisiana 20,688 72 21,105 59 299,428 39 264,707 78 34,720 61 St. Louis, Missouri 26,323 93 20,599 02 615,876 74 526,490 86 89,385 88 Tallahassee, Florida 4,589 45 4,526 75 361,614 57 329,618 33 31,996 24 Vicksburg, Mississippi 61,691 73 60,068 28 2,962,235 58 2,823,700 87 138,534 71 Washington, Dist. Colum'a 323,555 79 296,321 26 7,438,918 17 6,406,092 39 1,032,825 78 Wilmington, N'th Carolina 10,714 10 12,632 65 457,360 75 407,512 51 49,848 24 Alexandria, Virginia 1,929 91 685 80 14,091 77 1,626 35 12,465 42 $1,461,207 52 $1,364,899 95 $38,245,163 80 $34,000,685 77 $4,244,478 03

Total amount of deposits for the month $1,461,207 56 Total amount of drafts for the month 1,364,899 95 ——————- Gain for the month 96,307 61 =============

Total amount of deposits $38,245,163 80 Total amount of drafts 34,000,685,77 ——————— Total amount due depositors $4,244,478 03 ==============

This first experiment of the new citizen in saving his funds was working admirably. Each report was more cheering than the preceding one. The deposits were generally made by day laborers, house servants, farmers, mechanics, and washerwomen. Two facts were established, viz.: that the Negroes of the South were working; and that they were saving their earnings. Northern as well as Southern whites were agreeably surprised.

But bad management doomed the institution to irreparable ruin. The charter was violated in the establishment of branch banks; "persons who were never held in bondage and their descendants" were allowed to deposit funds in the bank; money was loaned upon valueless securities and meaningless collaterals, and in the fall of 1873, having been kept open for a long time on money borrowed on collateral securities belonging to its customers, the bank failed!

During the brief period of its existence about $57,000,000 had been deposited. The liabilities of the institution at the time of the failure, as corrected to date, were $3,037,483, of which $73,774.34 were special deposits and preferred claims. The number of open accounts at the time of the failure were 62,000. The nominal assets at the time of the failure were $2,693,093.20. And in the almost interminable list of over-drafts amounting to $55,567.63, there appeared but one solitary surety!

On the 20th of June, 1874, Congress passed an act permitting the very men who had destroyed the bank to nominate three Commissioners, who, upon the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, should wind up the affairs of this insolvent institution. Section 7 of the Act reads as follows:

"SEC. 7. That whenever it shall be deemed advisable by the trustees of said corporation to close up its entire business, then they shall select three competent men, not connected with the previous management of the institution and approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, to be known and styled commissioners, whose duty it shall be to take charge of all the property and effects of said Freedman's Savings and Trust Company, close up the principal and subordinate branches, collect from the branches all the deposits they have on hand, and proceed to collect all sums due said company, and dispose of all the property owned by said company, as speedily as the interests of the corporation require, and to distribute the proceeds among the creditors pro rata, according to their respective amounts; they shall make a pro rata dividend whenever they have funds enough to pay twenty per centum of the claims of depositors. Said commissioners, before they proceed to act, shall execute a joint bond to the United States, with good sureties, in the penal sum of one hundred thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful discharge of their duties as commissioners aforesaid, and shall take an oath to faithfully and honestly perform their duties as such, which bonds shall be executed in presence of the Secretary of the Treasury, be approved by him, and by him safely kept; and whenever said trustees shall file with the Secretary of the Treasury a certified copy of the order appointing said commissioners, and they shall have executed the bonds and taken the oath aforesaid, then said commissioners shall be invested with the legal title to all of said property of said company, for the purposes of this act, and shall have full power and authority to sell the same, and make deeds of conveyance to any and all of the real estate sold by them to the purchasers. Said commissioners may employ such agents as are necessary to assist them in closing up said company, and pay them a reasonable compensation for their services out of the funds of said company; and the said commissioners shall retain out of said funds a reasonable compensation for their trouble, to be fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Comptroller of the Currency, and not exceeding three thousand dollars each per annum. Said commissioners shall deposit all sums collected by them in the Treasury of the United States until they make a pro rata distribution of the same."

There are several legal questions that history would like to ask. 1. Did not the trustees of the Freedman's Savings Bank and Trust Company violate their charter in establishing branch banks? 2. Were not the trustees personally liable for receiving deposits from persons who were neither "heretofore held in slavery" nor the descendants of such persons? 3. Were not persons "heretofore held in slavery" and "their descendants" preferred creditors? 4. Had Congress the authority to go outside of the Federal bankruptcy laws and create such special machinery for the settlement of a collapsed bank? This matter may come before Congress in a new shape some time in the future.

The three commissioners, at a salary of $3,000 per annum, were charged with the settlement of the affairs of the bank. They were Jno. A. J. Creswell, Robert Purvis, and R. H. T. Leipold. Mr. Creswell was retained by the United States before the Alabama Claims Commission at a salary of $10,000 per annum; while Mr. Leipold was a lawyer with considerable practice. But neither one of these gentlemen ever entered a court on behalf of the company. In a little more than five years they used up out of the assets of the company, $40,000 for their salaries; paid for salaries to agents, $64,000, and $31,000 for attorneys' fees, aggregating $135,000—nearly one half of the amount distributed among depositors for the same length of time.

The more the commissioners examined, the greater the liabilities of the company grew. On the 1st of October, 1875, a dividend of 20 per cent. was declared; on the 1st of February, 1878, a dividend of 10 per cent. was declared; on the 21st of August, 1880, they declared another dividend of 10 per cent.; and on the 14th of April, 1881, a circular was sent out as a crumb of comfort to the anxious, defrauded, and outraged depositors. It is not enough for history to pronounce the failure of this bank an irreparable calamity to the Colored people of the South; it should be branded as a crime! There was no more necessity for the failure of this bank than for the failure of the United States Treasury. Its management was criminal; and Congress should yet seek out and punish the guilty; and the depositors should be indemnified out of the United States Treasury. Justice and equity demand it.

The failure of the Freedman's Bank worked great mischief among the Colored people in the South. But hardy, persistent, earnest, and hopeful, they turned again to the work of making and saving money. They have been more prudent than their circumstances, in some instances, would seem to warrant. In Georgia the Colored people have made wonderful progress in business matters.

Amount of Money and Household No. of Solvent and Acres of Value of City or Town Debts of Kitchen Polls. Land. Land. Property. all Kinds. Furniture. ———- ———- ————— —————— ————— ————— 88,522 541,199 $1,348,758 $1,094,435 $73,253 $448,713

Value of all other Property Horses, Plantation not before Aggregate Total Amount Mules, Hogs, and Enumerated Value of of Tax Assessed Sheep, Mechanical except Whole on Polls and Cattle. Tools. Annual Crops, Property. and Property. Provisions, etc. —————- ————— ———————— ————— ———————- $1,704,230 $143,258 $369,751 $5,182,398 $106,660.39

Increase in number of acres since return of 1878 39,309 Increase in wealth since return of 1878 $57,523

In Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, North and South Carolina, and in Maryland, Colored men have possessed themselves of excellent farms and moderate fortunes. In Baltimore a company of Colored men own a ship dock, and transact a large business. Some of the largest orange plantations in Florida are owned by Colored men. On most of the plantations, and in many of the large towns and cities Colored mechanics are quite numerous. The Montgomeries who own the plantation, once the property of Jefferson Davis, extending for miles along the Mississippi, are probably the best business men in the South. In Louisiana, P. P. Deslonde, A. Dubuclet, Hon. T. T. Allain, and State Senator Young are men who, although taking a lively interest in politics, have accumulated property and saved it.

There is nothing vicious in the character of the Southern Negro. He is gentle, affectionate, and faithful. If it has appeared, through false figures, that he is a criminal, there is room for satisfactory explanation. In 1870, out of a population, of persons of color, in all the States and Territories, of 4,880,009, there were only 9,400 who were receiving aid on the 1st of June, 1870; and only 8,056 in all the prisons of America. Nine tenths of these were South, and could neither read nor write.

During the Rebellion, when every white male from fifteen to seventy was out fighting to sustain the Confederacy—when the Southern Government was robbing the cradle and the grave for soldiers—the wives and children of the Confederates were committed to the care and keeping of their slaves. And what is the verdict of history? That these women were outraged and their children brained? No! But that during all those years of painful anxiety, of hope and fear, of fiery trial and severe privation, those faithful Negroes toiled, not only to support the wives and children of the men who were fighting to make slavery national and perpetual, but fed the entire rebel army, and never laid the weight of a finger upon the head of any of the women or children entrusted to their care! To this virtue of fidelity to their worst enemies they added still another, loyalty to the Union flag and escaping Union soldiers. All night long they would direct the lonely, famishing, fainting, and almost delirious Union soldier in a safe way, and then when the night and morning met they would point their pilgrim friends to the North Star, hide them and feed them during the day, and then return to the plantation to care for the loved ones of the men who starved Union soldiers and hunted them down with bloodhounds! This is the brightest gem that history can place upon the brow of the Negro; and in conferring it there is no one found to object.

Since the war the crime among Colored people is to be accounted for upon two grounds, viz.: ignorance, and a combination of circumstances over which they had no control. It was one thing for the Negro to understand the cruel laws of slavery, but when he found himself a freeman he was not able to know what was an infraction of the law. They did not know what in law constituted a tort, or a civil action from a sled. The violent passions pampered in slavery, the destruction of the home, the promiscuous mingling of the sexes, a conscience enfeebled by disuse, made them easy transgressors. The Negro is not a criminal generically; he is an accidental criminal. The judiciary and juries of the South are responsible for the alarming prison statistics which stand against the Negro. It takes generations for men to overcome their prejudices. With a white judge and a white jury a Negro is guilty the moment he makes his appearance in court. It is seldom that a Negro can get judgment against a white person under the most favorable circumstances. The Negroes who appear in courts are of the poorer and more ignorant class. They have no funds with which to employ counsel, and have but few intelligent lawyers to come to their rescue. In cases of theft, especially of poultry, pigs, sheep, fruit, etc., it is next to impossible to convince a white judge or jury that the defendant is not guilty. They reason that because the half-fed, overworked slave appropriated articles of food, as a freeman the Negro was not changed. They ascribed a general habit, growing out of trying circumstances, to the Negro as a slave that he soon learned to regard as morally wrong when a freeman.

But the most effective agency in filling Southern prisons with Negroes has been, and is, the chain-gang system—the farming out of convict labor. Just as great railway, oil, and telegraph companies in the North have been capable of controlling legislation, so the corporations at the South which take the prisoners of the State off of the hands of the Government, and then speculate upon the labor of the prisoners, are able to control both court and jury. It has been the practice, and is now, in some of the Southern States, to pronounce long sentences upon able-bodied young Colored men, whose offences, in a Northern court, could not be visited with more than a few months' confinement and a trifling fine. The object in giving Negro men a long term of years, is to make sure the tenure of the soulless corporations upon the convicts whose unhappy lot it is to fall into their iron grasp. In some of the Southern States a strong and healthy Negro convict brings thirty-seven cents a day to the State, while he earns a dollar for the corporations above his expenses. The convicts are cruelly treated—especially in Georgia and Kentucky;—their food is poor, their quarters miserable, and their morals next to the brute creation. In many of these camps men and women are compelled to sleep in the same bunks together, with chains upon their limbs, in a promiscuous manner too sickening and disgusting to mention. When a prisoner escapes he is hunted down by fiery dogs and cruel guards; and often the poor prisoner is torn to pieces by the dogs or beaten to death by the guards. No system of slavery was ever equal in its cruel and dehumanizing details to this convict system, which, taking advantage of race prejudice on the one hand and race ignorance on the other, with cupidity and avarice as its chief characteristics, has done more to curse the South than all things else since the war.

It was predicted by persons hostile to the rights and citizenship of the Negro, that a condition of freedom would not be in harmony with his character; that it would destroy him, and that he would destroy the country and party which tried to make him agree to a state of independent life; that having been used to the "kind treatment"(?) of his master he would find himself unequal to the responsibilities of freedom; and that his migratory disposition would lead him into a climate too cold for him, where he would be welcomed to an inhospitable grave.

It is true that a great many Negroes died during the first years of their new life. The joy of emancipation and the excitement that disturbed business swept the Negroes into the large cities. Like the shepherds who left their flocks on the plains and went into Bethlehem to see the promised redemption, these people sought the centres of excitement. The large cities were overrun with them. The demand for unskilled labor was not great. From mere spectators they became idlers, helpless and offensive to industrious society. Ignorant of sanitary laws, imprudent in their daily living, changing from the pure air and plain diet of farm life to the poisonous atmosphere and rich, fateful food of the city, many fell victims to the sudden change from bondage to freedom, from darkness to light, and from the fleshpots, garlic, and onions of their Egyptian bondage to the milk and honey of the Canaan of their deliverance.

But this was in accordance with an immutable law of nature. Every year a large number of birds perish in an attempt to change their home; every spring-time many flowers die at their birth. The law of the survival of the fittest is impartial and inexorable. The Creator said centuries ago "the soul that sinneth shall surely die," and the law has remained until the present time. Those who sinned ignorantly or knowingly died the death; but those who obeyed the laws of health, of man, and of God, lived to be useful members of society.

But this was the exception to the rule. The Negro race in America is not dying out. The charge is false. The wish was father to the thought, while no doubt many honest people have been misled by false figures. Nearly all white communities at the South had more than enough of physicians; and science and culture were summoned to the aid of the white mother in the hour of childbirth. The record of births was preserved with pride and official accuracy; and thus there was a record upon which to calculate the increase. But, on the contary, among the Negroes there were no physicians and no record of births. The venerable system of midwifery prevailed. In burying their dead, however, this people were compelled to obtain a burial permit from the Board of Health. Thus the statistics were all on one side—all deaths and no births. Looking at these statistics it did seem that the race was dying out. But the Government steps in and takes the census every decade, and, thereby, the world is enabled, upon reliable figures, to estimate the increase or decrease of the Colored race. The subjoined table exhibits the increase of the Colored people for nine decades.

Colored gain Year. Colored. per cent. ——- ————- —————— 1st census. 1790 757,208 2d " 1800 1,002,037 32.3 1st decade. 3d " 1810 1,377,808 37.5 2d " 4th " 1820 1,771,656 28.6 3d " 5th " 1830 2,328,642 31.5 4th " 6th " 1840 2,873,648 23.4 5th " 7th " 1850 3,638,808 26.6 6th " 8th " 1860 4,441,830 22.1 7th " 9th " 1870 4,880,009 9.9[122] 8th " 10th " 1880 6,580,793 34.8 9th "

So here is a remarkable fact, that from 757,208 in 1790 the Negro race has grown to be 6,580,793 in 1880! The theory that the race was dying out under the influences of civilization at a greater ratio than under the annihilating influences of slavery was at war with common-sense and the efficient laws of Christian society. Emancipation has taken the mother from field-work to house-work. The slave hut has been supplanted by a pleasant house; the mud floor is done away with; and now, with carpets on the floor, pictures on the wall, a better quality of food properly prepared, the influence of books and papers, and the blessings of a preached Gospel, the Negro mother is more prolific, and the mortality of her children reduced to a minimum. The Negro is not dying out. On the contrary he has shown the greatest recuperative powers, and against the white population of the United States as it stands to-day—if it were not fed by European immigrants,—within the next hundred years the Negroes would outnumber the whites 12,000,000! Or at an increase of 33-1/3 per cent. the Negro population in 1980 would be 117,000,000! providing the ratio of increase continues the same between the races.

And in addition to the fact that the Negro, like the Irishman, is prolific, is able to reproduce his species, it should be recorded that the Negro intellect is growing and expanding at a wonderful rate. The children of ten and twelve years of age are more apt to-day than those of the same age ten years ago. And the children of the next generation will have no superiors in any of the schools of the country.

FOOTNOTES:

[117] For an account of this problem, see the Appendix to this volume.

[118] See the annual reports of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for Virginia. There were more than 18,234 Colored children in the schools of this State in 1870.

[119] Annual Report of the Hon. W. H. Ruffner, for 1874.

[120] For an account of the John F. Slater Bequest of $1,000.000 for the education of the freedmen, see the Appendix to this volume.

[121] See report of the Commissioner.

[122] There is no disguising the fact that the ninth census was incorrect. No doubt it was the worst we have ever had.



CHAPTER XXIII.

REPRESENTATIVE COLORED MEN.

THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION.—THE LEGAL DESTRUCTION OF SLAVERY AND A CONSTITUTIONAL PROHIBITION.—FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT GRANTING MANHOOD SUFFRAGE TO THE AMERICAN NEGRO.—PRESIDENT GRANT'S SPECIAL MESSAGE UPON THE SUBJECT.—UNIVERSAL REJOICING AMONG THE COLORED PEOPLE.—THE NEGRO IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.—THE NEGRO IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE OF THE COUNTRY.—FREDERICK DOUGLASS.—HIS BIRTH, ENSLAVEMENT, ESCAPE TO THE NORTH, AND LIFE AS A FREEMAN.—BECOMES AN ANTI-SLAVERY ORATOR.—GOES TO GREAT BRITAIN.—RETURNS TO AMERICA.—ESTABLISHES THE "NORTH STAR."—HIS ELOQUENCE, INFLUENCE, AND BRILLIANT CAREER.—RICHARD THEODORE GREENER.—HIS EARLY LIFE, EDUCATION, AND SUCCESSFUL LITERARY CAREER.—JOHN P. GREEN.—HIS EARLY STRUGGLES TO OBTAIN AN EDUCATION.—A SUCCESSFUL ORATOR, LAWYER, AND USEFUL LEGISLATOR.—OTHER REPRESENTATIVE COLORED MEN.—REPRESENTATIVE COLORED WOMEN.

The Government could not escape the logic of the position it took when it made the Negro a soldier, and invoked his aid in putting down the slave-holders' Rebellion. As a soldier he stood in line of promotion: the Government destroyed the Confederacy when it placed muskets in the hands of the slaves; and at the close of the war had to legally render slavery forever impossible in the United States. The bloody deduction of the great struggle had to be made a living, legal verity in the Constitution, and hence the Thirteenth Amendment.

"ARTICLE XIII.

"SECTION 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

"SECTION 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

This was the consummation of the ordinance of 1787, carried to its last analysis, applied in its broadest sense. It drove the last nail in the coffin of slavery, and blighted the fondest hope of the friends of secession.

But there was need for another amendment to the Constitution conferring upon the Colored people manhood suffrage. On the 27th of February, 1869, the Congress passed a resolution recommending the Fifteenth Amendment for ratification by the Legislatures of the several States. On the 30th of March, 1870, President U. S. Grant sent a special message to Congress, calling the attention of that body to the proclamation of the Secretary of State in reference to the ratification of the Amendment by twenty-nine of the States.

SPECIAL MESSAGE OF PRESIDENT GRANT ON RATIFICATION OF THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT:

"To the Senate and House of Representatives:

"It is unusual to notify the two houses of Congress, by message, of the promulgation, by proclamation of the Secretary of State, of the ratification of a constitutional amendment. In view, however, of the vast importance of the XVth Amendment to the Constitution, this day declared a part of that revered instrument, I deem a departure from the usual custom justifiable. A measure which makes at once four millions of people voters, who were heretofore declared by the highest tribunal in the land not citizens of the United States, nor eligible to become so, (with the assertion that, 'at the time of the Declaration of Independence, the opinion was fixed and universal in the civilized portion of the white race, regarded as an axiom in morals as well as in politics, that black men had no rights which the white man was bound to respect,') is indeed a measure of grander importance than any other one act of the kind from the foundation of our free government to the present day.

"Institutions like ours, in which all power is derived directly from the people, must depend mainly upon their intelligence, patriotism, and industry. I call the attention, therefore, of the newly-enfranchised race to the importance of their striving in every honorable manner to make themselves worthy of their new privilege. To the race more favored heretofore by our laws I would say, withhold no legal privilege of advancement to the new citizen. The framers of our Constitution firmly believed that a republican government could not endure without intelligence and education generally diffused among the people. The 'Father of his Country,' in his farewell address, uses this language: 'Promote, then, as a matter of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of the government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.' In his first annual message to Congress the same views are forcibly presented, and are again urged in his eighth message.

"I repeat that the adaption of the XVth Amendment to the Constitution completes the greatest civil change and constitutes the most important event that has occurred since the nation came into life. The change will be beneficial in proportion to the heed that is given to the urgent recommendations of Washington. If these recommendations were important then, with a population of but a few millions, how much more important now, with a population of forty millions, and increasing in a rapid ratio.

"I would therefore call upon Congress to take all the means within their constitutional powers to promote and encourage popular education throughout the country; and upon the people everywhere to see to it that all who possess and exercise political rights shall have the opportunity to acquire the knowledge which will make their share in the government a blessing and not a danger. By such means only can the benefits contemplated by this amendment to the Constitution be secured.

"U. S. GRANT.

"EXECUTIVE MANSION, March 30, 1870."

CERTIFICATE OF MR. SECRETARY FISH RESPECTING THE RATIFICATION OF THE XVTH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION, MARCH 30, 1870.

"HAMILTON FISH, SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

"To all to whom these presents may come, greeting:

"Know ye that the Congress of the United States, on or about the 27th day of February, in the year 1869, passed a resolution in the words and figures following, to wit:

"A RESOLUTION proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

"Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, (two-thirds of both houses concurring.) That the following article be proposed to the legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said legislatures, shall be valid as part of the Constitution, namely:

"ARTICLE XV.

"SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

"SEC. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

"And, further, that it appears, from official documents on file in this department, that the amendment to the Constitution of the United States, proposed as aforesaid, has been ratified by the legislatures of the States of North Carolina, West Virginia, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Maine, Louisiana, Michigan, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New York, New Hampshire, Nevada, Vermont, Virginia, Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Nebraska, and Texas; in all, twenty-nine States.

"And, further, that the States whose legislatures have so ratified the said proposed amendment constitute three-fourths of the whole number of States in the United States.

"And, further, that it appears, from an official document on file in this department, that the legislature of the State of New York has since passed resolutions claiming to withdraw the said ratification of the said amendment which had been made by the legislature of that State, and of which official notice had been filed in this department.

"And, further, that it appears, from an official document on file in this department, that the legislature of Georgia has by resolution ratified the said proposed amendment.

"Now, therefore, be it known that I, Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State of the United States, by virtue and in pursuance of the 2d section of the act of Congress, approved the 20th day of April, 1818, entitled "An act to provide for the publication of the laws of the United States, and for other purposes," do hereby certify, that the amendment aforesaid has become valid, to all intents and purposes, as part of the Constitution of the United States.

"In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the Department of State to be affixed.

"Done at the city of Washington, this 30th day of March, in the year of our Lord, 1870, and of the independence of the United States, the ninety-fourth.

[SEAL.]

"HAMILTON FISH."

The Emancipation Proclamation itself did not call forth such genuine and wide-spread rejoicing as the message of President Grant. The event was celebrated by the Colored people in all the larger cities North and South. Processions, orations, music and dancing proclaimed the unbounded joy of the new citizen. In Philadelphia Frederick Douglass, Bishop Jabez P. Campbell, I. C. Wears, and others delivered eloquent addresses to enthusiastic audiences. Mr. Douglass deeply wounded the religious feelings of his race by declaring; "I shall not dwell in any hackneyed cant by thanking God for this deliverance which has been wrought out through our common humanity." A hundred pulpits, a hundred trenchant pens sprang at the declaration with fiery indignation; and it was some years before the bold orator was able to make himself tolerable to his people. There was little of the spirit of tolerance among the Colored people at the time, and upon such an occasion the remark was regarded as imprudent, to say the least.

A new era was opened up before the Colored people. They were now for the first time in possession of their full political rights. On the 25th of February, 1870, Hiram R. Revels took his seat as United States Senator from Mississippi. On the 9th of January, 1861, Mississippi passed her ordinance of secession, and Jefferson Davis resigned his seat as United States Senator. Within a brief decade a civil war had raged for four and a half years; and after the seceding Mississippi had passed through the refining fires of battle and had been purged of slavery, she sent to succeed the arch traitor a Negro,[123] a representative of the race that Mr. Davis intended to be the corner-stone of his new government!![124] It was God's work, and marvellous in the eyes of the world. But this was not all. Just one year from the day and hour Senator Revels took his seat in the United States Senate, on the 24th of February, 1871, Jefferson F. Long, a Negro, was sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives from Georgia, the State of Alexander H. Stephens, the Vice-President of the Confederate States!! And then, as if to add glory to glory, the American Government despatched E. D. Bassett, a Colored man from Pennsylvania, as Minister Resident and Consul-General to Hayti! And with almost the same stroke of his pen, President Grant sent J. Milton Turner, a Colored man from Missouri, as Resident Minister and Consul-General to Liberia! Mr. Bassett came from Philadelphia where the Declaration of Independence was written and proclaimed, and where the noble Dr. Franklin had stood against the slavery compromises of the Constitution! Philadelphia, then, the birthplace of American Independence, had the honor of furnishing the first Negro who was to illustrate the lofty sentiment of the equality of all men before the law. And the republic that Mr. Bassett went to had won diplomatic relations with all the civilized powers of the earth through the matchless valor and splendid statesmanship of Toussaint L'Ouverture. This was a black republic that had a history and a name among the peoples of the world.

Mr. Turner went from Missouri, the first State to violate the ordinance of 1787, and to establish slavery "northwest of the Ohio" River. He went to a republic on the West Coast of Africa that had been built by the industry, intelligence, and piety of Negroes who had flown from the accursed influences of American slavery. The slave-ships had disappeared from the coast, and commercial fleets, from all lands came to trade with the citizens of a free republic whose ministers were welcomed in every court of Europe, and whose official acts were clothed with the authority and majesty of "the Republic of Liberia!"

In this same period Frederick Douglass was made a Presidential Elector for the State of New York; and thus helped cast the vote of that great commonwealth for U. S. Grant as President, in 1872. In the chief city of this State the first Federal Congress met, and on the first day of its first session spent the entire time in discussing the slavery question. Through the streets of this same city Mr. Douglass had to skulk and hide from slave-catchers on his way from the hell of slavery, to the land of freedom. In this city, a few years later, he was hounded by a pro-slavery mob,—but at last he represented the popular will of its noblest citizens when they had chosen him to act for them in the Electoral College.

Born a slave, some time during the present century, on the eastern shore, Maryland, in the county of Talbot, and in the district of Tuckahoe, Frederick Douglass was destined by nature and God to be a giant in the great moral agitation for the extinction of slavery and the redemption of his race. He came of two extremes—representative Negro and representative Saxon. Tall, large-boned, colossal frame, compact head, broad, expressive face adorned with small brown, mischievous eyes, nose slightly Grecian, chin square set, and thin lips, Frederick Douglass would attract attention upon the streets of any city in Europe or America. His life as a slave was studded with painful experiences. Early separation from his mother, neglect, and then cruel treatment gave to the holy cause of freedom one of its ablest champions, and to slavery one of its most invincible opponents.

Transferred from Talbot County to Baltimore, Maryland, where he spent seven years, Mr. Douglass began to extend the horizon of his intellectual vision, and to come face to face with the hideous monster of slavery in the moments of reflection upon his condition in contrast with that of a fairer race about him. Inadvertently his mistress began to teach him characters of letters; but she was stopped by the advice of her husband, because it was thought inimical to the interest of the master to teach his slave. But having lighted the taper of knowledge in the mind of the slave boy, it was forever beyond human power to put it out. The incidents and surroundings of young Douglass peopled his brain with ideas, gave wings to his thoughts and order to his reasoning. The word of reproof, the angry look, and the precautions to prevent him from acquiring knowledge rankled in his young heart and covered his moral sky with thick clouds of despair. He reasoned himself right out of slavery, and ran away and went North.

David Ruggles, a Colored gentleman of intelligence, took charge of Mr. Douglass in New York, and sent him to New Bedford, Massachusetts. Having married in New York a free Colored woman from Baltimore named "Anna," he was ready now to enter upon the duties of the new life as a freeman. He found in one Nathan Johnson, an intelligent and industrious Colored man of New Bedford, a warm friend, who advanced him a sum of money to redeem baggage held for fare, and gave him the name which he has since rendered illustrious.

The intellectual growth of Mr. Douglass from this on was almost phenomenal. He devoured knowledge with avidity, and retained and utilized all he got. He used information as good business men use money. He made every idea bear interest; and now setting the music of his soul to the words he acquired, he soon earned a reputation as a gifted conversationalist and an impressive orator.

In the summer of 1841 an anti-slavery convention was held at Nantucket, Massachusetts, under the direction of William Lloyd Garrison. Mr. Douglass had attended several meetings in New Bedford, where he had listened to a defence of his race and a denunciation of its oppressors. And when he heard of the forthcoming convention at Nantucket he resolved to take a little respite from the hard work he was performing in a brass foundry, and attend. Previous to this he had felt the warm heart of Mr. Garrison beating for the slave through the columns of the "Liberator"; had received a copy each week for a long time, had mastered its matchless arguments against slavery, and was, therefore, possessed with an idea of the anti-slavery cause. At Nantucket he was sought out of the vast audience and requested by William C. Coffin, of New Bedford, where he had heard the fervid eloquence of the young man as an exhorter in the Colored Methodist Church, to make a speech. The hesitancy and diffidence of Mr. Douglass were overcome by the importunate invitation to speak. He spoke: and from that hour a new sphere opened to him; from that hour he began to exert an influence against slavery which for a generation was second only to that of Mr. Garrison. He was engaged as an agent of the Anti-Slavery Society led by Mr. Garrison. He was taken in charge by George Foster, and in his company made a lecturing tour of the eastern tier of counties in the old Bay State. The meetings were announced a few days ahead of the lecturer. He was advertised as a "fugitive slave," as "a chattel," as "a thing" that could talk and give an interesting account of the cruelties of slavery. As a narrator he had few equals among the most polished white gentlemen of all New England. His white friends were charmed by the lucidity and succinctness of his account of his life as a slave, and always insisted upon his narrative. But he was more than a narrator, more than a story-teller; he was an orator, and in dealing with the problem of slavery proved himself to be a thinker. The old story of his bondage became stale to him. His friends' advice to keep on telling the same story could no longer be complied with; and dashing out of the beaten path of narration he began a career as an orator that has had no parallel on this continent. He found no adequate satisfaction in relating the experiences of a slave; his soul burned with a holy indignation against the institution of slavery. Having increased his vocabulary of words and his information concerning the purposes and plans of the Anti-Slavery Society, he was prepared to make an assault upon slavery. Instead of being the pupil of the anti-slavery friends who had furnished him a great opportunity, his close reasoning, blighting irony, merciless invective, and matchless eloquence made him the peer of any anti-slavery orator of his times. His appearance on the anti-slavery platform was sudden. He appeared as a new star of magnificent magnitude and surpassing beauty. All eyes were turned toward the "fugitive slave orator." His eloquence so astounded the people that few would believe he had ever felt the cruel touch of the lash. Moreover, he had withheld from the public, the State and place of his nativity and the circumstances of his escape. He had done this purposely for prudential reasons. In those days there was no protection that protected a fugitive slave against the slave-catcher assisted by the United States courts. To reveal his master's name and recount the exciting circumstances under which he had made his escape from bondage, Mr. Douglass felt was but to invite the slave-hounds to Massachusetts and endanger his liberty. But there were many good friends hard by who were ready to pay the market value of Mr. Douglass if a price were placed upon his flesh and blood. They urged him, therefore, to write out an account of his life as a slave,—to be specific; and to boldly mention names of places and persons. In 1845 a pamphlet written by Mr. Douglass, embodying the experiences of a "fugitive slave," was published by the Anti-Slavery Society. It breathed a fiery zeal into the apathy of the North, and drew the fire of the Southern press and people. For safety his friends sent him abroad. During the voyage, in accepting an invitation to deliver a lecture on slavery, he gave offence to some pro-slavery men who desired very much to feed his body to the inhabitants of the deep. But a resolute captain and a few friends were able to reduce the wrath of the Southerners to a minimum. The occurrence on shipboard duly found its way into the public journals of London; and the Southern gentlemen in an attempt to justify their conduct in a card drew upon themselves the wrath of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, and gave Mr. Douglass an advertisement such as he could never have secured otherwise.

Mr. Douglass spent nearly two years in Europe lecturing and writing in the cause of anti-slavery. He made a profound impression and helped the anti-slavery cause amazingly.

During his absence he wrote an occasional letter to the editor of the "Liberator," and the first is, for composition, vigorous English, symbols of thought, similes, and irony, superior to any letter he ever wrote before or since. It bore date of January 1, 1846.

"MY DEAR FRIEND GARRISON: Up to this time I have given no direct expression of the views, feelings, and opinions which I have formed, respecting the character and condition of the people of this land. I have refrained thus, purposely. I wish to speak advisedly, and in order to do this, I have waited till, I trust, experience has brought my opinions to an intelligent maturity. I have been thus careful, not because I think what I say will have much effect in shaping the opinions of the world, but because whatever of influence I may possess, whether little or much, I wish it to go in the right direction, and according to truth. I hardly need say that, in speaking of Ireland, I shall be influenced by no prejudices in favor of America. I think my circumstances all forbid that. I have no end to serve, no creed to uphold, no government to defend; and as to nation, I belong to none. I have no protection at home, or resting-place abroad. The land of my birth welcomes me to her shores only as a slave, and spurns with contempt the idea of treating me differently; so that I am an outcast from the society of my childhood, and an outlaw in the land of my birth. 'I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.' That men should be patriotic, is to me perfectly natural; and as a philosophical fact, I am able to give it an intellectual recognition. But no further can I go. If ever I had any patriotism, or any capacity for the feeling, it was whipped out of me long since, by the lash of the American soul-drivers.

"In thinking of America, I sometimes find myself admiring her bright blue sky, her grand old woods, her fertile fields, her beautiful rivers, her mighty lakes, and star-crowned mountains. But my rapture is soon checked, my joy is soon turned to mourning. When I remember that all is cursed with the infernal spirit of slave-holding, robbery, and wrong; when I remember that with the waters of her noblest rivers, the tears of my brethren are borne to the ocean, disregarded and forgotten, and that her most fertile fields drink daily of the warm blood of my outraged sisters, I am filled with unutterable loathing, and led to reproach myself that any thing could fall from my lips in praise of such a land. America will not allow her children to love her. She seems bent on compelling those who would be her warmest friends, to be her worst enemies. May God give her repentance, before it is too late, is the ardent prayer of my heart. I will continue to pray, labor, and wait, believing that she cannot always be insensible to the dictates of justice, or deaf to the voice of humanity.

"My opportunities for learning the character and condition of the people of this land have been very great. I have travelled almost from the Hill of Howth to the Giant's Causeway, and from the Giant's Causeway to Cape Clear. During these travels, I have met with much in the character and condition of the people to approve, and much to condemn; much that has thrilled me with pleasure, and very much that has filled me with pain. I will not, in this letter, attempt to give any description of those scenes which have given me pain. This I will do hereafter. I have enough, and more than your subscribers will be disposed to read at one time, of the bright side of the picture. I can truly say, I have spent some of the happiest moments of my life since landing in this country. I seem to have undergone a transformation. I live a new life. The warm and generous cooperation extended to me by the friends of my despised race; the prompt and liberal manner with which the press has rendered me its aid; the glorious enthusiasm with which thousands have flocked to hear the cruel wrongs of my down-trodden and long-enslaved fellow-countrymen portrayed; the deep sympathy for the slave, and the strong abhorrence of the slave-holder, everywhere evinced; the cordiality with which members and ministers of various religious bodies, and of various shades of religious opinion, have embraced me, and lent me their aid; the kind hospitality constantly proffered me by persons of the highest rank in society; the spirit of freedom that seems to animate all with whom I come in contact, and the entire absence of every thing that looked like prejudice against me, on account of the color of my skin—contrasted so strongly with my long and bitter experience in the United States, that I look with wonder and amazement on the transition. In the southern part of the United States, I was a slave, thought of and spoken of as property; in the language of the LAW, 'held, taken, reputed, and adjudged to be a chattel in the hands of my owners and possessors, and their executors, administrators, and assigns, to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever.' (Brev. Digest, 224.) In the northern states, a fugitive slave, liable to be hunted at any moment like a felon, and to be hurled into the terrible jaws of slavery-doomed by an inveterate prejudice against color to insult and outrage on every hand, (Massachussetts out of the question)—denied the privileges and courtesies common to others in the use of the most humble means of conveyance—shut out from the cabins of steamboats—refused admission to respectable hotels—caricatured, scorned, scoffed, mocked, and maltreated with impunity by any one, (no matter how black his heart,) so he has a white skin. But now behold the change! Eleven days and a half gone, and I have crossed three thousand miles of the perilous deep. Instead of a democratic government, I am under a monarchical government. Instead of the bright, blue sky of America, I am covered with the soft, grey fog of the Emerald Isle. I breathe, and lo! the chattel becomes a man. I gaze around in vain for one who will question my equal humanity, claim me as his slave, or offer me an insult. I employ a cab—I am seated beside white people—I reach the hotel—I enter the same door—I am shown into the same parlor—I dine at the same table—and no one is offended.

No delicate nose grows deformed in my presence. I find no difficulty here in obtaining admission into any place of worship, instruction, or amusement, on equal terms with people as white as any I ever saw in the United States. I meet nothing to remind me of my complexion. I find myself regarded and treated at every turn with the kindness and deference paid to white people. When I go to church, I am met by no upturned nose and scornful lip to tell me, 'We don't allow niggers in here!'

"I remember, about two years ago, there was in Boston, near the south-west corner of Boston Common, a menagerie. I had long desired to see such a collection as I understood was being exhibited there. Never having had an opportunity while a slave, I resolved to seize this, my first, since my escape. I went, and as I approached the entrance to gain admission, I was met and told by the door-keeper, in a harsh and contemptuous tone, 'We don't allow niggers in here!' I also remember attending a revival meeting in the Rev. Henry Jackson's meeting-house, at New Bedford, and going up the broad aisle to find a seat, I was met by a good deacon, who told me, in a pious tone, 'We don't allow niggers in here!' Soon after my arrival in New Bedford, from the South, I had a strong desire to attend the Lyceum, but was told, 'They don't allow niggers in here!' While passing from New York to Boston, on the steamer 'Massachusetts,' on the night of the 9th of December, 1843, when chilled almost through with the cold, I went into the cabin to get a little warm. I was soon touched upon the shoulder, and told, 'We don't allow niggers in here!' On arriving in Boston, from an anti-slavery tour, hungry and tired, I went into an eating-house, near my friend, Mr. Campbell's, to get some refreshments. I was met by a lad in a white apron, 'We don't allow niggers in here!' A week or two before leaving the United States, I had a meeting appointed at Weymouth, the home of that glorious band of true abolitionists, the Weston family, and others. On attempting to take a seat in the omnibus to that place, I was told by the driver (and I never shall forget his fiendish hate), 'I don't allow niggers in here!' Thank heaven for the respite I now enjoy! I had been in Dublin but a few days, when a gentleman of great respectability kindly offered to conduct me through all the public buildings of that beautiful city; and a little afterward, I found myself dining with the lord mayor of Dublin. What a pity there was not some American democratic Christian at the door of his splendid mansion, to bark out at my approach, 'They don't allow niggers in here!' The truth is, the people here know nothing of the republican negro hate prevalent in our glorious land. They measure and esteem men according to their moral and intellectual worth, and not according to the color of their skin. Whatever may be said of the aristocracies here, there is none based on the color of a man's skin.

This species of aristocracy belongs preeminently to 'the land of the free, and the home of the brave.' I have never found it abroad, in any but Americans. It sticks to them wherever they go. They find it almost as hard to get rid of, as to get rid of their skins.

"The second day after my arrival at Liverpool, in company with my friend, Buffum, and several other friends, I went to Eaton Hall, the residence of the Marquis of Westminster, one of the most splendid buildings in England. On approaching the door, I found several of our American passengers, who came out with us in the 'Cambria,' waiting for admission, as but one party was allowed in the house at a time. We all had to wait till the company within came out. And of all the faces, expressive of chagrin, those of the Americans were preeminent. They looked as sour as vinegar, and as bitter as gall, when they found I was to be admitted on equal terms with themselves. When the door was opened, I walked in, on an equal footing with my white fellow-citizens, and from all I could see, I had as much attention paid me by the servants that showed us through the house, as any with a paler skin. As I walked through the building, the statuary did not fall down, the pictures did not leap from their places, the doors did not refuse to open, and the servants did not say, 'We don't allow niggers in here.'

"A happy new year to you, and all the friends of freedom."

During the time of his visit in Europe a few friends, under the inspiration of one Mrs. Henry Richardson, raised money, purchased Mr. Douglass, and placed his freedom papers in his hands. The documents are of quaint historic value.

"The following is a copy of these curious papers, both of my transfer from Thomas to Hugh Auld, and from Hugh to myself:

"Know all men by these Presents, That I, Thomas Auld, of Talbot county, and state of Maryland, for and in consideration of the sum of one hundred dollars, current money, to me paid by Hugh Auld, of the city of Baltimore, in the said state, at and before the sealing and delivery of these presents, the receipt whereof, I, the said Thomas Auld, do hereby acknowledge, have granted, bargained, and sold, and by these presents do grant, bargain, and sell unto the said Hugh Auld, his executors, administrators, and assigns, ONE NEGRO MAN, by the name of FREDERICK BAILY, or DOUGLASS, as he calls himself—he is now about twenty-eight years of age—to have and to hold the said negro man for life. And I, the said Thomas Auld, for myself, my heirs, executors, and administrators, all and singular, the said FREDERICK BAILY, alias DOUGLASS, unto the said Hugh Auld, his executors, administrators, and assigns, against me, the said Thomas Auld, my executors, and administrators, and against all and every other person or persons whatsoever, shall and will warrant and forever defend by these presents. In witness whereof, I set my hand and seal, this thirteenth day of November, eighteen hundred and forty-six.

THOMAS AULD.

"Signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of Wrightson Jones. "JOHN C. LEAS."

"The authenticity of this bill of sale is attested by N. Harrington, a justice of the peace of the state of Maryland, and for the county of Talbot, dated same day as above.

* * * * *

"To all whom it may concern: Be it known, that I, Hugh Auld, of the city of Baltimore, in Baltimore county, in the state of Maryland, for divers good causes and considerations, me thereunto moving, have released from slavery, liberated, manumitted, and set free, and by these presents do hereby release from slavery, liberate, manumit, and set free, MY NEGRO MAN, named FREDERICK BAILY, otherwise called DOUGLASS, being of the age of twenty-eight years, or thereabouts, and able to work and gain a sufficient livelihood and maintenance; and him the said negro man, named FREDERICK BAILY, otherwise called FREDERICK DOUGLASS, I do declare to be henceforth free, manumitted, and discharged from all manner of servitude to me, my executors, and administrators forever.

"In witness whereof, I, the said Hugh Auld, have hereunto set my hand and seal, the fifth of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-six.

HUGH AULD.

"Sealed and delivered in presence of T. Hanson Belt. "JAMES N. S. T. WRIGHT."

Mr. Douglass had returned to America, but the truths he proclaimed in England, Ireland, and Scotland echoed adown their mountains, and reverberated among their hills. The Church of Scotland and the press of England were distressed with the problem of slavery. The public conscience had been touched, and there was "no rest for the wicked." Mr. Douglass had received his name—Douglass—from Nathan Johnson, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, because he had just been reading about the virtuous Douglass in the works of Sir Walter Scott. How wonderful then, in the light of a few years, that a fugitive slave from America, bearing one of the most powerful names in Scotland should lean against the pillars of the Free Church of Scotland, and meet and vanquish its brightest and ablest teachers (the friends of slavery, unfortunately), Doctors Cunningham and Candlish!

It will be remembered that Mr. Garrison had built his school upon the fundamental idea that slavery was constitutional; and that in order to secure the overthrow of the institution he was compelled to do his work outside of the Constitution; and to effect the good desired, the Union should be dissolved. With these views Mr. Douglass had coincided at first, and into the ranks of this party he had entered. But upon his return from England he changed his residence and views about the same time, and established his home and a newspaper in Rochester, New York State. Mr. Douglass gave his reasons for leaving the Garrisonian party as follows:

"About four years ago, upon a reconsideration of the whole subject, I became convinced that there was no necessity for dissolving the 'union between the northern and southern states'; that to seek this dissolution was no part of my duty as an abolitionist; that to abstain from voting, was to refuse to exercise a legitimate and powerful means for abolishing slavery; and that the constitution of the United States not only contained no guarantees in favor of slavery, but, on the contrary, it is, in its letter and spirit, an anti-slavery instrument, demanding the abolition of slavery as a condition of its own existence, as the supreme law of the land."[125]

It was charged by some persons that for financial reasons Mr. Douglass changed his views and residence; that the Garrisonians were poor; but that Gerrit Smith was rich; and that he assisted Mr. Douglass in establishing the "North Star," a weekly paper. But Mr. Douglass was a man of boldness of thought and independence of character; and whatever the motives were which led him away from his early friends he at least deserved credit for possessing the courage necessary to such a change. But Mr. Douglass was not the only anti-slavery man who imagined that the Constitution was an anti-slavery instrument. This was the error of Charles Sumner. Slavery was as legal as the right of the Government to coin money. As has been shown already, it was recognized and protected by law when the British sceptre ruled the colonies; it was recognized by all the courts during the Confederacy; it was acknowledged as a legal fact by the Treaty of Paris of 1782, and of Ghent in 1814: the gentlemen who framed the Constitution fixed the basis of representation in Congress upon three fifths of the slaves; and gave the owners of slaves a fugitive slave law, at the birth of the nation, by which to hunt their slaves in all the States and Territories of North America. But Mr. Douglass lived long enough to see that he was wrong and Mr. Garrison right; that the dissolution of the Union was the only way to free his race. In his way he did his part as faithfully and as honestly as any of his brethren in either one of the anti-slavery parties.

Having established a reputation as an orator in England and America; and having lifted over the tangled path of his fugitive brethren the unerring, friendly "North Star," he now turned his attention to debating. It was a matter of regret that two such powerful and accomplished orators as Frederick Douglass and Samuel Ringgold Ward should have taken up so much precious time in splitting hairs on the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of slavery. Perhaps it did good. It certainly did the men good. It was an education to them, and exciting to their audiences. Mr. Douglass's forte was in oratory; in exposing the hideousness of slavery and the wrongs of his race. Mr. Ward—a protege of Gerrit Smith's—was scholarly, thoughtful, logical, and eloquent. Mr. Douglass was generally worsted in debate, but always triumphant in oratory. A careful study of Mr. Douglass's speeches from the time he began his career as a public speaker down to the present time reveals wonderful progress in their grammatical and synthetical structure. He grew all the time. On the 12th of May, 1846, he delivered a speech at Finsbury Chapel, Moorfields, England, from which the following is extracted:

"All the slaveholder asks of me is silence. He does not ask me to go abroad and preach in favor of slavery; he does not ask any one to do that. He would not say that slavery is a good thing, but the best under the circumstances. The slaveholders want total darkness on the subject. They want the hatchway shut down, that the monster may crawl in his den of darkness, crushing human hopes and happiness, destroying the bondman at will, and having no one to reprove or rebuke him. Slavery shrinks from the light; it hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest its deeds should be reproved. To tear off the mask from this abominable system, to expose it to the light of heaven, aye, to the heat of the sun, that it may burn and wither it out of existence, is my object in coining to this country. I want the slaveholder surrounded, as by a wall of anti-slavery fire, so that he may see the condemnation of himself and his system glaring down in letters of light. I want him to feel that he has no sympathy in England, Scotland, or Ireland; that he has none in Canada, none in Mexico, none among the poor wild Indians; that the voice of the civilized, aye, and savage world is against him. I would have condemnation blaze down upon him in every direction, till, stunned and overwhelmed with shame and confusion, he is compelled to let go the grasp he holds upon the persons of his victims, and restore them to their long-lost rights."

This was in 1846. On the 5th of July, 1852, at Rochester, New York, he, perhaps, made the most effective speech of his life. The poet Sheridan has written: "Eloquence consists in the man, the subject, and the occasion." None of these conditions were wanting. There was the man, the incomparable Douglass; the wrongs of slavery was his subject; and the occasion was the 4th of July.

"FELLOW-CITIZENS:—Pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

"Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold, that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the 'lame man leap as an hart.'

"But, such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you this day rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin! I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people.

"'By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.'

"Fellow-citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are to-day rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, 'may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!' To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. My subject, then, fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing there, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July. Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the Constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, every thing that serves to perpetuate slavery—the great sin and shame of America! 'I will not equivocate; I will not excuse'; I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be right and just."

His speech in England was labored, heavy, and some portions of it ambitious. But here are measured sentences, graceful transitions, truth made forcible, and the oratory refined. Thus he went on from good to better, until the managers of leading lecture-courses of the land felt that the season would not be a success without Frederick Douglass. He began to venture into deeper water; to expound problems not exactly in line with the only theme that he was complete master of. His attempts at wit usually missed fire. He could not be funny. He was in earnest from the first moment the light broke into his mind in Baltimore. He was rarely eloquent except when denouncing slavery. He was not at his best in abstract thought: too much logic dampened his enthusiasm; and an attempt at elaborate preparation weakened his discourse. He was majestic when speaking of the insults he had received or the wrongs his race were suffering. Martin Luther said during the religious struggle in Germany for freedom of thought: "Sorrow has pressed many sweet songs out of me." It was the sorrows of the child-heart of Douglass the chattel, and the sorrows of the great man-heart of Douglass the human being, that gave the world such remarkable eloquence. There were but two chords in his soul that could yield a rich sound, viz.: sorrow and indignation. Sorrow for the helpless slave, and indignation against the heartless master, made him grand, majestic, and eloquent beyond comparison.

Although he was going constantly he saved his means, and raised a family of two girls—one dying in her teens, an affliction he took deeply to heart—and three boys. When the war was on at high tide, and Colored soldiers required, he gave all he had, three stalwart boys, while he made it very uncomfortable for the Copperheads at home. At the close of the war he moved to Washington and became deeply interested in the practical work of reconstruction. He was appointed one of the Commissioners to visit San Domingo, when General Grant recommended its annexation to the United States; was a trustee of Howard University and of the Freedman's Savings Bank and Trust Company. Unfortunately he accepted the presidency of the latter institution after nearly all the thieves had got through with it, and was its official head when the crash and ruin came.

Mr. Douglass's home[126] life has been pure and elevated. He has done well by his boys; and has aided many young men to places of usefulness and profit. He strangely and violently opposed the exodus of his race from the South, and thereby incurred the opposition of the Northern press and the anathemas of the Colored people. It was not just the thing, men said—white and black,—for a man who had been a slave in the South, and had come North to find a market for his labor, to oppose his brethren in their flight from economic slavery and the shot-gun policy of the South. His efforts to state and justify his position before the Colored people of New York were received with an impatient air and tolerated even for the time with ill grace. Before the Social Science Congress at Saratoga, New York, he met Richard T. Greener, a young Colored man, in a discussion of this subject. But Mr. Greener, a son of Harvard College, with a keen and merciless logic, cut right through the sophistries of Mr. Douglass; and although the latter gentleman threw bouquets at the audience, and indulged in the most exquisite word-painting, he was compelled to leave the field a vanquished disputant.

President Hayes appointed Mr. Douglass United States Marshall for the District of Columbia, an office which he held until President Garfield made him Recorder of Deeds for the same district. He has accumulated a comfortable little fortune, has published three books, edited two newspapers, passed through a checkered and busy life; and to-day, full of honors and years, he stands confessedly as the first man of his race in North America. Not that he is the greatest in every sense; but considering "the depths from whence he came," the work he has accomplished, the character untarnished,—his memory and character, like the granite shaft, will have an enduring and undying place in the gratitude of humanity throughout the world.

Among the representative young men of color in the United States—and now, happily in the process of time, their name is legion—Richard Theodore Greener has undisputed standing. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1844, but spent most of his life in Massachusetts. His father and grandfather were men of unusual intelligence, social energy, and public spirit. Richard T. early manifested an eagerness to learn and a capacity to retain and utilize. He enjoyed better surroundings in childhood than the average Colored child a generation ago; and always accustomed to hear the English correctly spoken, he had in himself all the required conditions to acquire a thorough education. Having obtained a start in the common schools, he turned to Oberlin College, Lorain County, Ohio,—at that time an institution toward which the Colored people of the country were very partial, and whose anti-slavery professors they loved with wonderful tenderness. For some of these professors, in the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Case, had preferred imprisonment in preference to obedience to the unholy fugitive-slave law. The years of 1862-3 were spent at Oberlin, and Mr. Greener showed himself an excellent student. His ambition was to excel in every thing. Not exactly satisfied with the course of studies at Oberlin, he went to Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts. This institution was a feeder for Harvard, and using uniform text-books he was placed in line and harmony with the course of studies to be pursued at Cambridge. He entered Harvard College in the autumn of 1865, and graduated with high honors in 1870.[127] He was the first of his race to enter this famous university, and while there did himself credit, and honored the race from which he sprang. All his performances were creditable. He won a second prize for reading aloud in his freshman year; in his sophomore year he won the first prize for the Boylston Declamation, notwithstanding members of the junior and senior classes contested. During his junior year he did not contest, preferring to tutor two of the competitors who were successful. In his senior year he won the two highest prizes, viz: the First Bowdoin for a Dissertation on "The Tenures of Land in Ireland," and the "Boylston Prize for Oratory."

The entrance, achievements, and graduation of Mr. Greener received the thoughtful and grateful attention of the press of Europe and America; while what he did was a stimulating example to the young men of his race in the United States.

At the time of his graduation there was a great demand for and a wide-spread need of educated Colored men as teachers. The Institute for Colored Youth, in Philadelphia, had been but recently deprived of its principal, Prof. E. D. Bassett, who had been sent as Resident Minister and Consul-General to the Republic of Hayti. Mr. Greener was called to take the chair vacated by Mr. Bassett. He was principal of this institution from Sept., 1870, to Dec., 1872. From Philadelphia he was called to fill a similar position in Sumner High School, at Washington, D. C. He did not remain long in Washington. His fame as an educator had grown until he was celebrated as a teacher throughout the country. He was offered and accepted the Chair of Metaphysics and Logic in the University of South Carolina, situate at Columbia. He remained here until 1877, when the Hampton Government found no virtue in a Negro as a teacher in an institution of the fame and standing of this university. In 1877 he was made Dean of the Law Department of Howard University, Washington, D. C., and held the position until 1880. He graduated from the Law School of the University of South Carolina, and has practised in Washington since his residence there. In addition to his work as teacher, lawyer, and orator, Prof. Greener was associate editor of the New National Era at Washington, D. C., and his editorial Young Men to the Front, gave him a reputation as a progressive and aggressive leader which he has sustained ever since with marked ability.

As a political speaker he began while in college, in 1868, and has continued down to the present time. He is a pleasant speaker, and acceptable and efficient in a campaign. As an orator and writer he excels. His early style was burdened, like that of the late Charles Sumner, with a too-abundant classical illustration and quotation; but during the last five years his illustrations are drawn largely from the English classics and history. His ablest effort at oratory was his oration on Charles Sumner, the Idealist, Statesman, and Scholar. It was by all odds the finest effort of its kind delivered in this country. It was eminently fitting that a representative of the race toward whose elevation Mr. Sumner contributed his splendid talents, and a graduate from the same College that honored Sumner, and from the State that gave him birth and opportunity, should give the true analysis of his noble life and spotless character.