, 1862-02-19
Fred. Douglas ON the war,

EA%Ns AAN&&ANN Oh &@U " Axe
A large audience assembled at the Cooper
Institute last evening to hear Frederick Doug
Las lecture on the war. He spoke in behalf Of
the colo1ed race, and discussed the question
Of emancipation ut length, remarkfng as fol-
lows:
=, ny 91s answer M te the question, xnat shall
eipatcd? shall be short and simple, Do moth
ing with them, but leave them just as you
leave other men, to do with and for them
selves We #onld be entirely respestful to
those who raise this inquiry, and yctit Is hard
to ns, il VIC manifested like con
ccrn for them, and that ia: please to mind
your business ind leave us to mind ours. If
We cannot stand up, then let us fall down.
We ask nothing at the hands Of the Ameri.
can people but simple justice, and an equal
chaneeto live; and # we cannot live and -four
ish On such terms, our case should be refer
red to the Author Of our existence. Injustice,
oppression and slavery, with all their mani
fold .coRcomitants, have been tried with
US during a period Of more than two
hundred years. Under the whole heavens
you viii ind no parallel to the wrongs We have
endured We have worked without wages
We hare lived without hope, Wept Without
sympathy and bled without mercy. Now, in
the name Of q common humanity, and accord
ing to the law of the Living God, we simply
ask the right to bear the responsibility Of our
own existence.
"Do nothing with us, for us, or bY rs as
particular class What you have done with
us thus far has only worked to our disad-
vantage. We now simply ask to be allowed
nothing unreasonable OF unnatural in this re-
quest. The black man is said to be unfortu-
nate affirm thai the broadest and bittcrest
Of the black mans 1nisfortunes is the fact that
be is everywhere regarded and treated Us IN
exception to the principles and 1laxims which
apply to other men, and that nothing short Of
the extension of those principles to him can
satisfy any honest advocate Of his claiH1s.''
He saw no harm in crlaucipating all the
slayes at once, saying:
gers, but men- They are endowed with rea-
sou-can decide upon questions Of right and
wrong, good and evil, benefits and injuries
and arc therefore subjects Of Government pre-
cisely as other men arc"
BE thought the number Of Africans Oh this
continent and the adjacent islands but little
less than twenty millions, and did not believe
they could be colonized. In closing, he read
an eloquent reply TO the assertion that the nc
gro was like the Indian, and would die out be-
fore the progress of civilization. He had no
apprehension On that point, and added:
THE Indian wraps himself in gloom, and
proudly glories in isolation-he retreats before
the onward march Of civilization Tie hum
ming OF the Aoney-bee warns him away from
Lis bunting grounds He sees the pIowEharc
Of civilization tossing up the bones Of his zen
Grated futhers, and he dies Of broken heart
Not SO with the negro. There is vitality
about him TINT seems alike inyiucible to hard
ship and cruelty. Work lin, whip hiu, sell
him, torment him, and he still lives and clings
to American civilization-an Uncle Tom in
the Church, and an Uncle Ben OIL the southern
coast to guide our Burnside expeditions"
Men dying make their wills-but wives
Escape q work SO ead;
Why should they make what all their lives