New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-01-04
Sc. 80 = year in advance
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Credo by which they proclaimed so loudly III
native inkriority Of the negro. But what maj
tered to Douglass all the arsenal Of inquitou
sentences Illuminated against the slave BY tn
magic light of the twenty.six letters of tn
alphabet, whose feeble glmmer, necessarily fe'
by study, illuminated step by step his youthful
mind, he managed, amid the glooms of servi
Jude, to draw nearer and nearer to liberty, il
penetrating more aud more into the domains o
knowledge. So. at seventeen years of age
and without the aid of any person, he wa
able to read, write, and cipher. This intel
leetual competency, so painfully amassed, was
then very small; but Douglass, thanks to his
energy and.to his passion for study and lib
erty, has shown so well how to increase liz
amount by new acquisitions, that he has made
Of it an nexhaustible from which to draw,
during more than twenty-five years, those
treasures Of knowledge and eloquencc which
astonish the United States themselves.
| This Unsuitable ardor co study every.
thing, to know everything, had rekin-
1 died In the heart or the slave the badly
extingdished fires of those noble sentiments
with which he had been naturally endowed
His slightest actions reflected their eclat, and
his whole outward appearance now betrayed
the manliness of his soul. This unexpected
transformation greatly disquieted the masters
of Douglass, and they FASTENED to hire him out
to a Mr.. Convey, who had the reputation of
being an excellent negro-brsaker. Convey, as
if to test his discipline on the new conner,
ordered him to drive q team Of halfbroken
oxen. The oxen broke Douglass plough; he
was thus forced to return quite late to the plan
tation, and chastisement was the consequence
Douglass bore this first outrage with the stole
ism of an Epictetus; bnt, at another time,
Convey having rushed upon him in order to
strike him, "Hold ont" he cried, if you
strike strike" A struggle ensued immedi
ately between the slave and his master; but it
was the master who, thrown down and van
pushed himself, was compelled to cry
enough" There was a necessity to escape
las soon &C possible from the consequences of
this offence against the sanctity of servile in
stitutions. Douglass fed first to New York
and from there to New Bedford, where he mar
ried and lived two or three years, at the
hard trade of journeyman caulker.
Some time after this, in lS4l, an anti-slavery
convention met at Nantucket. A young mu-
latto appears there, mounts the platform, and
with an eloquence truly African, and recalling
to mind Saint Cyprian, electrifes and carries
away the audience with delight. 1t was
Frederick Douglass. At the close of the meet
ing, the position as agent of the Massachusetts
Abolition Society to lecture against slavery
was forthwith offered to him, and he ac-
copied it.
COnsecrated by nature, and also by the JUS
tice of the cause to which he had devoted him.
self, Douglass commences his sublime apostle
ship as the indefatigable missionary for the
emancipation of his brethren. For four years
he travels through all the States of New Eng
land, sowing from oity TO city, from meeting "a
meeting, the good seed of his liberating word
In 1915 he publishes his Autobiography, and
sails for England where he is received with
enthusiasm by all the abolition societies. lie
visits the principal cities of Great Britain, in
flames them with the fire of his propagandism
receives their universal applause, and returns
in 1S47 to the United States, where he resumes
with renewed ardor, both through the press
and the platform, the course of his ministra
tions. In 1855, he caused to appear, under the
title of My Bondage and My Freedom, a
second work, of which the immense success
increased his renown already widely spread.
During the war of the rebellion, Douglass
as one readily divines, was one of the warmesl
defenders OF the American Union and while
he contended with tongue and pen for this JUS
cause, his two sons, soldiers in the saith regi
ment Of Massachusetts, Volunteers, marched t.
combat to the inspiring music of " Old Johr
Brown" Such a man as Douglass was neces
sarily highly appreciated by Lincoln. Tn,
illustrious President received him frequently a
the White House and, at one of these recep
tions he engaged him in the work of multiply
ing the relations between the colored men O
the North and those of the South, whom
political perfdy had until then held divided
To-day they form but one body animated b,
the same spirit; and this happy result is du
especially to the numerous discourses and in
cessant publications of the celebrated orator.
Delegated by his colored brethren, in Febru
airy, 1866, to defend their interests near tn
Government of Washington, he replied to Mr.
johnson and successfully refuted the sophism
which he had uttered against the granting O
political rights to the African race. In tn
month OF August of the same wear, he wa
named as a delegate to the Convention of tn
Southern Unionists, and shortly after, Vic
President of the Republican Convention a
Philadelphia. At the opening of this Assem-
bly,, the representative of one of the borde
States being scandalized by the presence of tn
ex-slave, Mr.. Hamilton, Governor of Texas
said to him, you will admit, my dear sir, tina
Mr.. Douglass has more brains than you an
l." A few minutes after, Douglass pronounced
for the benefit of those who shared the senti
ments of his colleague, speech brilliant wit
irony-his favorite weapon.
% In the first place." said the orator. :.
represent the black race in this Convention
There can be no mistake about that nv friz
zled hair and the shape of my nose leave n
doubt upon that point. On the other hand,
represent the white race; and there can be NJ
deception here; all the Copperhead journal
say that owe the little talent i possess to tn
white blood which flows in my veins. As ia
as can judge from my own experience an,
from the harmony Of the two races that liv
together in my own individuality, / can al