New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-05-30
From the Sunday Morning Chronicle.
Anecdotes Of Public Men.
by Col. j. w. EOrney.
NO. LXXIT.

| More than fifty colored delegates in the
Republican National Convention at Philadel-
phia, June 5, 1872! Shades of John c. Cal.
houn, Barnwell, Rhett, Dixon II. Lewis,
John Sldell, and w. l.. Yancey, is this to be
permitted? Little did the lords of slavery
twenty years ago think that such an ofiense
would ever be dared. When recall Dawson,
of Louisiana, with his curls. and jewels, and
gold-headed cane; Ashc, of North Carolina,
Barbour, of Virginia, with his plantation
manners; Governor Manning, of South Caro-
lima, as handsome as Mrs. Stoves best pic
ture. OF the old Southern school in "Uncle
TOMS Cabin ;" Pierre Soule, with Ms hand
some, naughty face, true types and apostles
of the peculiar institution, / wonder how they
would feel to see the South represented in a
National Convention by their former slaves.
n little more than ten years have sufficed to
disprove all the predictions against the col
ored race, but in nothing so much as in the
intelligence of their representative leaders,
and in their own general improvement. If
you were to compare the chiefs of the freed
men with the chief shareholders, knowing
them as l knew them, you would soon realize
that John M. Langston, professor of the Law
Department of the Howard University, is as
thorough lawyer as Pierre Soule in his best
days; that Robert Brown Elliott is a better
scholar and speaker than Laurence M. Keitt,
who having helped to create the rebellion,
died in fighting for it.; and that Benjamin
Sterling Turner, of Selma, Alabama, self
educated slave, and now a freedman in Con-
gress, is as practical business man as John
Forsyth or George S. Houston.
Frederick Douglass was famous as an orator
before the war. With the fall of slavery,
however, he rose to the highest position. His
ntOnnpnan YS formal on fhn kncf i'll,
Captivating, persuasive, and often profound,
he yields an increasing influence in both
races.
But among the colored delegates in the
Republican National Convention none will
attract more attention than Robert Purvis, of
Philadelphia. / hope some day to relate the
romance of his life. Born in Columbia, South
Carolina, he left it fifty-three years ago, when
he was about seven years old. A few weeks
since he returned to his native city, and was
eagerly welcomed by his own people, and by
many of the old citizens, who favorably re-
membered his father and mother and had
watched his own career with friendly eyes.
The changes wrought i'm this more than half
century were more than revolutionary. The
stone rejected by the builders had become
the head of the column. The magnates had
disappeared, and those who made them so
had taken their places. 1t was bewilder-
ing dream; yet the retributive fact stood
prominent.
The descendants of Calhoun, Rhctt, NJ
Queen, Hayne, and Brooks no longer ruled
like their fathers. New influences and new
ideas prevailed. Mr.. Purvis stood among his
kindred like another Rip Van Wrinkle, with
the difference that he was not forgotten and
as he walked the streets of Columbia and re-
ceived the ovation of his friends in Charleston
he saw and felt that, although slavery was
dead and the old slavc-lords deposed, the sun
shOne, the grass grew, the flowers bloomed,
the birds caroled, and the waters run, as
when the magnates lived on the labor of
others as good as themselves, and often died
cOnfessing that their bad work must come to
a bitter end.
Robert Purvis is one of the best proofs of
the influence OF education, travel, good asso-
Citations, and natural self-respect. Few would
distinguish him to be what he often proudly
calls himself, "a negro.' His complexion
is not darker than that of Soule or Manning.
His manners are quiet and courtly His
general knowledge is large, and his CONVEX
satiOn easy and intellectual. Educated at
some of the best of our Philadelphia schools
before there was any prejudice against the
reputable man or woman of color, and when
colored votes were thrown at all the cleo
tons, he has reached sixty, universally
eSteelneu. Ills family Is among the most
refined in the arstocratic country neighbor-
hood where he lives, and he commands re-
spect of others by the courage with which he
and his children respect themselves. Yet
while he walks erect in all circles, and yields
to none in the graces of manhood, and in the
observances of what we call society, he is
the ardent friend of his people, determined
that they shall eventually secure all their
civil, as they have now their political, rights.
No more useful or influential man will sit
among the delegates to the Philadelphia Ma
tional Convention, Wednesday, the 5th of
June, 1872.
AS these colored colleagues of Robert Pur-
Wis from the South gather around their friend
and teacher, how many story they could
relate of their individual lives Each had
his romance of hard reality. Their struggles
as slaves-their experience as freedmen
their "hair-breadth Escapes by flood and
field''-their restoration to family and
friends-the fate of their old masters"-
what material for the poet, the novelist, the
historian, and the philanthropist!
A Candid Opinion.