New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-10-03
Fred. Douglass in iE,e Campaign

Those who have devoted any degree of at
tention to the leading oratorical efforts OF
the present campaign, must have observed
the characteristic force and fervor which
have invariably distinguished the speeches
of Fred. Douglass. His position as the rep
resentatiye orator Of the COlOred race gives
his words a special kind Of authority, in a
struggle which turns so much upon the guar
antees with which it is thought necessary to
invest the work Of negro emancipation and
negro entranchisement. AS Mr.. Douglass
very well put it, in his last nights speech,
eve have no longer On honest fight between
armies under their own respective cOlOrS,
battling for their own honestly cherished OBJ
jects, but war under the same flags, be-
tween armies in the same uniform, and pro-
Tossing the same Objects" Each party
claims to be the friend of the colored man,
and each processes respect for the integrity
Of the constitutional amendments which
guarantee his freedom. The country knows
already the choice which the mass Of colored
voters have made between the competitors
for their suffrages. But unerring as is the
instinct which leads the average negro to
range himself under the banner of his true
friends, it is always possible for the other
side to retort that this is but the result of
blind, unreasOning habit, and that enlarged
intelligence and more matnrod reflection
would lead him the other way. TO such
an argument, the position of Frederick
Douglass i'll the campaign affords the most
conclusive kind Of answer. Here IS Il man
who came into the world another man 3
chattel, to whom slavery represented no
mere sentimental grievance, but a harsh and
terrible fact Here is the man, moreover,
who, for quarter of century fought under
manifold discouragemcnts the battle of his
1, al, I1, D,,I bn 10 tuyo
continents living proof that negro lineage
might co-exist with the choicest gifts Of in
telect and the highest order of oratory.
Such an advocate for Republicanism as this
knows the reasons for the faith that is in him,
and can state them on behalf Of himself and
his people with a power which defies at
tack, aud an authority which silences criti-
csm.
From the very outset Of the present con-
test, therefore, the speeches of Frederick
Douglass have been among the most power
tul weapons of the party. They have, in
addition to the special force derived from their
authorship, possessed a degree Of eplgram-
matte point and terseness which stands UNI
excelled among the productions of the CAM
paign. Such sharp, vigorous sentences as
these, for example, are Of the kind which at
once take hold upon tho memory and appeal
to the understanding: "Tell me not OF graft
tude; talk not to ME of deserting an old
friend. No man is my friend who betrays
the cause Of my people, . The trouble
never was in the Constitution, but in the
administration Of the Constitution In
front of us to-day we have the old enemy,
the same old snake in a new skim" The
wolf is all the more dangerous because OF his
white coat" Connected by close and Wig
orous argument, and illustrated by appeals
to an experience which is absolutely unique
of its kind, such sentences as these are so
many thrusts which enter the vital parts OF
the enemy. Fred. Douglass has done and is
doing some of the best service of the cam
paign, and at its triumphant close no man
will bear away larger share OF its laurels.-
Ne,c York Times