Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1872-08-03
SPEECH OF FRED. DOUGLASS.
Greeley and Grant Compared.

Greeley and Grant Compared.
Fred Douglass, the great colored ora
tor, addressed a large meeting of colored
people at Richmond, Va, on the 18th of
July last. We give some extracts from it
as follows: .
FELLOW-CITIzENS--I thank you very
sincerely for the cordial and hearty well
come with which you have greeted me. 1
attempt to speak here with more difficulty,
| with less confidence, than you can imag
inc. This is the first political campaign
in which | ever took the stump for any
candidate. | am new hand at the bust
ness. This is the first time, too, that /
ever took part in a public demonstration
in the late capital of the Confederate
States of America. Besides, when invit-
ed to participate in this demonstration, /
supposed that L should be called upon
merely to give color to the occasion 0augh-
| ter)-to be sort of tail to the kite /
! had no idea of occupying any such prom
incnce as it seems am to occupy to-day.
| There is one thing, however that consoles
me in venturing here Oh the sacred soil of
Virginia and in this, the CapitaI-and it
is that, although a stranger, l am no car
pet-bagger. Applause and laughter.] /
am to the manner born, if there is any adj
vantage or merit in that It is true that
1
newspaper under little figure, bent over
and apparently in hurry, with a pack on
my shoulder, going North. Laughter
But that was long time ago, when | was
quite young, and OH the score of my youth
l hope you will pardon that indiscretion-
the indiscretion of my going North. /
was young, and like most young people
was anxious to see everything that had
ever heard of or read of, and hence ] went
| of, fri 10 i'm, I,o n
| liked me very much at that time and went
after me. Laughter They could not
| have me go. They said they could not en-
dure to part with me. They loved me
they wanted to do me good. They heard
that | was going away off to old Massa-
chusetts-that worst of all States, that
| State in which the black man is supposed
to learn more mischief in day than Nir-
ginia can learn him in a year-and | did
go there.
But let us come to the great question that
we are here to discuss. We are going in
the course of few months, to choose q
President and Vice President of the Unit
ed States, and you and 1 and all of us are
to have voice, an untrammeIled voice on
that question. Applause. We are go
ing to have it, and now it is of the gray
est possible consequence what the choice
to that. / hear from several sources that
all the Intelligent .cOlored people of the
South are going to vote for Horace Greeley
and j, Gratz Brown. Loud cries of
"NOWl Well, ] hope you won't have
many such intelligent ones in Virginia
Applause and laughter.1
Now, I did not come here TO abuse Horace
Greeley. [ did not come here TO say harsh
things of him or Gratz Brown. | call a
man knaye and fool, or a mean, miser-
able wretch and all that sort of thing, if
[ want to, but that don't prove anything.
/ should like right well 10 be able to vote
for Horace Greeley. l should like to do it
OH the score that he is workngman, and
on the score that he is an editor, BROTH
er editor with me. | should like to vote
for Horace Greeley if ] only knew which
Greeley my vote would elect. Applause
and laughter. But there is just where the
thouble is with us. He is many-sided |
man. There have been good |
many Horace Greeleys. You know |
when Cough presented himself at the door |
of the Tabernacle in New York, he said to |
the door-keeper: "Iet me in; L am |
Cough" "pll be id if do" said the |
door-keeper; "thcre are no less than seven
Coughs gone in here already" Loud |
outlaws. There have been great many
Horace Greeleys in my time. knew one
once who used to say red-hOt things against
slavery. liked that man. Capital man
he was. If my vote would elect that Hor-
ace Greeley, and was sure he would stay
put" why, l would vote for him. But
there is just the trouble, gentlemen. In
voting for Horace Greeley we don't know
which Greeley we are trying to elect
whether it is the Greeley of thirty years
ago, of twenty years ago, or of ten years
ago, in the van of the Republican party, or
the Greeley of to-day, at the head of the
Democratic party. Applause
What we want, | repeat, is certainty.
We know Ulysses Grant, we know Henry
WilsOn-a straight line, no sinuosity, no
double dealing, no divided voice, no uncer-
tain eOund to their trumpet. Ulysses
Grant is friendly to all classes. The worst
enemies that he has can not accuse him of
malice. He did not approach General
Lee with hautiness nor with malice. They
had met and disputed on great principle.
The principle was decided in Grants ia
vor. He bore himself meekly; he bore
himself in manly way, and to-day cher
ishes as affectionate feelings toward the
people of the South as toward any other
people in the whole country. [Applause.]
KnnvyilIa Sfaa.,, E,,~inoS