National Republican., 1883-04-17
THE SPEECHES..

THE SPEECHES.
The celebration at the First Congregational
church last evening was under the immediate
auspices of the following committee of ar
rangements: Messrs. John w. Freeman, G.
C.. Brisco George w. Stewart, w. II. Black
A. st. A. Smith, G. w. Robinson, c. @.
Stewart, James Garner George II. Boston,
William Taliaferro, w. G. Chase, r. w. Laws,
Charles Marshall, and w. X. Brown.
The capacious church room was soon filed
| gallery and lower floor, despite the falling
rain. The Monumental cornet band, of Bal
timore, arrived and took position along the
choir stand, and promptly at 8 o'clock the
meeting was called to order by Col. NJ. NJ.
Holland, master of ceremonies. The band
played an inspiring air, and Rev. j. L. Rankin
delivered an earnest prayer.
REGRETS.
Letters expressing regret at the inability
| from the President, the attorney general
Public Printer Rounds, Commissioner Loring
and Senator Logan. The following was also
read, and as 1t will probably be read with
interest by many who did not hear it last
night it is given in full
PETERSBURG, VA, April 8, 1ss3-Dear Sir: Thanks
for the consideration. II Will be quite impossible
| for me to attend your celebration. Civilization
will not be content until the human race are
everywhere liberated and Gods people are per-
mittcd TO enjoy the fruits Of their own labor.
| Yours truly, MALONE.
w: c. CHASE, esqr secretary, &C., 1iO9 l street,
| Washington, ID. g.
MIR. DoUGLAss's SPEECH.
Col. NJ. NJ Holland, in brief but well
| timed speech, then introduced the orator of
the occasion, Mr.. Fred Douglass, who was
greeted with tumultuous and long continued
| applause. He said:
FRIENDS AND FELLOW CITIZENS 1 could
ha We wished that some one from among tho
| you niger men Of Washington-some one with a
mind more fruitful, with voice more eloquent,
with an oratorical ambition more lofty, more
active, and more stimulating to high en-
deavor than mine--had been selected by your
committee of arrangements to give suitable
utterance to the thoughts feelings, and pur-
poses which this twenty-irst anniversary of
emancipation in the District of Columbia is
| fitted to inspire. That such one could have
been easily found among the aspiring and
promising young colored men of Washington
/ am happy to know and am proud to affirm.
They are the legitimate children of the
| great act we are met to celebrate. They have
been reared in the light of its now born free
dom, qualified by education and by the
! cevating spirit of liberty to speak the wise
and grateful words befitting this occasion.
| The presence of one such as your orator to-
night would be more brilliant illustration
of the wisdom and benetcence of the act of
emancipation than any words of mine, how
ever well chosen and appropriate. l represent
the past; they the present. / represent the
downfall of slavery; they the glorious tri-
umphs of liberty. / speak of deliverance
from bondage; they speak of concessions to
| liberty and equality. Their mission begins
where my mission ends.
Nevertheless, while | would have gladly
| given place to one of these rising young men,
could not well decline the duty and the honor
| of appearing here tonight 1t may after all
/ Ina wall In bnva hing nf tha raa AZ N
gled with the present, and that one who has
had some share in the conflict should share
also in the public joy of the victory. At the
onset, as an old watchman on the walls of
| liberty, eagerly scanning the social and poll T.
ical horizon, you naturally ask me, "What
| of the nightW 1t is easy to break forth in
| joy and thanksgiving for emancipation in the
District of Columbia. 1t is easy to call up the
| noble sentiments and the startling events
| which made that grand measure possible. 1t Is
easy to trace the footsteps of the negro in the
past, marked as they are all the way along
with blood. But the present occasion calls for
| something more. How stands the negro to-
day? What arc the relations existing be-
tween him and the powerful people among
| whom he lives, moves, and has his being ?
| What is the outlook and what is his probable
futureY You will readily perceive that l
| have raised more questions than i shall be
able for the present to answer. My general
response 10 lnese inquiries 10 HlAcu one.
The sky Of the American negro is dark, but
not rayless--it is stormy, but not cheerless.
| The grand old party of liberty, union, and
progress, which has been his reliance and
refuge so long, is less cohesive and strong.
than it once was As the war for the union
recedes into the misty shadows of the past,
| and the negro is no longer needed TO assault
forts andSstop rebel bullets, he is in some
| sense of less importance. Peace with the old
master class has been war TO the negro. As
| the one has risen, the other has fallen. The
reaction has been sudden, marked, and vio-
| lent. IL has swept the negro from all the
legislative halls of tho southern states and
from those of the congress of the United
States, and has in many cases driven him
from the ballot box and the jury box. The
situation has much in IL for serious tn ought,
but nothing TO cause despair Above all the
frowning clouds that tower above our horizon
there is the steady light of stars, and the
thick clouds that now obscure them will in
due season pass away.
In fact they are already passing away.
Time and events, which have done SO much
for us in the past will, trust, not do less for
us in the future. The moral government OF
the universe is on our side and co-opeTates
with all honest efforts to lift up the down.
trodden and oppressed in all lands, whether
| the oppressed be white or black.
In whatever else the negro may have been
| a failure, he has in one respect been marked
and brilliant success. He has managed, by
one means or another, to make himself one
of the most prominent and interesting figures
that now attract and hold the attention of
the world. Go whore you will you meet
with him. He is alike present in the study
of the learned and thoughtful and in the
play house of the gay and thoughtless. We
see him pictured at our street corners and
hear him In the songs of our market places.
The low and the vulgar curse him the snob
and the Aunky affect TO despise HIM the
mean and the cowardly assault him, because
they know that his friends are few,
and that they can abuse him with
impunity and with the applause Of the