The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1884-02-20
The Great Colored Leader,

, marriage Of Frederick Douglass to {
G white lady, in Washington City, wher
, Douglass holds an Office by appoint
! ment, with a handsome salary attached
= His marriage with white woman is o
little consequence in the abstract, but i
5 OF much significance otherwise. Mental
. ", Frederick Douglass is more than or
! binary. He was once q slave, In Mary
land, and ran away from his master
lie is hybrid-thnt is, his father wa
Il white man and his mother "fulI
, blooded" negro He was shrcwd, an,
attracted the attention of few leadin,
, abolitionists, Hon. Gerritt Smith partic
/, ularly.
5 a year or two before the war W,
, spent about four weeks in Rochester
? New York. We were in our "teens.
| then. We had heard of Douglass anc
friend brought about an Introduction
lie was publishing and editing news
paper entitled FIRED. Douglass Own,
which he sent us a year or more in OK.
change for the Home Journal. Nearly
every day while in Rochester We visited
Douglass office, and when we parted,
for the last time, he said, Good bye,
good bye, Mr.. 5. ] love you, but de.
test your principles" One day, while
IN his Office, We observed that besides his
son and another negro, he had Il white
man in his employ, and We mentioned it
IN an argument, and he replied, L" Yes,
but as soon as | can get negro to fill
his place | will dismiss him." We re.
member these words rs accurately rs if
we had heard them yesterday. And Mr.
Douglass, if he should see this article,
may remember the date and facts, also.
And be gave us his Autobiography, and
Il lot Of printed discourscs he had deliy.
cred ut CorInlhian Hall In fact. we
heard him deliver two while in Rochcs.
ter, before the Ladies' Anti.Shvcy
Association" and his earnest, and some.
times brilliant cloqucnce, won our ADM.
ration, and in our personal interviews
enforced Il respect for his education.
One evening, We well remember. he
and his wife. who was full blooded me-
gro, were in carriage, and Douglas
saw us, and stopped to have a talk with
Us According to his request we nest
day visited his office. lie took the pen
he was writing with aud stuck it, a /,
clerk, in his curly hair behind his ear.
Anon, in the course of our conversation.
he became enthusiastic in abuse of Pres
ldCnt james Buchanan and all Postmas.
tiers, who, Of course, were Democrats.
His complaint was that his paper Was
not mailed promptly because he was Il
negro. Then he expressed his wish for
Hon. Gcrritt Smith to be President Of
the United States, and told us that Mr..
Smith had given him the money with
which he Jought himsclf from bis old
master. And just here we must express
our admiration Of this honesty on the
part Of Douglass, Suggested, perhaps,
by the Hon. Gcrrtt Smith in going
voluntarily back and paying his master
for himsclt-an act which ought to put
to blush tn, L. S. Government, IN it,
robbing of the South by declaring free
the slaves bought from Eastern States
where slavery was no longer profitable
as compared with cheaper ,chite labor
Besides, Douglass told us that Mr..
Smith gave him the money to &C to
school in England, pay his way there
and back, &c. And 50 it appears that
Fred, Douglass is indebted to white
man for his success and education, and
if some one in Winchester would only
return the Autobiography of himself
that Douglass gave us we think we
could prove that he praises his old mas
ter for taking only halfpricc for him.
Now, it was Our fortune to see Mr..
Douglass first wiic-back as the ace of
spades. She is dead. lie told us he
did not want white man to work for
him. lie told us, IN his Office in
Rochester, New York, that just as soon
as he could get biack man to ill the
place he would discharge the whitc man
in his employ, and we could but admire
his devotion to color and race, albeit we
regretted the baneful influence his voice
and editorials we're having upon those
misguided and tanatical so-called phi
lanthropists who, overlooking the star
walton and want of poor whites among
themselves, yelled so loudly in regard to
the happier negroes of the South, of
whose condition they had no correct
idea, and, in defiance of the Bible, the
Constitution, and moral rights, did &C
tually bring on Il war against the South
ern States-a war us base and uncalled-
for as if those States had tried by force
to prevent any one north Of Mason and