Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-08-15
GRANT AND THE NEGRO.
Frederick Douglass Tribute to the
Memory of the Dead General.

THE MAN To WHOM THE NEGRO WAS CHIEFLY
| INDEBTED F02 HIS ESFRANCHISExsNT-
Personal RECoLLECTIoSS OF THE GENERAL.
At the meeting in memoriam OF Gen. Grant
| which was held by the colored people at the
| 10Th street church Wednesday evening, Mr.
| Frederick Douglass delivered the following ora
ton, - synopsis Of which appeared IN 1HE
STARS report of the meeting:
| Friends and Feil0,r-citi=ezs. have only few
words to say this occasion. Death has been
busy among the friends OF freedom within the
last lew years. We walk about tonight among
graves made sacred by the noble lives of those
who occupy Them Garrison, Phillips, Sumner,
Wilson Stevens Wade and Lincoln, with a vast
concourse of the rank and file of noble men and
women through whose Jealous eIcrtions eman-
cipation and acknowledgements have been So
cured 10 the coiOred people OF this country, and
tonight also walk through the valley and
shadow of she death of Ulysses 9. Grant, the
mott illustriOus warrior and statesman of
modern times. the great captain, whose invin-
cibis sword saved the Republic from dismem-
bernlent nd the republic from ruin, and made
liberty the law of our land forever.
II is too early to give n complete analysis OF
this great mans character or to state in full our
debt or gratitude to him for his work in the
world. Eut this may be said OF him, for 1t will
meet contradiction from any quarter He
was u man too great TO be enviOus of the fame
OF Others 700 just 10 aeiract rom tie nerlcs OF
too enlightened 10 be influenced by popular
prejudice: TOO humane to despise the humblest;
too great to be s.lall ut any point. In him the
negro found n protector, the Indian q friend, a
vanquished foe brother, an iInperiled nation
~ saviour.
tender as the heart OF woman. Honest HIM
self. he did not suspect the honesty of others.
Tie combined with childlike nature, n calm
ness and courage as serene and beautiful as the
brave Overhanging sky.
He was accessible 10 all men, whether of high
o, low condition. lie did not hide himself be-
hind his dipnify Tho black soldier l..
come III hisient. and the freedman in his house.
10 those who forbade them he simply said:
-" here am they Can come. He was among the
hrst, during our late war, TO see ana acknowl-
edge that the destruction Oi slavery was essen
tial TO the preservation of the Union. When
the colored man was made soldier against the
voice OF popular prejudice. he promptly issued
an order protecting him from insult and dis
arrangement 70 him,
MORE THAN TO ANY OTHER NAN,
the negro owes his acknowledgements, and the
Indian is indebted Tor the humane policy
adopted toward him by our government then
and now. When red-handed violence ran riot
Through the south, and freedmen were being
hunted down like wild beasts in the night, the
cended that of his party, and hence, his place
At Its head was given TO tilnid men, and the
country allowed to drift, instead OF stemmin.
with stalwart arm the current of southern
anarchy.
1t has been whispered that this man cared
too much for the members of his family, but it
them at the expense OF the pubic service. A
conspicuous quality illustrated in him was
absolute fidelity I" his ir.en:s and bis refusal
compelled to do so by incOntestatle evidence.
II this were an hour for criticism, we might
place this over-confdence in the perfection of
his friends as weakness: but, II in this he
erred, ii was an error on virtues side, and re-
moved him iar away from that vulgar and dis
gushing treachery that will often sell friend to
buy an enemy.
Gen. Gil ant was a modest man, sedate and
chaste in thought and conversation 1t HAS
been said of him by those who knew him most
intimately that he never allowed word to fall
from his lips in private that me could not utter
without "a blush in public.
A popularity of his relation to his generals
was that none seemed to question his great
ness, or to wish to supplant aim la the respect
and that those who knew him best loved and
hOnOred him most
1t Was to the credit of Gen. Grant, as we'll as
to that of Gen. sherman, that while the latter
stood next to him in high military service,
there never was a shadow OF envy between
them. 1t is sometimes said that Gen. Grant
was
MADE BY THE WAR.
1t would be equally true to say that the war
was made by Gen. Grant. Until he appeared
upon the scene In the valley of the Mississippi
the war tor the Union was thing in name, q
series oil disasters followed by national dis
enlargement and depression. We who are Odd
enough TO remember tire war can never forget
the gloom and dependency which followed
the destruction OF the armies of the Union
in the earlier months of the war, nor can we
ever forget how the cloud and gloom were dis
persed Us this man marched with his conquer
%ss sessonS 00"n the valley Oh the rather Oh
But the time would fail to tell of the character
and influence OF this great man. The nation
mOurns him to-day, as we'll ii may, for great Is
its loss. His name was II tower of strength, q
guarantee Of order at home and of peace abroad.
In his travels around the world his fame had
gone before him, and gained for him the res pect
not only OF nations. but Of kings, potentates,
prfncfpalitles and powers.
Among all the American people, no class will
feel tine loss by his death more deeply than we.
No people will hallow his name and cherish his
memory more sacredly than We. To others he
was a patriot. To us he was liberator. To
Others he gave peace; to US he gave liberty. To
country. He found US slaves, aud left us free
men. He found u aliens, and LETT citizens.
He found us outside of law and civilization
polite
But for this man, some other as great and
good as he, who could turn disaster and re!eat
into glorious victory, the immortal proclama-
tion of emancipation by Abraham Lincoln
would have fallen pOwerless at the Ieet Of
slavery. 1t was his hand tina; executed this
beaeacent Judgment OF the loyal nation. and
made flesh and blood OF the nations word. /.
was ne who mGde q thing Of the nation I
thought anu converted hope into realization.
Nothing new can be said of General Grant
History, poetry, and e.OIuence have swept the
whole field Oh his achievements. In speaking,
OF him We can but feebiy CchO the voice ol
millions at home anu abroad.
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIOSS OF GEN GRANT
Without Boosting oi my intimacy with SC
great man, as small men are sometimes
tempted to do, may say that / knew Gen
Grant well, and had some means of studying
and Judging his character as man and states
man.
l Erst saw him nearly twenty years ago, in
Rochester. y. y, where then resided. He was
| then picture OF health and II model OF m.,n
mod. No tinge oil gray marked his raven locks
| be Was liz the midst of his years. Time had
dimmed no ray OF his calm blue eye. No line
\ Of his steady cOuntcnance denoted sickness
I pain or sorrow. He had passed through the FUR
mace of q trcmendOu, civil war with no trace o
/ its lire upon him. In looking upon him at tina;
| time one would naturally ask: lis this the hero
of u hundred battles? Is this the great general
/ whose military genius and uncouquerabe will
/ subdUcj and crushed successive armies, blew
| 10 pieces huse fOrtiicatiOns at Doneison and
| NiCksburs aud swept armed treason and rebel
lion Tom The vDit, Of the Mississippi: Can this
| calm, quiet man DC lie who measured sword.
with Ice aud led tho armies of the Union
| through the W ilderness 10 the rebel capital
. when all others had iiieti:'
zen. Grant, wien i saw him, was travelling
! with l'reSidelt Johnson, Mr.. Seward, and other
notable persons They were me. al the depot
| by a great crowd but the man all desired to see
and Dear was Gen. Grant, the man who most
| siirank from being either seen or heard Grant
Grant,. Grtnt!.! cried the crowi But tho
| hero sought shelter behind his travelling com
! pantpns, and only showed himself when pushed
| forward by Mr.. seward and the rest He WHO
| had faced q Thousand cannon, retreated from
| the eyes and piaudi.s of the grateful and ad
! ESCAPE from the popular gaze. In another m ar
| this movement might have seemed only yvaIi