Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-10-14

i NI, Is
/ DOUGLASS TALKS or HAYrL
The Ex-Minister Makes an Address ON the
Subject Before Large Audience.
he ANSWERS SOME OF HIS cnrrIcs-THE rU.
TURE OF THE NEGRO REPUBLIc--coMMESDA.
TON FOB nYPPoL1rR-THE Ix-MNIsTER DE.
cLAREs HIMSELF FOR PRESIDENT HARRISON.
Hon. Fred Douglass made his frst appear
ance in public since his return home from
Hayti at the Metropolitan A. II. E. Church on
NJ street last night. The occasion was lecture
on the subject Of Hayti by Mr.. Douglass, and
attracted church full Of people Of both races.
There we're about one-half as many whites az
coiored folks, and among the former were over
a hundred of the delegates to the ecumenical
conference. The house was warm in its friend.
Illness to Mr.. Douglass. and applause and muir
murs Of approval we're frequent.
The lecture was preceded by several musical
selections by an orchestra, the choir of the
church and a male quartet. At o'clock the
| platform was occupied by Bishops Arnett,
Wayman and Gaines Of the A. NJ. E. church and
Messrs. Douglass aud Lynch, the fourth auditor
OF the treasury. At the appearance of Mr..
i
plause, which was redoubled when he was in
troduced by Bishop Arnett as the ''leader OF
| the race"
| The speaker seemed touched by this recep-
ton and he spoke for some minutes about his
| attitude toward the colored people of this
country ''Such welcome home" he said,
lis well fitted to awaken heart less sensitive
than mine. The value of this applause is
greater than ever on account OF the recent at
tackn upon me in certain papers, based par
1
isolation from my people" He referred +, the
efforts of the correspondent of one Of the Bos-
| ton daliies to picture him as ostracised by the
rest of the race. This occasion, he added,
might be valuable object lesson tr the scribe
and gl-s him reason to soOth,, his own sorrow
| and dry his sympathetic tears, as it would
| show that the speaker was neither despised nor
| negl scted.
ANSWERING HIS CRITICS.
He then announced his subject as ''Hayti,"
| and apologized for talking from manuscript,
especially in the presence of SO much con-
densed ecumenical oratory. you must see"
| he added, "tEat l am not what was" The
Afro-American press, he went on, whatever
that meant, had shown disposition to retire
him from public life and Office on account of
| his age. He denied the right of any man to
dictate when a man should leave the rostrum,
| az he said that there was plenty Of room for
| the younger aspirants as we'll Is the older SER
wants. Ii he were in any ones way it would be
different, but he could not see that he was. 1t
| is indicative of something wrong with civiliza-
ton when the cry goes out that the old men
should retire, when old heads begin to grow
few in public assemblages and meetings, when
younger men are crowding their elders out Of
| their way. There il difference of opinion as
| to when man should stop, Just as there is as
| to when a man should begin. 1t is an open
| question. II began speaking in public more
than fifty years ago. said the lecturer, ''and
am not through yet"
He then referred to the examples of Glad
stone and J. Q. Adams, growing eloquent over
the record Of the latter grand fight in Congress
after he had servedhis term as President beyond
his SEVENTEEN year. He thought that these
grand samples Of old age on the public stage
| was said against him, one of his kind. but
| cannot deceive myself" he added, NOR can
deceive you. l cannot speak as did in earlier
days. Yet will do as did the prophet and the
| part that have will give you
Notwithstanding Mr.. Douglass self-deprecia-
ton. he managed to hold the entire attention
of his auditors and to gain their frequent APP
plause for over an hour and a half.
He paid considerable attention to the charges
| that have been made against him Of failing in
| his diplomatic mission to Hayti and he de-
Tended himself for his lack Of success in OBJ
tanning grant Of the Mole st. Nicholas on the
ground that Hayh perceived that 1t was Alto
sether too valuable a possession to part with
too readily. He paid his respects to the New
York Tribune. which recently attacked him and
accused him of talking too much" Yet, he
! asserted, there had been nothing definite said
against him and it had not been shown that he
had told what was not already known.
MY way Of telling the story of the Haytian
difficulty he continued, differs from those
| Of certain saltwater correspondents OF the New
York press who came down to Port au Prince
on the white squadron. have told nv story
| already in the North American Review. and
| see no reason for retracting one word have
| said about the negotiations. / have it in my
power to set forth that matter in a new way
| that maybe certain gentlemen would not like.
They had better let me alone"
HAYTI AND THE NEGRO.
He then went on to tell of the historical i'm
portance of Hayti, particularly in the matter Of
the record of the fall of. negro slavery, which,
/ he said. came to the new world with transatlan-
| tic Christianity at the same time and was
brought by the same men. The people Of
Hayti occupy peculiar position toward the
| outside world. "We," said the speaker, refer
| ring to the folks of his own race. "are identi-
fed with those people, and we fall or flourish
with them. We are therefore thoroughly in
| terested in the experiment Of the Haytians in
| negro self-government The negro in the
| United States has theater of action and use
| fulness equal to any place on the globe. The
| United States is a missionary nation to wipe
out the prejudices OF the outside world against
| the race. But until the negro can make him.
self respected here he will fail to gain the re-
spect OF the world at large. I believe that we
are beginning to be respected here"
The lecturer then returned to his subject Of
| Hayti, of which he described the geographical
| position, form Of government and ply sical fea-
| lures. Tho Mole st. Nicholas, he went on, has
been described as the Gibraltar Of Hsyti, COM
manding the windward passage Of much Of the
| worlds commerce when the Nicaragua canal
shall have been finished. 1t is the stronghold
| of Hayti. he added, and it was not strange that
| the statesmen of the island should be unwilling
| to give it up without adequate compensation.
| There should be no offense taken at this re-
fusal. 1t is simply the exercise of a sovereign
right to take care Of herself He was glad to
| see that the American people are beginning to
despise the tin-kettle rage that was raised by
| the press when the refusal became known.
Hayti has been just as liberal as she can afford
| to be, and as she denies that she ever promised
| us the mole it is the part Of the United States
to prove that she made such promise before
accusing her of bad faith.
MIR. Douglass talked interestingly Of the beau
ties of the island, the climate the charac teris-
tics of the people and the chances OF the race
for success in the experiment of self-govern-
ment He said: If Hayti could be kept free
from revolutions she would become, in pro-
portion to her population, the richest country
of the world"
There were some deplorable features of the
civilization there, especially the results of the
compulsory military service, which has left on
the faces and figures of the males the marks
of the most wretched depravity. Every third