Year: 1877




The Hell-Gate of passion and hate
is safely past and the ship of State
sails under blue skies on serener
waters.


Take the following significant ut
terances.- first from an eminent !.
negro, formerly u slave; the latter
from an equally eminent rebel white
leader of the south.


Fred Douglas recently visited his
birthplace at st. Michael's, Maryland,
from which he had fled slave many
years ago. While there he made a
speech, to the negroes. We quote:


He was not here, he said, to fan the
flames of sectional animOsity, nor to
create ill-feeling, nor yet to recount
the wrongs inflicted on his race for
two hundred years, nor to go into
antiquity for matter to stir the blood
and rouse the passions, nor to indulge
in political harangue, nor to eXpOund
the constitution of the United States.
Il come, first of all, to see my old
master, from whom have been separsl-
ted for fOrty-One years, to shake his
hand, to look into his kind old face and
see it beaming with light from the
other world. l have had great JOY in
shaking that hand, in looking into that
face stricken with age and disease, but
agloW with the light that comes from
an honest heart, and rejecting the
glory from the spirit world, upon
whose border he is, and where we
shall soon meet. Forty-one years ago
l left him. left him, mot because
loved Caesar less. but because l loved
Rome more.


The other extract is from a speech
by Gov. Hampton of South Carolina,
made the other day in New york, at
a festival Of the Shields Guards. lie
said, speaking Of the negroes:
We intend to try to elevate them,
educate them and show them the
responsibilities as well as the bles-
sings of liberty. We want them, as
other citizens of America and South
Carolina, to be worthy Of the great
boon Of citizenship of this great
republic. My friends l thank you for
this most cordial greeting, doubly
gratifying because it is the voice Of
New York reverberating to South
Carolina. come as said to do honor
to my distinguished friend, Gen.
Shields. Hewore the blue and / wore
the grey, but we can let the curtain
drop over these years and go back TO
the time when that flag borne by him
waved alike over the men of the south
and the men Of the north, and we can
look beyond to the future when
through all time that flag shall float
over a free, prosperous and united
country. (Applause.) / say this To
you SOutherner, a rebel, for when
fought,I fought as hard as knew how
against you, and say also that If that
flag floats as it should do over free
and equal States. if it shall be symbol
of liberty and equality and justice to
all States and every man in every
State, men Of the South will honor it
and love it as Of old, and the time may
come once more when New York ami
South Carolina shall stand shoulder to
shoulder against a common enemy
and their blood mingle upon the soil.
tApplause.) Ny friends, shall bear
this cordial greeting back home with
me to the little Palmetto State and
assure our people that your hearts
here throb kindly for MS. / trust To
God that better future is before the
whole country and that we shall have
prosperity and liberty to every man
upon the continent. fApplause.)


This is all in the right spirit. These
are golden words uttered by the black
man and the white man alike. They
tend to make our country one and
indivisible; they substitute affection
and patriotism for bigotry and the
bayonet; they point to magnificent
future for the republic.


1t may be hard for the masses Of
the conquered south TO rise at once to
the level of Gov. Hampton's utteran-
ces, there may be occasional and
disgraceful acts of violence; but the
Prov Of the ship is turned toward
peaceful waters and every day bears
her farther away from the turbid and
agitated waters Of the past.