The Cleveland gazette. [volume], October 13, 1883, Image 1

About The Cleveland gazette. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1883-1892

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The Cleveland Gazette.
VOL. 1.-NO. 8.
FALSITY EXPOSED.
The Kind of Places Held by Colored
Government Employes.
The Wrongs an* Imparitlon* Frac*
Uce< Upon the Drudge* of the A«>
Ministration—“ Brigadier” Influ
ence In Appointments or Col
ored Democrat*.
The Washington specialist of the
New York Times has come to the res
cue of the editors of that paper by tele
graphing the statement that there are
upwards of two hundred colored em
ployes in the Department of the Interi
or. He cites that Department as a
specimen brick, and declares that the
rolls of the other Departments will
show a proportionately large number
of colored ladies and gentlemen. I have
resided here for many years and happen
to be thoroughly familiar with this, as
well as other topics of National import.
There are not more than fifteen or
twenty colored persons in the Interior
Department who receive the salaries of
clerks, that is SI,OOO per annum and
upwards, while there are about one
hundred and seventy-five colored
“charwomen,” who do the scouring,
ect., laborers, a few watchmen,
hostlers, etc. Out of the “upwards of
two hundred colored employes” at
least one hundred and seventy-five hold
menial positions, who are given the
pitiful compensation of sls per month,
as that paid the “charwomen.” up to
$2.00 per diem as given to the spittoon
cleaners, laborers, hostlers, messen
fers, etc. And let me remark just
ere that if white people could be
found who would fill these positions
they would not be conferred upon col
ored people. Indeed the spirit of caste
finds as many votaries among the
heads of Bureau* and Appointment
Clerks in Washington as formerly
prevailed on Southern planta
tions. Not only do these poor
colored people have to perform
Jie menial labor exacted pf them, but
in the afternoons, after; office hours,
poor colored women, on bended knees,
may be seeh scrubbing the marble
floors of the public buildings, mop in
hand, washing up t.the vile tobacco ex
pectorations of the long-haired South
ern rebels, such as Brigadier Congress
men, who of late years nave completely
made themselves masters of the situa-
non.
Now this state of affairs is well
known to every “specialist” in Wash
ington, yet these men, in consideration
of the privileges' accorded them by
heads of Departments, of saddling their
women upon the Goverment in lucrative
clerkships, will prostitute their pens by
sending out such twaddle as that which
recently ^emanated from the pen of the
Tinies correspondent The truth is
that in all the Departments at Washing
ton there are not exceeding one hundred
and twenty-five colored clerks drawing
salaries of $1,200 and upwards while
there are dozens of competent colored
persons who are kept on the
laborers’ rolls, who possess the
ability and are made to perform
clerical duty. But the vast ma
jority of the colored employes perform
menial labor, such as the Washington
“white trash” disdain to perform, and
they are continually being told that
they ought to be thankful for what
they get. With the exception of Pub
lic Printer Rounds, who deals by the
colored people with the greatest spirit
of fairness and equity, there is not a
Department in this city which does not
treat them with a degree of unfairness
which would not have been tolerated
bv the master of a first class Southern
plantation in ante bellum days.
But the evil does not stop with sim
ply assigning the colored people to do
the drudge work of the Departments.
After office hours they are expected to
hitch the team, and drive out the wives
and daughters of the heads of bureaus;
clean the boots and shoes of the
“bosses’ ” children; go to market, play
with the children, etc. Indeed I know
of numerous cases where . families
have their washing done by scrub
women, who are paid the pitiful
sum of fifteen dollars per month by the
Government. After working hard for
the Government these poor women
have to go and wash the clothes, scour
out dining-rooms and perform other
drudge work for households in consid
eration fortheir holding positions worth
fifteen dollars per month If the New
York Times correspondent desires to he
can furnish his paper with a full list of
all colored employes, giving the names
and the amount o*f salary each receives.
If he will do that the public will see
how hypocritical have been the profes
sions of those who are continually
prating about the consideration that is
shown colored fellow-citizens by Mr.
Arth’w’s administration.
There are two conspicuous cases
which have recently come to my notice.
One is a young colored man who is a
fine stenographer. He is kept running
the elevator, but when the stenographer
of the chief of one of the bureaus in the
Treasury is away on leave of absence
this young man is called away from his
elevator and required to do short
hand writing, which he satis
factorily performs without addi
tional compensation. The other case is
that of a young colored Tennesseean,
who is fully competent to perform
clerical duty,' and is so employed, but
is allowed only the pay of a messenger.
Time and again he has been promised
an increase of pay corresponding with
his official duties, but invariably he has
been deceived, but he still goes on per
forming a class of work for which
other men have been paid $1,200 per
annum. There are dozens of such
cases, the wrongs of which will never
be righted for the simple reason that
the victims are Negroes, who have no
rights which this administration is
bound to respect. And yet lying cor
respondents are hired to sc id specials
claiming that colored men are getting
more than their dues. 4
The height of Garfield’s ambition
was to appoint Fred Douglass and Bruce
to pretty prominent positions, and then
point to them as specimens of what he
had done for the race. Even Wade
Hampton has done quite as much, com
paratively speaking, for- colored peo
ple; for wherever he could find a
colored Democrat who had sold
out the Republican party in his
State, he brought him on to
Washington and made Arthur’s Cabi
net give him a good position. There is
not a rebel brigadier in Congress who
has not had places given to colored
Democrats from their States, whidh ap
pointments were secured in spite of the
protests of leading Republicans.
Whenever the. list of colored office
holders at Washington is published it
will be found that at least fifty per
cent, of them were appointed by the
“brigadier” influence in payment for
their treachery at the polls to the Re
publican party. Let me state here that
I have no tolerance for colored men
who in past elections betrayed their
party. Tinies have changed and what
may*be regarded as a virtue in the fu
ture must be reprobated in the past,
especially when it is remembered that
such recreancy was designed to elevate
and advance such notorious characters
as Hamburg Butler, Vest, of Missouri,
and other brigadiers, whose presence in
Washington » a disgrace to the Na
tion.
But I tire of recounting the sickening
details of the injustice being shown our
race here, and the treatment which
Arthur accorded Mr. Pledger, of Geor
gia, and Mr. Young, of Tennessee, is
but typical of that which is being ac
corded to all Negroes. Take the case
of Col. James Deveaux, of Georgia. A
gentleman of fine attainments and a
member of the National Committee,
one would suppose that he would be
consulted, but because he is a Negro
he is not accorded even decent treat
ment, and is never consulted upon af
fairs in his State. Then there is Rev.
W. J. White, of Augusta, Ga., who was
recently snubbed by Arthur merely be
cause he wanted the Marshal’s office of
ms State filled by a good Republican.
Then we have the case of the admirable
ex-Congressman Lynch, who has been
made to step down and the preference
shown to his opponent. Fort Pillow
Chalmers, whose very name is a dis
grace to American civilization. Where
ever the English language is spoken,
the name and infamy of Chalmers will
be known and reprobated, yet he is the
boon companion of the editors of the
organ of Mr. Arthur, the Washington
Republican, and he is on intimate terms
with Arthur and his entire Cabinet. —
N. Y. Globe.
Slavery iu Georgia.
There is a lively fight just now be
tween the Marietta and North Georgia
Railroad and the lessees of the Negro
convicts who are employed in building
that road. Only 158 of these convicts
are now at work, and the company
want more. Of course they will get
them. The peculiar system by which
works are carried on in Georgia at a
minimum cost is familiar to most of
our readers, though no one but an eye
witness can appreciate its atrocities.
Slave labor being done away with and
the Negroes setting a price on their
work.Georgiaand other Southern States
have solved the problem by turning con
victs out to build railways and bridges.
Petty larceny is unfortunately a popular
offense among the freedmen, and the
punishment for it is heavy as to time.
This being the case, the State has an
unlimited number of workmen to draw
upon for her public works, who are
paid nothing but their victuals and
clothes. The less that these cost the
better for the contractors. Hence the
convicts are, as a matter of policy, half
clothed and fed. In old slavery times
it was to the commercial interest of the
master to protect the life and health of
his slaves. But now nobody has an in
terest, financial or otherwise, in the Ne
gro. The more work that can be got
out of him during the time of sentence
the better both for the State and lessee.
Hence the wretched creature is actual
ly a slave, as much in 1888 as in 1860,
only that he is worked by the State in
stead of an individual, and is watched by
armed soldiers instead of overseers.
Gangs of convicts may be seen at work on
many Southern roads, guarded by men
no less brutal than themselves, who
shoot them down on the first effort to
escape. At night they are usually
boxed up in a windowless prison car
which for foulness or lack of ventilation
equals the Black Hole of Calcutta. A
recent report of a Southern clergymen
of the work of his church among the
Negroes states as a mere matter of
fact that “about one-half” of the con
victs sent out to the public works “die
from exposure, lack of food, clothing,
etc.” . . „
Even the conscience of the Georgian
public rebelled lately at this state of
things, and a committee was appointed
bv the Legislature to examine into the
alleged abuses. Of course the abuses
disappeared on approach of the com
mittee. Hence the present recommend
ation to increase the working force,
and the consequent row between the
State and the company. —N. Y. Tribune.
The sewing circle will meet at Mrs.
J. A. Nelson's next week.
CLEVELAND, OHIO, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1883.
OCR WASHINGTON LETTER.
The Bethel Literary Society—The A. M.
E. rhnrch—Education—Meeting* Be
ing Held to secure Suffraxe for the
District—National Convention of Con
gregationalfato—Bishop J. M. Brown
Nerlonely Ill—A Marriage—Mlsa Lulu
Cook, Formerly a Resident of the For
est City, Promoted.
Washington, D. C., Oct. 9.
Last Tuesday evening Tutor George
W. Cook, of Howard University,
openeil the exercises of the Bethel Lit
erary Society with a review of the work
of the ]• association for the past year.
Some years ago this society was or
ganized by Bishop Payne, and is one
of a series of societies established in
different cities under the auspices of
the A. M. E. Church. There was a
real demand for an organization of
this character that would admit to its
membership all persons of ability and
sound morals. This society was in
tended for the people, and meets the
purpose of its creation. The order of
exercises is first the reading of a paper
by a member, or by some one not a
member, designated by the committee
having the matter in charge. Then
follows a general discussion, participa
ted in by such persons in the audience
as care to speak. This evening Dr.
Alexander Crummell will read a pa
per entitled “The Black Woman in the
South.” It is expected that the address
will be an able and instructive
one, as Dr. Crummell is a man of pro
found learning and wide observation.
The African Methodist Episcopal
Church itself has demonstrated the
fact that colored people are capable of
maintaining organizations conducted on
a large scale. Many enterprises and
institutions of much promise started by
colored men have failed—failed because
their promoters suffered themselves
through a spirit of jealousy to
be divided. Failed because of
the lack of confidence by men
of the same race. Failed because
those intrusted with their man
agement pro ved incompetent and un
trustworthy. But this church organiza
tion stands out conspicuously as the
only one existing for any long period of
time that has been organized, main
tained and conducted exclusively by
colored men. We are not here referring
to the rich spiritual blessings that have
from time to time attended the church,
though volumes might be compiled re
{flete with such gifts. No, our purpose
s now to direct attention (we would
not speak irreverently) to the outside
machinery', the external representa
tives of the church. For proof of what
we assert we have only to point to the
fact that the A. _M. E. organization
through all its vicissitudes, through
periods of barrenness and through peri
ods of fruitfulness, stands to-day in
tact, perfect. The best evidence of
success is success.
No little interest is being manifested
by educators and philanthropists in the
ediu Mion of young girls. It is doubt
less true that heretofore more attention
has been paid in the schools to the
training of boys than of girls. The
few colleges and high schools estab
lished in the South for the education of
colored youths are not adequate to
meet the demand for higher education.
Often young men tlirough the aid fur
nished by kind friends have completed
their studies in the best schools of the
North. Students in many instances
during the long vacation have found
employment as waiters and bell boys in
the hotels of leading summer resorts,
and thus have been enabled to partially
pay their way through college. Most
of the waiters in the hotels of the White
Mountains in the vacation season are
students from Harvard and Amherst
colleges. Girls do not always have
such opportunities; moreover, parents
prefer to send the boys abroad and
keep the girls at home. An unreasonable
prejudice exists against the employ
ment of women in certain kinds of
business. We can remember when it
was considered an improper thing for a
young lady to enter a store as a clerk.
Now it is freely admitted that in many
cases she makes a better clerk than the
young man. A sophomore in Howard
University tells us that in Maplewood
Hotel, in Bethlehem, New Hampshire,
where he was employed as a bell boy
during the summer, the help in the
Mining-room was made up entirely of
white girls, fifty-five in number. These
young women from October to June
were employed as school teachers in
New Hampshire, and the remainder of
the year as waitresses. Colored young
ladies have not even these opportuni
ties of earning means to assist in de
fraying their expenses at school. We
have heard it said that colored people
contribute very little toward the sup
port of young persons needing help in
our academies and institutions. We
would like to see this statement contro
verted by facts. Are there not persons
in Cleveland who would assist deserv
ing young women in securing their ed
ucation? Will not some society or
Sunday-school help at least one girl?
In years gone by the Freedman’s Aid
and Educational Societies of Cleveland
did a good work in ’ supplying teachers
for the South. We are not to educate
the boys at the expense of the girls, for
in after years thesejboys and girls must
become companions for life. The wife,
in point of education as in other re
spects, should be a suitable companion
for the’husband. It should be remem
bered that the mother exercises more in
fluence in molding the character and
thus shaping the destiny of the child
than the father, and that she should be
properly fitted by education for the re
sponsible position nature and society
require she should assume.
On Saturday evening an informal
conference was held in Association
Hall by a number of Republicans and
Democrats interested in securing suf
frage for the District. One of the gen
tlemen present. Mr. Clagett, the son of
one of Washington's -wealthy citizens,
ir^his remarks said that he had come
to nis majority after the, people were
deprived of the privilege of voting,
consequently he had never exercised
that privilege. He wantetl to vote.
His father was a Democrat anti he had
been reared in the political school of
his father, but he would prefer the rule
of a Republican, a colored man, or a
man of any party elected by the people
than to hive the present system of
government continued. The confer
ence adwirned to meet next week,
when it is expected there will be a
a large attendance.
Rev. William A. Sinclair, in charge
of the Congregational Church at Nash
ville, Teun., has just paid us a visit.
He is on Bus way to atteml the National
Council of Congregationalists, which
will assemble in Concord. New Hamp
shire, on Thursday next. This will be
an important meeting. Many ques
tions of interest will be considered,
among them is the subject of the creed.
As is well known to members of this
denomination, each Congregational
Church has its own form of creed. It
would seem desirable that a form be
agreed upon for all the churches in the
connection.
The many friends of Bishop J. M.
Brown, of the A. M. E. Church, will re
fret to Jearn that he lies very low at
is residence in this city. The mem
bers of his family are alarmed at his
condition.
Wednesday, October 8, Mr. Andrew J.
Jones, of Philadelphia, and Miss Ada
Bozemon, of Washington, will be
united in the bonds of matrimony. It
is expected the wedding will be a most
brilliant djffair.
Miss Lulu Cook, teacher in the public
schools, has been promoted from a first
to a third grade school.
Capital.
MUSIC AND DRAMA.
Miss Henrietta Vinton Davis, of
Washington, the colored tragedienne,
was in Cincinnati last week.
While in Cincinnati last week we had
the pleasure of meeting Charles Hawk
ins, Cincinnati’s popular pianist. We
also had the pleasure of hearing him
play, and while at the Exposition heard
Walter.fjqersou, the great cornet solo
ist.
PARK THEATER.
The date of the opening of the Park
Theater is now definitely announced as
October 22. No postponement is pos
sible, because all the contracts are
made with reference to that date.- The
first attraction, as we have already an
nounced, is Mlle. Rhea, who, as Lady
Teazle in “The School for Scandal”
will start the house on what promises
to be a prosperous career. She will be
followed in the second week by the C.
D. Hes-j Acme Opera Company, with
“Fra Diavolo,” “Martha,” “Chimes”
“Bohemian Girl,” “Maritana” and
“Faust” in their repertoire, probably
opening in “Fra Diavolo.” Following
the opera company will come “The
Princess Ch^ek," by the Comley Com
edy Company, for which Manager
Hartz promises two of the most beauti
ful scenes ever seen on the local stage.
The time for opening the box office for
the sale of seats will be announced in a
few days.
People who kick because a prima
donna like Patti receives five thousand
dollars a night should reflect that it is
only one singer in ten thousand that
ever becomes talented enough to re
ceive two hundred dollars a week. The
voice of Patti is like one diamond
among a million grool stones. They
come high but the people must have
them at any price.— Peck's Sun.
Here is a warning for the author of
“Sweet Violets” and “Only a Pansy
Blossom.” The author of “See That
My Grave’s Kept Green” is an inmate
of the Indiana Penitentiary. Con
tagious disease calls for heroic treat
ment. That the aforesaid songs should
be classed contagious diseases there is
no question—everybody has caught ’em
to a greater or less severity.
The latest refrain of the Salvation
Army according to the Chicago Herald:
“If you can’t get in at the Golden
gate, get over the garden wall.” Those
who have witnessed the performances
of this peculiar people have had an
idea they would find a way to get in.
Please Copy.
Geneva, Ashtabula County.
Editor of the Gazette:
I wish to give your many readers a
•ttle sketch of my line. In 1865 or ’66
I was separated from my mother, fa
ther, sisters and brother in Cincinnati,
and although I have made nearly all
inquiries possible, have not been able
to find any of them as yet. Father’s
name is Melvin Sutherland; mother’s,
Milly Sutherland; sisters’, Anna Suth
erland, Amanda Jane Sutherland, Lucy
Frances Sutherland; youngest sister,
Roda Anliucon Sutherland, and niy
only brother. Elick Franklin Suther
land. Any information gladly received.
Address Caroline Sutherland, Box 237,
Geneva, O.
Attention! Waiters, Barbers aa< Bar
keepers.
It’s where you get a square deal and the
best assortment at lowest prices. Jackets,
coats and white vests, suitable for your
business, are to be had at STEINFELD’S
the old reliable CLOTHIER, TAILOR and
FURNISHER, 242 and 244 Superior Street.
Mr. L. W. Wallace went to Phila
delphia last Tuesday, and will be ab
sent until to-day. He left a vote for
Hoadly and Blee before he left, we pre
sum*.
Written tor thk Ga/iette.
HISTOIRE DES H^IOS D’AFRIQUK.
Daus L’lle de Ste. Domingo.
BY PAUL GASTON.
No I.—Toussaint L’Ouverture.
The Island of Ste. Domingo at the
commencement of the French Revolu
tion of 1789 contained 900,000 in
habitants, of which 700,000 were Afri
cans, 60,000 Creoles, and the remainder
whites, or Carribeans.
Slavery in that beautiful and fertile
island, as in all places where it exists,
or has existed, reduced morality to its
lowest strata and resulted in the estab
lishment of promiscuous amalgama
tion between master and slave, and as a
consequence the production of a mulatto
population, which eventually became
the implacable enemies of their fath
ers.
Many of the French planters sent
their colored sons to France to be edu
cated, where of course they, in com
mon with their fellow-students, enjoyed
the unrestrained social privileges ac
corded by that generous people to
merit and respectability regardless of
merely adventitious surroundings or
circumstances.
Completing their education and re
turning to the homes of their childhood,
they were, as a class, both surprised
and incensed to find themselves objects
of proscription wherever they appeared.
White enough to render them hopeful
and aspiring, wealthy enough to make
them influential, and sufficiently intelli
gent to appreciate the personal rights to
which they were, both by natural en
dowments added to a superior educa
tion entitled, but of whose enjoyment
they were as a class denied, they be
came exasperated and embittered
against the unnatural authors of their
being, whom they openly charged with
being the cause of their unenviable ex
istence, and then, regardless of every
parental obligation, reducing them to
virtual outlawry and proscription, and
all this because of the hue themselves
had bestowed upon them.
“Had our fathers,” said they, “at
once have reduced us to slavery, we, in
common with our fellows, might have
become callous to these cruel wrongs,
but first to train and-educate us as
their successors and then to wantonly
crush us, is a compounding of insult
and injury too poignant for human en
durance.”
Armed with these sentiments and a de
termination to seize and improve every
opportunity to elevate and improve
their social and political position, they
organized themselves into leagues and
bands, the better to pursue aniTexeeute
their objects.
In the Trench portion of the island
there (then) lived 20.000 whites in the
midst of 30.000 creoles and 500,000
slaves. In the Spanish portion the
odds were still greater in favor of the
oppressed. The principle of “Right”
is the most potent weapon Omnipo
tence has entrusted to the choice of his
creatures. Woe to him who places this
invincible engine in the hands of an en
emv!
The efforts of Wilberforce, Clarkson
and their colleagues to abolish the
slave-trade, and their advocacy of equal
rights to all men, were well understood
by the intelligent slaves on the island.
They had also learned something of
their own numbers and strength, and
well knew that the sympathies of Eu
rope were on their side.
The news of the oath of Tenniscourt
and the fall of the Bastile at Paris was
received by them with wild enthusiasm
and was participated in by both whites
and mulattoes. By the whites in the
hope that a revolution in France would
secure to them colonial independence,
while the Creoles viewed it as a move
ment favorable to the establishment of
those equal rights they so earnestly de
sired.
But the excitement consequent on
the outbreak at Paris convinced the
more remote white planters tlmt sepa
ration from France would sSmd the
death-knell of colonial slavery, while
emancipation by law from individual
dominion could not confer on the Cre
oles those equal rights they so ardently
wished and contended for; hence, these
men, finding themselves shut out from
society by their color, deprived of re
ligious and political privileges, and re
duced to a mere target for the con
tempt and derision of their progenitors,
their intellectual attainments only
served to render their sense of degrada
tion more acute, mote pregnant.
In fact the mulatto son was not ad
mitted to his father’s table; not per
mitted to kneel with him at the devo
tional altar, to bear his name, inherit
his property, or even to occupy an ad
joining grave. In a word, he occupied
merely an anamolous position, below
the whites, above the blacks, he be
came a target for the envenomed shafts
of both.
Laboring under a keen sense of these
personal wrongs, they lost no oppor
tunity to stir up and encourage the
most vindictive passions that might
serve them on the first favorable oppor
tunity.
Such was the state of feeling and
events when the news of the fall'of the
Bastile arrived in the Island of Ste.
Domingo.
[to be continued.]
B 7 Cents Given to Lnrtte*.
This week, Saturday, will be the last
day that we shall sell those excellent
pebble goat button, value $2, for only
$1.43. We have sold 1,950 pairs. For
durability they equal any high-priced
shoe ever made. Ladies, be wise. There
•is only one place to get them and that
is at the “POPULAR" Shoe Store, 62
PUBLIC SQUARE^
PRICE FIVE CENTS.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Opinions of the Pre«» on the National
Convention* Hon. Frederick Douglas*
and his Speech. Ac. ;
Hon. George V. Williams, the histor-.
ian, is at present taxing his fertile
brain and facile pen on the production
of a work on Reconstruction. It wilf
be awaited with interest.
Mr. Walker, the colored lawyer ap
pointed by Governor Butler to the!
bench of the Charlestown city court, is (
a Roman Catholic, belongs to the choir
of St. Vincent Church and has a white
wife.— Plaindealer.
Mr. Peter H. Clark has broken trom ( '
cover and is now openlradvocating the.
support of the Democratic ticket. We'
learn from Democratic contemporaries
that on Monday evening Mr. Clark J
made a “telling address, and “dwelt
upon the elaims of Judge Hoadly upon. l
the colored people.”— Patriot. (
John L. Sullivan seems to be the
only man left in Massachusetts to down
Benjamin F. Butler. Benjamin has
got the bulge on John even if a match'
is arranged, as John would not be able
to tell where Benjamin was intending j
to strike, as his eyes look one way and]
he strikes another. It would hardly
be a fair contest after all.
“When a watermelon vine runs into
another man’s land, who is the owner;
of the watermelon?” is the question
which a colored debating club of Sul
phur Springs, Texas, is wrestling with.
It is a most important question, and 1
the result of the debate will be anxious
ly waited for, as it’s very likely the
man who made his neighbor's vine run
onto his own land wlllrise up in an un
guarded moment and give himself
away.
This explains it: The Chicago Times
says that “wheneve. that melliflous!
word ‘harmony’ is mentioned in a party,
convention, it is fun to see the states
men scamper under the tables or pick
up chairs to crack each other’s heads
with.” Come to think of it, and look
over the records of conventions, where
considered very harmonious, there is’
more truth than poetry in the explana
tion of thecause of the warlike attitude
of the disgruntled members, who are
generally nursing a sore head. The
chair of “harmony” has struck a ten
der spot. “Harmony” is the red rag
that enrages the convention bulls. j
The address of the venerable Fred.
Douglass before the colored co nvention
at Louisville was a masterly and states
manlike effort. It was scholarly and*
thoughtful, earnest and eloquent,l
stamping him among the closest and
most philosophical students of economic;
sciences, and one of the first of living,
orators. It is easy to read between the
lines that his utterances were not at alt*
times as broad as his thought. He was
speaking to a race not yet intelligent
enough to cast the scales of prejudice
from their eyes and grapple with'
present issues from the standing point
of self-interest. He only dared to hint at
what his judgment approves as the only!
plan through which the colored race will 1
ever be able to compel the impartial en- 1 ,
forcement of the laws. He could only
venture to say that the Republican
party, or any other party, was power
less to execute with equal justice laws
that public opinion was not ready to
enforce. It was plain that it is his firm
conviction that the colored people can
not hope for perfect political equality
until by a division of their votes they,
make it the interest of both political
organizations to enforce the laws and
fully recognize the political equality of
the colored race, as has been done by
both parties in respect of other races.
— News Journal (Vern.).
The National Convention of colored
citizens, which assembled at Louisville
on Tuesday, was favored by having a
man so eminent for intellectual ability
as Frederick Douglass to set forth their
cause in his address on taking the chair.
In the use of language with propriety,
accuracy, conciseness, force and ele
gance, and in its high tone, this address
will rank with the speeches of Mr.
Gladstone, John Bright and the rest of
the best English orators of the time.
If in the United States any man has
better use of language and argument in
his public speeches, he should be known,
that the country may honor him. No
allowance need be made for race or
? devious condition in ascribing to Mr.
louglass intellectual eminence. The
objection which had been raised to the
holding of such a Convention, as setting
up the color line, and the suspicion of
its objects, were disposed• of by Mr.
Douglass by the statement of the exist
ing color line in the exceptional relation
in which the colored meople stand to
the whites; in their living among a peo
ple whose laws, traditions and preju
dices have been against them for cen
turies, which are not changed by written
enactments; in their practical exclusion
from all but the most undesirable em
ployments; in the color-line which
meets them in the mechanic arts, in
trade, in the professions, in college pro
fessorships, in the Government depart
ments, the courts, schools, churches,
public conveyances and hotels, and so
on, and even in the labor associations.
—Commercial Gazette, (Rep.)
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