CHAPTER XXIII.

HENRY HIGHLAND GARNET, D.D.

The career of this man, who died at Monrovia, Liberia, Feb. 14, 1882, where he was the Minister of the United States, was extraordinary. Grandson of a native African, brought over in a slave-trader, himself born a slave, he was brought to Pennsylvania by his father, when he fled from slavery in 1824. Next we find him, at the age of seventeen, ridiculed for studying Greek and Latin; then mobbed in a New Hampshire seminary; then dragged from a street car in Utica; then studying theology with Dr. Beman in Troy, N. Y. Soon he was settled as a minister; afterward he travelled in Great Britain and on the Continent of Europe, and was sent by a Scottish Society as Presbyterian missionary to Jamaica, West Indies. He returned to New York, and was long the pastor of the Shiloh Presbyterian Church; his house escaping the riots in 1863 "by the foresight of his daughter, who wrenched off the door plate." He was the first Colored man who ever spoke in public in the Capitol at Washington, having preached there Sunday, Feb. 12, 1865. In 1881 he was appointed Minister to Liberia. Dr. Garnet was equal in ability to Frederick Douglass, and greatly his superior in learning, especially excelling in logic and terse statement. We heard him make a speech in 1865, which in force of reasoning, purity of language, and propriety of utterance, was not unworthy of comparison with a sermon of Bishop Thomson, or an address of George William Curtis. As he was "a full-blooded Negro," he was a standing and unanswerable proof that the race is capable of all that has distinguished MAN. How much of history and progress could be crowded in a memorial inscription for him! It might be something like this: Born a slave in the country to which his grandfather was stolen away, he competed, under the greatest disadvantages, with white men for the prizes of life; attaining the highest intellectual culture, and a corresponding moral elevation, his career commanded universal respect in Europe and America, wherever he was known. He died the Minister of the United States to a civilized nation in the land whence his barbaric ancestors were stolen. To God, who "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation" (Acts xvii: 26), be the glory. "How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!"

EBENEZER D. BASSETT.

One of the ablest diplomats the Negro race has produced is the Honorable Ebenezer D. Bassett, for nearly nine years the Resident Minister and Consul-General from the United States to Hayti. He was born and educated in the State of Connecticut, and for many years was the successful Principal of the Institute for Colored Youth at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a classical scholar and for proficiency in the use of modern languages he has few equals among his race.

Returning to this country, after years of honorable service abroad, he was promoted by the Haytian Government to the position of Consul at New York City, and at present is serving the Republic of Hayti. As an evidence of the high esteem in which he was held as an officer the following documents attest:

(COPY.)

Department of State, }
Washington, October 5, 1877. }

Ebenezer D. Bassett, Esquire, etc., etc., etc.

Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 529, of the 23d August last, tendering your resignation of the office of Minister Resident and Consul-General of the United States to Hayti, and to inform you that it is accepted.

I cannot allow this opportunity to pass without expressing to you the appreciation of the Department of the very satisfactory manner in which you have discharged the duties of the mission at Port au Prince during your term of office. This commendation of your services is the more especially merited, because at various times your duties have been of such a delicate nature as to have required the exercise of much tact and discretion.

I enclose herewith a letter addressed by the President of the United States to the President of Hayti, announcing your retirement from the mission at Port au Prince, together with an office copy of the same. You will transmit the latter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and make arrangements for the delivery of the original to the President when your successor shall present his credentials.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

(Signed.) F. W. SEWARD, Acting Secretary.

(TRANSLATION.)

Boisrond Canal, President of the Republic of Hayti,

To His Excellency the President of the United States of America.

Great and Good Friend: Mr. Ebenezer D. Bassett, who has resided here in the capacity of Minister of the United States, has placed in my hands the letter by which your Excellency has brought his mission to an end.

In taking leave of me in conformity with the wishes of your Excellency, he has renewed the assurance of the friendly sentiments which so happily exist on the part of the Government and the people of the United States toward the Government and the people of the Republic of Hayti.

I have not failed to request him to transmit to your Excellency, the expression of my great desire to maintain always the relations of the two Countries upon the footing of that cordial understanding.

It is for me a pleasing duty to acknowledge fully to your Excellency, the zeal and the intelligence with which Mr. Bassett has fulfilled here the high and delicate functions that had been entrusted to him.

I have, therefore, been happy to be able to testify to him publicly before his departure, in the name of my fellow-citizens, the esteem and sincere affection which his talents, his character, his private and public conduct have won for him, as well as the particular sentiments of friendship and gratitude I personally entertain for him.

I pray God that He may have your Excellency always in His Holy keeping.

Given at the National Palace of Port au Prince, the 29th day of November, 1877.

Your Good Friend,

(Signed) BOISROND CANAL.

Countersigned.
(Signed.) F. Carrie, Secretary of State.

COLORED SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN.

UNITED STATES SENATORS.

Hiram R. Revels, United States Senator from Mississippi, was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, September 1, 1822; desiring to obtain an education, which was denied in his native State to those of African descent, he removed to Indiana; spent some time at the Quaker Seminary in Union County; entered the Methodist ministry; afterward received further instructions at the Clarke County Seminary, when he became preacher, teacher, and lecturer among his people in the States of Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri; at the breaking out of the war, he was ministering at Baltimore; he assisted in the organization of the first two Colored regiments in Maryland and Missouri; during a portion of 1863 and 1864 he taught school in St. Louis, then went to Vicksburg, and assisted the provost marshal in managing the freedmen affairs; followed on the heels of the army to Jackson; organized churches, and lectured; spent the next two years in Kansas and Missouri in preaching and lecturing on moral and religious subjects; returned to Mississippi, and settled at Natchez; was chosen presiding elder of the Methodist Church, and a member of the city council; was elected a United States Senator from Mississippi as a Republican, serving from February 25, 1870, to March 3, 1871; was pastor of a Methodist Episcopal church at Holly Springs, Mississippi; removed to Indiana, where he was pastor of the African Methodist Episcopal Church at Richmond.

Blanche K. Bruce, United States Senator from Mississippi, was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, March 1, 1841; as his parents were slaves, he received a limited education; became a planter in Mississippi in 1869; was a member of the Mississippi Levee Board, and sheriff and tax-collector of Bolivar County from 1872 until his election to the United States Senate from Mississippi, February 3, 1875, as a Republican, to succeed Henry R. Pease, Republican, and took his seat March 4, 1875. His term of service expired March 3, 1881.

UNITED STATES CONGRESSMEN.

Richard H. Cain was born in Greenbrier County, Virginia, April 12, 1825. His father removed to Ohio in 1831, and settled in Gallipolis. He had no education, except such as was afforded in Sabbath-school, until after his marriage; entered the ministry at an early age; became a student at Wilberforce University at Xenia, Ohio, in 1860, and remained there for one year; removed, at the breaking out of the war, to Brooklyn, New York, where he was a pastor for four years; was sent by his Church as a missionary to the freedmen in South Carolina; was chosen a member of the Constitutional Convention of South Carolina; was elected a member of the State Senate from Charleston, and served two years; took charge of a republican newspaper in 1868; was elected a representative from South Carolina in the Forty-third Congress as a Republican, receiving 66,825 votes against 26,394 for Lewis E. Johnson, and was again elected to the Forty-fifth Congress as a Republican, receiving 21,385 votes against 16,074 votes for M. P. O'Connor, Democrat.

Robert C. De Large was born at Aiken, South Carolina, March 15, 1842; received such an education as was then attainable; was a farmer; was an agent of the Freedmen's Bureau from May, 1867, to April, 1868, when he was elected a member of the State Constitutional Convention; was a member of the House of Representatives of the State Legislature in 1868, 1869, and 1870; was one of the State Commissioners of the Sinking Fund; was elected in 1870 State Land Commissioner, and served until he was elected a representative from South Carolina in the Forty-second Congress as a Republican, receiving 16,686 votes, against 15,700 votes for C. C. Bowen, Independent Republican; was appointed a trial justice, which office he held when he died at Charlestown, South Carolina, February 15, 1874.

Robert Brown Elliott was born at Boston, Massachusetts, August 11, 1842; received his primary education at private schools; in 1853 entered High Holborn Academy in London, England; in 1855 entered Eton College, England, and graduated in 1859; studied law, and practises his profession; was a member of the State Constitutional Convention of South Carolina in 1868; was a member of the House of Representatives of South Carolina from July 6, 1868, to October 23, 1870; was appointed on the 25th of March, 1869, assistant adjutant-general, which position he held until he was elected a representative from South Carolina in the Forty-second Congress as a Republican, receiving 20,564 votes against 13,997 votes for J. E. Bacon, Democrat, serving from March 4, 1871, to 1873, when he resigned; and was re-elected to the Forty-third Congress as a Republican, receiving 21,627 votes against 1,094 votes for W. H. McCan, Democrat, serving from December 1, 1873, to May, 1874, when he resigned, having been elected sheriff.

Jere Haralson was born in Muscogee County, Georgia, April 1, 1846, the slave property of John Walker; after Walker's death, was sold on the auction-block in the city of Columbus, and bought by J. W. Thompson, after whose death he became the property of J. Haralson, of Selma, and so remained until emancipated in 1865; received no education until after he was free, when he instructed himself; was elected to the State House of Representatives of Alabama in 1870; was elected to the State Senate of Alabama in 1872; was elected a representative from Alabama in the Forty-fourth Congress as a Republican, receiving 19,551 votes against 16,953 votes for F. G. Bromberg, Democrat, serving from December 6, 1875, to March 3, 1877; was defeated by the Republican candidate for the Forty-fifth Congress, receiving 8,675 votes against 9,685 votes for Charles L. Shelley, Democrat, and 7,236 votes for James T. Rapier, Republican.

John R. Lynch was born in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, September 10, 1847, a slave; and he remained in slavery until emancipated by the results of the Rebellion, receiving no early education; a purchaser of his mother carried her with her children to Natchez, where, when the Union troops took possession, he attended evening school for a few months, and he has since by private study acquired a good English education; he engaged in the business of photography at Natchez until 1869, when Governor Ames appointed him a justice of the peace; he was elected a member of the State Legislature from Adams County, and re-elected in 1871, serving the last term as Speaker of the House; was elected a representative from Mississippi in the Forty-third Congress as a Republican, receiving 15,391 votes against 8,430 votes for H. Cassidy, Sr., Democrat; and was re-elected to the Forty-fourth Congress as a Republican (defeating Roderick Seals, Democrat), serving from December 1, 1873, to March 3, 1877.

Charles E. Nash was born at Opelousas, Louisiana; received a common-school education at New Orleans; was a bricklayer by trade; enlisted as private in the Eighty-third Regiment, United States Chasseurs d'Afrique, April 20, 1863, and was promoted until he became acting sergeant-major of the regiment; lost a leg at the storming of Fort Blakely, and was honorably discharged from the army May 30, 1865; was elected a representative from Louisiana in the Forty-fourth Congress as a Republican, receiving 13,156 votes against 12,085 votes for Joseph M. Moore, Democrat, serving from December 6, 1875, to March 3, 1877; was defeated as the Republican candidate for the Forty-fifth Congress, receiving 11,147 votes against 15,520 votes for Edward White Robertson, Democrat.

Joseph H. Rainey was born at Georgetown, South Carolina (where both of his parents were slaves, but, by their industry, obtained their freedom), June 21, 1832; although debarred by law from attending school he acquired a good education, and further improved his mind by observation and travel; his father was a barber, and he followed that occupation at Charlestown till 1862, when, having been forced to work on the fortifications of the Confederates, he escaped to the West Indies, where he remained until the close of the war, when he returned to his native town; he was elected a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention of 1868, and was a member of the State Senate of South Carolina in 1870, resigning when elected a representative from South Carolina in the Forty-first Congress as a Republican (to fill the vacancy caused by the non-reception of B. F. Whittemore), by a majority of 17,193 votes over Dudley, Conservative; was re-elected to the Forty-second Congress, receiving 20,221 votes against 11,628 votes for C. W. Dudley, Democrat; was re-elected to the Forty-third Congress, receiving 19,765 votes, being all that were cast; was re-elected to the Forty-fourth Congress, receiving 14,370 votes against 13,563 votes for Samuel Lee, Republican; was re-elected to the Forty-fifth Congress, receiving 18,180 votes against 16,661 votes for J. S. Richardson, Democrat, serving from March 4, 1869.

Alonzo J. Ransier was born at Charlestown, South Carolina, in January, 1834; was self-educated; was employed as shipping-clerk in 1850 by a leading merchant, who was tried for violation of law in "hiring a Colored clerk," and fined one cent with costs; was one of the foremost in the works of reconstruction in 1865; was a member of a convention of the friends of equal rights in October, 1865, at Charlestown, and was deputed to present the memorial there framed to Congress; was elected a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1868; was elected a member of the House of Representatives in the State Legislature in 1869; was chosen chairman of the State Republican Central Committee, which position he held until 1872; was elected a presidential elector on the Grant and Colfax ticket in 1868; was elected lieutenant-governor of South Carolina in 1870 by a large majority; was president of the Southern States Convention at Columbia in 1871; was chosen a delegate to, and was a vice-president of, the Philadelphia Convention which nominated Grant and Wilson in 1872; and was elected a representative from South Carolina in the Forty-third Congress as a Republican, receiving 20,061 votes against 6,549 votes for W. Gurney, Independent Republican, serving from December 1, 1873, to March 3, 1875.

James T. Rapier was born in Florence, Alabama, in 1840; was educated in Canada; is a planter; was appointed a notary public by the governor of Alabama in 1866; was a member of the first Republican Convention held in Alabama, and was one of the committee that framed the platform of the party; represented Lauderdale County in the Constitutional Convention held at Montgomery in 1867; was nominated for secretary of State in 1870, but defeated with the rest of the ticket; was appointed assessor of internal revenue for the second collection-district of Alabama in 1871; was appointed State commissioner to the Vienna Exposition in. 1873 by the governor of Alabama; was elected a representative from Alabama in the Forty-third Congress as a Republican, receiving 19,100 votes against 16,000 votes for C. W. Oates, Democrat, serving from December 1, 1873, to March 3, 1875; and was defeated as the Republican candidate for the Forty-fourth Congress, receiving 19,124 votes against 20,180 votes for Jeremiah N. Williams, Democrat.

Robert Smalls was born at Beaufort, South Carolina, April 5, 1839; being a slave, was debarred by statute from attending school, but educated himself with such limited advantages as he could secure; removed to Charlestown in 1851; worked as a rigger, and led a seafaring life; became connected in 1861 with "The Planter," a steamer plying in Charlestown harbor as a transport, which he took over Charlestown Bar in May, 1862, and delivered her and his services to the commander of the United States blockading squadron; was appointed pilot in the United States navy, and served in that capacity on the monitor "Keokuk" in the attack on Fort Sumter; served as pilot in the quartermaster's department, and was promoted as captain for gallant and meritorious conduct December 1, 1863, and placed in command of "The Planter," serving until she was put out of commission in 1866; was elected a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1868; was elected a member of the State House of Representatives in 1868, and of the State Senate (to fill a vacancy) in 1870, and re-elected in 1872; and was elected a representative from South Carolina in the Forty-fourth Congress as a Republican, receiving 17,752 votes against 4,461 votes for J. P. M. Epping, Republican; and was re-elected to the Forty-fifth Congress, receiving 19,954 votes against 18,516 votes for G. D. Tillman, Democrat, serving from December, 6, 1875, to March 3, 1877; and is now a member.

Josiah T. Walls was born at Winchester, Virginia, December 30, 1842; received a common-school education; was a planter; was elected a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1868; was elected a member of the State House of Representatives in 1868; was elected to the State Senate 1869-1872; claimed to have been elected a representative from the State-at-large to the Forty-second Congress as a Republican, but the election was contested by his competitor, Silas L. Niblack, who took the seat January 29, 1873; was re-elected for the State-at-large, receiving 17,503 votes against 15,881 votes for Niblack, Democrat; and was re-elected to the Forty-fourth Congress, receiving 8,549 votes against 8,178 votes for Jesse J. Finley, Democrat.

Benj. Sterling Turner was born in Halifax County, North Carolina, March 17, 1825; was raised as a slave, and received no early education, because the laws of that State made it criminal to educate slaves; removed to Alabama in 1830, and, by clandestine study, obtained a fair education; became a dealer in general merchandise; was elected tax-collector of Dallas County in 1867, and councilman of the city of Selma in 1869; was elected a representative from Alabama in the Forty-second Congress as a Republican, receiving 18,226 votes against 13,466 votes for S. J. Cumming, Democrat, serving from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1873; was defeated as the Republican candidate for the Forty-third Congress, receiving 13,174 votes against 15,607 votes for F. G. Bromberg, Democrat and Liberal and 7,024 votes for P. Joseph, Republican.

Jefferson F. Long, Macon, Georgia. Took his seat Feb. 24, 1871.

BUREAU OFFICER.

Honorable Blanche K. Bruce, Register of the United States Treasury; appointed by President James A. Garfield, 1881.

NEGROES IN THE DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.

Hayti.—E. D. Bassett, Pennsylvania, 1869-77.

Hayti.—John M. Langston, District of Columbia, Minister Resident and Consul-General to Hayti, 1877.

Liberia.—J. Milton Turner, Missouri.

Liberia.—John H. Smyth, North Carolina. Reappointed in 1882.

Liberia.—Henry Highland Garnet, New York, Minister Resident and Consul-General to Liberia.

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNORS.

The following Colored men were Lieutenant-Governors during the years of reconstruction. At the head of them all for bravery, intelligence, and executive ability stands Governor Pinchback. One of the first men of his race to enter the army in 1862 as captain, when the conflict was over and his race free, he was the first Colored man in Louisiana to enter into the work of reconstruction. He has been and is a power in his State. He is true to his friends, but a terror to his enemies. A sketch of his life would read like a romance.

Louisiana.South Carolina.Mississippi.
Oscar J. Dunn,Alonzo J. Ransier,Alex. Davis.
P. B. S. Pinchback,Richard H. Gleaves,
C. C. Antoine.

INDEX.

Transcriber's Notes:

Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other inconsistencies. The transcriber made the following changes to the text to correct obvious errors:

1. p. vi, colonizeon -> colonize on
2. p. 11, juisdictional --> jurisdictional
3. p. 21, enitled --> entitled
4. p. 39, Genuis --> Genius
5. p. 42, spoilations --> spoliations
6. p. 59, Autobiograph of a Fugitive Negro" -->
"Autobiograph of a Fugitive Negro" (Add leading ")
7. p. 60, wierd --> weird
8. p. 75, docrines --> doctrines
9. p. 78, elightened --> enlightened
10. p. 113, warrrant --> warrant
11. p. 131, persecucution --> persecution
12. p. 149, acount --> account
13. p. 170, mangement --> management
14. p. 177, Pennyslvania --> Pennsylvania
15. p. 221, litttle --> little
16. p. 235, equlity --> equality
17. p. 269, Diving --> Divine
18. p. 314, sugggstion --> suggestion
19. p. 344, surpressing --> suppressing
20. p. 347, imperrilled --> imperilled
21. p. 356, Register" --> "Register" (Add leading ")
22. p. 358, 'Mercury --> 'Mercury' (Add ending ')
23. p. 412, Commisioners --> commissioners
24. p. 417, contary --> contrary
25. p. 420, withold --> withhold
26. p. 581, posession --> possession
27. p. 593, petititions --> petitions
28. p. 597, auxliary --> auxiliary
29. p. 601, Port Pillow --> Fort Pillow

Also, several occurrences of mismatched single and double quotes remain as published.