The motion was agreed to.
April 24th, the Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, resumed the consideration of the bill to authorize the President of the United States to appoint diplomatic representatives to the Republics of Hayti and Liberia respectively. Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, moved to strike out all after the enacting clause, and insert:—
“That the President of the United States be, and hereby is, authorized, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint a consul to the Republic of Liberia, and a consul-general to the Republic of Hayti, respectively, with powers to negotiate treaties of amity, friendship, and commerce between the United States and those Republics.”
In the course of his remarks, Mr. Davis expressed himself as follows.
“Mr. President,—I am weary, sick, disgusted, despondent with the introduction of the subject of Slaves and Slavery into the Chamber; and if I had not happened to be a member of the committee from which this bill was reported, I should not have opened my mouth upon the subject.… I oppose the sending of ambassadors of any class from our Government to theirs upon this consideration: it would establish diplomatically terms of mutual and equal reciprocity between the two countries and us. If, after such a measure should take effect, the Republic of Hayti and the Republic of Liberia were to send their ministers plenipotentiary or their chargés d’affaires to our Government, they would have to be received by the President, and by all the functionaries of the Government, upon the same terms of equality with similar representatives from other powers. If a full-blooded negro were sent in that capacity from either of those countries, by the Laws of Nations he could demand that he be received precisely on the same terms of equality with the white representatives from the powers of the earth composed of white people. When the President opened his saloons to the reception of the diplomatic corps, when he gave his entertainments to such diplomats, the representatives, of whatever color, from those countries, would have the right to demand admission upon terms of equality with all other diplomats; and if they had families consisting of negro wives and negro daughters, they would have the right to ask that their families also be invited to such occasions, and that they go there and mingle with the whites of our own country and of other countries that happened to be present. We recollect that a few years ago the refined French court admitted and received the representative of Soulouque, who then denominated himself, or was called, the Emperor of Dominica, I think.”
Mr. Sumner. “Of Hayti.”
Mr. Davis. “Well, a great big negro fellow, dressed out with his silver or gold lace clothes in the most fantastic and gaudy style, presented himself in the court of Louis Napoleon, and, I admit, was received. Now, Sir, I want no such exhibition as that in our capital and in our Government. The American minister, Mr. Mason, was present on that occasion, and he was sleeved by some Englishman—I have forgotten his name—who was present, who pointed him to the ambassador of Soulouque, and said, ‘What do you think of him?’ Mr. Mason turned round and said, ‘I think, clothes and all, he is worth a thousand dollars.’ [Laughter.]
…
“Mr. President, I regret to have felt myself forced to speak the words upon this subject I have. I do begin to nauseate the subject of Slaves and Slavery in debate in this Chamber; and it was only because this measure has been perseveringly and uniformly opposed from the Slave States heretofore, and I know is distasteful, to a very considerable extent, to the people of those States, and because the measure, in the form in which it has been reported, would have the effect, in my opinion, to increase this feeling, that I have thought it incumbent on me to say a word.”
Mr. Sumner. Mr. President, the Senate will bear me witness, that, in presenting this important question yesterday, I made no allusion to the character of the population in the two Republics. I made no appeal on account of color. I did not allude to the unhappy circumstance in their history, that they had once been slaves. It is the Senator from Kentucky who introduces this topic. And not only this, Sir, he follows it by alluding to some possible difficulties—I hardly know how to characterize them—which may occur in social life, should the Congress of the United States undertake at this late day, simply in harmony with the Law of Nations, and following the policy of civilized communities, to pass this bill. I shall not follow the Senator on those sensitive topics. I content myself with a single remark. More than once I have had the opportunity of meeting citizens of these Republics, and I say nothing beyond the truth when I add that I have found them so refined and so full of self-respect as to satisfy me that no one of them charged with a mission from his Government can seek any society where he will be not entirely welcome. Sir, the Senator from Kentucky may banish all personal anxiety. No representative from Hayti or Liberia will trouble him.