At this Congress had convened the most intellectual and distinguished representatives of all the nations of the civilized world.[3] To this, by virtue of his position and acknowledged scientific acquirements, he received a royal commission, and sat, during its session, an honored member. His remarkable presence would, of itself, have attracted the attention of the Continental members; but a movement was destined to render him more conspicuous.
The value of his position in that learned gathering was doubly enhanced and appreciated by him. It was a triumphant recognition of the progress of his race, as well as of the ability of the representative. His admission into that Congress was not based upon national credentials,—for they would have been refused to him,—but was supported by his individual claims as the proud representative of his ancestral land.
His sterling ability won for him the friendly interest of the great Lord Brougham, who, at the first meeting, called the attention of the American minister to him, which remark, being construed offensively, resulted in the withdrawal of the American delegates, at the head of which was Judge Longstreet of Georgia. Through them and their pro-slavery partisans north and south, Major Delany acquired a popularity distasteful with the American public, to whom the circumstance was known imperfectly, and then only in a prejudicial manner. So many comments were made by the press, all tending to produce the utmost unpleasantness between the two countries, that it seemed likely to have resulted in a more disagreeable misunderstanding, but was checked by the inevitable ridicule which attached to it.
When the news of the withdrawal of the American delegates first reached the public, it was through an official source—a letter from Judge Longstreet, the American representative to the Congress. It was given to the public through Hon. Howell Cobb, of Georgia, secretary of the treasury under the Buchanan administration. And as it was only through this medium, we propose to furnish the statement of the principal personage in the affair, decisive and trustworthy, and also to reproduce the letter of Judge Longstreet, which, in view of the position occupied by them both at this time, will be of additional interest.
Delany says,—
“This is a subject upon which I never desire to enter. Very seldom—I think not more than two or three times, and then only to my most intimate friends—have I ever related the circumstance, and always approached it with sensitive delicacy; because to attempt to speak about it without relating the whole, is to make it ridiculous, and leave on the mind of the auditor the impression that there must have been on the part of the distinguished lord a most absurd and abrupt intrusion upon the transactions and doings of that dignified body.
“And since Judge Longstreet withdrew from that body immediately after the organization, and before doing anything, going home, and having nothing to report but the cause of his delinquency or remissness, his official report to the secretary of the treasury necessarily being concerning me, therefore I am compelled to give the facts as to how it really transpired. And certainly no one of the most sensitive delicacy about matters of this kind will accuse me of dragging in extraneous matter. Indeed, it ceases to be a question of propriety, and turns entirely upon a question of right, as to whether or not I have the right of self-defence against an attack by a high official of the government? Or is it not the government which attacks me through its foreign representative and cabinet minister? The entire affair was contrary to my desire, and by no means flattering to me, as Judge Longstreet reported as officially follows.”
We give the following from the report of the secretary of the treasury for the year ending June 30, 1860:—
Letter from A. B. Longstreet to Howell Cobb.