After Douglass had bowed out, the President stood for a few minutes drumming on his desk. Then he pulled a cord which summoned a certain gentleman of state.
“Your Excellency!” The man waited. President Hyppolite spoke rather slowly, in concise French.
“The Frederick Douglass is an honorable man. He intends to discharge his duties in a manner which will bring credit and distinction to his people and to his nation. It is to be remembered at all times that Mr. Douglass is, first of all, Ambassador of the United States.”
“Yes, Your Excellency!”
The President dismissed him with a nod. Then he walked to the window and stood looking at the Square. From this window he could not see the middle of the Champs de Mars, but he was thinking of the statue there—the statue of a black soldier thrusting his sword toward the sky. This statue of Dessalines is Haiti’s symbol of her struggle for freedom. Hyppolite sighed as he turned away from the window.
He wondered if there might be a better way.
Back in Washington activities had been bent upon getting John Durham sent as special consul to Port-au-Prince because of his “special fitness for the job.” Once more President Harrison’s action proved disappointing. He sent John Durham to Santo Domingo City. It began to be whispered about in Washington and New York that the Haitians had snubbed Frederick Douglass and his wife. Stephen Preston heard the rumors just before he sailed for home. He suspected their origin, but he decided to hold his peace until he reached Port-au-Prince.
“Frederick,” Helen Douglass said, “this place will be my undoing! Such ease is positively shameful. My only exercise is changing clothes for another reception or dinner party. And the food!” Her voice became a wail of despair. “I’m getting fat!”
He laughed.