Rosetta Douglass Sprague.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] This paper and the one which follows give valuable information about Frederick Douglass and his wife.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS IN IRELAND
Few persons have any idea as to the connection between the abolition of slavery in the United States and the struggle of the Irish for freedom. According to The Standard Union, when in the decade 1830 Negro slavery existed in the British West Indies, a little party of liberal men in the British Parliament began to agitate in season and out of season for emancipation, Daniel O'Connell, with a few Irish members who supported him, threw his strength to this little party on every division. There was a West Indian interest pledged to maintain Negro slavery, and this interest counted twenty-seven votes in Parliament. They came to O'Connell and offered their twenty-seven votes to him on every Irish question if he would oppose Negro emancipation.
"It was," said Wendell Phillips, "a terrible temptation. How many a so-called statesman would have yielded!" O'Connell said: "Gentlemen, God knows I speak for the saddest nation the sun ever sees, but may my right hand forget its cunning and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if to serve Ireland, even Ireland, I forget the Negro one single hour."
The following account taken from The Liberator, including a letter from Frederick Douglass, shows the genuineness of this Irish friendship for the Negro in the United States:
A letter of extraordinary interest at this time from Mr. Frederick Douglass to Mr. William Lloyd Garrison has just come to light in the columns of The True American, a little anti-slavery paper published in Cortland Village, N. Y., in 1846. The letter, written with the eloquence and depth of feeling which characterized all Mr. Douglass's utterances on the subject of slavery and the abuse of the Negro in this country. The letter, which The True American copied from The Boston Liberator, Mr. Garrison's Paper, is introduced by the following editorial comment from The Albany Journal under date of February 11, 1846.
"It is scarcely necessary to direct attention to the letter of Frederick Douglass which we copy from The Boston Liberator. It will be read with equal pleasure and amazement by those who remember that eight years ago he was a slave, and that he literally stole the elements of an education which now gives him rank among the most gifted and eloquent men of the age.
"We shall not blame those who refuse to believe that Frederick wrote this letter. Without the personal knowledge we possess of his extraordinary attainments, we too should doubt whether a fugitive slave, who, as but yesterday, escaped from a bondage that doomed him to ignorance and degradation, now stands up and rebukes oppression with a dignity and force scarcely less glowing than that which Paul addressed to Agrippa."
The letter is as follows:
Victoria Hotel, Belfast,
January 1st, 1846.My dear Friend Garrison:
I am now about to take leave of the Emerald Isle, for Glasgow, Scotland. I have been here a little more than four months.—Up to this time, I have been given no direct expression of the views, feelings and opinions which I have formed, respecting the character and condition of the people of this land. I have refrained thus purposely. I wish to speak advisedly, and in order to do this, I have waited till I trust experience has brought my opinions to an intelligent maturity. I have been thus thankful, not because I think what I may say will have much effect in shaping the opinions of the world, but because whatever of influence I may possess, whether little or much, I wish it to go in the right direction, and according to truth.
I hardly need say that in speaking of Ireland, I shall be influenced by no prejudices in favor of America. I think my circumstances all forbid that. I have no end to serve, no creed to uphold, no government to defend; and as to nation, I belong to none. I have no protection at home, or resting place abroad. The land of my birth welcomes me to her shores only as a slave, and spurns with contempt the idea of treating me differently.—So that I am an outcast from the society of my childhood, and an outlaw in the land of my birth. "I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner as all my fathers were." That men should be patriotic is to me perfectly natural; and as a philosophical fact, I am able to give it an intellectual recognition. But no further can I go. If ever I had any patriotism, or any capacity for the feeling, it was whipt out of me long since by the lash of the American souldrivers.
In thinking of America, I sometimes find myself admiring her bright blue sky—her grand old woods—her fertile fields—her beautiful rivers—her mighty lakes, and star crowned mountains. But my rapture is soon checked, my joy is soon turned to mourning. When I remember that all is cursed with the infernal spirit of slaveholding, robbery and wrong,—when I remember that with the waters of her noblest rivers, the tears of my brethren are borne to the ocean, disregarded and forgotten, and that her most fertile fields drink daily of the warm blood of my outraged sisters, I am filled with unutterable loathing, and led to reproach myself that anything could fall from my lips in praise of such a land. America will not allow her children to love her. She seems bent on compelling those who would be her warmest friends, to be her worst enemies. May God give her repentance before it is too late, is the ardent prayer of my heart. I will continue to pray, labor and wait, believing that she cannot always be insensible to the dictates of justice, or deaf to the voice of humanity.
My opportunities for learning the character and condition of the people of this land have been very great. I have travelled almost from the hill of "Howth" to the Giant's Causeway, and from the Giant's Causeway to Cape Clear. During these travels, I have met with much in the character and condition of the people to approve, and much to condemn—much that has thrilled me with pleasure—and very much that has filled me with pain. I will not in this letter attempt to give any description of those scenes which have given me pain. This I will do hereafter. I have enough, and more than your subscribers will be disposed to read at one time, of the bright side of the picture. I can truly say, I have spent some of the happiest moments of my life since landing in this country. I seem to have undergone a transformation. I live a new life.
The warm and generous co-operation extended to me by the friends of my despised race—the prompt and liberal manner with which the press has rendered me its aid—the glorious enthusiasm with which thousands have flocked to hear the cruel wrongs of my down-trodden and long enslaved countrymen portrayed—the deep sympathy of the slave, and the strong abhorrence of the slaveholder, everywhere evinced—the cordiality with which members and ministers of various religious bodies, and of various shades of religious opinion, have embraced me and lent me their aid—the kind hospitality constantly proffered to me by persons of the highest rank in society—the spirit of freedom that seems to animate all with whom I come in contact—and the entire absence of everything that looked like prejudice against me, on account of the color of my skin—contrasting so strongly with my long and bitter experience in the United States, that I look with wonder and amazement on the transition.
In the Southern part of the United States I was a slave, thought of and spoken of as property. In the language of the law, "held, taken, reputed and adjudged to be chattel in the hands of my owners and possessors, and their executors, administrators, or assigns, to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatever."—Brev. Digest, 224. In the Northern States, a fugitive slave, liable to be hunted at any moment like a felon, and to be hurried into the terrible jaws of slavery—doomed by an inveterate prejudice against color to insult and outrage in every hand. (Massachusetts out of the question)—denied the privileges and courtesies common to others in the use of the most humble of conveyances—shut out from the cabins on steamboats—refused admission to respectable hotels—caricatured, scorned, scoffed, mocked and maltreated with impunity by any one (no matter how black his heart), so he has a white skin.
But now behold the change! Eleven days and a half gone, and I have crossed three thousand miles of the perilous deep. Instead of a democratic government, I am under a monarchical government. Instead of the bright blue sky of America, I am covered with the soft gray fog of the Emerald Isle. I breathe, and lo! the chattel becomes a man. I gaze around in vain for one who will question my equal humanity, claim me as his slave, or offer me an insult. I employ a cab—I am seated beside white people—I reach the hotel—I enter the same door—I am shown into the same parlor—I dine at the same table—and no one is offended. No delicate nose grows deformed in my presence. I have no difficulty here in obtaining admission into any place of worship, instruction or amusement, on equal terms with people as white as any I ever saw in the United States. I meet nothing to remind me of my complexion. I find myself regarded and treated at every turn with the kindness and deference paid to white people. When I go to church, I am met by no upturned nose and scorned lip to tell me, "We don't allow niggers in here!"
I remember about two years ago, there was in Boston, near the southwest corner of Boston Common, a menagerie. I had long desired to see such a collection as I understood were being exhibited there. Never having had an opportunity while a slave, I resolved to seize this, my first, since my escape. I went, and as I approached the entrance to gain admission, I was met and told by the doorkeeper in a harsh and contemptuous tone, "We don't allow niggers here!" I also remember attending a revival meeting in the Rev. Henry Jackson's meeting house, at New Bedford, and going up the broad aisle to find a seat. I was met by a good deacon, who told me in a pious tone, "We don't allow niggers here!" Soon after my arrival in New Bedford from the South, I had a strong desire to attend the Lyceum, but was told, "We don't allow niggers here!"
While passing from New York to Boston on the steamer Massachusetts, on the night of the 9th Dec., 1843, when chilled almost through with the cold, I went into the cabin to get a little warm, I was soon touched upon the shoulder and told, "We don't allow niggers here!" On arriving in Boston from an anti-slavery tour, hungry and tired I went into an eating house near my friend Mr. Campbell's, to get some refreshments. I was met by a lad in a white apron, "We don't allow niggers here!" A week or two before leaving the United States, I had a meeting appointed at Weymouth, the home of that glorious band of true abolitionists, the Weston family and others. On attempting to take a seat on the omnibus to that place, I was told by the driver (and I never shall forget the fiendish haste), "I don't allow niggers in here!"
Thank heaven for the respite I now enjoy! I had been in Dublin but a few days, when a gentleman of great respectability kindly offered to conduct me through all the public buildings of that beautiful city; and a little afterwards, I found myself dining with the Lord Mayor of Dublin. What a pity there was not some American Democratic Christian at the door of his splendid mansion, to bark out at my approach, "They don't allow niggers in here!" The truth is, the people here know nothing of the Republican Negro hate prevalent in our glorious land. They measure and esteem men according to their moral and intellectual worth, and not according to the color of their skin. Whatever may be said of the aristocracies here, there is none based on the color of a man's skin. This species of aristocracy belongs pre-eminently to "the land of the free, and the home of the brave." I have never found it abroad, in any but Americans. It sticks to them where-ever they go. They find it almost as hard to get rid of as to get rid of their skins.
The second day after my arrival at Liverpool, in company with my friend Buffum, and several other friends I went to Eaton Hall, the residence of the Marquis of Westminster, one of the most splendid buildings in England. On approaching the door, I found several of our American passengers who came out with us in the Cambria, waiting at the door for admission, as but one party was allowed in the house at a time. We all had to wait till the company within came out. And of all the faces, expressive of chagrin, those of the Americans were pre-eminent. They looked as sour as vinegar, and as bitter as gall, when they found I was to be admitted on equal terms with themselves. When the door was opened I walked in, on an equal footing with my white fellow citizens, and from all I could see I had as much attention paid me by the servants who showed me through the house as any with a paler skin. As I walked through the building, the statuary did not fall down, the pictures did not leap from their places, the doors did not refuse to open, and the servants did not say, "We don't allow niggers in here!"
A happy new year to you and to all the friends of freedom.
Excuse this imperfect scrawl and believe me to be ever and always yours,
Frederick Douglass