At last, on Friday, February 25, 1870, a day never to be forgotten, at about five o’clock, in the presence of the chamber and galleries crowded with expectant and eager spectators, the oath was administered to Hiram R. Revels, by the vice-president. Senator Wilson accompanied him to the chair, and he was at once waited upon to his seat by the sergeant-at-arms.
Saulsbury had done his best to turn backward the wheels of progress; Davis fought in vain, declaring he would “resist at every step” this unconstitutional measure, giving illustrations, dissertations, execrations, and recommendations of and for the “Negro” and his Republican friends; Stockton, in the interest of law and precedent, begged that the subject should go to the judiciary committee, but the party of freedom moved on in solid phalanx of unanimity to the historic result. Mr. Sumner, who had not taken part in the debate, raised his voice with impressiveness and power, comprehending the whole question in a short speech just before the vote.
Thus was accomplished the last important step in the National Legislature for those once enslaved, and the crowning rebuke to the Rebellion, especially as the Mississippi senator took the seat made vacant by Jefferson Davis when his treason became known to the North and to the government. After the close of his senatorial course, he was appointed President of Alcorn University, with a salary of two thousand five hundred dollars per annum, which place and its emoluments he left,—at the desire of Governor Powers, and as he thought it his duty,—to serve as Secretary of State, at the longest possible time, for less than one year. He had four years still remaining of his office as President of the University; hence, financially considered, he sacrificed something in reaching the higher official honors. It is due to him to say that the appointment was bestowed unsolicited by himself, through the governor’s belief in his fitness for the position.
Dr. Revels is a mulatto, of good address, of medium size, hair curly, features somewhat prominent, with something of the ministerial air.
ROBERT B. ELLIOTT.
Mr. Elliott has the honor of representing in Congress the South Carolina District, once filled by John C. Calhoun, the most distinguished man of the olden time from the Palmetto State. We have not been able to inform ourselves as to Mr. Elliott’s birth-place and educational advantages; but we understand, however, that he studied and adopted the law as a profession, in which he stands high. He commenced his political career at the South, and 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 to the Forty-second Congress as a Republican.
Mr. Elliott is black, of unmixed blood, strongly-marked negro features, close curly hair, bright and penetrating eyes, genteel in his personal appearance, somewhat English in his accent, a good speaker, and dignified in his manners. His speeches in Congress, and his public addresses before his constituents, show him to be a man of high cultivation. With his own race, Mr. Elliott stands deservedly well, and commands the respect of the whites everywhere. In Congress, he is looked upon as an able debater, and is listened to with marked attention.
J. MADISON BELL.
The negro’s ability to master language, his vivid imagination, his great delight in rhetorical exercise, his inward enthusiasm, his seeming power to transport himself into the scene which he describes, or the emotion he has summoned, has long puzzled the brain of our deepest and most acute thinkers. The best test of true eloquence is the effect it produces upon the listener. The finest illustration of the self-made orator may be found in J. Madison Bell, whose poetic genius, classic mind, and highly-cultivated understanding has never been appreciated by our people.
In the winter of 1867, it was our good fortune to make the acquaintance of this gentleman, then giving a series of poetical readings at Washington. His evening’s entertainment was made up entirely of his own writings, and they were all of a superior character. Mr. Bell is a rare instance of the combination of the highest excellence of the poet with the best style of the orator. The oratory of some men is not easily described; so it is with Mr. Bell. His masterly argument, acute reasoning, and the soul-stirring appeals to the highest feelings of our nature soon carry away the listener in an enthusiasm of admiration. His descriptive powers, both in his writings and his extemporaneous addresses, are of the highest order.