Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection FREDERICK DOUGLASS The Colored Orator. BY FREDERIC-MAY HOLLAND, Autiu* &" Tkt.Mngm & tike Stria," ^ Siariet frmt% Robert Browning? " The Rue of Intellectual Liberty? etc. REVISED EDITION ST4TBS] • •••••- • ••- 0 •• w • • w • — • • w fCew fforh FUNK & WAGALLS COMPANY LONDON AND TORONTO 1895 Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1891, by FUNK & WAGNALLS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C, Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection JD 137 J, PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. THE invitation to write this life was readily accepted, partly because I hoped it would in some degree reduce the color-prejudice, with other prejudices also, and partly because l have always felt an admiration for Mr. Douglass, which has increased as I have come to know him thoroughly. His con- «J* sent was cordially given in a letter, where he says: " If you can /\ say anything of me that the public does not already know, by "^ all means tell it. I am sure you cannot say anything of me iKyhich will not be pretty strongly colored, but go-ahead." ^f Shortly before departing to Hayti he was kind enough to an- •^ swer many questions which I put to him in his house, on Cedar Hill, and to relate anecdotes which will be new to my readers. He also lent me ten of his unpublished lectures, and . so many other manuscripts and rare pamphlets, that I have fp been able not only to mention but to quote more than a hun- dred works by an author not admitted to a place among the *T forty-six thousand writers of English enrolled by Allibone. 1 The list of published speeches, etc., in the Appendix has •y been made as complete as possible by inquiry in various direc- -~ tions. Much valuable information was obtained from Mr. ~ Frederick Douglass, Jr., whose scrap-books gave me abund- >£? ance of material about the later years of his father's life. By 3 far the most difficult part of my work has been that relating to \* the decade just before the war; and here I was greatly aided and encouraged by the letters of reminiscences contributed by Miss Sallie Holley. Mrs. Lucy N. Colman, and another lady who knew Mr. Douglass in Rochester. For these and other extraordinary opportunities I am very grateful. 1Q4506 Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection IV PREFACE. More generally known sources of information, like the files of the " Liberator/' have, of course, been examined thoroughly. Among the most valuable of books to me has been the " Life of Garrison," by his sons, who kindly supplied advance sheets and permitted me to make copious extracts. This favor I should have been glad to repay more fully, but unfortunately there were some serious differences of opinion between their hero and mine, under circumstances now but little known to readers generally. Here it becomes my plain duty to try and vindicate Douglass, even at the expense of a great philanthro- pist whom all delight to honor. Desire to do sufficient justice to important questions has suggested some comments on the Harper's Ferry tragedy, socialism, and the Southern problem ; but it did not seem necessary to do more than give the orator's views about prohibition, the tariff, and the merits of various candidates for President; and I hope I have not shown myself too party-colored. F. M. H. PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. To this edition I have added an account of the last five years of the life of Mr. Douglass, and especially of his speeches at the World's Fair. I have also been able to show his posi- tion on the Hawaian question, to complete my list of his pub- lications, to correct several mistakes, for instance on pp. 45 and 229, and to give what may be a more accurate estimate than my previous one of his peculiar greatness. F, M. H. April, 1SQ5. Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection CONTENTS. Preface 111, IV CRAFT** I. The Slave ».-»fc.»»«.»»..»...«•..•••..«...«. 7-31 II. The Fugitive .-..».»-...-...... 32-56 CHAPTER III. The Crusader — .-•...»»..»,...,.—. 57-80 CHAPTER IV. "Confident Against the World in Arms" 81-111 CHAPTER V. Beyond the Color-Line 112-148 CHAPTER VI. The "North Star" 149-189 CHAPTER VII. With the Men who Abolished Slavery 190-206 CHAPTER VIII. " The Man who is Right is a Majority " 207-229 CHAPTER IX. " Beware of a Yankee when he is Feeding " 230-255 (v) Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection Vi CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. "Is God Dead?" 256-283 CHAPTER XL Union Forever 284-311 CHAPTER XII. The Leader in Politics 312-333 CHAPTER XIII. Marshal and Recorder 333-357 CHAPTER XIV. The Nation's Problem 358-392 CHAPTER XV. Conclusion 393~4?° Appendix .......... 411-416 Index 417-431 Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection FREDERICK DOUGLASS. CHAPTER I. THE SLAVE. " IT has been a source of great annoyance to me, never to have a birthday/' says Mr. Douglass, in a private letter. He supposes that he was born in February, 1817 ; but no one knows the day of his birth or his father's name. Such trifles were seldom recorded of slaves. His mother, Harriet Bailey, was one of the five daughters of Isaac and Betsy Bailey; and as slaves were not often permitted to own a sur- name, this must have been one of the old families of Maryland. Grandmother Betty was especially hon- ored for her skill in planting sweet potatoes, as well as in making and handling nets for taking shad and herring. When we find further that the village where she resided still bore the aboriginal name, Tuckahoe, we may believe that it was from her, that her grand- son derived those high cheek bones, and other Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection 8 FREDERICK DOUGLASS. peculiarities of physiognomy, which often caused him to be mistaken for an Indian in later life. His first master sometimes called him " My little Indian boy," and his whole history shows that he sprang from a race of warriors, who had rather die than be slaves. His oratorical power should be ascribed to his African descent, or to his European parentage. He himself attributes his love of letters to the native genius of his mother, who was the only colored per- son able to read in the whole village. This rare accomplishment suggests the probability that she had once been something more than a field hand. Her son saw her so seldom, however, and lost her so early, that he may have overestimated her ability, in consequence partly of gratitude and partly of a pop- ular theory, about the preponderating influence over great men of gifted mothers, which long investiga- tion justifies my calling extravagant. Inheritance of genius has come, in actual fact, at least as much from the father as from the mother ; and in the most illus- trious instances it has come from both sides. I sus-. pect that there is some foundation for the rumor, that the father in this case was a noted politician. White he undoubtedly was, for the son was of much lighter color than his mother, whose " deep black, glossy " features, are said by him to have resembled those of King Rameses the Great, on page 157 of " Prichard's Natural History of Man." She called him Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey ; but after his escape he took the name which he has made famous. She had an older son, Perry, and four daughters; but none of them, I think, was endowed with his peculiar genius. Perhaps there Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection THE SLAVS. $ was a different father. Her services were too valu- able for her to be permitted to waste her time on her children, and Douglass does not remember having ever seen her before he was six years old. His earliest memories are of his grandmother's log cabin in his native village, Tuckahoe, on the bank of the Choptank River, in Talbot County, on the eastern shore of Maryland. The floor and chimney were of clay, and there were no windows, nor any bedsteads, except rails flung over the cross-beams. Food was coarse, but it was abundant, and the little boy was never scolded for playing in the dirt, or getting his clothes wet, or not learning his lessons, or using his knife and fork awkwardly. In fact, he had no lessons, or knife and fork, and scarcely any clothing, to be troubled about. Year after year went by, during which he was as free and happy as the squirrels he saw running up the trees, or the minnows for which he used to fish in the mill-pond. His grandmother was always kind, and the only cloud upon his path was the fear of being taken from her, as his brother and his sisters had been. He dreaded to find himself growing taller, and at last the terrible day came. One summer morning, before he was seven, she took his hand in hers, and led him, or carried him on her shoulder, over the twelve miles which lay between Tuckahoe and the house of their master, Captain An- thony. This man owned three farms in Tuckahoe, and about thirty slaves ; but his time was mainly occupied in managing the estates of Colonel Lloyd, who had a thousand slaves and twenty or thirty different farms.