Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 19 (of 20)Sumner, Charles
History
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 19 (of 20)
Sumner, Charles
Slavery -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., American
One is the well-known case of Frederick Douglass, who, returning home
after earnest service of weeks as Secretary of the Commission to report
on the people of San Domingo and the expediency of incorporating them
with the United States, was rudely excluded from the table, where his
brother commissioners were already seated, on board the mail-steamer
of the Potomac, just before reaching the President, whose commission
he bore. This case, if not aggravated, is made conspicuous by peculiar
circumstances. Mr. Douglass is a gentleman of unquestioned ability
and character, remarkable as an orator, refined in manners, and
personally agreeable. He was returning, charged with the mission of
bringing under our institutions a considerable population of colored
foreigners, whose prospective treatment among us was foreshadowed on
board that mail-steamer. The Dominican Baez could not expect more than
our fellow-citizen. And yet, with this mission, and with the personal
recommendation he so justly enjoys, this returning Secretary could not
be saved from outrage even in sight of the Executive Mansion.
CASE OF LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR DUNN.
There also was Oscar James Dunn, late Lieutenant-Governor of
Louisiana. It was my privilege to open the door of the Senate Chamber
and introduce him upon this floor. Then, in reply to my inquiry, he
recounted the hardships to which he had been exposed in the long
journey from Louisiana,--especially how he was denied the ordinary
accommodations for comfort and repose supplied to those of another
skin. This denial is memorable, not only from the rank, but the
character of the victim. Of blameless life, he was an example of
integrity. He was poor, but could not be bought or bribed. Duty with
him was more than riches. A fortune was offered for his signature; but
he spurned the temptation.
And yet this model character, high in the confidence of his
fellow-citizens, and in the full enjoyment of political power, was
doomed to suffer the blasting influence which still finds support
in this Chamber. He is dead at last, and buried with official pomp.
The people, counted by tens of thousands, thronged the streets while
his obsequies proceeded. An odious discrimination was for the time
suspended. In life rejected by the conductor of a railway because of
his skin, he was borne to his last resting-place with all the honors
an afflicted community could bestow. Only in his coffin was the ban of
color lifted, and the dead statesman admitted to that equality which is
the right of all.
REQUIREMENT OF REPUBLICAN INSTITUTIONS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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