U. S. Giant and the Colored People.
- - - -
HIS WISE, JUST, PRACTICAL, AND EFFECTIVE FRIENDSHEP
THOROUGHLY WINDICATED BY INCONTESTABLE EACTS
IN HIS RECORD FROM 1862 TO 1872,
WORDS OF TRUTH AND SOBERNESS! HE WHO RUN8 MAY
READ AND UNDERSTAND !! BE NOT DECEIVED,
ONLY TRUTH CAN ENDURE!!!
Tº the Colored People of the United States:
There are many dissemblers and falsi-
fiers of the Greeley party in the South.
who are seeking the control of the colº.
ored voters, by declaring to them that
President Grant is not, and never has been,
a faithful and sincere friend of my race.
Indeed, Senator Sumner makes a charge of
this kind, and while I would not for a mo-
ment imply that I have lost faith in the hon-
oted Senator's sincerity and integrity, still
I must declare that President Grant's course,
from the time he drew the sword in defense
ºf the old Union in the Valley of the Mis-
sissippitill he sheathed it at Appomattox,
and thence to this day in his reconstruction
policy and his war gpon the Ku-Klux, is
without a deed or word to justify such an
accusation. -
In substantiation of my opiniºn—and I
think I may say my race is a unit with me
in this opinion—I desire to submit to you,
and to the country through you, the follow-
ing plain and truthful statement of the facts
as the records prove them to be.
Sº ATE or PCBLIC opiºios.
And, first, let me recall the state of public
ºpinion as regards the extent to which the
welfare and rights of four millions of my
enslaved people were involved during the
first year and a half of the war. I quº;
from a letter of Mr. Lincoln's, dated August
23, 1862: -
* My paramount ºccº is to save the
ºnion, and not either gave or destroy
adavery.” - -
Mr Lincoln, in his proclamation, warned
*e rebels that he woºd, on the first day of
January following, proclaim emancipation
in those States where the people shall be ºn
rebellion against the United States. That
glorious proclamation he accordingly issued;
but Kentucky, Tennessee, and portions of
Louisiana and Virginia were not included in
it. -
HE WAS ALWAYS IN ADVANCE,
General Grant commanded the armies
which were moving southward from Carºo
and operating in territory affected and un-
affected by the proclamation. I find, by
consultation with an ex-officer in that army,
who knew all the orders issued, that General
Grant was always up with, or in advance of,
authority furnished from Washington in re-
gard to the treatment of those of our color
then slaves. Thus a large number of our
º his orders, were furnished
employment within his lines, or transporta-
tion to homes and places of comfort for
themselves and families and education for.
their children in the North. And when he
| reached northern Mississippi, or the region
where the people of our color were more mu-
|merous, I find that he issued, November 11,
1862, before the Emancipation Proclamation
and before authority was furnished from
Washington, but solely on his own convic-
|tion of the military necessity and right, an
order caring for our people.
those of our people fleeing from stavery
had been not inaptly designated contrabands
of war by General Butler. Those of us who
#participated in or witnessed these scenes can
recall with sufficient vividness the,6xodus
from slavery to liberty through the Federal
inee wherever the soldiers in blue appeared,
!

2
IIE roRESEES THE EVIL AND PROVIDES MEANs
To Avoid IT.
General Grant saw the demoralizing effect
upon the army of thousands of men, women,
and children pouring through the camps;
he recognized, too, the humane considera-
tion which would not allow, even in those
disturbed and fearful scenes, the starvation
of thosenegroes, in regard to whom, as slaves,
the Government had not yet fixed its policy.
Selecting an officer for the purpose, in Spe.
cial Order No. 15, dated Headquarters 18th
Army Corps, Department of the Tennessee,
Lagrange, Tennessee, November 11, 1862,
he directed this officer to “take charge of
the contrabands who came into the camp,
organize them into suitable companies for
work, see that they were properly cared for,
and set them to work. He ordered suitable
guards detailed for their protection, and the
officer to report to him in person.” He
followed this with ample orders to the Com
missary General and Quartermaster General
for the issuing of rations, clothing for men,
women, and children, and implements ne:
cessary for use in their labor. -
In General Orders No. 18, dated Head.
gaarters 18th Army Corps, Department of
the Tennessee, Oxford, Mississippi, Decem:
ber 17, 1862, still half a month before the
Tºnancipation Proclamation, he made the
same officer General Superintendent of these
affairs for the Department, with authority
to designate assistants; and, in a word, in:
creasing his authority, specifying more fully
the details of his duties, the kind of labor
in which our people were to be employed,
and enforcing their compensation. They
were to fill every position occupied by the
soldier gave what depended upon his enlist-
men. Their wives and children were also
to be cared for and given employment as
far as possible. -
as ANTicipates THE FREEpºx's Bºatſ.
indeed, looking over a report of the
General Superintendent, which was printed
in the winter of 1865, and favorably reviewed;
by the North American Review, I find that
each military post came tº have an office,
and that office had one officer to care for
supplies furnished them, another for the
quired from the troops.
enforcement of justice in their behalf, an:
other for their medical attendance, another
for their education. All abandoned prop.
erty was ordered used for them. In as
these benefits I find white refugees shared
also. -
Here was the full germ of the Freedmas's
Bureau apparent in the orders of General
Grant before the Emancipation Proclama.
tion, not as a theory, but as a pracºcq:
solution of the relation of slaves in the
South to the suppression of the rebellion,
and in the interest of the wełęare of all corn.
cerned. - -
How do these facts comport with the ao.
cusations in question? We know Genera:
Grant dislikes everything dramatic, yet
what a scene is this for the contemplatier
of the people of our color? Gere, in the
midst of the terrible scenes of war, sº
slaves, so far as law and the action of Gog.
ernment is concerned, they are as far as
possible protected in their families and lives,
sheltered and clothed, their sick furnished
medicines, and the well furnished with on
ployment that they might learn self support.
* After slavery was declared abolished as
spring approached, the Government deter-
mined to employ the freedmen as soldiers,
and Adjutant General Thomas was sent on:
with proper authority to organize regiments
in the Mississippi Valley. Already one
company of colored troops had been organ-
ized, furnished with arms, and put on duty.
General Grant was at Milliken's Beed,
Louisiana. His General Orders No. 25, say:
“Commissaries with issne supplies, anº
quartermasters will ſurnish stores on the
same requisitions had returns as are re-
It is expected that
all commanders will especially exert them-
selves in carrying out the policy of the Ad-
ministration, not only in organizing colored
regiments and rendering them efficient, but
also in removing prejudice against them.”
Was this opposing the organization of
troops? -
General Grant, in his letter to General
Lee, October 19, 1864, although declining
tº discuss the slavery question, declares, “I
shall always regret the necessity of retal-
ating for wrongs done our soldiers, but fe-
gard it, my duty to protect all persons re-
ceived into the army of the Unized States,
regardless ºf color or nationality!”

-
-
3.
He was Alaways Rºmy to ºrgan concerning receiving. And, in closing directs special
Tris Fººtex.
* I learn from an ex-officer, who was
thoroughly cognizant of the facts, that in
the midst of the fearful labor around Vicks-
bºrg, General Grant always found time to
attend to the calls necessary to make upon
him in regard to the colored people or col.
ºred troops, that he gave every aid to the
development of their industry and the means
of their improvement. He favored no
|
Utopian schemes, and sought practical so-
*tion of every difficulty in the way of the
welfare of our people. That when before
Vicksburg, he, and his associates in the
chief command of the troops, who, night
* day, were pressing the siege, found time
to fisten to an extended report of the officer
he had placed in charge of our people in
* November previous. This report he
afterwards forwarded to President Lincoln
with a private letter, dated June 11, 1863,
* which he says:
º “Finding that negroes were coming into
ºr lines in great sumbers and receiving
kind or abusive treatment according to the
peculiar views of the troops they first came
ºntact with, and not being able to give
that personal attention to their care and use
the matter demanded, I determined to ap-
Pº a General Superintendent over the
whºle subject, and give him such assistants
º, the duties assigned him might require.
have given him such aid as was in my
º by the publication, from time to time,
of such orders as seemed to be required, and
generally at the suggestion of the Superin.
Bendent.
He speaks of the results up to that date
as of great service to the blacks in having
them provided for, when otherwise they
would have been neglected, and to the Gov.
ernment in finding employment for the ne:
gro whereby he might earn what he was
attention to that portion of the report which
would suggest orders regulating the subject
which a Department Commander is nºt
cºmpetent to issue.
Abraham Lincorn was satisºtºp wrºg mºr,
The officer who delivered this letter and
report to Mr. Lincoln, states that Mr. Lin-
-
coln received them with the greatest satis-
action, asking mºny questions about General,
Grant's views upon the whole subject of the
treatment of the colored people, and on thes
learning something in detail of the sºccess
of General Grant's plans and the usefulness,
in his judgment, of eolored soldiers, he re-
peated the expressions of his gratification
that a General who was winning such tºº.
tary successes over the rebels was able, from
a military standpoint, to give him so many
practical illustrations of the benefits of the
emancipation policy.
HE organizes ºf Egy,Agogºwºgrg ºg Goºs.
I find in a printed copy of a letter to Me.
Levi Goffin, then in England, written by the
General Superintendent, and dated at Wicks-
burg only a year after its fail, a statement
that “this supervision, embracing the terri-
tory within the lines of our army, from Cairo
down the Mississippi to Red river, together
with the State of Arkansas, numbered in its
care during the past year 118,650 freedºmen:
These are now disposed as follows: In
military service as soldiers, laundresses,
cooks, officers' servants, and laborers in the
various staff departments, 41,150; in cities,
on plantations, and in freedmen's vittages
and cared for, 72,000. Of these, 62.300 are
entirely self-supporting—the same as asy
industrial class anywhere—as planters, tºe-
chanics, barbers, haëkmen, draymen, &c.,
conducting enterprises on their own respea-
*He relates that, one evening in the midst of the siege of Vicksburg, Gen. Grant was sitting by the trunk ºf
a great tree near his tent talking to the Superintendent of Freedmen of their aſsirº, tºtling him is distan ºf a
great bend in the Mississip. 25 miles belºw the town, indicating, how easily, it could be protected,
ºn iderabic portion of the
was often visited as a mode
º:
º then deserted was owned by Jeff. Davis and his brºthºr Joe, whosº plantition
y foreigners, suggested that this bend should be occupied by the freedmen, and tre
made a “negro paradise.”. So it was soon it was divided into small farms for their cultivation, hºuses suit,
schools opened, the administration of order left chiefly to the colored people, and the whole protect º: -
guerrillas by colored troops. Now Joe Davis' former slave and foreman, one of
these free cultivators of
Gend, owns and successfully carries on the navis plantation, having purchased it from his form ºr master.
lonel—afterwards General–Samuel Thomas, and Assistant Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, in one
of his reports, says: “Unpri
ncipled men took advantage of the negro's ignorance to impose upon their confi-
dence, and often robbed them of all they had Only a few days since, a negro was telling me, that ºighteen
months ago he had ten bales of cotton of his own on his master's plantation; that he was Major General Grant's
servant; and, blacking the Generars boots one day, told him the story of his wrongs and sufferings, ending with
she mention of this cºtton. The General sat down and wrote him an order for it, and ordered that all officers
should assist him in getting it to market.

-4-
sibility, or as hired laborers. The remain-
ing 10,200 receive subsistence from the Gov-
ernment. Thirty thousand of them are
members of families whose heads are carry-
ing on plantations, and have under cultiva-
tion 4,000 acres of cotton, and are to pay the
Government for their subsistence from the
first income of crop. The other 7,200 in
clude the paupers (those over and under the
self supporting age, the crippled and sick in
hospital) of the 113,650, and those engaged
in their care, and, instead of being unpro-
dactive, have now under cultivation 500
acres of corn, 790 acres of vegetables, and
1,500 acres of eotton, besides the work done
at wood-chopping, &c.
There are reported in the aggregate some-
thing over 100,000 acres of cotton under cul-
tivation. Of these about 7,000 acres are
feased and cultivated by blacks. Some of
these are managing as high as 300 or 400
acres. It is impossible to give, at the pres:
ent date, any definite statement of many of
the forms of industry. Fifty-nine thousand
cords of wood are reported to me by Col.
Thomas, Superintendent and Provost Mar:
shal of Freedmen, as cut within the lines of
110 miles on the river banks above and be-
low this place. It would be only a guess to
state the entire amount cut by the people
under this supervision; it must be enor.
Inous. The people have been paid from 60
cents to $2.50 per cord for cutting. This
wood has been essential to the commercial
and military operations on the river.
“Of the ii.2,650 blacks here mentioned,
18,320 have been under instructionin letters;
about 4,000 have learned to read quite fair-
*y, and about 2,000 to write.” So our peo-
ple were helped by General Grant's policy
through this terrible transition.
EIP SEES NO PEACE WHILE THERE IS SLAVERY.
August 16, 1864, General Grant wrote Mr.
Washburne the celebrated letter so widely
quoted, in which he affirms that the Confed-
crate leaders had robbed the cradle and the
grave to carry on the war, urging that our
friends in the North could have no hope for
peace from separation; and among the spe
cºal reasons in reply to “peace on any
mand the restoration of their slaves already
free; they would demand indemnity for
losses sustained; they would demand a
treaty which would make the North slave
hunters for the South; they would demand
pay for every slave that escaped to the
North.
In his last and noted order to the great
army, dated June 2, 1865, General Graat
distinctly recognizes the good results they
had accomplished; affirms that they had
“overthrown all as med opposition to the
enforcement of the laws, and the proclama-
tion forever abolishing slavery—the cause
and pretext of the rebellion.”
May we not justly say, will it not be the
unquestioned sentiment of history that the
liberty which Mr. Lincoln declared with has
pen General Grant made effectual with his
sword—by his skill in leading the Union
armies to final victory? -
But I prefer that General Great sº
speak for himself, by here quoting from his
private letter to Mr. Washburne, and pub.
lished without the General's knowledge or
permission, dated August 30, 1863, in which
he said: “The people of the North need as:
quarrel over the institution of slavery. Wha.
Vice President Stephens acknowledges as
the corner stone of the Confederacy is al.
ready knocked out. Slavery is already dead,
and cannot be resurrected. It would takes
standing army to maintain slavery in the
South, if we were to make peace to-day
guaranteeing to the South all their former
constitutional pºvileges. -
‘‘I never was an Abolitionist—not ever
what could be called anti slavery—but I tºy
to judge fairly and honestly, and because
patent to my mind, early in the rebellion.
that the North and South could never live
in peace with each other except as one
nation. As anxious as I am to see peace,
and that withº slavery, re-established, 2.
would not therefore be willing to see any
settlement until this guestion is foreven se:-
tled.” - - - - -
In a letter written by Mr. Lincoln to Gen.
eral Grant, April 30, 1864, is this emphatic
sentence: “I wish to express in this way my
terms, he affirms that the South would de-
entire satisfaction wiſh what you havsºng.
up to this time.” - -
N ºn UE IN PEACE AS IN WAR.
up tº Asº be
But since he became President how faith-
fuſly has he carried out his pledges in which
we are most directly interested?
In his inaugural, March 4, 1867, we find
these wise words in regard to suffrage and
the fifteenth amendment:
“The question of suffrage is one which is
likely to agitate the public so long as a por-
tion of the citizens of the nation are ex-
eluded from its privileges in any State.
tion should be settled now, and I entertain
the hope and express the desire that it may
be by the ratification of the fifeenth article
of amendment to the Constitution.”
Indeed, his language often points to his
clear apprehension of the fact that peace
It ||
seems to me very desirable that this ques |
T-
erty of the citizen of the United States in
each and every portion of our common coun-
try wherever he may choose to move, with-
out reference to original nationality, reli-
gion, color, or politics, demanding of him
only obedience to the laws and proper re-
spect for the rights of others,” -
ºne Rºmfication of the 15, ºbº.
Though, as he said, it is unusual to notify
the two Houses by message, of the promulº
gation of the ratification of an amendment
to the Constitution, yet he sent one in re-
gard to the ratification of the fifteenth
amendment, in which he said: “Institu.
tions like ours, in which all power is derived
directly ‘rom the people, must depend
could only be fully restored by removing
the causes of disturbance.
in regard to Mississippi and Virginia, April
7, 1869, while he urges the restoration of
the States to their proper relations to the
Government as speedily as possible, he
clearly states that it must be conditioned
that the people of those States shall “be
willing to become peaceful and orderly com-
manities, and to adopt and maintain such
constitutions and laws as will effectually
secure the civil and political rights of all
persons within their borders.
its coºps ºr fºntsºv or ºr retro.
-- MEN.
True to aſ his instincts, all his declara.
tions and acts in his first annual message,
he has for our people as freedmen a kind
word, and declares “the freedmen, under
the protection they have received, are mak-
ing rapid progress in learning, and no com:
plaints are heard of lack of industry on their
part where they receive fair remuneration
for their labor; and among the reasons
which he finds for gratitude to the Giver of
all good, is a country “with a population of
forty millions of free people, all speaking
one language; with facilities for every mor
tal to acquire an education; withinstitutions
closing to none the avenues to fame or any
blessing of fortune that may be coveted;
with freedom of the pulpit, the press, and
the school.” Again, he declares that the
In his message |
, second great object ºf the Government i.
mainly upon their intelligence, patriotism,
and industry. I call the attention, there-
fore, of the newly-enfranchised race to the
importance of their striving in ever honor-
able manner to make themselves worthy of
their new privilege. To Tºp Rºcº ſoºn
Favorºp Herpropose ºx oth Laws would
say, witHroup so isgar, privilege of An.
vasoºst to THE 'New . The
frainers of our Constitution firmly believed
that a republican government could not en-
dure without intelligence and education gen
erally diffused among the people.” The
“Father of his country,” in his ſareºu
address, used this language: “Promote,
then, as a matter of primary importance,
institutions for the general diffusion of
knowledge. In proportion as the structure
of the Government gives force to public
opinion, it is essential that public opinion
stould be enlightened.” In his first annial
message to Congress the same views are
forcibly presented, and are again urged in
his eighth message. - -
I repeat that the adoption of the fifteenth
amendment to the Constitution completes
the greatest civil change, and constitutes
the most important event that has occurred
since the nation came into life. The change
will be beneficial in proportion to the heed
that is given to the urgent recommendations
of Washington. If these º
were important then, with a population o
but ºw millions, how much more import-





-
- - G
-
ant now, with a population of ſorts millions, floºrage of organizations, known as Ku-
and increasing in a rapid ratio.
-
I would, therefore, call upon Congress to
take all the means within their constitutional
powers to promote and encourage popular
education throughout the country; and
upon the people everywhere to see to it
that all who possess and exercise political
rights shall have the opportunity to acquire
the knowledge which will make their share
in the Government a blessing, and not a
danger. -
colored ºn Appoisºn to office.
An inquiry into the appointments of col-
ored men to office under General Grant gives
results more satisfactory than [anticipated.
No records, so far as I learn, appear to be
kept of the color of the appointees.
º
I can only ascertain facts by my own
personal knowledge and from the per
sonal knowledge of others acquainted with
the appointees. It is impossible for me to
ſix the exact number, but I find them in all
departments of the civil service. Two have
been appointed foreign Ministers, several
Collectors of Customs, some Assessors of In-
ternal Revenue, and soon down through all
the various grades of the service—as route
agents, postmasters, clerks, messengers,
&c., according to the intelligence and char.
acter of the applicants. -
I should have been glad to have obtained
the exact number of appointees of our color
In one Department at Washington I found
249, and many more holding important posi-
tions in its service in different parts of the
country. In other Departments I ascertain
corresponding gratifying facts as I pursued
the inquiry, meeting some new man at every
step, and left it satisfied, as I think any colº
ored man would be, that there has been a
hearty disposition to disregard all past preju-
dices and treat usin the matter of appoint.
ments according to our merits. The ap-
pointments to West Point, as overcoming
the army prejudices, are well known, and
too significant to be overlooked.
PROTECTION AGAINST THE Ku-Klux.
Klux Klans, upon an innocent and suffering
people have been so generally suppressed
What a change has come? These outrages,
the burning of school-houses and churches,
the whipping and shooting of teachers, the
midnight murder of men and women with.
out cause by masked villains, were so con-
trary to the ideas of the country that they
|hardly seemed possible in a civilized land.
|But by the quiet yet firm course of General
|Grant in enforcing the law, thousands have
openly acknowledged the crimes charged,
the organizations stand confessed to the
amazement of all good men North and
South, and peace has come to many places
as never before. The scourging and slaugh-
ter of our people have so far ceased. -
History will not mistake the first and yet
humane part General Grant has performed
in this work. Have not all violette-and-
injustice to us ceased, it is not because he
has failed to do his duty, but because of the
prejudices and opposition of those who trow
claim to be the special friends of the colored
man. And should not the good work of
peace and good will go on till every Amer-
ican citizen is known in the law and treated
the same without regard to his color, it will
be by the fatal success of those who assail
General Grant, and would defeat his elecº
tiºn, and thus prevent the successful accom:
plishment of his benign purpºse of per-
|petual union for the country and of assured
liberty and protection to every persºn
in it. -
Indeed, I closed the inquiry thoroughly
satisfied, and believe that any man of my
race would be, with the same facts before
him, that with General Grant at the head
of the Administration of the country we are
assured, in due time, not ºnly of an our
rights, but of our privileges.
Let me now come to my own personal
lations with General Grant, as well as my
own personal knowledge of him; for I have
the honor to know him well. Very much
that you have heard concerning him is true,
and very much is false. He, like most pub-
of the law for the preservation of life an
And what shall I say of his enforcement
property in the South, whereby the º
lic men, has been severely critizised, not
only as an officer, but as a man. Here,
7.
then, is my testimony ocncerning him.
During my varied publie career of more
than thirty years, I have, perhaps, more than
any other colored man of my times, been
brought into direct contact with our na.
tion's great men, and taking my whole ex-
perience into account, I affirm that after our
martyred President, Abraham Lincoln, and
Senator Charles Sumner, no man in high
position has manifested in his intercourse
with me upon all occasions and in all places
a more entire freedom from vulgar prejudice
of race and color, than Ulysses 8. Grant.
I have called upon him often, (never, how
ever, to solicit office for myself or for oth
sts,) and have always found him to be easily
accessible, gentlemanly, and cordial. Like
most of you when meeting with distin-
guished white persons, I was on the look-
out when meeting with General Grant for
some indication of the presence in his man.
pers and words of the slavery-boun aversion
to my race. I found nothing of the kind in
him. Yea have heard that General Grant
is a man of few words, and the inference
has been drawn by his enemies, that he is a
man of few ideas. Never was an inference
more unjust. º often requires more talent
to be silent, than to speak. It is the merit
of this man that he knows just when to speak,
and when to be silent. I have heard him
converse, and eonverse freely, and to those
who have seen him only in his silent moods
my statement will hardly be credited, that
few men in public life, or otherwise, can
state facts with greater clearness andfluency,
than General Grant. -
I have often been called upon to reconcile
my exalted opinion of President Grant with
the fact that I ſailed to be invited with the
Commissioners of Inquiry to Santo Domingo
todine with the Presidentatthewhite House.
I have two answers to those who inquire of
me on this point. First. The ſailure of the
President to invite me could not have been
beeause my personal presence on account of
color would have been disagreeable to him,
for he never withheld any social courtesy to
General Tate, the Minister Plenipotentiary
from the Republic of Hayti, a man of my
may state that during the war he showed
himself as free from Indian prejudice as
negro prejudice, by retaining upon his staff
General Eli Parker. It is, besides, impos-
sible that color is the explanation of the
omission to invite me, because the gentle-
men whom he did invite had dined with me
daily during ten weeks on an American ship,
under an American flag, and in presence of
º representatives of the leading presses of the
United States, and this doubtless by the
President's speejal direction. It is further
obvious that color had nothing to do with
the omission, because other gentlemen ac-
Bompanying the expedition to Santo Do-
mingo equally with myself, though white,
failed to receive an invitation to dine
as the White House. The only Com-
missioners provided for by the act of
Congress, were Messrs, B. F. Wade,
Andrew D. White, and 8. G. Howe, with
one Secretary, Mr. Allan A. Burton. These
gentlemen called in a body upon the Presi-
dent and were invited in an informal way to
dine with him. I was not in company with
the Commissioners when this call was made,
and did not see the President until after-
ward. Had I been in company with the
Commissioners at the time of their visit, I
have no question but that an invita-
tion would have been extended to me as
freely as to any of the gentlemen of the
Commission who were invited. My second
answer is that my devotion to General Grant
rests upon high and broad public grounds,
and not upon personal favor. I see in him
the vigilant, firm, impartial, and wise pro-
teetor of my race from all the malign,
reactionary, social, and political elements
that would whelm them in destruction.
He is the rock-bound coast against the
angry and gnawing waves of a storm-tossed
ocean saying, thas far only shalt thou come.
Wherever else there may be room for
doubt and uncertainty, there is nothing of
the kind with Ulysses S. Grant as our can-
didate. In the midst of political changes he
is now as ever-unswerving and inflexible.
Nominated regularly by the time honored
Republican party, he is clothed with all the
sublime triumphs of humanity which make
orn complexion; and in this connection 1
its record. That party stands to day free

farm
| 473.
8
from allºy, pure and simple. There is (for surely this is all we have exeasised) to
neither aſſbiguity in its platform nor incon-
gruity in its candidates, U. S. Grant and
Henry Wilson, the one from the West and
the other from the East—the soldier and the
Senator-ave men in whom we can confide.
No two names can better embody the pre-
cious and priceless results of the suppression
of rebellion and the abolition of slavery.
We can no more array ourselves against
these candidates and this party than we can
resume our chains or insult our mothers.
We are allied to the Republican party by
very honorable sentiment of the human
soul. While affection and gratitudebind us
to the party, the well known character of
the Democratic party, and the long line of
antecedents of that party, repel us and make
it impossible for us to cast in our lots with
ºt. To vote for Messrs. Greeley and Brown.
would justly invite to our heads the con-
tempt and scorn of honest men. We should ||
not only brandourselves as political knaves
but as political fools, meanly marching to
occupy a position to which we are invited by
the Democratic party, which party during
the last forty years has existed almost exclu.
sively to make sure our slavery and degra-
dation as a race. The key-note of the whole
Greeley movement was sounded by Mr.
James R. Doolittle upon taking the chair
of the convention that nominated Mr. Gree-
ley. He announced as one of the objects of
the movement the “overthrow of negro su-
premacy.” Can any negro be so blind as not
to see the meaning of this? Where has the
negro been supreme in this country? Is the
simple exercise of the elective franchise
be overthroºn º
with you. -
In view of the foregoing facts, tºollow-
ing most excellent letter should be added:
- .. Exºcºrº Massroº.
WASHINgron, D.C.; May 9, 1802.
GENTLEMEN: I am in receipt of your ºnvi
tation extended to ºne to attend a unass
meeting, to be held for the purpose ºf aid:
ing in seeuring civil rights for the cºlored
citizens of our country, I regret that a
previous engagement will detain me at the
Executive Mansion, and that I shall not be
able to participate with you in person in
your efforts to further the cause in which
you are laboring. I beg to assure you,
owever, that I sympathize most cordially
in any effort to secure for all our people, of
whatever race, nativity, or color, the exer-
cise of those rights to which every citizen
should be entitled.
I am, very respectfully,
U. S. Gºast.
| Such is the record of the great chieftain
whose sword cleft the hydra-head of treason,
and by whose true heart and good right arm
you gained the ballot, that glorious insignia
of your citizenship. Such is the record of
the wise statesman for whom you trusted
your first ballot for President; for no other
than him can you trustyour second Rally,
then, to his support with that resistess spirit
in which you fought for your fiberties, with
that deep sincerity in which you mourned
the foul death of your liberator—Lincoln-
and with the same exultant hope in which
you made General Grant your first Presi
dent, with your first votes, in 1868.
FREDEEICK DOUGLASS.
Wagºgrow, July 17, 1872.
We are the ºuestion
r º
º
**, Fº
ederick. 3+12%
Transfer from Mºs Div
(0 |am Waſſer, ſapº