Viewing page 13 of 16

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

NOVEMBER, 1861.      DOUGLASS' MONTHLY.       557

tread beneath its folds, until in Heaven's own time a perfect, assured peace shall come, established upon the foundations of eternal right——upon which alone can any victory be secured.  (Loud applause.)

And now, Mr. President, I have to thank, from the bottom of my heart, the sons of New England, resident in New York for the kindness of this reception to our 20th regiment, and for the flattering manner in which my name has been mentioned in connection with it; as also for the generous hospitality and fraternal love which have been exhibited by you and all of you from the moment the Massachusetts 6th displayed the ensign of our Commonwealth in the streets of New York, when marching as the first regiment bound for the defence of the Capital.  (Applause.)  From that time until now we have continued, by a stream of military organizations, almost to tire your hospitality and your patience.  (Voice——'No, sir, never!')  If you were not both generous as well as faithful and patriotic, we should almost begin to think it our duty to take some other path to Philadelphia.  (Voice——'Through New York, not round it;') but so long, Mr. President and friend, as our soldiers of Massachusetts continue to receive such friendly, fraternal, cordial greetings, such kind sympathetic aid, as they have from the first received at your hands, through New York they will always come.  (Cheers)  And now, Sir, you will permit me, thanking you also for the kindness with which you have listened to these discursive remarks, to resume my seat, giving as a sentiment:

'The sons of Massachusetts residing in New York, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, and heart of our heart.'

(Loud and repeated cheers.)


LETTER FROM REV. H. H. GARNET.

The following interesting letter from Rev. Mr. Garnet to his wife, dated '23, Islington Terrace, Liverpool, Sept. 13,' is copied from the Anglo-African, and will be read with pleasure by our readers:

My Dearest Wife:——We arrived in Liverpool yesterday evening, at 5 o'clock, after an extremely pleasant passage of twelve days.

We had on board four hundred passengers, 340 in the steerage, and 60 in the saloon.——Twelve years ago my treatment on board of an English steamer from New York to this place was very different to that which I have just received.  Then I was caged up in the steward's room of one of Cunard's vessels, and although a first class passenger, I was not allowed to go into the saloon, or to eat at the table with white humanity.

How changed now.  On a steamship belonging to the same nation I took a first class passage, asked the steward to give me my berth, and assign me my seat at the table.——My ticket was given to me without a remark; an elegant state-room with six berths as placed at my disposal, and my seat at the table was between two young American gentlemen, educated at St. Mary's College in Maryland, and on their way to Rome to finish their studies for the Roman Priesthood.  And I am happy to say that I did not receive a look, or hear a word during the whole voyage, that grated upon my sensitive feelings.

As usual, I was sea-sick all the voyage, more or less.  When I went on board I resolved not to be sick; but as soon as we cleared Sandy Hook old Neptune called for me, and lead me to the side of the ship, and told me to throw my resolutions overboard, which I did in double-quick time, and for a while I felt as if I did not care if he threw me over after them.

On Sabbath, after worship, we were all gratified to see two whales.  They were none of your great juveniles, or babies like Barnum's, but were respectable 'old folks,' and like most other folks of their color, they made considerable stir.  A lady exclaimed, as her little under jaw dropped down about and inch, 'as nigh as I can guess,' 'Oh! Why do they make such a noise and commotion? they are the biggest fishes in the sea——and they are black too.'  I said, 'Madam, you have accounted for the noise they make.'

On the fifth day we passed an iceberg, about the size of the City Hall Park, with a crystal palace resembling very much our City Hall.  This straggling northern loafer had been crusing [sic] about in that part of the Atlantic for several weeks, and seemed bent on mischief.  These icebergs will in time probably become the source of great annoyance, and dangerous to travelers across the Atlantic.——The ice of course continually increasing in the Arctic seas, and consequently detached portions of those eternal mountain of ice will continually increase in their desertions.
 
On the tenth day a little child two years old died, and for the first time I witnessed the solemn scene of a funeral at sea.  The mother of the child was a devote Christian, and a member of one of the Presbyterian churches of New York, and died a few months ago.——The father, with an aching heart, was on his way back to his native England, with his motherless babes.  God took the eldest, and its spirit went up to heaven to meet its mother.  One ascended from a sick chamber on the land, the other from an almost pestilential steerage of a ship on the ocean.  O how sweet was that heaven to each!  Heaven is central to every portion of our sad and sorrowful earth.  When the little pilgrim died, many hands were offered to lay it out.  The father begged that a coffin might be made for its remains, instead of the poor sailor's winding sheet.  British tars at once acceeded to his wishes, and a coffin was made and neatly stained.   They then put the little baby in, perforated it with several holes, and put in a cannon shot, so it would easily sink.  The bell struck three in the afternoon.  The captain, officers and men prepared for the services, and the passengers, fore and aft, assembled as near as possible to the gang-way.——The captain and surgeon performed the solemn burial services of the Church of England, and at the proper place the board was tilted.  A little splash was heard, and the last remains of the young voyager disappeared in a moment.  Just then the sea sent up one of his awful and terrible wails which no mortal can describe, and the foam of his billows seemed to spread in white pall over the tombless grave.  But the sea shall give up its dead, and they that are in their graves shall hear the voice of God, and come forth.

On the Eleventh day at dawn we saw the green hills of Ireland, and at 8 A. M., we passed and saluted the Great Eastern, outward bound.  She appeared very much like an island, or a good sized manufacturing village.  While we were rolling and pitching, she triumphantly ploughed through the waves, without even deigning to bow her proud head.

Soon after my arrival in Liverpool I set out to find my old friends Mr. and Mrs. Jas Johnson, formerly of Troy, N. Y., and accomplished my object in twenty minutes.  I found them well, and doing very well, and greatly comforted by their lovely, obedient and accomplished daughter.

My God bless all 'your friends and mine.'  I leave to-night at 11 for London.

Yours, truly,
HENRY HIGHLAND GARNET.


The Washington jail is crowded with fugitive slaves, who are without claimants, and many of them doubtless belonged to men now in the rebel ranks.  One of them certainly did, for his late master was John A. Washington, of the Mount Vernon estate, who has since been shot by our troops in a scouting expedition.  By what statute these slaves are kept in the U. S. jail, no one seems to know.——They are put and kept there by a Republican marshal, and it is a well known fact that prominent office-holders there hold that the late Confiscation Act does not free the negroes who come under its operation, but simply turns them over from rebel masters to the U. S. Government——the Government owning them!


THE MANHOOD OF THE NEGRO.

Mr. Secretary Seward has settled for this Presidential term the question of the manhood of the negro.  By one stroke of the pen he has reversed the infamous doctrine of Judge Taney touching the alien condition of free negroes in the United States, and the infamous refusal of the Buchanan Administration to grant to a free negro, going abroad, the protection guaranteed by the Government to its citizens in foreign countries.  Rev. Henry H. Garnet, pastor of the Shiloh Presbyterian Church in Prince Street in this city, is now in England furthering the objects of the African Civilization Society.  Before his departure he obtained from the Secretary of State at Washington a passport in due form, requesting 'all whom it may concern to permit safely and freely to pass Henry H. Garnet, A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES, and in case of need to give him all lawful aid and protection.'  Thus, under the great seal of the United States, a black man, of unadulterated negro blood, is declared before the civilized world to be entitled to the protection of the Government, as a citizen.  This single fact ought to satisfy the Christian and philanthropic people of England, of the vital difference between our present Administration and its predecessor upon the question of slavery and its related topics, and also of the bearing of the war for the Union upon the welfare of the black man.

Mr. Stephens, Vice President of the Southern Confederacy, has taught us how Mr. Garnet would be regarded under such a Government.  These are his principles: 'African slavery as it exists among us is the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. . . . . The corner-stone of our new government rests upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man'

Let these declarations stand side by side, to interpret to foreign powers the two sides of our conflict.  On the one hand let the U. S. protect and defend the manhood of every negro within its jurisdiction, as a citizen, entitled to all the rights of a citizen under the Constitution——and on the other let the Southern Confederacy stand forth as the champion of the doctrine that 'slavery is the normal condition of the negro;' and the war that is waged for the manhood of four millions will have the approving sympathy of the civilized world.'——Independent.

The passport, being a curiosity of its kind, we append it:

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

To all whom these presents come greeting.

No. 2553.

I, the undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States of America, hereby request all whom it may concern to permit safely and freely to pass Henry H. Garnet, a citizen of the United States, and in case of need to give him all lawful aid and protection.

Given under my hand, and the impression of the Seal of the Department of State, at the City of Washington [SEAL] the 26th day of April, A. D., 1861, in the 86th year of the Independence of these United States.
WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

DESCRIPTION.
Age, 45 years.
Stature, 5 feet 11 inches, English.
Forehead, high.
Eyes, black.
Nose, broad.
Mouth, medium.
Chin, round.
Hair, black.
Complexion, black.
Face, long.
Signature of the bearer,
HENRY H. GARNET,
New York.


Rev. Dr. Pennington, of New York has recently departed for England, it being his third tour to the old country.  He took passage in the steamer Edinburgh.

Transcription Notes:
formatting omitted per Smithsonian instructions