FRED DOUGLASS IN IRELAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXII, Issue 1, 3 May 1895, Page 9

FRED DOUGLASS IN IRELAND.

Thw Cleveland gentleman who was beet acquainted with thß late Fred Douglass is probably Rev Dr George W. Pepper, Dr Pepper first met Mr Ooaglass abroad nearly fifty years ago (says the Cleveland Herald), and tellq some very interesting stones of the negto statesman's career, " The first time I met Mr Douglass," said Dr Pepper, "was in Ireland, 1817. He bad met with enthusiastic receptions in London and throughout England, and had arrived at Cork. He was met at the landing by distinguished citizens, and rode away in a carriage seated between the Lord Mayor of Cork and Father Mathew, the great Koman Catholic apostle of temperance. He was dined by the City Council, and was accorded especial marks of attention by the most prominent people in Cork. " Going to Dublin, he went to call upon Daniel O'Connell, who was the first Catholic Lord Mayor that city bad had for more than 300 years. Mr Douglass had a letter of introduction from Hon Charles Sumner, but when O'Ooane l'fl servant announced that there was a coloured mau at the door, the great Irishman rushed to tho door, and clasping Douglass in a warm embrace, Baid, ' Fred Douglass, the American slave, needs no letter of introduction to me.' " On the day following his arrival O'Oonnell took Douglass to Conciliation Hall, where he introduced the ex-Blave tD the Bepealere, when he used the following words : 'If there be in the huts of Africa or in the swamps of the Carolinas, a haman being panting for freedom, let it be proclaimed to him that he has a friend in the old Irish nation. My words shall travel across the winds and waves of the Atlantic ; they shall roll up the banks of t^e Mississippi and MissDuri, telling the slaveholder that the time for his injustice to cease has come, and that the peiiod for 'he emancipation of the bondman has arrived, according to the laws of the living God ; and a prayer goes forth from my heart that a black O'Oonnell may arise in America, 1 pointing bis finger at Douglass as he spoke, The whole audience arose and gave three hearty cheers for Douglass and the Abolitionists. " Daniel O'Connell," continued Dr Pepper, " was a fierce and uncompromising Abolitionist. About that time a check for a good many thousand dollars arrived from New Orleans to help the Irish cause. Mr O'Concell took the paper and said, ' Send it back. Ireland is poor, but poor as she is, she cannot accept the wages of the unpaid negro." About the same time O'Connell wrote bis powerful appea l , urging the Irish in America to join forces with the Abolitionists. " Probably the grandest moment in Mr Douglass' life," said Dr Pepper, "' was in London, near the time of the events wh'ch I have just rela'ed. He at ended the world's univtrsal pe.ee convention, at which Lord Shaftesbury, the famous philanthropist, presided. Douglnsa was introduced to the sudi 'nee, which con^is ed mainly of dukes and lords, as ' The American Slave.' At the conclusion of his address his hearers cheered for fully five minutes. " One of the mo-t striking incidents occurred, however, when a prominent New York clergyman went forward with the others find extended his hand, which was proudly refussd by the black man. 'No,' said he, • you woald not do this if we were in New York, and I refuse to accept it here.' The mci lent was noteti, and the Now York clergyman did not have an oppoitunity to preach in a single London pulpit daring his stay.

" Daring his stay with me he referred to hi.s escape from slavery. It was brought up by his reading an address of mine ia Ireland in which I referred to the reception which was tendered to him there, and to the abhorrence of the Irish people for slavery. He said that when a boy, on Colonel Lloyd's plan, tation, abou fifteen miles from Baltimore, ho was seized with a desire to see a ship, and obtained permission from his mistress to go to that city. While at the docks he saw two Irishmen unloading timbers from a vease , and gave them some assistance. " On taking leave of them, one of the men ai=ked him if he was a slave, and upon his replying affirmati.ely, the other exekimed : ' Why don't you run away 1 Goi uever rmde a man to be a slave.' Ap he walked back to his master's plantation the word-* of that Irishman rang in his ears, and the idea rvsuliod in his making bin escape. Then, his sides shaking and his face wreathei in smiles, Douglass concluded: ' Mr Pepper, when I get to neavjn, I will search for those two Irishmen, when I have found them I will take them before the Great Master of all, ani will say : ' Taure are the m^n who told me that I was never meant to be a slave ' '• Then he talked for an hour about the celebrated rafn he saw and heard in England and Ireland, and eaid he thought Mr O'Oonnell was the moat natural and spontaneous oraior he ev«r heard He talked of Disraeli, Weadell Phillips, ani w.nt into raptures over Lincoln. Said he :' Aa the years roll ou, yes, as the centuries travel around, Lincoln's fame will continue to grow greater,

and the coloured race will never be able to mention bis name without emotion.' "