Frederick Douglass, the Orator - Monroe County Library System

Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection
164 LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
torsr. England to-day is reaping the bitter consequences
of her injustice and oppression. Ask
any man of intelligence to-day, * What is the chief
source of England's weakness?' * What has reduced
her to the rank of a second-class power ? '
and the answer will be * Ireland'/' Poor, ragged,
hungry, starving, and oppressed as she is, she is
strong enough to be a standing menace to the
power and glory of England.
" Fellow-citizens! we want no black Ireland
in America. We want no aggrieved class in
America. Strong as we are without the negro,
we are stronger with him than without him.. The
power and friendship of seven millions of people
scattered all over the country, however humble,
are not to be despised.
"To-day, our republic sits as a queen among
the nations of the earth. Peace is within her
walls and plenteousness within her palaces, but
he is a bolder and a far more hopeful man than I
am, who will affirm that this peace and prosperity
will always last. History repeats itself. What
has happened once may happen again.
" The negro, in the Revolution, fought for us
and with us. In the war of 1812 General Jackson,
at New Orleans, found it necessary to call
upon the colored people to assist in its defense
against England. Abraham Lincoln found it
necessary to call upon the negro to defend the