Frederick Douglass, the Orator - Monroe County Library System

Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection
LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS. 177
themselves than they ought to think. Having
fought the good fight and gained the victory,
they credit themselves with their full value, and
a trifle over. They know how to use the first
personal pronoun, and do use it profusely. It
cannot be said of them that they fail to assert
themselves, or to claim their own achievements.
Of this sort of self-made men Andrew Johnson
was, perhaps, an exaggerated example.
" In apology for this weakness, it may be said
that a man indebted to himself for himself cannot
well help thinking pretty highly of himself.
The energies employed, the obstacles overcome,
the height he has attained, the contrast he presents
to other men, force a sense of his own
importance and make him egotistical."
In point of polish and finish, the lecture
known as " William the Silent," in the judgment
of many, will take first rank among the writings
of Mr. Douglass. It thrilled and captured the
audiences that heard it. The beautiful passage
in which the lecturer draws a parallel between
William of Nassau and Abraham Lincoln is
here given:—
" William the Silent stands in some respects
alone in history. He had to deal with a condition
of things peculiar to his own age and
country.
" What George Washington was in the darkest