Frederick Douglass, the Orator - Monroe County Library System

Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection
CHAPTER VII.
VISIT ABROAD.—RETURN HOME AND RECEPTION.
—MINISTER RESIDENT AND CONSUL GEN-
ERAL TO HAYTI.
FOR some time prior to his retirement from
public office, Mr. Douglass had contemplated a
trip to Great Britain and other countries of the
old world. He desired to know more of their people,
their government, and institutions. Being
released from the cares and responsibilities imposed
by official life, he gladly welcomed the
opportunity to revisit the scenes of his first two
journeys abroad, and to extend his travels to
classic Athens, historic Rome, Paris, the most
elegant city of the world, free Switzerland, the
home of the legendary hero, William Tell, Germany,
the country of scholars, and Egypt, the
land of pyramids and hieroglyphics. Having
made all preparations for the voyage, he and Mrs.
Douglass, in September, 1886, left New York for
Liverpool on the steamer City of Rome.
He returned to the United States after a year's
absence, and on his arrival in Washington was
tendered a public reception by his fellow citizens
in the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal
Church of that city, one of the largest and most