Frederick Douglass, the Orator - Monroe County Library System

Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection
76 LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
of Rome consumes a ton of coal every five minutes
during her voyages. She has sixty furnaces
and a crew, including all hands, of two hundred
and fifty persons. To walk her decks is like
walking a populous street; she is a small town,
not on wheels, but on the waves. Our voyage to
Liverpool was marked by two incidents in which
you will be interested, since they illustrate the
gradual wearing away of race prejudice. There
was on board the Rev. Henry Wayland, son of
the great Dr. Wayland, late president of Brown
University. Mr. Wayland had known me years
ago, and had been my friend in Rochester. He
is one of God's freemen. Through him I was
made known to many of the passengers, and this
resulted in a strong invitation to address the passengers
in the saloon, with which I complied.
After this I was called upon by Capt. Monroe to
move a vote of thanks in a brief speech to Lord
Porchester, who had presided at a concert given
in the grand saloon by some talented musicians;
thus my privacy was at an end, and I had much
talking to do which I could not avoid. The contrast
between the treatment I received during this
voyage and that of forty years ago, was as striking
as it was gratifying. Then I could not obtain
a first-class passage—even on a British steamship
—and was compelled to go in the forward cabin.
Now I found myself not only welcome in the first