Charles R. Douglass to Frederick Douglass, April 28, 1868

CHARLES R. DOUGLASS TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS

Washington, D.C. 28 April 1868.

DEAR FATHER

Yesterday Morning General Howard^{1O. O. Howard.} came to me and said: have you sent your father my report, or rather Mr. Eliots^{2Thomas Dawes Eliot (1808–70) was born in Boston and graduated from Columbian College (now George Washington University), in Washington, D.C., in 1825. He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1825 and represented New Bedford, Massachusetts, as a Whig in the state’s house and senate in the 1830s and 1840s. After serving one year in Congress (1854–55) to fill a vacancy, he declined renomination. An early Republican, Eliot returned to Congress for five terms (1859–69) and was a leading radical on Reconstruction issues. He worked with abolitionists in drafting the initial legislation to create the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Land, later chairing the House committee overseeing the bureau. His committee issued a report on 10 March 1868 that gave a favorable appraisal of the bureau’s accomplishments and called for its legislative reauthorization. After retiring from Congress, Eliot returned to his law practice in New Bedford. McPherson, Struggle for Equality, 187–89, 308; BDUSC (online).} report? I answered no when he replied that he would send one immediately, because: said he your father wants the negro “let alone”, “the Bureau to be done away with &.” he say’s I dont understand him, and I hope he will read this report and look over the statistics.

This morning Mr. Langston^{3At this period, John Mercer Langston worked as the inspector of schools for the Freedmen’s Bureau in its Washington headquarters. Foner, Reconstruction, 143.} wants to know of me what you mean by your “Philadelphia speech” as reported by the Press. The Genl. says to me, “you must write to your father and give him the facts as to the condition of the freedmen in the South,[”] he said also that he agreed with you

in letting them alone, but there are a great many old and infirm colored people that would perish if let alone.^{4While Langston and General Howard were probably alluding to newspaper reports of a speech delivered at Concert Hall in Philadelphia on 14 April 1868, Douglass used this phrase frequently in speeches during this era, such as on 11 May 1869 at the anniversary meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society in New York City, when he declared: “My politics in regard to the negro is simply this: Give him fair play and let him alone, but be sure that you give him fair play.” Douglass’s Philadelphia speech was covered by the Philadelphia Press, a Republican newspaper owned by the veteran journalist John W. Forney. Douglass Papers, ser. 1, 4:202; Philadelphia Press, 15 April 1868; McPherson, Struggle for Equality, 188–89; NCAB, 3: 267–68; DAB, 6: 526–27.} The Genl. was very pleasant, but thought that you could not understand the condition of the freed people.

You will see that the Genl. sends his report to you with his compliments.

The Impeachment trial is drawing gradually to a close. We here are confident of a conviction.^{5The impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson in the U.S. Senate did not conclude until the final, unsuccessful vote on 26 May 1868. Foner, Reconstruction, 333–37; McPherson, Struggle for Equality, 384–85.}

Love to all Aff. Your Son

CHARLES R. DOUG LASS

ALS: General Correspondence File, reel 2, frames 369R–70, FD Papers, DLC.