Frederick Douglass to Charles Sumner, April 29, 1869

FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO CHARLES SUMNER

Rochester[, N.Y.] 29 Apr[il] 1869.

HON: CHAS. SUMNER.

MY DEAR SIR:

Let an old friend mingle his voice with that of the nation. Voices, once heard with wrath and disparagement, are now clear and melodious with praise. You are the same. Only the nation is changed. During nearly twenty years you have been to a few of us the leading statesman of the Republic. Only during the last few days, you have been so acknowledged by the nation. I am glad the recognition has come at last. Grand and masterly as is your speech^{1Senator Charles Sumner, then chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, delivered a lengthy speech relaying his committee’s recommendation that the Senate reject the Johnson-Clarendon Treaty, an almost unheard-of proposal at that point. In the thirty-page document, Sumner lays out why he believes the agreement would be abhorrent to the members of his committee and, furthermore, to all Americans. Sumner’s complaint equates Britain’s maritime support of the Confederacy—including recognition, shipbuilding (most notoriously the C.S.S. Alabama), the provision of armaments, and the use of safe harbors—to aiding and abetting the creation of a pirate state designed to wage war on the United States. Sumner also argues that Great Britain should remain liable both politically and financially for these actions, and states that any agreement not formally recognizing this culpability would be inappropriate, incomplete, and beneficial to no party. Charles Sumner, Our Claims on England: Speech of the Hon. Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, Delivered in Executive Session of the Senate, April 13, 1869: On the Johnson-Clarendon Treaty for the Settlement of Claims (Washington, D.C., 1869).} on the “Johnson Clarendon Treaty”^{2The Johnson-Clarendon Treaty was a proposed settlement to ease ongoing tensions between the United States and Great Britain resulting from the latter’s support and recognition of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Less than a month after the attack on Fort Sumter, Great Britain issued a formal declaration recognizing the Confederate States of America as a belligerent state on both land and sea, thus allowing it access to materials and equal consideration under international law. The treaty was named for its authors, Reverdy Johnson, the American minister to the United Kingdom, and Lord Clarendon (George William Frederick Villiers), secretary of state for foreign affairs for the United Kingdom. The agreement would have made all lawsuits related to Britain’s support of the South into personal suits subject to arbitration, closed all suits after a certain date, and, most problematically, conferred no responsibility or liability on the United Kingdom for its actions. The treaty was negotiated in haste during the waning days of Andrew Johnson’s administration, and was one of the first treaties primarily negotiated via the new transatlantic cable. James G. Blaine, Twenty Years of Congress: From Lincoln to Garfield; with a Review of the Events Which Led to the Political Revolution of 1860, 2 vols. (Norwich, Conn., 1884–86), 2: 496–97.}—it is no greater than a

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dozen others you have made before. You have so linked your name with the cause of my race that we share in all your triumphs—we are brighter for your glory—but your time is precious—and I must trespass no longer

Very truly yours

FREDERICK DOUG LASS

ALS: General Correspondence File, reel 2, frame 475, FD Papers, DLC.