New Era from Washington, District of Columbia • 2

THE NEW ERAf SELLA XABTIH, Editor. FEED1 DOUGLASS, Corresponding Editor. Ooaiamaications for the editorial department should be iddnuad, Editor New Era, Lock Box 31. Business letters and communications from subscribers and advertisers, should be addressed. Publishers New ra, Leek Box 31.

The leaders of Frederick Douglass, Esq our Corresponding Editor, vrfll be deeignstcd thus This paper is not responsible for lb- express-d by Correspondents. THURSDAY, MAY 5, The National Labor Union at its recent meeting adopted the New Era as the organ of that body. Subscription Price of the New Era. tv anvANCE. in 1 oopy one year $2 60 1 copy six months 1 25 1 1 oopy three months 65 5 copies one year 10 00 5 oopies six months 5 50 11 copies one year 20 (X) 10 copies six 10 (HI Do not delay subscribing.

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The fee for registering is fifteen t. Address? pabluhfra efw era, Lock Box No. 31, 1 WatiilDgton, D. C. Negro Industry.

All reports from purely rebel or Conserva- tive newspapers on the subject of negro industry are full of a sort of ingenuity of mis- representation and a recklessness in misstatement peculiar to the writers who till their columns. Now, we admit all that is charged against the worst of our people, but we also demand proper concessions as to the virtues of the best among us. Stripped of everything in the start, we have nevertheless kept pace, in proportion 1 to our opportunities, with our white fellow 1 citizens. 8 Industry aud economy are taking form in 3 various commercial enterprises among us. Joint stock, trading, as well as industrial companies, are being formed in the North and South, carried on entirely by colored men.

There are more than fifty freedmen's banks doing a flourishing in New York, another at the Capital of the Nation, and the rest at other points throughout the country. There are no less than twenty newspapers published by colored men aud there are scores of benevolent organizations intended to aid those in need among their brethren, the yearly receipts and expenditure of one of which amounts to $15,000 per annum. The negroes never demanded more for their cause, than that it should be lifted out of the dim region of propheey into the clearer atmosphere of experiment, it was sneeringly said a by the opponents of our cause, that the white a friends of it had tried to whitewash the negro, and failing in that, they had tried to gild him. But the slave-holding characteristics, brought 8 out by the terrible heat of the iate war, which 1 consumed slavery, showed that the oppressor needs the soap and the gilt more than the negro. 1 And now that they have been cleansed, the 1 results have every feature of permanence about them.

They have nothing in common with re- suits of a newborn zeal without knowledge. They show rather the crystilization of simple qualities, which needed only certain conditions to give them a form at once natural, beautiful, and permanent. Not only are the negroes at work where they a are able to get work, but they are working on the very plantations where they were once slaves. Not only are they making money in many instances, but they are buying with it the very land which has been so long cursed by thtir blood and their tears. And many of oar people who were boru in the North, and possesg many of the pecuniary and educational advantages to be gained in freedom, have gone South to swell the numbers of their race, and to increase its intelligence a and wealth.

But better even than the intrinsic value of these hopeful results, is the fact, that the white Americans who are not blind to the inevitable, have accepted them in a frank and cordial spirit. The old spirit of prejudice against color received its coup de grace when Mr. Llkcoln issued his immortal proclamation of emancipation, and its winding sheet was put upon it when the reconstruction bill gave every negro man a vote, and now its epitaph has been written by the fifteenth amendment. We say to our Southern friends, the inevitable is npon you. "Let us have peace." The Colonization Society.

At the request of a subscriber, we print in another column the impressions of a white lady while observing the Philadelphia celebration of the ratification of the fifteenth amendment, The letter is written in a kindly and con- a eientious spirit, and therefore our St. Thomas Church friends will pardou apparent effort at patronizing them in the discription of the I church service on the occasion referred to. We, too, must take issue with our correspondent as to the views expressed in favor of the Colonization Society. It is of little account, one way or the other, whether the men who founded that Society were good or not; this is certain, namely that men who at that time were good to the is, who were abolitionists that Society soon alter helping to found it, or after joining it, under a misapprehension. Gkrrit Smith, William Lloyd Garrison, Lewis Tapfon, and in fact every abolitionist who continued so to the eud, forsook the So- i cietv.

and followed it ever after ith anathamas. Bat a better proof still of its intention of getting rid of the free colored people, is found in the fact that Henry Clay, its president, at one time distinctly stated that to be the object In the speeches of the men who followed, the statement was made over and over again that the free negro was a ntfisance. The Society may do well to change its policy now and talk about the good of Africa, but ftfteen or twenty years ago it talked only about 1 the good of America in getting rid of its free negro population. It may have some antielavtry men in its ranks but, judging from the character of the managers of the secretaries and those who are gulling people to make a living for themselves, and publishing manifestoes about negroes crowding to their ships to leave their say judging by these things, the same old baud of sharks has hold of the concern as of yors. Colored people hare always had ths sagacity to pick out their friends from their enemies, and it is too late for evtft oar fair correspondent to teach us in this Rev.

Dr. Sunderland. Sorae half dozen years ago Dr. Sunoeki.ano took the responsibility of giving away one of his evening services to a seculir lecture. Had he given it for a lecture on polygamy the people would have heard the representative of Brighav Young out of mere curiosity.

Nobody would have got angry, because of tbeir belief in the strength of evangelical principles. Had it been given to an infidel, it would have been understood that the learned Uoctor meant to draw him out for the purpose of annihilating him. Had it been granted to a Roman Catholic, all would have consented, because of the known ability of the pastor to deal with the very high pretensions of this religion. But it was found out before the lecture began that, though it was to be auti-polygamous, opposed to infidelity, and it was also to be anti-slavery. Ah, there was the rub The good Christian people of the First Presbyterian Church were willing to sell babies for i hundred dollars to pat in the missionary box for the conversion of the heathen in foreign lauds, but they repudiated their own when a heathen with a black skin appeared before them to tell them what the Lord had done ror him in snatching hini as a brand from the jurning of slavery to make hira a torchlight the pathway of freedom.

But, though Frederick Douglass spoke in I)r. Sunderland's bureh through the Doctor's firmness, the Doctor has never fully recovered the loss of members and so-called influence it occasioned and low the Doctor turns up again, the champion )f anti-slavery. The Fifth Presbyterian Church of this city a building erected by the Rev. John C. Smith, a venerabledivineof the old pro-slavery good man for that sort of work, hut troublesome man for our times.

He built he church, and means to control it and if a ninister is settled over it whom he cannot conrol, he either talks up Smith's paternity or lse moves in Presbytery "that the pastoral elation be dissolved" whenever his influence ihall have ereated dissention. This motion he ilways carries, because there are always ueihews and boys of this latter jhrase in the olden in he Presbytery who are ready to say Yes, Noyks, Glover, and Rogers are of this slass. At the last meeting of Presbytery the only nan in the Presbytery, except Mr. Hart? who was to defeated because of his antilavery Dr. Sunderland lought to secure something like the justice vhich the Canons of the church demand but le was defeated, and as he said washed his lands of the whole matter." It would be well he would wash his hands of the whole Pres1 ana go into some section ui our where talents like his would be apprec iated nstead of remaining here on this dead level of where a minister sinks to the perieus of a solicitor for place to secure would be well for him to escape from hat monotony of interest which makes a minster of the new school Presbyterian Church a narvel if he is an honest man in the of his opinions or else turns him into a companion of naked applicants for office.

)r. Sunderland is one of those ministers who lave withstood the pro-slavery and the mercen try influences of the Presbyterian church here, ind on that account he is unpopular among the old citizens. When he rose the other day defend Rev. William Hart who is another inti-slavery man, the Presbytery found means squelch him off. The effort was to get rid )f Mr.

Hart, and he was as well satisfied as to get rid of a people who pledged in the lame of God to pay him his salary that he night support his family but have never lone it. All honor to Dr. Sunderland, aud success the Rev. Wm. Hart.

Neither criticism tor congratulations will do the Presbytery of he District of Columbia any good, aud would be out of place against a body holy. decision of tbe Baltimore Court. In view of the infamous decision of the Daliuiore Court, in regard to public teoisiou which allows separate cars for colored hope our people will suspend in the interest of manhood, and give ip for a time the profits of business at the suggestion of a greater convenience, by refusing ride on the railroad at all while there are eparate cars. Let it be known you will uot ride on the and there will be plenty of enterprising men eady to start other modes of conveyance. At anv rate it will not be long before all dis inction will be dropped on the railroad itself' we refuse to ride in proscribed curs.

We would advise all colored travellers to go uto what seats they find vacant, uud let the oad take the responsibility of tbrowng them out. It inay be that a better decision vill be gained before a better court. The "White Men." The "Whit? Men" are quarreling. There ire two organizations claiming the name, and he advantages, if any result therefrom. First, the Dover King had called a county eeting, at Dover, for May 10th.

The call manates from the Delawarean office, and is a iona fide Saulsbury affair, vouched for by igent, Mr. J. L. Smith, chairman of the County ixecutire Committee. It reads as follows "A Democratic Mass party of Kent county will hold a mass ueeting at Dover, on Tuesday, the 10th of May lext.

All true white men, who are opposed to the legradation of their own race, and to being placed on terms of political and social equality vith negroes, are invited to be present and to Participate in the deliberations of the meeting, vithout regard to former political associations. When bad men conspiregood men must ind we therefore coraially invite all true white nen to meet the Democracy on that day, and encourage by their presence, and aid by their lounsels, in thwarting the evil purposes of the nen and party that are trying to force negro 1 aL rii uuruge auu equality upon mo state. By order of the Democratic Central Coniuittee of Kent county. L. Smith, Chairman." Such is a call issued by the followers of iaulsburv in Delaware.

Poor Delaware, the tip Van Winkle of States, labors in her knightaare of prejudice and proscription under the that the world stands now exactly where 1 stood when Delaware went to sleep. In its torrid dreams it sees, no doubt, the slave-pen the Capital, droves of slaves passing through he streets of Washington, and free colored sold on charges creating sedition, tut we are in the midst of different times, and ve thank Delaware for her stubbornness in iringing them about. 8end on Your receive a great nany letters, saying that several subscribers lave been obtained, and requesting us to forrard the papers, and they will remit as soon as i certain number of subscribers are procured. Ve keep of account with subscribers, cannot send any paper until the money is eceived. Our friends should send the uames, oith the money, just as fast as they are chained, to prevent dissatisfaction on the part of he subscribers.

We are profoundly surprised at Governo i Alcorn's message in reference to the estah I lishment of different schools for white and col ored children, and we fee! shamefully that an indignant repudiation of his doctrine has not been made on the part of the colore people. Mississippi is theonly State that has a colore representative in either house of Congress, he has the proud pre-eminence of having take; a seat nest to the Presidential chair; and sha! it be said that, with a Senator recognized all as one of two representatives in the mos 1 august body of the nation, his child skull nc be entitled to a seat in the nearest comniui school of the school district in which he live in Mississippi? hat a tremendous anomaly hat wild inconsistency! What a miserabl disgrace! What a senseless piece of Colly We had marked Gov. Alcorn in ourealenda as utif of the saints of rebel one of the knights of negro equality but her we have it in black and white, that Lonostrke 1w MiKtur ill 1-liiinilfV hooonsn liu ic ii-il'ili to huve his sons work with colored men in th collector's office. while Alcorn refuses let his sons visit the same school in which th children of a Senator of State are taught Rut what have our colored friends to say Are they prepared to concede this most unjus discrimination in a State where they have tw Republican votes to one? It may be answered that, if the eohred pet I pie split off from their white Republican friend 1 the Democrats will come in. In God's nam i let them come, for they can do no more thai poison the fountain of our political existence and Governor Alcorn has done his best to that.

The cry is, that the whites will not send thei children to school ii it he made a eoiniuoi school. Very well let those who have preju dices pay for them. If the whites must hav white schools, let them hire private teacher and pay them out of their private purse. The; have the riyht to send their children to th common school. If they want any other, tha is not the fault of the State, the county, or th township but their own choice.

Shall our people yield to such a diabolica arrangement as separate schools? What is th effect? It poisons the mind of both classes and black. It makes the white child sssuiue superiorit; over the colored child, and it disposes the col ored child to concede it. Or, if he refuses to re cognise any such claim of superiority, onisms are fostered in the races almost froii the cradle. We trust that the voice of our people will heard in such resistless protests as will defen this wicked effort to perpetuate strife betweei the two races. We doubt not that Governor Alcorn will able to realize, and that verv soon, the fals position in which he has placed himself; am that he will recede rom it.

when he learns wha interpretation all honest Republicans put upoi his conduct. ilbcrforce nli We owe it to Bishop Payne that the Methc dist Church has such a sound and useful insti tution of learning as Wilberforce University Witli that sort of zeal which always glows though it may never blaze, and with a faith a genuine as his zeal, Bishop Payne has gon forward in his love for this, the first great edu catioual institution established by colored me with marked success. Vet he has not achievei entire success. The University needs aid fo building purposes as for educational ol jects, and our friend, John Cousins, th president of the Board of Trustees, has beei rightfully entrusted with the responsible dutie of agent. We trust that our friends, recognizing th importance of this institution among the Meth odist, and the great work the Methodists ar doing in the South in elevating the people, wil freely respond to the call of Mr.

Cousins. Elans IIreftltianil and Johnny Itch "A disconsolate planter has addressed tin editor of the Yaldnsta Times thus "Mr. 1 coomed here vor blants ten acre cooms no rain am starve half mine crop. Den rust and eat hall Tain tuyvel nigger schwearby iiirnmel half i hiinits. Den 1 bays half to ship do cotton am pick him.

Mine Gott, den where mine cotton Chiuamon, room Diedrich. We find this in the Chesterfield Deviocrat Uur Democratic friends seem to have learnei nothing from the past, and to be destitute all sagacity as to the future The negro is master of the Southern soil In acclimatisation, and it will be to the interest the land owner to make him still more inter ested hy co-operative profits. For whei Europeans come into the South, they will sooi learn that, the negro is the most profitabl laborer, and will begin to employ hup, and a the European possesses less prejudice agaius mere color, is more enduring under hardship has less impatience with those who have no had his advantages, it will not be long befor the Germans and others will have the pick hands, and those who imported these foreigner as servants will meet them in the markets a rivals. Most of the emigrants who go South arc people of some means; all of them are peopl of experience in contending with unfavorabl conditions, and the Americans will soon teacl them the facility of making bargains changing trades. If, therefore, Johnny lleb chooses to lose tin chances offered by the fifteenth amendment making enemies of the negro, and wishes risk the chances of making true friends of people who dislike the South for its past injus tiee to the negro, and who despise its sillines in raising a useless rebellion, and keeping a still more senseless prejudice, he may do so but we warn him beforehand, that the Hernial people and other European emigrants read tin papers in ttheir own country, and know tha Jeff.

Davis has failed, Lee has surrendered and Richmond has fallen. They are not likeh to barter away their birthright of freedom au effete system of proscription, where cannot get even a mess of pottage in exchange Hemmed in by a pride which prevents educated Southerner from mingling with mei of the world, befooled by a cant in regard carpet-baggers and scallawags unworthy at onci of his intelligence and the seriousness of hi i 1 111 .1 1 situation, auu nanueu uy prejuuioes wnieh siiu up the pathway to preferment, he has causei the whole South to stand in sullen looks agaius true members of free society. They are voca with abuse of the negro and with threats agains the loyal native whites who, born among them better understand the signs of the times. Is it not time that men whom we had beei led to regard as educated, should drop thei: vehemence of temper and cease their violenci of language, and leave off the arts of the deina gogue The colored people had as lief worl for a native Southerner as for any one else 1 hey had rather keep on good terms with then than-not. But the day for ridicule, antagon ism and threats has forever past; and if John ny Reb has not learned it, Hans will teach him the lesson.

I NEW Krt CieniuN and Km Eiactionn. We publish a well wiitten and sensible letter i- from one of our correspondents, and desire to say we sympathise with our young friend's ded sire to learn a trade we sympathise, too, with the disappointed relatives. These are stirring times, and we hail with joy all arousings or signs of life but we would say to pareut3, end courage your children to learn trades, even though you are firmly couvinced of their gen nius. It will do them great good, even though II it be found afterwards that they succeed in some I field ot literature or in a profession. We would it encourage your ambition for the success of your ohildreu.

Give them every opportunity for development that in your power then is give them freedom of choice, that they may succeed in what they undertake. AV have seen in all our large cities young men just from college unable to get such ploymentas comported, in their estimation, with the acquirements of a graduate, and as prejue dice frowned them back from the couutingt room and the newspaper office, they uursed moir wounded pride, nod thought it proper ambition. Their parents nursed their foolish vanity, and thought it self-respect, until Greek and Latin went tumbling into the gutter car. rving their master with them. Young men, the first great thing is to be it honest, then you will be industrious, and honesty and industry will bring their own rewards American Medical Association.

The Medical Convention, in coming from New Orleans to Washington, seems to have brought with it all the prejudices characteristic of, the lost cause. On its assemblage here the Com0 rnittee ou Credentials submitted their report, in which they state that they have excluded the delegates from the National Medical Society, D. C. American Academy of Medicine, D. l- Howard University Medical College Alumni Association of Medical Department Georgcs towu College also, the three hospitals in this city.

The reason assigned is their consultae tion with colored physicians. Notwithstandit ing they have regularly graduated, all the white physicians as well as the three colored in these organizations are thus ruled out. They number, in the aggregate, about twenty-five, Tne rejected delegates, with a number of those if from Northern States the American Medical Association, held a meeting last night and exy pressed their indignation at the course of the Committee on Credentials. How demorolizing as well as blind is prejudice, when it can thus control and biud men a who, from the education they have received and the position they seein to guarantee that they are gentlemen. Stranger than all, it seems that a dead and rotten system, which has made this country stink in the nostrils of the great powers of the world, should still retain the power to benumb the senses of such men, and keep their reason dormant beyond 1 auything else produced in this age of chloroform Mr.

Speech. There seems to be an unnecessary tiutter over the Philadelphia speech of our distinguished Corresponding Editor. Some people are asking, Hasn't he gone o' er to the Democracy who were thene elves Democrats when Mr. Douglass was lay ing the foundations of Republicanism. A ftdpit tllA tl'lln illiilf irwta rual "In hood, there are fresh sympathies and noble purposes in the bosom of the greatest of his race on this continent to make it always sale to trust him.

But an experience such as his makes him doubly in himself and strong among strong men. Mr. Douglass has doue as much as any living man to kill the Democratic party, and it is not likely he means at this late day to embrace a corpse. Look 41 sit tor Them. i- There are some colored men here getting money to help, as they say, colored people to 1 go further South.

We warn our friends in Congress that every such solicitor is a humbug, and that all such schemes are cheats. There are plenty of responsible and intelligent colored men in the District oi whom to enquire as to the truthfulness of any statement atlectj ing the colored people and if our frieuds in Congress will allow themselves to be imposed r. upon without consulting such, it will bo their own fault. We have Jerry Meddidlers among us who will tako advantage of the noblest sympathies and the most sacred of feelings to cheat and steal the money of the public. If our frieuds rt desire tn do lie anv irood.

let them pnnniro nf men of character and standing before dispensing their alms, and they will thereby gain this double advantage, of using their mouey well aud of helping to kill off rogues. The Iticlimond Calamity. a i Every heart has been moved with sorrow, syui pathy and condolence over the Richmond cala amity. The crowded tioor of the court room fell 't in, aud up to this time nearly a hundred persons have been sacrificed to the stupidity or the cut pidity which allowed a public building to ree main thus insecure. Richmond is in mourning, many of her families are in destitution while orphans and widows are hound to the bitter re8 suits of this dreadful catastrophe.

But the usual responses of manliness will be made for the suffering and as far as may be, the alHicted will be comforted, with sympathy and national aid. May the father of the orphan aud the li widows, (lod, be near to succor those who look i to him in their great calamity. Internal receipts of iutery ual revenue for the week ending Saturday, 0 April 30th, were as follows, viz April 25th, $321,329.83 April 20th, April 27th, $598,086.38 April 28th, April 29th, $749,743.91 April 30th, $585,067.20. The receipts for the eutire month of April 1 were $13,300,188.34 against $12,100,053.91 ree ceived during the corresponding month of 1809 I thus showing a gain of 146,134.43 in favor of the present year. rif'teeiifli Amendment Celep bratlon in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia, April 27, 1870. Mv Dear The great celebration of the i fifteenth amendment passed off finely yester day. I set out in the morning over part of the route of the parade to see the decorations. took Lombard street, at Twelfth, and walked dfwu to Fifth. That generally plain street I looked lively with flags and other decorations, The occupants of the houses were mostly out 1 of doors looking happy and important, and dist playing rosettes and miniature flags.

Passing up Fifth street 1 came to St. Thomas', the African Episcopal Church, and, seeing a rel spectable looking colored woman entering, I thought 1 would go in too, and hear an address a suitable to the day. The service had begun, and was well conducted throughout. The eingt ing and responses were heartily rendered, and the sermon was very good. The minister gave a sketch of his race's condition in this country since the first cargo of slaves was landed in Virginia in 1620.

He referred to their services in the Revolutionary War and in the War of 1812, and the failure of the Government to re quite them. He dwelt, too, ou their courage and faithfulness in the rebellion. He gave to a John Brown the credit of fatally wounding the ti tree of slavery, to Lincoln the credit of uproot- I ing it, and to Grant the honor of planting in its ii place the tree of liberty so securely that its branches would spread and shelter all the in- habitants of our common country. I The minister's pronunciation and elocutiou generally were very good and the only thing to which I took exception was the way in which he spoke of the Colonization Society, I do not believe that the founders of that so- a eiety meant to send off only the freedmen, that the fetters of the slave might be more securely riveted. Some of its supporters might have i 1 been influenced by such ideas.

The society has never doue any harm to the cause of free- dom, and has helped them more than they can i yet see. It lias furnished a standing evidence of the African's capacity for self-government, aud it has elevated the condition of the colon- ists. 1 am pretty certain that most of the colonists would not oe so well on it tbey bad remained in this eouutrv. 1 took a stand on Broad street about one o'clock to witness the parade, and had a pretty good of the heads and shoulders of those on foot. The crowd pressed up so close to the procession as to obstruct the view of those in 1 the houses.

After seeing all I could see there, I went to cousin Wm's. on Arch, above Broad, near the end of the route. Being in the second story, I had a tine and although many must have left the it was near 6 P. procession was twenty minutes passing the house. Portraits of Lincoln and Grant were in the ascendent.

One of Grant had the inscription, "our boys in another, "our choice for President in '72." I have just discovered the "rhyme" and I thought that 1 saw good "reason" in it, too, as I was walking home last evening. In the beginning of our independent political existence Washington was "first in war and first in and, on the first centenary anniversary on the 4th of July, 1876, who more fit for the administration of the Presidential office during that imposing commemoration than he who "let us have peace" and establish- ed liberty and equal rights throughout the laud and after a war gruater in magnitude and in consequences than the war of the Revolution. M. L. P.

llll I I Genius and its To the Editor of the New Era I have got over it. 1 feel reconciled, though 1 for a time, felt badly hurt. You remember the little poem 1 sent you for publication, I have anxiously watched for the paper every wppk for t.bp lust month exneotimr to mv 1 little gem, and 1 felt my heart palpitating when 1 thought of editorial commendation. I made a call recently, during which a wholesome indulgence was granted rat. My call was upon an editor's assistant who was looking over the correspondence of his paper, casually asked, do you have much matter sent you for publication.

He quietly opened a drawer, anddisclosed to my gaze an amount of letters that surprised me; and I asked how long have these been accumulating? Oh, he said it is this week's batch, if I succeed in tinding the ten letters I require for the week from this lot that are suitable to publish, shall be thankful. I was astonished, but ventured to inquire how about poetry, do you have much sent you? He opened another drawer, and gave me permission to count the number of neat little rolls I saw within, there were 100. 1 was awed at the immense amount of genius this age was blessed with, and that too contemporaneous with my- self. I went home a sadder man, feeling that I had experienced a great sorrow. My air castle, the great central figure of which was a 1 poet, was shattered.

I looked at my pen which 1 I had proudly thought the key which should open it to the world, and show such countless fi treasures as something that had led me to paint myself as an animal with long ears, and put it from my sight. Mr. Editor, I beg your par- don, for I have thought you the arrogant, and i jealous enemy of rising genius, now I pity you. But sir, please allow me to confess that 1 am not wholly responsible for my ambition. 1 am regarded by my family as a geuius, and they i are convinced that it is only diffidence that keeps me from being a shiniug light in the liter- ary world.

I I have asked for a trade, but my father is offended, my mother deeply wouuded, to fiud ji that, after keeping uio in school until I gradu- i 1 1 1. 1 s.ieu, i nave no in wnom is cen- tered their pride and from whom they have expected so much. And I am perfectly misera- hie, for the fires of genius won't burn, notwith- standing the blowing and labor brought to bear upon it. My greatest relief is when my aunt comes storming and declaring, aud doing generally what she calls putting her foot down, and threatening, as a final act, to wash her a hands of us, if Sarah is weak enough to allow Wendell Garrision to learn a trade; for these scenes furnish a change, and the anger induced invigorates me. Well, sir, the pressure pro- dueed the poem.

My aunt has taken a violent dislike to the I New Eka, and prophecies that it will not be supported, and my poem has been sent South 8 to a paper which is supposed to have a more appreciative editor and how 1 tremble, for my future, 1 fear, will be decided by it. If ac- ccpted, my family will be convinced of my ability, and uiy pan, I fear, will be finally used to chronicle that great genius has made mo mad, and that 1 am the member of a lunatic 11 asylum or, happily, it may be rejected, and 1 permitted to be an ordinary individual, and support myself by laboring with my hands. Wendell Garrison Douglass. 8 Celebration in Wilkeabarre, Pa. 1 Wilkesbarre, May 2, 1870.

To the Editor of the Era The colored citizens of Luzerne county cele- brated the ratification of the fifteenth amend- 0 mont on the 20th ultimo, in this borough. The demonstration was one fitting the occasion, This county is a Democratic stronghold, and the new citizens, as they paraded the streets with the glorious banner of liberty unfurled, did not fail to make known to all who witnessed the procession that their new privileges should be exercised uncompromisingly in the interest of justice and humanity, for among the nu- merous banners which they carried there was one with the inscription: We owe our re- demption to the Republican party the party 13 of reason." After divine service in the morn- ing, and the parade, which took place in the afternoon at four o'clock, a public meeting was held in one of the large halls of the town. It was well tilled by both whites and blacks. Professor P. H.

Murry, of Pennsylvania, de- livered the oration of the day. Though young ti in the field, his address was an honor to the occasion, a credit to himself, and also the race with whom he is identified, as part and parcel. Several other speakers addressed the meeting, I Only a very few partook too freely of ardent tl spirits; but all the participants were intoxi- 81 cated with the spirit of liberty. The festivi- jj1 ties of the day closed with a ball, which passed 0j off in the most creditable manner. I The Democrats here have takpn the initiative tep t) put the fifteenth amendment into prac- ical operatiou by the appointment of Henry J.

Hill (colored) as a road-viewer. Mr. Hill i a man of thrift and respectability, he is a hoernaker by trade, and is now doing a very food business. It is also announced that Jas. a colored man, who keeps a firstlass restaurant here, is to be the Democratic andidate for side judge of the court of this ounty.

This action on the part of the Denocracy of Luzerne county has been thrown out is a bait to catch the negro vote, but Mr. Dareuger is not very enticing worm for those vho are acquainted with his proclivities to for he has refused to do for his own race hat which he did others under similar in keeping a place for the public, people were execluded, and in couseluence of this there is feeling of a indignaion prevailing against him amongst the and some of the whites also. Yours, respectfully, B. F. Towns.

(elcbratfou at Ilaleigb, C. To the Editor of the Xew Era Your efforts to acquaint the readers of the Sew Era with the doings and condition of our jeople in all parts of the country, assures us hat you will not exclude from the columns of rour much valued paper a brief notice of the taken by the people ot Raleigh in the treat rejoicing in honor of the adoption of the ifteenth amendment. Having considered the address of Bishop Campbell to the churches of his dioces as apilicable to all the churches throughout the conlection, Uev. W. W.

Morgan, pastor of the V. M. E. Church in this city, notified his congregation thatTuesday, the '26th of observed as a day of thanksgiving and iraise to Almighty God for this grand and gloious blessing which we have received at His land. Accordingly a large and attentive congregaion of all (all haviug been inrited) assembled in the A.M.

K. Church on the lay appointed, at o'clock, when the were commenced by singing on page 204, 4 Oh, thou God of my After an eloquent and impressive prayer by Uev. N. S. Farrar, and a beautiful anthem by he choir, Rev.

Mr. Morgan, after reading the Praise the Lord," proceeded address the congregation from the 36th and 17th verses of the 59th Psalm, 44 He shall cry," tcc. The discourse was one of mpressive, and appropriate. It wa9 very interesting and instructive, during its delivery the strictest attention was bserved. On few occasions have we heard a nore suitable and touching address.

Alter Mr. Morgan had closed, short and able iddresses were delivered by Revs. N. S. Farar, G.

W. Brodie, and H. Lockhart, vhen the meeting closed by singing 44 Blow ye he trumpet" and benediction. Preparations are being made for a grand denonstration on the 11th of May, the occasion if the assembling of the Republican State Con mention. The programme is not yet announced, but ve have every reason to believe that it will be i perfect success.

Respectfully, Chas. N. Hdntkr. ipeech of Frederick Douglass at Tweddie Hall, Albany, 4pril 1 have no fixed and formal speech to make to fou to-day. The event we celebrate is its own jest speech.

It exceeds all speech, and language is tame in its presence. It has rolled in lpon us a joyous surprise, and seeibs almost oo good to be true. You did not expect to see it; I did not to see it; no man living did expect to live see this day. In our moments of unusual uental elevations and heart-longings, some of is may havo caught glimpses of it afar off; we taw it only by the strong, clear, earnest eye of aith, but none dared even to hope to stand lpon the earth at its coming. Yet here it is.

3ur eyes behold it, our ears hear it, our hearts eel it, and there is no doubt or illusion about t. The black man is free, the black man is a jitizen, the black man is enfranchised, and this the organic law of the land. No more a ilave, no more a fugitive slave, do more a desjised and hated creature, but a man, and, what more, a man among men. Henceforth we live iu a new world. The lun does not rise nor set for us as formerly.

'Old things have passed away, and all things lave become new." I once went abroad among men with all my erect. There was cause for it. I always ooked for insult and bufferings, and was sellom disappointed in finding them. Now civility the rule, and insult the exception. At last, at last, the black man has a future, heretofore all was dark, mysterious, choatic.

iVe were chained to all the unutterable horrors never-ending fixedness. Others might and make progress, but for us there was lothing but the unending monotony of stugnaion, of moral, mental, and social death. The is now lifted. The dismal of slavery has passed away. To-day we ire free American citizens.

We have ourselves, ve have a couutry, und we have a future in ommon with other meu. One of the most remarkable features of this jrand revolution is it thoroughness. Never vas revolution more complete. Nothing has left for time. probation has been The Hebrews tarried in the wilderness orty years before they reached the land of iromise.

The West India slaves had their seaon of apprenticeship. Feudal slavery died a ingering death in Europe. Hayti rose to freelum only by degrees and by limited coucesions. Religious liberty as now enjoyed came inly in slow installments; but our liberty has ome all at once, full and complete. The most xacting could not ask more than we have got; he most urgent could not have demanded it aore promptly.

We have all we asked, and nore than we expected. Even William Lloyd Garrison (I speak it not eproachfully) halted when the advance to sufrage was sounded and he was not alone. It eemed too much to ask, that a people so long ccustomed to the restraints of slavery should all at once lifted into the complete freedom citizenship. It was too fast and too far. tor once, the clear-eyed preacher, pioneer and irophet failed to discern the signs of the times.

Vhile the midnight darkness of slavery lasted, i tone more clearly than he saw the true course, more steadily pursued it; but the first treak of daylight confused his vision, and he abed; while at halt, a part of the hosts he i lad led moved on. While we can never fully i iay the debt of gratitude we owe to William i doyd Garrison for his long and powerful adocacy of our emancipation from chattel slaery, other names loom up for grateful men- ion when equal suffrage is under cousidera- i ion. i We cannot be too grateful to the brave and i ood mfin through whoan pvprHnna nnr onfVon. hiseroent has been accomplished. It would, of ourse, be impossible to do justice to all who ave participated in this noble work.

We have .0 scales by which to weigh and measure the alue of our individual benefactors. This must left to other times and other men. Imparial history will bring many who are obscure ar a moment into future notice, and willshowr upon their memories all merited honors. In lis hour of joy and gratitude we can do no tore than view the grand army as a whole, and ow our heads in warmest admiration and gratiade to all. A few names, however, staud at the heads of whose merits are above debate.

these we may speak without being invidius. Some are living some are dead. ae living let us remember Wendell Phillips? lanwhom none have been more vigilant, clearghted, earnest, true and eloquent. Without race, without party, only a handful at his back, has done more to lead and mould public pinion in favor of equal suffrage than any man know of. After Phillips, let us remember Theodore Til ton and the Independent; it wa? mainly through Mr.

Tilton and Anna E. Dickinson that the Loyal Convention three yearn ago, against the protests of Border State men, inscribed upon its banner the vital principle of the fifteenth amendment, and thus forced its recognition upon the great Republican party. The speaker was a delegate from the city of Rochester. He was urged to keep out of that Convention. Governors united in a petition that he should be excluded, because he would turn the scale against us, and his presence would give our enemies a handle to defeat us a club to knock down the Republican But he was bound to go it.

Among ail that crowd of Republicans there was scarcely one who was ready to welcome a colored man to the Convention. Theodore Tilton was the only man who dared to walk through the streets with a black man. The boldness, address, firmness and sagacity of that young man. on that occasion, filled me with admiration and gratitude. He was the only one who advovated the fifteenth amendment.

He dared to advocate it against the opposition of the leading men who placed John Minor Bitts in the chair, and made a speech in favor of the amendment. lie (the speaker) made a speech also and Anna Dickinson made one. The voice of that Convention was -aved to our cause through Theodore Tilton and I doubt if the fifteenth amendment would now be a part of the Constitution had not the demand come from thai fTnnvput ttii? timfl most of nur litical friends had been contented with the fourteenth amendment, which left the matter of franchise to the States, and to State action, which could grant or refuse suffrage to the colored man at pleasure, and we all know how the States separately would have acted upon that question. How anybody could have been in favor of leaving the freeduien to the mercy of the dark, depraved, disappointed and bloody spirit of defeated rebels, seems strange enough at this time. Hut many they were, inside and outside of Congress, men whom we are accustomed to honor as our friends, who had nothing better to offer than the compromising and worthless fourteenth amendment.

But this in not the hour for history or criticism. We meet for congratulation aud for gratitude. Let us forget the timid and remember the brave. In the Senate Chamber first, midst and last, there stood one man, great in soul, as great in learning, a man whom no sophistry could mislead and no power intimidate, calm, grand and patient as truth itself, (you anticipate me) Charles Sumner. Praise is due in many directions, due to men of great taleuts and to men whose talents are not great, men in the Senate and to men out of the Senate but where shall we find one man to whom the colored citizens of the United States owe a larger debt of gratitude than to Charles Sumner? Ilis twenty years in the Senate, in all vicissitudes, with many or with few, in victory or defeat, forms an unbroken line of service to liberty, justice and humanity.

criticise who will, no man can dim in any wise the brightness of this man's record. He has demonstrated anew that one man with the truth on his side is a majority against all the hosts of darkness, and to-day has the proud satisfaction of seeing his very soul in the image of the nation. As in the Senate, so in the House, we had an advocate whose name will be remembered by us through all our whose mental vigor defied the infirmities of age, and the burdens of leadership one who fell with his face towards the enemy, and went to his grave with his armor on, but not until his eye had caught the full assurance of victory. Let us remember Thaddeus Stevens. After Stevens, let us remember Wm.

D. Kelley. No name in that great House, of which he is a powerful member, has better right to honor on this day and in this presence. To him belongs the credit of having a clear understanding Uno qucsiiou fr.im the beginning. Fie has been right, through and through, and from beginning to end.

All honor to Win. D. Kelley. There, too, stands Benjamin F. Butler, the first bora oY our grand the first to learn its great lesson of freedom, and to possess the nerve and power to enforce that more in New Orleans than in the IT iiikp nf Rpnrftspnt'fitirfa.

Butler. We honor him not only for the past, but we trust him for what is to come. speaker proposed three for Mr. Butler, which were giveD.J Now let us go over to the hite House. All honor to General Grant.

Fortunate in the Senate, fortunate in the House, fortunate in the army, fortunate among the people, we are equally fortuuate in our noble President. Who can tell how much we owe to General Grant Though all else had been for us, if he had been against us, we could not have met here to-day. At the head of the party, at the head of the Government, at the head of the nation, and in sight of heaven and earth, he early proclaimed himself in favor of the fifteenth amendment. We honor the President, and we honor Secretary Boutwell and all the members of the President's Cabinet. But this day calls up to memory the dead as well as the living Owen Lovejoy, Joshua R.

Giddings, Henry Winter Davis, can never be forgotten. With reverence, affection and gratitude let us remember Abraham Lincoln and John Brown. This is their day as well as ours. The event we celebrate will serve better than marble, brass, iron or granite, to keep their memories fresh in the minds of their countrymen and mankind. But what does this fifteenth amendment mean to ns I will tell you.

It means that the colored people are now and will be held to be, by the whole nation, responsible for their own existence and their well or ill being. It means that we are placed upon an equal footing with all other men, and that the glory or shame of our future is to be wholly our owu. For one, I accept this new situation gladly. I do so for mvself and I do so for you; and I do so in the full belief that the future will show that we are equal to the responsibility which this great measure has imposed upon us. What does this measure mean I will tell you.

It means progress, civilization, knowledge, manhood. It means that you and I and all of us shall leave the uarrow places in which we now breathe, and live in the same comfort and indeDendenee eniovpJ hv VUUtl. II means industry, application to business, economy in the use of our earnings, and the ing up of a solid which will deserve and command the respect of our fellowcitizens of all races. It means that color is no longer to be a calamity that race is to be no longer a crime aud that liberty is to ha the right of all. The black man has no longer an apology for lagging behind in the race of civilisation.

If he rises, the glory is to be his; if he falls, the shame will be his. He is to be the architect of his own fortunes. If we are despised, it is because we make ourselves despicable if we are honored, it is because we exhibit qualities deserving of honor. Character, not color, is to be the criterion. A great many of the American people are disturbed about the present state of things.

They like a strong government. Carlyle says we are rushing to ruin with cataract speed. Others are croakers in the mournful style of Foe's shall never again see such days as were the earlier days of our republic, say such statesmen as Clay. Calhoun, Webster, aud others The two races cannot work well together. However, he would let the croaker9 croak on.

He never felt more hopeful than now, and the croakers do not disturb him. We had them during the war, and we continue to have 1 uteui. I'umig vue oara Hours ot the war, wlieo we needed string words to hold us up, there were croakers. They said we never would put down rebellion, or abolish slavery, or reconstruct the South, and we have accomplished all. South Carolina has adopted all the amendments.

He compassionated his Democratic brethren. They are in a state of honest alarm, and wt aught to say some word of comfort to them. He would tell his Democratic friends, that Jefferson wrote the fourteenth amendment. That amendment is but the carrying out of Democratic doctrine, that all men are created equal, and have the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We gave the credit to Garrison, Lundy, and others.

When God told the children of Israel to go free, the truth had origin. are a great we colored particularly, but all of us. We are all together now. We are fellow citizens of a common country. What a iu institutions, in its fifteenth amendment, in ts future.

We are made up of a variety of Jews, Africans, Europeans, tud all sorts. These different races give' the Government a powerful arm to defend it. They will vie with each other in hardship and peril, tud will be united in defending it from all its meaiies, whether from within or without. A..