One is the well-known case of Frederick Douglass, who, returning home
after earnest service of weeks as Secretary of the Commission to report
on the people of San Domingo and the expediency of incorporating them
with the United States, was rudely excluded from the table, where his
brother commissioners were already seated, on board the mail-steamer
of the Potomac, just before reaching the President, whose commission
he bore. This case, if not aggravated, is made conspicuous by peculiar
circumstances. Mr. Douglass is a gentleman of unquestioned ability
and character, remarkable as an orator, refined in manners, and
personally agreeable. He was returning, charged with the mission of
bringing under our institutions a considerable population of colored
foreigners, whose prospective treatment among us was foreshadowed on
board that mail-steamer. The Dominican Baez could not expect more than
our fellow-citizen. And yet, with this mission, and with the personal
recommendation he so justly enjoys, this returning Secretary could not
be saved from outrage even in sight of the Executive Mansion.