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LIFE AND TIMES OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS 233

this aggression on the part of the slave power did not meet at the hands of
the proscribed and insulted senators the rebuke which we had a right to
expect from them. It seems to me that a great opportunity was lost, that the
great principle of senatorial equality was left undefended at a time when its
vindication was sternly demanded. But it is not to the purpose of my present
statement to criticize the conduct of friends. Much should be left to the dis-
cretion of anti-slavery men in Congress. Charges of recreancy should never
he made but on the most sufficient grounds. For of all places in the world
where an anti-slavery man needs the confidence and encouragement of his
friends. I take Washington — the citadel of slavery — to be that place.

"Let attention now be called to the social influences operating and cooperating
with the slave power of the time, designed to promote all its malign
objects. We see here the black man attacked in his most vital interests: prejudice
and hate are systematically excited against him. The wrath of other laborers
is stirred up against him. The Irish, who, at home, readily sympathize with
the oppressed everywhere, are instantly taught when they step upon our soil
to hate and despise the negro. They are taught to believe that he eats the bread
that belongs to them. The cruel lie is told them, that we deprive them of labor
and receive the money which would otherwise make its way into their pockets.
Sir, the Irish-American will find out his mistake one day. He will find that
in assuming our avocation, he has also assumed our degradation. But for the
present we are the sufferers. Our old employments by which we have been
accustomed to gain a livelihood are gradually slipping from our hands: every
hour sees us elbowed out of some employment to make room for some newly
arrived emigrant from the Emerald Isle, whose hunger and color entitle him
to special favor. These white men are becoming house-servants, cooks, stewards,
waiters, and flunkies. For aught I see they adjust themselves to their
stations with all proper humility. If they cannot rise to the dignity of white
men, they show that they can fall to the degradation of black men. But now,
sir, look once more! While the colored people are thus elbowed out of
employment; while a ceaseless enmity in the Irish is excited against us; while
State alter State enacts laws against us; while we are being hunted down like
wild beasts; while we are oppressed with a sense of increasing insecurity, the
American Colonization Society, with hypocrisy written on its brow, comes to
the front, awakens to new life, and vigorously presses its scheme for our expatriation
upon the attention of the American people. Papers have been started
in the North and the South to promote this long cherished object — to get rid
of the free negro, who is presumed to be a standing menace to slavery. Each
of these papers is adapted to the latitude in which it is published, but each and