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LIFE AND TIMES OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS 289

ant head, — as when that head was in the dust and ashes of defeat, — the
beloved Winthrop. the proud representative of what Daniel Webster once
called the "solid men of Boston," showed that he was not prepared to sacrifice
his patriotism to party. He made the loyal cause his own. Its "gates, like
those of Heaven, stood open night and day," and he showed no reluctance to
enter in. Regiment after regiment, brigade after brigade, passed over Boston
Common to endure the perils and hardships of war; Governor Andrew
poured out his soul, and exhausted his wonderful powers of speech in patriotic
words to the brave departing sons of old Massachusetts, and, as was
fitting, burning words of loyal devotion fell from the lips of Winthrop also,
and did their part in nerving those young soldiers going forth to lay down
their lives for the life of the Republic. In large public meetings his voice was
eloquently raised in the advocacy of the cause of the Union, and he did much
to rally his countrymen around the Government when every effort was
needed to crush the slaveholders' rebellion. And now, in the last quarter of
the eleventh hour, when the day's work was nearly done, faithful to the end,
Robert C. Winthrop was seen standing upon the same platform with the veteran
Henry Wilson. He was there in all his native grace and dignity, elegantly
and aristocratically clothed, his whole bearing marking his social sphere as
widely different from that of many present. It will hereafter be remembered
with pride by those who bear his honoured name when he is no longer
among the Iiving, that he was found on the right side, and in the right place —
in old Faneuil Hall side by side with plain Henry Wilson — the shoemaker
senator. But this was not the only contrast on that platform on that day. It was
my strange fortune to follow Mr. Winthrop on this interesting occasion. I
remembcrcd him as the guest of John H. Clifford of New Bedford, afterwards
Governor of Massachusetts, when twenty-five years before, I had
been only a few months from slavery — I was behind his chair as waiter, and
was even then charmed by his elegant conversation — and now after this
lapse of time, I found myself no longer behind the chair of this princely man,
but announced to succeed him in the order of speakers, before that brilliant
audience. I was not insensible to the contrast in our history and positions,
and was curious to observe if it affected him, and how. To his credit I am
happy to say he bore himself grandly throughout. His speech was fully up to
the enthusiasm of the hour, and the great audience greeted his utterances
with merited applause. I need not speak of the speeches of Henry Wilson and
others, or of my own. The meeting was every way a remarkable expression
of popular feeling, created by a great and important event.

Alter the fall of Richmond the collapse of the rebellion was not long