PREAMBLES AND RESOLUTIONS. THE FACULTY AND STUDENTS OF SHAW UNIVERSITY, RALEIGH, N. C. WHEREAS, A gracious and inscrutable Providence has been pleased to call from this life the race's great and illustrious champion and defender, Frederick Douglass; and WHEREAS, His departure entails an irreparable loss, not only to his struggling race, whom he served so well and long, but also to the great country of which he was a citizen; therefore be it Resolved, That the faculty and students of Shaw University view with a deep sense of sorrow the national and race calamity involved in the death of Frederick Douglass. Resolved, That in his passing away, freedom loses one of its bravest and best advocates; humanity, one of its most faithful and eloquent friends; and the world, one of its noblest and most remarkable men. Resolved, That in this hour of exceeding sadness and loss, we extend to the surviving family and relatives the earnest sympathy of our hearts, and pray for them that sweet comfort and consolation that comes from a devout trust in God, who does all things for the best. Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent for publication to the leading race journals, and that one of such be forwarded to Mrs. Frederick Douglass, Anacostia, D. C. IN MEMORY OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS. During the early part of the evening of February 20th, the Women's National Council, then convened at Washington, D. C., received the news of the death of Frederick Douglass, and this was announced to the convention in a brief speech. Mr. Douglass had been extended the courtesies of the meeting at the business session the previous morning. In the course of Mrs. Sewell's remarks she said: The report, as unwelcome as it is sad and solemn, has come to us of the sudden and most unexpected death of Frederick Douglass. That historic figure, which personally and intellectually was the symbol of the wonderful transition period through which this generation has lived, has been with us in our Council as an interested witness during both of our sessions to-day. When we entered the hall this morning it was ordered that an escort be appointed to conduct him to the platform. We felt that this platform was honored by his presence, and I am sure there was no division of feeling upon the subject among all the organizations here represented, although including women whose families are related to all the different political parties of our country, and who, by ancestry, have been connected with both sides of the great questions which have been presented to our common country for solution. Mr. Douglass expressed his deep interest in the significance of our proceedings by returning in the afternoon; but he declined to occupy a place on the platform, desiring to sit where he could see and hear all that was going forward. Surely it will be regarded as an historic coincidence that the man who, in his own person, embodied the history of almost a century, in the struggle between freedom and oppression, should spend his last day as a witness of the united efforts of those who have come from so many different places and along such various avenues, to formulate some plan upon which they may unite to demand a new expression of freedom in the relation of woman to the world, to society, and to the State, and in the application of woman's brain and conscience to the great questions pending at this hour. The following memorial, in honor of Mr. Douglass, was adopted by the National Council : Resolved, That in the death of Hon. Frederick Douglass, the National Council of Women of the United States, assembled in Triennial Session, feels itself sorely bereaved, and, with tender respect and patriotic devotion, joins in memoriam of the great and good man, passed from the scenes of time. We mourn him as a great and good man gone, as a great figure of prophecy, of hope and of fulfillment in the annals of American history; but keener is our sense of loss because he was so lately in our midst. His last day on earth was passed with us. His familiar form, his dignified and genial bearing on our platform was his last tribute to woman's progress toward higher ideals in society, in custom and in law. His shadow still lingered on our portals; his words of sympathetic interest in our aspirations and our hopes still echoed through the evening air when the summons came; out of life into death he went; out of death into life eternal. With reverential thought, because of this swift, this unannounced transition, and with solemn exultation because of the possible dignity of human character and human achievements, which his life illustrates-we bring our tribute. Born a slave, his human instinct drove him early to forge his way to freedom. Liberty secured, his robust manhood made for himself an heroic career of service to his kindred, to his race, to his country and to the world. The tenderness of a refined nature sweetened his family life and ennobled his personal friendships. In the army of progress he was the trusted comrade and the respected leader of men and women, living and dead, whom the years more and more will understand and honor. He was a student of books, of men, and of institutions. He wrote with clearness and force; he spoke with eloquence and power. The woman movement found in him a friend and champion. His sense of justice and his soul of honor made their cause his own. He urged and aided the enlargement of their opportunities for education, for industrial independence, and for political equality. He believed the quality of woman's service would be as helpful to the government as it had been blessed in the home. He stood for temperance, and purity and religion, and personified the virtues he exalted. In him the hopes of his race were realized; in him humanity was dignified. The world is poorer because he is gone; humanity is richer because he came. The legacy of his life and service attests the truth that God keepeth watch above His own, that He shall turn and overturn until injustice dies, and the right eternally triumphs. MAY WRIGHT SEWELL, SUSAN B. ANTHONY, LILLIAN M. N. STEVENS, MARGARET RAY WICKENS, J. ELLEN FOSTER, REV. ANNIE HOWARD SHAW, THE GENERAL Assembly OF ILLINOIS. Resolved, By the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring therein, that the General Assembly of Illinois has learned, with sorrow, of the death of Frederick Douglass, the great editor, orator and liberator, who, by his own efforts and industry, transformed himself from the condition of a slave, to the estate of a freeman; from an ignorant boy to an intelligent man and one of the leaders of the world's thought. Recognizing that he contributed largely to the final overthrow of the slave system in the United States and the enlargement of theories and practices of a free government and the liberties of its citizens, the General Assembly of the State of Illinois recognizes his high character as a citizen and pays tribute to his memory. Passed February 21, 1895. |