504 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-III 



especially exercised in trumping up quarrels which had 

 never taken place ; his masterpiece being an account of a 

 bitter struggle between Senator Wade and myself. As 

 a matter of fact, there had never been between us the 

 slightest ill-feeling ; the old senator had been like a father 

 to me from first to last. 



The same sort of thing was done by sundry other press 

 prostitutes, both during our stay in the West Indies and 

 at Washington ; but I am happy to say that several of the 

 correspondents were men who took their duties seriously, 

 and really rendered a service to the American public by 

 giving information worth having. 



Our journey from Charleston to Washington had one 

 episode perhaps worthy of recording, as showing a pe 

 culiarity of local feeling at that time. Through all the long 

 day we had little or nothing to eat, and looked forward 

 ravenously to the dinner on board the Potomac steamer. 

 But on reaching it and entering the dining-room, we found 

 that our secretary, Mr. Frederick Douglass, was abso 

 lutely refused admittance. He, a man who had dined 

 with the foremost statesmen and scholars of our Northern 

 States and of Europe, a man who by his dignity, ability, 

 and elegant manners was fit to honor any company, was, 

 on account of his light tinge of African blood, not thought 

 fit to sit at meat with the motley crowd on a Potomac 

 steamer. This being the case, Dr. Howe and myself de 

 clined to dine, and so reached Washington, about mid 

 night, almost starving, thus experiencing, at a low price, 

 the pangs and glories of martyrdom. 



One discovery made by the commission on its return 

 ought to be mentioned here, for the truth of history. Mr. 

 Sumner, in his speeches before the Senate, had made a 

 strong point by contrasting the conduct of the United 

 States with that of Spain toward Santo Domingo. He 

 had insisted that the conduct of Spain had been far more 

 honorable than that of the United States ; that Spain had 

 brought no pressure to bear upon the Dominican repub 

 lic ; that when Santo Domingo had accepted Spanish rule, 



