358 EXODUS OF COLORED PEOPLE. 



FECHTER, CHARLES A. 



educational, moral, and sanitary condition, and 

 to solicit contributions everywhere for these 

 objects. The following resolution was adopted : 

 " Resolved, That it is the sense of this confer- 

 ence that the colored people should emigrate 

 to those States and Territories where they can 

 enjoy all the rights which are guaranteed by 

 the laws and Constitution of the United States, 

 and enforced by the executive departments of 

 such States and Territories ; and we ask of the 

 United States an appropriation of $500,000, 

 to aid in the removal of our people from the 

 South." 



The first refugees to Kansas reached Wyan- 

 dotte in the beginning of April. By the 1st of 

 August over seven thousand needy and starv- 

 ing persons had arrived in that State. A Re- 

 lief Society was formed, with its headquarters 

 at Topeka. la spite of strenuous efforts to 

 provide employment, the temporary barracks 

 erected for their shelter were overcrowded, 

 and the association had already expended over 

 $7,000 in alms. On the 15th of March the 

 Mayor of St. Louis issued a proclamation ad- 



vising colored people without means not to 

 come to that city, as it could neither support 

 them nor forward them to their destination. 

 A meeting of delegates from the Kansas Relief 

 Committees published a resolution that, "to 

 prevent want and suffering among our colored 

 immigrants, we hereby express our opinion 

 that proper means should be taken to divert 

 the tide of immigration to other and older 

 States, where accumulated wealth and popula- 

 tion afford facilities for their successful settle- 

 ment." Notwithstanding these discourage- 

 ments, the exodus has continued intermittently 

 and from various parts of the South. The 

 blacks are an emotional, credulous, and capri- 

 cious race. Emancipation came to them with- 

 out preparation or effort on their part. They 

 understood by freedom exemption from labor. 

 Nothing but experience can dispel the delu- 

 sions and disquiets fostered by their peculiar 

 political education. 



In regard to the exodus, public opinion in 

 the South tends to a policy of masterly inac- 

 tivity. 



F 



FEOHTER, CHARLES ALBERT, a French ac- 

 tor, born in London, October 23, 1824, died 

 at Quakertown, Pa., August 4, 1879. His fa- 

 ther, a native of France, was of German line- 

 age ; his mother, a native of Flanders, was of 

 Italian lineage ; so that in him were united dis- 

 tinct and opposite characteristics of race. In 

 temperament and speech, however, he was de- 

 cidedly French. He was educated in England 

 and France. His father desired him to become 

 a sculptor, but his tastes were more inclined 

 toward the dramatic profession, and he soon 

 abandoned the atelier for the stage. His debut 

 occurred in 1840 at the Salle Moliere in Paris. 

 After this event he studied several weeks at 

 the Conservatory, and then went to Florence, 

 Italy, with a dramatic company, as leading 

 juvenile. Upon his return to Paris, at his 

 father's request he turned his attention once 

 more to sculpture, becoming a student at the 

 Academy of Fine Arts. Within a short time 

 he was again at the Conservatory, remaining, 

 however, but three weeks, when his name was 

 placed on a list of applicants for a debut at the 

 Theatre Francais. While waiting for an oppor- 

 tunity he modeled a piece of sculpture repre- 

 senting " The Seven Capital Sins," for which 

 he received the grand medal of the Academy. 

 In 1844 he made his debut as Seiide in Vol- 

 taire's " Mahomet," and subsequently played 

 Valere in Moliere's great comedy. He was 

 ,next heard of at the Theatre Royal of Berlin, 

 where he acted miscellaneous parts under the 

 management of M. Saint- Aubin. In 1847 he 

 again appeared in Paris, acting in the Vaude- 

 ville, and in the same year took a company to 

 London. In 1848 he filled a third engagement 



in Paris, and from this time to 1860 was a 

 reigning favorite on the French stage. His 

 great success in those days was gained as Ar- 

 mand Duval in " Les Dames aux Camelias," 

 of which he was the original representative. 

 In 1860 he again went to London, this time 

 with the intention of playing in English. On 

 October 27th he made his debut in English 

 drama at the Princess's Theatre as Ruy Bias, 

 which was followed by " The Corsican Broth- 

 ers," "Don Cesar de Bazan," and finally, in 

 March, 1861, by "Hamlet," in which he 

 achieved great success. In 1869 Charles Dick- 

 ens wrote as follows : 



Perhaps no innovation in art was ever accepted with 

 so much favor by so many intellectual persons, pre- 

 committed to and preoccupied by another system, as 

 Mr. Fechter's Hamlet. I take this to have been the 

 case (as it unquestionably was in London), not because 

 of its picturesqueness, not because of its novelty, not 

 because of its many scattered beauties, but because of 

 its perfect consistency with itself. As the animal- 

 painter said of his favorite picture of rabbits, that there 

 was more nature about those rabbits than you usually 

 found in rabbits, so it may be said of Mr. Fechter's 

 Hamlet that there was more consistency about that 

 Hamlet than you usually found in Hamlets. Its great 

 and satisfying originality was in its possessing the 

 merit of a distinctly conceived and executed idea. 

 From the first appearance of the broken glass of fash- 

 ion and mold or form, pale and worn with weeping 

 for his father's death, and remotely suspicious of its 

 cause, to his final struggle with Horatio for the fatal 

 cup, there were cohesion and coherence in Mr. Fech- 

 ter s view of the character. 



In 1863 he leased the Lyceum Theatre, and 

 brought out there " The Duke's Motto," " Bel 

 Demonic," and other successful pieces. In 

 1870 he came to New York, and then went to 

 Boston, and at both places he met crowded 



