75

LIFE AND TIMES OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS 449

pared on board the 'Philadelphia,' the flagship of Rear-Admiral Bancroft
Gherardi, and bore his signature alone. I neither signed it nor was asked to
sign it, although it met my entire approval. I make this statement not in the
way of complaint or grievance, but simply to show what, at the time, was my
part, and what was not my part, in this important negotiation, the failure of
which has unjustly been laid to my charge. Had the Môle been acquired, in
resronse to this paper, the credit of success, according to the record, would
have properly belonged to the gallant admiral in whose name it was
demanded; for in it I had neither part nor lot.

"At this point, curiously enough, and unfortunately for the negotiations,
the Haïtian Minister, who is an able man and well skilled in the technicalities
of diplomacy, asked to see the commission of Admiral Gherardi and to read
his letter of instructions. When these were presented to Mr. Firmin, he, after
carefully reading them, pronounced them insufficient, and held that by them
the Government of the United States would not be bound by any convention
which Haïti might make with the admiral. This position of Mr. Firmin's was
earnestly and stoutly opposed by Admiral Gherardi, who insisted that his
instructions were full, complete, and amply sufficient. Unfortunately, how-
ever, he did not leave the matter in controversy without intimating that he
thought that Mr. Firmin might be insincere in raising such an objection, and
that he was urging it simply with a view to cause unnecessary delay. This
as more like the blunt admiral than the discreet diplomat. Such an imputa-
tion was obviously out of place, and not likely to smooth the way to a successful proceeding; quite the reverse. Mr. Firmin insisted that his ground was well and honestly taken.

"Here, therefore, the negotiation was brought to a sudden halt, and the
question for us then was, What shall he done next? Three ways were open to
us: first, to continue to insist upon the completeness of the authority of
Admiral Gherardi; second, to abandon the scheme of a naval station alto-
gether; third, to apply to the government at Washington for the required letter
of credence. It was my opinion that it was hardly worth while to continue to
insist upon the sufficiency of the admiral's papers, since it seemed useless to
contend about mere technicalities; more especially as we were now in tele-
graphic connection with the United States, and could in the course of a few
days easily obtain the proper and required papers.

"'Besides, I held that a prompt compliance with the demand of the
Haïtian Government for a perfect letter of credence would be not only the
easiest way out of the difficulty, but the wisest policy by which to accom-
plish the end we sought, since such compliance on our part with even what