Appendix H. LETTER FROM DOUGLASS TO THE EDITOR OF THE
WASHINGTON POST, 11 AUGUST 1891

Douglass to the Editor of the Washington , 11 August 1891, in Washington
, 12 August 1891.

EDITOR POST:

It is not surprising that in the hurry of an interview, a reporter should sometimes
fail to get the exact truth into his report. With the best intentions, no doubt,
the reporter of THE POST of yesterday erroneously reported me on one or two
points. It is not true, as he stated, that “Mr. Douglass intimated that he had been
asked to resign, and that his successor would be a white man.” I said no such thing.
I could not have said any such thing, since no such intimation has ever been given
me by the President of the United States or by the Department of State. On the
contrary, I have every reason to believe that the President of the United States is
well satisfied with my continuance in the office of minister resident and consul
general to Haiti, and no intimation of dissatisfaction, has reached me from either
the President of the United States or from the Department of State. The words in
the report in question, “all these things have probably had their effect upon this
government,” should be understood as applying to the government of Haiti, and
not to that of the United States, and to have influenced the former in its disposition
in respect of the Mole St. Nicolas.

As the report reads it might be taken as influencing our Government against
my continuance as minister.

It does seem almost impossible to get a newspaper report without the blemish,
here and there, of a false coloring. Newspaper interviews are conducted in a very
off-hand manner, and are usually far from accurate in some vital particulars.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS,
CEDAR HILL, ANACOSTIA, August 11.