FREDERICK DOUGLASS ET AL. TO RUTHERFORD B. HAYES

[n.p. May 1877.]

MR PRESIDENT.

SIR:

Under the operations of the Diplomatic and Consular Appropriation Bill¹The Forty-fourth Congress passed the Diplomatic and Consular Appropriation Bill, “an act making appropriations for the consular and diplomatic service of the Government,” on 20 February 1877. It outlined the salaries of foreign service officers and other consulate staff members. Thirtyfour nations had consulate designations. Among these were Haiti, the Hawaiian Islands, and Liberia. Envoys to Great Britain, France, Germany, and Russia received the highest salary, $17,500 annually. The lowest salary for a minister resident was $4,000, for service in Liberia. The minister resident and consul general to Haiti received $7,500. Additionally, the bill made allocations for miscellaneous expenses such as “rent of prisons for American convicts,” stationery, and bookcases. , 233–38.
passed at the last session of Congress, John F Quarles,²John F. Quarles (1847–85) was an African American lawyer, Republican politician, and U.S. diplomat to Spain from 1877 to 1880. Quarles was born a slave in Atlanta to a preacher father. Following the Civil War, Quarles attended and graduated from Westminster College in Pennsylvania at the top of his class. He studied law in Washington under Charles Sumner before being admitted to the bar in Washington, D.C. Quarles was active in the Georgia political scene during Reconstruction and gave a speech in support of vice presidential candidate Henry Wilson at the 1872 Republican National Convention. Georgia in the 1870s was hostile territory for African American politicians. The Macon attacked Quarles, claiming that because he advocated for more offices for blacks, he “would send a cornfield negro to the United States Senate simply because he was black.” In response, Quarles argued the Republican party would be “doomed to defeat” if it did not distribute offices equitably among its supporters, black and white. Ultimately, Quarles was able to pursue his diplomatic ambitions when he found support from Congressman Richard Henry Whiteley. Whiteley recommended Quarles to President Grant as “one of the most promising and worthy young men of his race in our State or in the South.” Quarles wrote Grant in January 1873, pointing out that no one from Georgia was in the consular service. During his time in Port Mahon, Spain, Quarles married Marie Jacqueminot, a daughter of the French consul. Unfortunately, Grant developed a dislike for Quarles, and as a result, James Russell Lowell, the U.S. minister to Madrid, conducted an investigation into Quarles. In December 1876, Quarles wrote again to Grant, this time asking for an assignment to Switzerland following his recall from Port Mahon because of a congressional failure to make an appropriation. Douglass also wrote Grant, requesting Quarles’s reinstatement. Eventually, President Hayes transferred Quarles, at his request, to Málaga, Spain, a more significant post. Quarles returned to the United States in the spring of 1880 and rallied support among southern black delegates for James G. Blaine, who was running against James A. Garfield for the Republican presidential nomination. Quarles remained politically active after making his final residence in Flushing, New York, and helped secure U.S. senator William M. Evarts’s election. He also worked as a criminal defense lawyer and opened his home to Johnson Chesnut Whittaker, one of the first black cadets at West Point, who was unjustly court-martialed. Linda Heywood, Allison Blakely, Charles Stith, and Joshua C. Yesnowitz, eds., (Urbana, Ill., 2015), 15; Grant, , 24: 314, 29: 18; “New York, New York, U.S., Extracted Death Index, 1862–1948,” Ancestry.com; Edmund L. Drago, (Athens, Geo., 1992), 61–62; William Warren Rogers, Jr., (Urbana, Ill., 2007), 112; William Harvey Quick, (Richmond, Va., 1898), 307–09; J. A. Rogers, , vol. 2 (New York, 1942), 336. Esq: Consul at Port
Mahon, having been recalled from his post of duty, we the undersigned

respectfully ask that he be reinstated in the Consular service for the following reasons:—

That Mr Quarles, is the only person from his state, Georgia, holding a
position in this branch of the Consular service, that he is the only person,
save one, in the whole foreign service—and that he is endorsed and recommended by the Republicans of the entire state.

That Mr: Quarles, is the only colored man holding such a position in
this branch of the foreign Service and thus he not only represents his state,
but we regard him in a peculiar sense as the representative of the colored
people of the country in this branch of the public service.

That Mr Quarles, entered the service under the operations of the Civil
Service Rules, having passed an examination altogether satisfactory to
the Department of State;³In the nineteenth century, a U.S. consul’s primary focus was on commercial matters, especially maritime, rather than politics or social issues. They were strategically stationed at seaports and points of export. The diplomatic service, on the other hand, was involved in international affairs, which included politics. By law, one had “to be twenty-one years and not over fifty years of age, to be a citizen of the United States and of good character and habits, and physically and mentally qualified for the performance of consular work” to qualify for the consular examination and review before the examining board, which consisted of a representative of the secretary of state, the chief of the Consular Bureau of the State Department, and the chief examiner of the Civil Service Commission. The president designated exam takers. The exam itself consisted of an oral and a written portion “to ascertain the candidate’s business ability, general information, and probable efficiency” as well as to evaluate the candidate’s knowledge of a modern language and general commercial knowledge of the United States. Consuls were prohibited from holding any business interests or role in transactions during their tenure if their annual salary was more than $1,000. Additionally, consuls were unable to practice as lawyers. Moreover, a consul’s “functions [were] largely exercised by reason of the courtesies granted by the foreign government.” As a result, a new consul had to secure the host country’s permission before beginning his official duties. Typically, the United States communicated a change in the consulate through the diplomatic representative and an official notification called an exequatur. Consular offices had to be located in a town or city’s center, and consuls had to live in the same town. Although they did not hold diplomatic immunity, consuls did have special protections under inter national law and the ability to claim rights and privileges of the host nation in regard to consuls. Henry Colford Gauss, (New York, 1908), 274–81. that he has since thoroughly prepared himself
for this branch of the public service and that his official conduct has been
such as to merit the highest commendations, both of the people among
whom he has resided and of the Department of State.

For these reasons which we trust and believe that you will deem sufficient we respectfully ask that Mr Quarles be reappointed to some position
in the foreign service.

B. K. BRUCE⁴Blanche Kelso Bruce (1841–98) was born a slave near Farmville, Virginia. In early adulthood, he escaped to the free state of Kansas, and there established and taught in the first elementary school for blacks. In February 1869, Bruce, convinced that there were more and better opportunities in the South, moved to Mississippi, where he was made supervisor of elections in Tallahatchie County. In 1870, he moved to Jackson, where he was elected sergeant at arms of the state senate. Later, having moved to Bolivar County, he was elected sheriff and tax assessor. In 1874 the state legislature elected Bruce to the U.S. Senate, making him the second black to represent Mississippi in that office. During his single Senate term, Bruce championed pensions for black war veterans, protection of Indian lands, and federal intervention to safeguard voting rights. The Senate chose him to head a committee to conclude the business of the bankrupt Freedmen’s Bank, which succeeded in refunding sixty-two percent of the depositors’ money. Remaining a power in the Mississippi Republican party, Bruce received federal appointments as register of the treasury (1881–85, 1897–98) and recorder of deeds for the District of Columbia (1889–93). Douglass and Bruce frequently appeared together at political events in Washington, D.C., and consulted on political strategy. Lawrence Otis Graham, (New York, 2006); Christopher, , 15–24; , 74–76.
JOHN R. LYNCH⁵John Roy Lynch (1847–1939) was born a slave on a Louisiana plantation to a biracial slave named Catherine White and an Irish immigrant overseer, Patrick Lynch. Death prevented his father from carrying out a plan to manumit both White and the younger Lynch, causing the latter to remain a slave until the Emancipation Proclamation. After the Civil War, a friend of his father helped Lynch gain jobs in the Natchez area, where he was able to attend night schools taught by northerners and eavesdrop on school lessons during the day. He quickly became active in the Republican party; he was elected to the Mississippi House in 1869, and in 1872 was reelected and made Speaker. That same year, Lynch became the youngest person elected to Congress. In 1874, he was the only Republican who returned to Congress from Mississippi after statewide anti-Republican violence led by the White League. After losing his seat in 1876, he regained it in 1880 for one more term. Benjamin Harrison appointed Lynch auditor of the Department of the Navy (1889–93). He returned to Mississippi and became a lawyer but resettled in Washington to practice. Lynch joined the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War, and President McKinley appointed him a major. He served in Cuba and the Philippines before retiring from the military in 1911. Lynch then moved to Chicago, where he practiced law until his death. He wrote (1913) and numerous articles defending the legacy of southern Black Republicans. John Roy Lynch, , ed. John Hope Franklin (Chicago, 1970); Lynch, “Some Historical Errors of James Ford Rhodes,” , 2: 345–68 (October 1917); (online).
FREDK DOUGLASS—
J. M. LANGSTON⁶John Mercer Langston.

I regard Mr Quarles, as most eminently fitted for this or any other
position. And earnestly pray for his reappointment.

H. M. TURNER D. D. L L. D.⁷Bishop Henry McNeal Turner (1834–1915) was born a free man in Newberry, South Carolina. Dreams of a prophetic nature figured importantly in Turner’s life, and beginning at the age of eight, Turner felt that God had marked him out to be a leader. Many were impressed with Turner’s speaking and intellectual abilities, and he was licensed as a preacher at the age of nineteen. He made his home in Georgia for a time. During the Civil War, Lincoln appointed Turner the first black chaplain in the U.S. military, and he also became a regular correspondent for the Christian Recorder. He returned to Georgia after the war and became instrumental in the organization of the Republican party there, holding a number of offices. In 1876 he became the publications manager of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Andre E. Johnson, An African American Pastor before and during the American Civil War, vol. 1: The Literary Archive of Henry McNeal Turner (Lewiston, N.Y., 2010), vii–xii; Simmons, Men of Mark, 805–19.
Publisher Christian Recorder⁸The began publishing in Philadelphia in 1852 as the official newspaper of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and it is considered the oldest continuously published black newspaper in the United States. For many years it was a bulwark of the black community, and in 1870 it was called the “only well-established colored people’s paper in the country.” Different from other black-operated newspapers of the day, which were largely financed by proprietors, the Recorder was funded by the A.M.E. Church, and so was able to outlast and outreach other, smaller papers. With Benjamin Tanner and Henry M. Turner running the paper, it reached its peak circulation in 1878. Gilbert A. Williams, “The Role of the Christian Recorder in the African Emigration Movement, 1854–1902,” , 111: 2–8 (April 1989); Benjamin Fagan, (Athens, Ga., 2016), 143–46.
Savannah, Ga. 1 May 1877

Hon. Wm. M. Evarts

Secretary of State, Washington, D.C.

Sir:

I have been informed that Mr John F. Quarles of this State is an applicant
for a Consulate in Europe, and I take much pleasure in recommending
him as in every way qualified by education character etc,

He has served one term as Consul.

Mr. Quarles is a native Georgian and has always commanded the respect of all persons.

He is an efficient worker in the Republican ranks: a man of distinguished ability.

I am sure that it would meet the universal approbation of the party in
the State and I trust he may receive the appointment.

I have the honor to be

Very Respectfully Yours,

EDWARD C. WADE⁹Edward Clements Wade (1830–1911) came from a well-off family in Screven County, Georgia. His father owned a large plantation with many slaves when he was a boy. As a teen, Wade left the plantation to seek his fortune in Savannah. There he ran a successful commission company that dealt in cotton, leather, and real estate; assisted as director of a bank; and served as an alderman. Labeled “the Wade that did not secede,” he was hounded for his progressive views on the treatment of freed blacks. Serving as a tax collector under Presidents Grant and Hayes, Wade proved to be a good civil servant and spent many of his last years trying to rid Georgia of the influence of the Klan. Savannah (Ga.) , 7 April 1911; Jay E. Armstrong, “An Interview with Mr. Edward Clements Wade,” , vol. 14, Special Collections, Lane Library, Armstrong Atlantic State University.
Mem. State Cen. Com,
Republican Party of Ga.

ALS: Secretary of War Applications, 1847–87, Record Group 107, DNA.