Returning triumphantly from his expedition into the Niger River Valley, Martin Delany was in much demand throughout the British Isles as a speaker.
Perhaps his most prestigious speaking invitation before the International Statistical Society, chaired by Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, and then considered the most esteemed scientific body in the world, was also destined for political controversy. Delany's invitation to speak originated from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who welcomed the delegates on the opening day July 16, 1861 at Somerset House. Chairing the gathering was also Lord Brougham and Vaux, then 82 years of age but, according to one authority, "still filled with the fire that had lasted him for sixty years of leadership in judicidal, suffrage, and anti slavery in both Houses in Commons and in Lords." (Ullman, p. 239)
As the august body convened at 4 PM, Lord Brougham, whose hatred of American slavery was most intense, addressed the body which included the delegation from the United States, headed by Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, the jurist, author, and then president of the University of South Carolina. The United States Ambassador George Mifflin Dallas was also seated on the dais, when Lord Brougham began:
Saying according to Mr. Longstreet: "I call the attention of Mr. Dallas to the fact that there is a negro present, and I hope he will feel no scruples on that account."
Martin Delany later recalled to his biographer, Frances Rollin: "While I fully comprehended his lordship's interest, meaning and its extent, the thought flashed instantly across my mind. How will this assemblage take it? May it not be mistaken by some, at least, as a want of genuine respect for my presence, by the manner in which the remarks were made?. . .These thoughts passed through my mind as soon as his lordship concluded his remarks; and as soon as the minister from Spain was seated, I rose in my place, and said:
'I rise, your Royal Highness, to thank his lordship, the unflinching friend of the negro, for the remarks he has made in reference to myself, and to assure your royal highness and his lordship that I am a man.'
"I then resumed my seat. The clapping of hands commenced on the stage, followed by what the London Times was pleased to call 'the wildest shouts ever manifested in so grave an assemblage.'"(Rollin, p.119; Ullman, pp. 240+241).
A. B. Longstreet
Longstreet jumped up and led the U.S. delegation out of the hall. Ambassador Dallas stayed seated on the dais, silent. The proceedings were terminated immediately contrary to plans.
The following day, Ambassador Dallas refused to see a conciliatory Lord Brougham. U.S. Secretary of State Lewis Cass chastized Dallas for not walking out with the delegation in light of this "insult."
On July 21, Longstreet wrote what Biographer Victor Ullman (Ullman, p. 243) called "one of the longest letters ever published" in the London Chronicle closing it with "farewell to Europe forever and forever!."
Delany, quickly becoming an international celebrity, spoke before the Society on its last day, five days later:
"I should be insensible indeed if I should permit this Congress to adjourn without expressing my gratitude for the cordial manner in which I have been received from the time when I landed in this kingdom to the present moment and in particular to the Earl of Shaftsbury, the president of the section to which I belong, as well as to every individual gentleman of the section, it matters not from what part of the world he came. I say, my lord, if I did permit this Congress to adjourn without expressing my gratitude, I should be an ingrate indeed.
I am not foolish enough to suppose that it was from any individual merit of mine, but it was that outburst of expression for sympathy for my race (African), whom I represent, and who have gone the road of that singular providence of degeneration, that all other races in some time of the world's history have gone, but I again tender my most sincere thanks and heartfelt gratitude to those distinguished gentlemen with whom I have been privileged to associate and by whom I have been received on terms of the most perfect equality." (Rollin, pp. 129+130; Ullman, p. 245).
Delany's off again, on again supporter, Frederick Douglass, wrote Delany highest praise in "Frederick Douglass' Monthly:" "The startling offense of the venerable and learned Lord Brougham was that he ventured to call the attention of Mr. Dallas, the American Minister Plenipotentiary, to the fact that a 'negro' was an acting member of the meeting of the International Statistical Society. This was the offense. There was no mistaking the point. It struck home at once.
"Mr. Dallas felt it. It choked him speechless. He could say nothing. It was like calling the attention of a man, vain of his personal beauty, to his nose or to any other deformity. Delany, determined that the nail should hold fast, rose with all his blackness, right up, as quick and graceful as an African lion, and received the curious gaze of the scientific world. Never was there a more telling rebuke administered to the pride, prejudice and hypocrisy of a nation. It was saying: 'Mr. Dallas, we make members of the International Statistical Society out of the sort of men you make merchandise out of in America.' Delany, in Washington, is a thing! Delany is London is a man." (Rollin, pp. 122+126; Ullman, p. 244.)
