What Frederick Douglass thought of Daniel O'Connell and Fr Matthew

Donal O’Keeffe recalls the visit of Frederick Douglass to Ireland, and his later disappointment by the reluctance of temperance leader Fr Mathew to condemn slavery

circa 1879: American journalist, author, former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass (1817 - 1895). (Photo by Library Of Congress/Getty Images)

Frederick Douglass, escaped slave and abolitionist leader, visited here 175 years ago, befriending two of Ireland’s most prominent leaders. He would always speak highly of Daniel O’Connell, but the same would not be true of Father Mathew.

The sight of a black man was not so unusual in the prosperous port city of Cork in 1845, but perhaps heads turned that October morning as a tall young African-American strode past the building site which would, more than a decade later, become the church of Saints Peter and Paul, on his way to visit Fr Mathew.