Page:The rising son, or, The antecedents and advancement of the colored race (IA risingsonthe00browrich).pdf/510

 race. Born at Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1833, Mr. Bassett graduated, the foremost scholar of his class, at the Birmingham Academy, when quite young, and afterwards graduated at the Connecticut State Normal School, with high honor, in 1853. He immediately thereafter removed to New Haven, took charge of a public grammar school in that city, and eagerly availed himself of the facilities afforded by Yale College, to prosecute the study of the classics, mathematical science, and general literature. In 1855, he was called by the Orthodox Society of Friends to the charge of the Philadelphia Colored High School, which, under his management, became very widely known as the foremost institution of the kind in the country. The honorary degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by the Lincoln University at Oxford, Pennsylvania.

On the elevation of General Grant to the presidency, Mr. Bassett became a candidate for the Haytian Mission, and so well satisfied were the people generally, that he received the unsolicited endorsement of the ablest men, colored and white, of all parties.

He is a mulatto of medium size, prominent features, nearly straight black hair, neat figure, gentlemanly in personal appearance, intelligent and chaste in conversation, and possesses a high moral character. He is a ripe scholar, well versed in the classics, and has much literary taste.

As a representative of the United States to another government, Mr. Bassett has more than fulfilled the most sanguine expectations of his friends, while the country generally regard him as one of the ablest of our diplomatic agents. His correspondence with the