Rochester[, N.Y.] 7 Sept[ember]1854.

HON: GERRIT SMITH.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

I have this moment got your letter. The great wrong done¹Douglass expresses regret over some compositorial errors published in and indicates the extent of his regret by comparing it to a substantial financial loss. Douglass printed a letter from Gerrit Smith dated 28 August 1854 in the 1 September issue. In the letter, Smith discussed Thomas Davis, but the reprinted version contained errors that made some of Smith’s intended compliments appear unflattering. Specifically, the reprint stated that Davis “has a mother’s [instead of ‘brother’s’] heart for every human being.” Also, Smith considered Davis to be “a plain, not [instead of ‘but’] forcible, speaker.” The “repair” that Douglass mentions is a brief correction posted in the 8 September issue. , 1, 8 September 1854. to our mutual friend (for he is my friend as well as yours) Hon: Thomas Davis, has been as well repared as it could be in this weeks edition of my paper. The whole thing is bad, and I have Suffered much about it—yet I cannot Say as you do, that the loss of a thousand dollars from my pockit book, would not have hurt me So much as that mistake. Money is too useful too Scarce with me too hard to get hold of and too easily got rid of in a thousand ways, and I am too often called upon by printers and paper makers to pay what I owe, to make the thought of Such a comparison, possible with me. Your letter²Douglass refers to Gerrit Smith’s letter dated 28 August 1854, in which he provides his impressions of House members and their support for issues related to antislavery. It was later printed in on 1 September 1854 and is reprinted in this volume. was addressed to me. I was proud to have, what I must call the most beautiful letter I remember ever to have read, addressed to me. I was anxious from the moment I received it—and knowing my inaptitude as to little niceties, in composition, I did not trust myself to read the proof but gave it into the hands of my friend Miss Griffiths³Julia Griffiths. and the printer—with every injunction, that the letter Should appear absolutely free from errors. That great pains were taken with that letter I know. I am pained and mortified at the result. Had I read the proof mySelf which other errors might have crept into your letter—I think this would not—for I know Thomas Davis—have known him long. I have heard him Speak often. To me, he is even more than a plain and forcible Speaker— he is really eloquent. I have heard him, when his words have had that in them in them, which goes Straight to the Soul—and Shakes the Spirits of men. The best place in the world to try a man’s eloquence—is among his friends and neighbors—at a moment—when Some great interest is excited—and there is derision. The man that can arrest his neighbors and compel them to Stand Still when they were just about to rush on—or who can rouse them to action, when they have been revitted to the Spot by doubt—is what I call an eloquent man, and Such a man is Thomas Davis. I have Seen the proofs of what I Say in him. At the time when the Suffrage Party of Rhode Island⁴In the early 1840s, Rhode Island was one of the last Northern states whose constitution retained a property-owning qualification for voting. In October 1841, the Suffrage party of Rhode Island called an extralegal convention to write a new state constitution. As part of the new constitution, the party proposed eliminating all property qualifications for white males, including those foreign born, but excluded African Americans entirely. Although Douglass and other leading abolitionists joined the efforts of the Rhode Island Anti-Slavery Society to sway the new party to delete this clause, the convention delegates refused to do so, and the constitution was overwhelmingly approved. Rhode Island state authorities, however, did not recognize the Suffrage party’s constitution. In November 1841, the state government convened a legal constitutional convention, but the electorate rejected its efforts in March 1842. A month later the Suffrage party, operating under its own constitution, elected its leader, Thomas Dorr, governor of Rhode Island. After a failed attempt to seize the Providence Arsenal, Dorr fled the state and the Suffrage party fell apart. Supporters of the officially sanctioned constitutional convention—reorganized as the Law and Order party—reconvened and drafted a new constitution, which gave African Americans the right to vote. But it limited the franchise to native-born adult males and left intact a minimal property qualification for all voters. In November 1842, after a year of turmoil, Rhode Island adopted the Law and Order party’s constitution. Thomas J. Baldino and Kyle L. Kreider, , 2 vols. (Denver, Colo., 2010), 1:47; Alexander Keyssar, (New York, 2009), 59-60; Hanes Walton, Jr., Sherman C. Puckett, and Donald R. Deskins, Jr., , 2 vols. (Los Angeles, 2012), 1:138-39. committed the Sad mistake of reStricting the rights of Suffrage to white persons in the new Constitution—a mistake the effects of which that party is Suffering from at this day. Though it was committed under Strong temptation and twelve years ago—Mr Davis was deeply moved against the injustice, and poured out repeated denunciations against it, which would have commanded attention for the Speaker, in the most dignified body on earth. His Speeches were usually Short but I observed that the effect they produced was lasting. Knowing Mr Davis as I do know him—I should have detected the injustice my types have done him—

But Thomas Davis is not only and eloquent man H he is also a reason-
able man—and I am Sure you can make all right with him.

I would write to him mySelf but I much dislike to intrude mySelf upon the attention of men So much engaged as he is.

Always yours Truly

FRED. DOUGLASS.

ALS: Gerrit Smith Papers, NSyU.