FROM OUR BROOKLYN CORRESPONDENT.

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, June 23, 1854.

MY DEAR DOUGLASS:—To recur to past events, is sometimes as profitable as to note present ones. I shall mention one. Some three weeks ago, the Sinking Fund Association, attached to the Emanuel Church, (Rev. H. M. Wilson's,) held their Anniversary, and tapered it off with a superb feast, just such an one as a charitable institution should give. Of the company, I may say it was pleasant, without undue hilarity; of the viands, a sufficiency without waste. But it is to the mention portions of the entertainments of this association that I wish to direct attention. Indeed they have become a leading feature in one of the many faces of Gotham, and among the most interesting of its mental . The Rev. Mr. Wilson, who seems by right to be master of ceremonies as well as chief scribe, leaves no string unpulled to have the "" of these exercises elegantly varied and highly instructive. On this last occasion, the house was densely crowded. I doubt, if , with its big eyes, ever saw such a gathering of shaded ladies and gentlemen before.— John Patterson, Esq.—start not at that name, my dear Douglass, though the time was when I (Ethiop) would run a mile after its announcement—and our veritable friend John was really to address an audience of Gothamites. Well, Patterson, with one of his old-fashioned characteristic speeches, such as carry you back (not to old Virginny, but) to olden times, opened the feast, ably followed by a Mr. Freeman, of Newark, N. J. Then came the Rev. A. N. Freeman, of Brooklyn, who, in an eloquent strain, spell-bound the audience for a while. He was followed by another individual, a plum good-natured little man, the announcement of whose name I think was not distinctly heard all over the house, but who made some rather curt remarks to the ladies, of their influence, &c.; also admonishing them, if they had them not, to get husbands, how to get them, and how to manage them when got. It was rather an Ethiopic speech, and, perhaps, that is the most I can say of it. But the climax was reached when the Rev. E. P. Rogers, the

Jersey poet, was called to the stand, and
permitted to have his say in

"Verse with measure, soft and smooth."

"Of love and ladies, and their whims and ways."

It was a fine satire on the faults, foibles and perfections of the gentler sex, and the age; and completely convulsed old Cottage Place for more than an hour. One would little suspect the Rev. E. P. Rogers to be a wit, and yet

"With gravity in his mien,

His thoughts mith humor flow."

Now that he has retired to the blue hills of the Jerseys, do, my dear Douglass, send for this keen satire for the columns of your journal and the benefit of your numerous readers.

But the anniversaries of this Society have become noted in the feasts of Gotham, and
their return is as anxiously looked for as the harvest after the sower.

Of the numerous snares and meshes in which Ethiop finds himself almost weekly entangled, some of them are too novel to let pass without mention, especially when they involve others also. Let me speak a little plainer. As I was imbibing the evening's zephyr, just as its shades were closing around me, a gentleman came up and asked if I would hand a note to a friend—a mutual friend. My obliging nature would not allow me to refuse so simple a request, and, of course, consented, and thought no more of the matter. The day had been one of those sultry ones of last week. Next evening, would you believe it, I was waited upon by a distinguished clergyman, and a noted gentleman of the place, and gravely informed that a duel was about to take place, to which I was a party, and unless immediate and honorable settlement was made, the whole party should instantly be put in duresse. My first burst of astonishment soon gave way to inward sensations of laughter; but seeing the seriousness with which they persisted in viewing the affair, I was led to look further into it, and found that I had been the bearer of what was deemed a bona fide CARTELLE; that exchanges had actually been made and preliminaries settled; that the immediate parties had been dividing their last remnant of time between letter-writing, will-making, and practicing. So ran the grave story.—Here, thought I, is a pretty pickle for a modest man to be in; Ethiop a party to a duel!! for, be it known, I was set down as one of the seconds. But as usual, I looked on the

best side of the affair, and had the sweet
satisfaction to have announced, at just mid
night, that terms satisfactory to the pacifica
tors had been entered into; and none but
amicable ones existed between the parties so
soon to meet in mortal combat. I tied my
cap down under my chin, reclined back upon
my pillow and slept—soundly slept till the
bright eye of the sun pierced my tiny win
dow. And now, my dear Douglass, imagine,
if you can, who these supposed beligerent
spirits were, who thus accidentally, inten
tionally or unintentionally threw good, quiet
Brooklyn into such consternation, and all
Gotham into an admixture of wonder, aston
ishment and laughter. Give me your ear,
my dear sir, while I whisper who. Gentle
public, be still! OBSERVER and VERITAS!!—
Various are the conjectures as to the cause
of this little affair. Some say it grew out of
emigration and anti-emigration; some out of
Know Nothingism; others about—well, no
matter. But in any case, it will, doubtless,
prove a precursor to coming events, which
always cast their shadows before, as well as
prepare the master-spirits of the day for the
coming summer conventions.

Speaking of Know Nothingism, it is nota
ble that the passage of the Nebraska bill,
closely pressed by kindred measures, set
down in the programme, has given such pos
itive proof of the power, the low, wild rabble
has over the nation, and through it the firm
grasp the devil has upon its destinies, and
the rapid consignment of it to his own do
minions, has greatly alarmed the less reck
less, so much so that they have set to work
to counteract these dangerous movements,
and to lessen his Satanic grip. To accom
plish this, they have resorted to an adroit
strategy, viz.: that of dividing this low, vile
herd into two gangs, each of which rally un
der the name of the KNOW NOTHINGS and
the PLIABLES; or better, the American Pro-
testants and Irish Catholics, who, mantled
with the convenient cloak of religion, pitch
into each other with revolvers, knives, clubs
and brick-bats, regularly each Sunday, and
recruit during the week. The point to
which their attention is at present directed
is the liberty or no liberty of speech. The
strategy may succeed; it may not.

The presence of clergy is generally sup
posed to be productive of great seriousness
and much quietude. Brooklyn, on the con
trary, however, for the last two weeks, has
been the scene of one continued festal

pleasure; and, too, because of the presence of this very class who have been holding conference here.

Bishops Quinn, Paine and Nazara were all present; and the attendance of the itinerants was large, some of whom it was my pleasure to stumble over during the sittings. As I was passing up one of the by-streets, with head bowed like a bull-rush, this exclamation, in soft accents, fell upon my ear:—"My dear, there's Ethiop." I started up and lo! Bishop Paine and lady stood before me. They were bride and groom; the good Bishop having been united in holy bands of wedlock, just one week ago that morning. After a few moments, I separated from these distinguished persons, and passed on, consoling myself with the pleasing reflection unalloyed with egotism, that my simple jottings down were read and thought over by intelligence in the far off regions of our country—west, north and south—perhaps far more than round the point from whence I write. I gathered strength and moved on.

Yours truly,

ETHIOPWilson, William Joseph ("Ethiop")

William Joseph Wilson (1818–?), a free black man from New Jersey, operated a bootmaking shop in New York City as early as the 1830s. In the 1840s he became a secondary school teacher and later a principal of a black school in Brooklyn. He was an activist on behalf of black education, encouraging access and attendance, and even opened his own library. Wilson also campaigned to secure the franchise for New York African Americans. He served as a member of the Committee of Thirteen, organized by New York black leaders to stop enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act. In the early 1850s Wilson’s letters appeared frequently in Frederick Douglass’ Paper, and Douglass referred to him as the newspaper’s “Brooklyn correspondent.” Wilson’s letters to the newspaper, published under the pseudonym “Ethiop,” were often part of an ongoing debate about the condition of blacks in New York and the United States. Wilson’s most frequent sparring partner in the war of letters was “Communipaw,” actually James McCune Smith, a prominent black physician in New York City. Carleton Mabee, Black Education in New York State: From Colonial to Modern Times (Syracuse, N.Y., 1979), 54, 63-67, 123, 129, 155, 158; Foner and Walker, Black State Conventions, 1:79-88; Quarles, Black Abolitionists, 87, 212, 229; Ripley, Black Abolitionist Papers, 4:144-45n. .