[William E.] Whiting to Frederick Douglass, March 11, 1859
SIGNS OF ENCOURAGEMENT
"Why are thou cast down, O my soul? Hope thou in God."
FRIEND DOUGLASS:—Are you not hopeful for your race, even amid the ten thousand hindrances that obstruct their path of progress, and seem almost to laugh to score the most wise and determined of human plans to remove them?
I fear you will be almost tempted to answer in the negative; but I trust not, because in all great enterprises it may be settled as an established law of providence, that man shall be taught the lesson of his own impotency, and , sooner or later, towards the time of final triumph, to and the interposition of "Him who is higher than the Highest," and without whose aid, no single plan could succeed. These remarks were suggested to my mind while reading in your paper of the 4th inst. the very interesting letter of Rev. W. L. Judd, from Port-au-Prince, giving an account of the almost bloodless and glorious revolution in Hayti, under the wise lead of a Christian citizen; thus bringing home to his long oppressed countrymen a just government and true laws.
God be praise for all this, and make the new republic a model for all others (as it even now is) the world over!
Full of encouragement to the colored brethren, too, do I consider the case mentioned under the head, "The Black Doctor," "who has cured several persons of note, of cancerous abscesses which had been pronounced to be utterly desperate cases."
This brings to my mind a conversation I once held with Prof. Thome, when he was on a visit in Boston, not far from the time of his return from witnessing the emancipation ceremonies at the deliverance of the slaves of the island of Jamaica, from the despotism that had so long crushed them.
My position now, that only let a colored person have a highly finished education, ac-
companied with a Websterian intellect, and he would soon find favor among, and be freely admitted to the best white society, on terms not only of equality, bu would even receive at their hands.
But as the Websterian sort of intellect is seldom found, even among the whites, and some may deny that it even exist among the blacks, it is well to notice every case and hold it up for imitation, where without such intellectual greatness, a colored physician, lawyer, doctor, or mechanic, by his elevated genius, , and indomitable perseverance, has commanded public attention, and opened to himself a sphere of great usefulness, bringing returns of rapid and large pecuniary grains, to say nothing of self-satisfaction.
The rapidly accumulating cases of this character, are, I think a sure warrant of still more to come; and as God is on the side of the oppressed, and against the oppressor, it must be in his heart and purpose to encourage every struggling son and daughter of Africa, who will but .
White men monopolize almost everything; but it is a glorious thought, that the Infinite one alone can dispose of genius and intellect; and where the colored people have received from him these priceless endowments, let them not be discouraged, but go on in the fear and love of God, and they shall rapidly advance in all that makes life desirable.
WHITING.
Boston, March 11, 1859.