[John S.] Rock to Frederick Douglass, March 27, 1856
FROM OUR BOSTON CORRESPONDENT.
BOSTON, March 27th, 1856.
FRIEND DOUGLASS:—Nothing of importance
has transpired since my last. The session of the
General Court drags slowly on; a few "fussy"
members take up most of the time in frivolous
discussions, making amendments, &c., &c., ap
parently to show their smartness; and some
make a "fist" at it. We assure you; we saw a
member of the House, a few days ago, get up,
to make a speech, and though he had it written
and in his hands, he was puzzled to get even a
part of it off the paper, and many of the mem
bers seemed "tickled to death." When he had
finished, he appeared greatly relieved, as well
as those who heard him. We saw, the same
day, an Honorable Senator from Suffolk at
tempt to make a speech; he got along pretty
well for a few minutes, when he suddenly sat
down in much confusion say," I have for
gotten the rest of my speech!" Some persons
think that here, in the Athens of America, ev
every body is educated and refined; this is a
mistake, though we think that there is no other
city in the Union that may hold even a respec
table comparison with Boston, in regard to
brilliant public men.
A resolve has been defeated, which propos
ed to grant thirty thousand dollars worth of
books to the members of the Legislature—said
money to be paid out of the State treasury.—The Prohibitive Liquor Law, and the Personal
Liberty Law, remain in , though it is
quite probable that they will both be slightly
amended. An effort is now on foot to elect a
U.S. Senator, in the place of Hon. Charles
Sumner, whose term expires in 1857. This is
a Know Nothing trick. The American party
is now in power, and they can elect their own
candidate. They are afraid to wait till next
winter, and "try their luck," then, "for fear
of the worst." They say " the iron is hot"
now, and "we must strike." The trick is unprecedented,
though so far as we have been able
to learn, it is not prohibited, either by the Con
stitution or the statutes. There are some far
seeing men in the K.N. party, and we think
they have too much sense and experience to
take such a disastrous step for their party; for
they must certainly know that if they take this
cowardly advantage, and elect Gov. Henry J.
Gardner, one year before the regular time for
election, it will be a death-blow to Know Nothingism in Massachusetts, and, we believe, would bury it beyond even the hope of a resurrection. We have no fears of the success of the attempt. We believe, if they press it, that it will be voted down by the members of the party, and then they will stand in the condition of the dog and his shadow not satisfied with their mouths full, they grasp for more and lose all! For "as certain as grass grows, and water runs, just so certain will the attempt be a death-blow
to the party.
An attempt has been made to modify the laws of divorce, so that after three years of
wilful neglect, a decree of divorce may be granted upon the application of the innocent (?) party. Every one, who is familiar with human nature, knows that custom and law, instead of make the marriage relation sacred, have tended very much to revise this state of things. Laws may do much for the rights of all; but laws do not make rights, and all laws are not just. We think that any law that compels persons to live together, who do not and cannot live agreeable and happy, is cruel and unjust, and subversive of the great aim for which it was intended. Laws make divorces easy for crime; and we think that they should do so, where parties cannot live happily together, and where both are willing to separate. Marriage is now made a matter of business; true happiness is too little thought of, until, on reflection, one or both of the parties find that they are "doomed to drag a golden chain." If those
With these extravagant ideas of a marriage
to be consummated in heaven, with his angel,
he enters into the sacred bonds of matrimony.
When, "lo! and behold!" the "scales have
fallen from his eyes," he finds, to his heart's dis
content, that he has married a poor, weak , with passions and sentiments common to
human nature, and all told perhaps he finds
her not "an hundred fold" better than him
self. Poor fellow! he now thinks that he has
been "taken in and done for;" he goes about
whining, "like a bear with a soar head," and at
last, in despair, cries out in thundering yet still
poetical tones:
"The fond hopes that centered in thee are all dead!
The iron has entered the soul where they fed.
No hope! no repentance; my weakness is o'er,
It died with the sentence—I LOVE THEE NO MORE!"
Until woman takes her proper sphere, and
men and women chose their companions by a
moral and intellectual standard, we may expect
Legislation and law-suits as the natural results
of hot-headed and reckless marriages. If wo
men should half as bad as men, our courts
would have more applications for divorce, than
they could possibly hear and determine. A
moral and legal reform is necessary, which will
grant equal rights to all.
The resolve which passed last week, prohi
iting foreigners from hold office, was recon
sidered and lost on Thursday.
Rev. Henry Highland Garnet has lectured
here three times during the present week, to large
audiences, and preparations are now on foot
for other meetings. Mr. G. came upon us un
heralded and unexpected. If we had expected
him, arrangements would have been made to
have given him a grand reception. As it was
we did the best we could. We hope, as it is
now generally known, throughout the country
that he is here, that he will be invited , and receive that attention which his
talents and known fidelity to the Anti-Slavery
cause have always merited. Mr. Garnet's
talents as a lecturer are too well-known to need
any comment from us. We should give you
a sketch of his lectures but we fear that we
should forestall him, and it is our desire that
everybody shall hear him explain in his own
peculiar style, the effects of emancipation in
Jamaica. This is a subject of great import
ance to the friends of freedom everywhere, and
especially to those who believe that man can-
not legally hold property in man, and that the
slaves should be immediately and uncondition
ally set free. We have never supported our
public men. It is generally understood that if
the colored man goes into the Anti-Slavery
field, he has "a hard road to travel." We have
many now actively engaged in the work, doing
all they can to forward our great cause; among
these, in our own State, I would name Robert
Morris, Esq., Messrs Lewis Hayden, John
Stephenson, Julius B. McCrea, Chas. Lenox
Remond, William Brown, William C. Nell,
Thos. H. Ringgold, Peneton and Brooks. In
Rhode Island, Mr. Geo. T. Downing, and Mr.
Wm. H. Stephenson. In Connecticut, Rev.
J. C. and A. G. Beman. In New York, Messrs.
Frederick Douglass, Wm. J. Watkins, Wm. J.
Wilson, George Weir, P. A. Bell, Prof. Geo.
B. Vashon, and J. McCune Smith, A.M.M.D.
In Pennsylvania, James Joshua Gould
Bias, M.D., Messrs. Isaiah C. Weir, J. C. and
T. J. Bowers, J. C. White, Wm. Whipper, Mr.
Videll, Rev. Messrs. Peck, Wm. J. Catto,
Stephen Smith, Wm. Douglas, and Dr. H.
Wilson. In New Jersey, Messrs. L. W. Rock,
and Robert D. Steward. These gentlemen are
all actively engaged in our cause, doing all
they can to elevate the free and to emancipate
the slaves, and we should rally around them
and give them that encouragement and support
which our cause demands.
A Bill is now on the tapis for the suppression
of small bills; we hope some act will pass these
one and two and three dollar ""
out of the way, and give us the coin in their
stead. The coin is always safe, even when the
banks are broken. A bank bill promises to pay.
The coin pays.
ROCK.