Freedom's Martyrs.

Frederick Douglass:—Sir,—I am not of those who bow down at the shrine of the victorious hero, whose laurels are covered with human gore: or chant praises to those who fall in the midst of battle, irrespective of the principles which triumph with him, or in contending for which, they offer up their lives a willing memento of their devotion. But to those who do, or dare to die, from moral or physical courage in the cause of truth, right, liberty, principle—the heart, in spite of teachings to the contrary, renders the meed of praise involuntarily.

To the moral heroism of Christ, in daring to offer up his life in devotion to those principles, the advocacy and application of which are calculated to render earth a paradise; the moral courage, devotion, and martyrdom of Lovejoy and Torrey in enforcing those principles; the soul-inspiring deeds performed by a Tell, a Bruce, a Washington, or a Tousaint L'Ouverture; the chainless spirits of a Nathaniel Turner, Madison, Washington, or Joseph Cinque;—all meet a response in the human heart, whether it be deemed expedient to express it or not.

But it is my purpose at present to render a tribute to an unknown hero, to record the deeds of valor of a nameless general, to chant praises to an unsung martyr.

In the National Anti-Slavery Standard, of the 2d inst., appeared a paragraph (from the Houston Republican) containing the following particulars:—"It appears that Mr. Higgason attempted to correct a negro man in his employ, who resisted, drew a knife, and stabbed him (Mr. H.) in several places. A Mr. J. C. Hobbs, a Tennessean, ran to his assitance. Mr. Hobbs stooped to pick up a stick to strike the negro, and while in that position the negro rushed upon him, and with a dirk inflicted a wound in his left breast, which caused his immediate death. The negro then fled to the woods, but was pursued with dogs and soon overtaken. He had stopped in a swamp to fight the dogs, when the party who were pursuing him came up, and commanded him to give up, which he refused to do: he then made several efforts to stab them. Mr. Robertson, one of the party, gave him several blows on the head with a rifle gun, but this, instead of subduing, only increased his revenge. Mr. R. then discharged his gun at the negro, and missing him, the ball struck a Mr. Boon in the face, and felled him to the ground. The negro seeing Mr. Boon prostrated, attempted to rush upon him and stab him, but was prevented by the timely interference of some of the party. He was then shot three times with a revolving pistol, and once with a rifle, and after having his throat cut, he still kept the knife firmly grasped in his hand, and tried to cut their legs as they approaced to put an end to his life."

Here we have one man attempting to maltreat another; when he resists, in self-defence, we seem him rushed upon in coward numbers. One makes an attempt upon his life with a club; he thwarts him by rendering him harmless. He is next pursued by bloodhounds, quadruped and biped; his body is perforated with balls, his throat is cut, and yet, with the noble spirit of a wronged freeman, he strikes at the base vipers around him, and will only yield his right with his life, even to coward numbers.

Had some American or Texan marauder fought so unyieldingly, in the violation of Mexican rights, he would be held up as a model for the imitation of American youths, and perhaps would receive the highest gift of their fathers—the Presidency. And yet this noble man, though he fell a martyr to liberty in the country which stands as a monument to Washington, and Jefferson, and Patrick Henry, and their compatriots, is heralded around as a shocking murderer—a desperado. Well might Lowell exclaim, whilst looking at the monument erected to the martyrs of Freedom who fell at Bunker Hill, and contemplating the treatment that is meted out to her would be worshippers at the South—

Shame on this costly mockery

Of piling stone on stone,

To those who won our liberty—

The heroes dead and gone;—

While we stand coldly by and see

Law-shielded ruffians slay

The men that fain would win their own—

The heroes of to-day.

J. C. H.Holly, Joseph Cephas

Joseph Cephas Holly (1825–55), the elder brother of emigrationist James Theodore Holly, was a pragmatic black abolitionist who identified himself as a Garrisonian yet supported political abolitionists, including Douglass. Born to free black parents in Washington, D.C., Holly moved to Brooklyn, New York, in 1844 and became a shoemaker. Among the early subscribers to the North Star, Holly wrote five articles on American slavery for the paper between February and June 1848. He addressed antislavery appeals to northern blacks and whites and to southern nonslaveholders, linking the rights of poor whites with those of blacks. In 1850 Holly moved to Burlington, Vermont, and established a bootmaking business with the financial backing of Lewis Tappan. He embarked upon tours of Vermont, serving as an agent for Douglass’s newspaper and speaking on a number of issues related to the needs and rights of African Americans. Although Holly and his brother James held divergent views on colonization and emigration, they lectured together, debating the issues publicly. Shortly after Joseph moved to Rochester in 1853, he was a delegate to the black national convention that assembled there, and he published a volume of poetry, Freedom’s Offering (1853). NS, 4, 18 February, 10 March, 7 April, 9 June 1848, 6 July 1849, 1 February 1850; FDP, 22 January, 5 February, 23 March, 1, 15 April 1852, 17 June, 22 July, 28 October 1853, 12 January 1855; David M. Dean, Defender of the Race: James Theodore Holly, Black Nationalist Bishop (Boston, 1979), 3–20; Geraldine O. Matthews, Black American Writers, 1773–1949: A Bibliography and Union List (Boston, 1975), 148; Miller, Search for a Black Nationality, 108–10; Ripley, Black Abolitionist Papers, 4:25–26n

Brooklyn, May 6th, 1849.