Brooklyn, L.I., May 15, 1849.

Frederick Douglass:ーI take my pen in hand to drop you a few hasty lines. The Hannibal Lodge G. N. O. of O. F. celebrated their third anniversary on Monday evening, the 11th inst. The speakers on that occasion were Messrs. John Peterson, Daniel J. Elston, Joseph C. Holley, and James Fields.

Mr. Peterson delivered quite an eloquent address, in the course of which he took occasion to eulogize Messrs. Garnet, Ward, Bibb, and the slave bible movement; and bid his audience "beware of those professed reformers, who come in our midst, disturb our public assemblies, and oppose giving the bible to the slave! Beware of such reformers!" This was greeted with some applause.

Mr. J. C. Holley, after making some remarks appropriate to the occasion previous to taking his seat, saidー"I would most respectfully and deferentially suggest for the consideration of brothers, whether the stage, on an Odd Fellow's anniversary occasion, is a proper place for the discussion of the various questions that divide the opinoins of menーquestions concerning which men may honestly differ! I would draw no narrow lines. I know we have our Garnet, Ward and Bibb; but we also have our Douglass and our Remond. I bid them all go on in the cause of humanity and liberty. And I trust that I have none of that ambition, which, when shielded behind the sanctity of an exclusive meeting, urges one to attack the character and impugn the motives of those who will not have an opportunity to defend themselves before the same audience. I submit these remarks, in all kindness, for consideration."

The allusion to the names of Douglass and Remond drew forth the most rapturous applause.

The course of Mr. Peterson on that occasion did appear to your correspondent most dastardly.

To say nothing of the unmanliness of drivelling away at men and their opinions behind their backs, and under cover of an order of arrangements; the idea of one brought up in pampered ease, and lounging on the couch of a salaried office, daring to misrepresent, malign, to question the sincerity and impugn the motives of those who have felt the heel of tyranny on their own necks; whose own souls have been pierced with the steel of oppression; whose own backs bear record of slavery; whose nearest and dearest relations are now in the house of bondage; who are now devoting their lives in the cause of universal freedomーfreedom of body, freedom of speech, freedom of mind; who have been beset by mobs and pelted with all kinds of deadly and filthy missiles; who have transformed themselves from chattels to men; from physical to intellectual men. Are these the men to be cautioned against; and those the men to caution? Reader, poner: ponder did I say? a wayfarer, though a fool, may see; may run and read, that such extra caution and cheap philanthropy is gratuitous.

Those who oppose this movement of giving the bible to the slaveーwho can possess nothing as a slave, and who, if the master objects not, can be furnished it without this movement, can truly sayー

We speak the truth, we will be heard,

Though all creation crack;

We will not hate a single word,

Or take a letter back.

We speak the truth, and what care we

For hissing or for scorn,

Whilst some faint gleaming we can see

Of FREEDOM'S coming morn'?

Let liars fear, let cowards shrink,

Let traitors turn away;

Whatever we have dared to think,

That dare we also say.

Yours for liberty and reform,

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