CASTILE, Feb. 15, '55.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS, ESQ: DEAR SIR:—
I am now at home, in the house of Rev. Mr.
Salsbury, and avail myself of the present
favorable opportunity of writing a line for
the paper, that the readers may know of
my whereabouts.

I had no meeting in Attica, the first place
of appointment. the churches were holding
a "protracted meeting," and the friends
thought, under the circumstances, it would
not be advisable to attempt to hold an
anti-slavery meeting. I am not opposed to
revivals, so called, of genuine Christianity, but,
so far as my observation extends, the good
effected in winter time revivals, is rather
ephemeral in its duration. There does not appear
to be anything solid or lasting about
it. The converts, generally speaking, do not
appear to love the (black) brethren any more
sincerely afterward, than before. There are
the same preconceived notions of our
inferiority. There is the same propensity to
jostle us off the sidewalk. Love toward our
fellow man is a distinctive element of vital
piety. If a man is in possession of this sort
of religion, it will be made manifest in the
development of that fraternal sympathy and
union, which in its beneficent range, knows
no differences, complexional, or otherwise.

I read every day of revivals of religion at
the South, where brutes are manufactured
out of men. Then, I read in the same paper,
that the value of "niggers," in the "revival"
quarters, has not diminished; the demand
for "likely, young negroes," is increasing—Well, the young converts bid quite as lustily
at the auction sale, as the old gray-headed
sinners. They are taught, that now, they
have embraced religion, and joined the
church, they must not dance, nor swear, nor
lie, nor cheat the white man. They must
not steal their neighbor's sheep. But their
religion does not prevent them from stealing
men, the children of the same common Father,
both their heavenly and their earthly.—This sort of religion is worth less than the
oil or gas consumed while they were embracing
it "at meeting."

Now, how is it at the North? There is
not a very material difference. "No, indeed,"
said a young convert, "I am not going to
eat with a nigger; I don't care if I have got
religion." Her religion, in my opinion,
is worth very little, if it has not "conquered"
her anti-negro hatred. This sort of piety
votes for Rum and Slavery, without the
least compunctions of conscience. Whigs
and Democrats are just the same after its
possession, as before. They agree with
Topsy, that she is a "nigger, any how you
choose to fix it." If the revivalists would
take Elder Knapp, of the Baptist
denomination for their model, and teach their converts,
that true Religion makes its possessors hate
slavery and all sorts of iniquity, and vote
against sin, as well as talk against it, there
would be more Christians, and fewer Whigs
and Democrats. Let us have revivals then,
after this fashion, and have them in the
spring and summer, as well as in the fall
and winter. We then shall hear something
said, by the new converts, about the change

effected in their notices concerning their
duty to oppressed Humanity.

Let no one be offended at the out-spoken
plainness of our style; we must preach what
we feel to be the truth, irrespective of the
applause or censure of our fellow men. Let
us have good, old, apostolic fire in revivals
of religion; for this produced a change in a
man's life, in all its diversified relations, and
burns just as brightly in the summer, when
the nights are short, as in the winter, when
the nights are long. I write at length on
this subject, because I consider it peculiarly
apposite at the present time, when revivals
of religion are the order of the day.

I had an excellent meeting in Arcade in
the Baptist house, a fine commodious edifice,
which was well filled with attentive and interested
listeners. Five ministers, one of them
having come five miles, were present[.] This,
being somewhat out of the course of human
events, I noted down in my memorandum
book, as positive proof, that all that belong
to the profession, are neither ashamed nor
afraid to attend an Abolition Lecture, and
sit where every body in the house can see
them. Sometimes I go into a community,
for the purpose of lecturing, in which there
are residing a half dozen ministers, look
around in the meeting, for some one to
introduce me, and look in vain for the ministers.
After the lecture, go home with a brother, and
in the course of conversation, incidentally
inquire, "Where were the ministers to night?
I did not see them." The brother replies, "our
minister was there, but he was safely ensconced,
out of harm's way, under the steps."

But at my meetings at Arcade, there sat the
Ministers, all of them, I think, in one pew,
about six feet from the speaker, looking him
fully in the face. One of them, Elder
Sprague, commenced the meeting by prayer,
such a one as would have subjected him to
fine and imprisonment, if not lynching, and
hanging in some portions of this Christian
land. Yes! the elder prayed "right out in
meeting," for the Lord to bring the rulers the wicked rulers of our country, especially,
the wicked man who rules as President,
defying the authority of Heaven, to a consciousness
of their folly, and madness, and high
handed iniquity. He also prayed that Christians
may vote right, as well as pray right.—He is not afraid of his politics swallowing
his religion. His religion controls his politics.
The threat of that religion which swallows
such a sinner as Millard Fillmore, or Franklin
Pierce, would, to use a figure, admit a
camel, without experiencing much difficulty
in the process of deglutition.

At Arcade, I was hospitably entertained
by Mr. and Mrs. C. O. Sheppard, good, honest,
faithful friends of the oppressed, and known
to be so, not only in this community, but in
others, extending even as far as Canada.—Here I found Rev. Mr. Stowe, an old Liberty
party man, doing all in his power to effect
a union of the various sects, upon the
platform of Christian brotherhood. This
gentleman is favorably known in the Anti
Slavery world. May success attend his efforts!
It is now nearly one o'clock in the
afternoon, and as I am listening for the ringing
of the bell, for the lecture, I must close
this hastily written epistle. I should like, in
this letter to notice an article in the last
Oswego Reformer, upon "The Reorganization
of the Anti-Slavery forces," but have no
time. Let friend Stickney follow it up.

Yours, in truth,

WM. J. WATKINS.