Ethiop (William J. Wilson) to Frederick Douglass, December 25, 1851
From Our Brooklyn Correspondent.
New York is the acknowledged metropolis of America, and hence it is the Emporium of fashion, the standard of pretension, for I can call it by no other name. What may be said of it, may be said of the whole country? It is the great reflector, whose rays are reflected back from every direction. It is however but a reflector, since nothing in the way of fashion or usefulness will pass current here, unless it assume a foreign garb. The Alpha and Omega of everything here, are the dollars and cents; of necessity, therefore, nothing is admissible but what will produce them. This is the ruling idea; hence the hat must have a foreign shape, the coat a foreign cut. In all things pertaining to ladies' apparel, it must be Parisian, though even at the expense of being three months old. Music and musicians are imported in the same business-like manner as are our wines and dry goods. The only music at all American, has been from the people of color, whose deep and abiding love of home and country, amidst all their oppression, has enabled them to [ ] though plaintive they be [ ] one of the sweetest and purest melodies extant. Pass nightly the windows of the wealthy, hear, and you will become convinced of this truth. Indeed, the only true poets, and musicians, and historians of this country, and I may add, [faithful] teachers, are to come from this class - [faithful] teachers of Free Democracy and pure religion. "Pictures, books, and book-[writers, to be] read and [admired], must be for [illegible], and even the [press], to some extent, run [in] the same direction. Most and best of them are but echoes and shadows of their European neighbors. The Times recently
[printed?] here would be London Times; P[illegible] a miserable abortion of Punch; [Gleason's] Pictorial, of the London Illustrated News—in all things un-American, [enslaving] in oppression and prejudice, and these, unfortunately, (for the reason that they pay,) are purely American. It is idle to believe that American prejudice and oppression, have any other than a monied basis. True, they are firmly rooted, [having entered] in the entire business relation of the country. So firm and [illegible] are they, that even those from other [illegible], those whose [necks] yet ache by reason of the yoke worn their live-long day—are compelled to acknowledge them as rightful, necessary, and too frequently [build] thereon at the expense of the blood, and sweat, and tears, and groans of the oppressed of this land: and yet for all this, there is a remedy. I have said money is the ruling idea. Interest Jonathan's pocket, and you have his confidence. The highest in his interest, is highest in his esteem. Art, science, philanthropy, humanity, religion; all the higher qualities and feelings are calculated in dollars and cents, and, sacrificed, if necessary, to this same God. Whatever does not pay, answers not Jonathan's purpose.
Hence, the suffering of the colored people in this country, and the direction whence comes that suffering. Let those of us who can (and they are many,) turn their attentions to the monied interests of the country; and once fairly in the field, the disabilities complained of, would disappear as an evening cloud. One hundred princely black South Street merchants, at the doors of whose uptown residences, stood their carriages, awaiting their wives and daughters—in [illegible] through whose hands passed the products of African, South American, West and East Indies, and many other countries, at least, not
excepting the cotton South—I say such a class would not only change matters, but soon obliterate, not only every complaint, but every vestige of cause. And why not have such a state of things? Of its feasibility, I am wholly satisfied; and nothing but timidity, want of confidence, economy and intelligence, hinders it. Give Jonathan the credit due to him: he likes nothing so well, as to have you think and do as he does. Half of his opposition to the blacks would vanish in air, if they would but imbibe his monied idea, and the other half by their entering fully into the contest of development and accumulation, becoming thereby an important element. Observation fully satisfies me, that a proportionate share of the small trade here, may at this moment be done by the blacks, with not only the utmost ease and propriety, but with an increasing good feeling on the part of the whites. I shall take another occasion to give some of the reasons, based on my knowledge of colored society in New York, why this has not been done.
It is refreshing to note the fact, that last week some fifty young colored men left here for California; induced there, as are white men: they will, I hope, on some day, return with a goodly share of what is in this cold, stern world of ours, so necessary—money; for after all, we shall make but poor head-way without it; indeed, it is one of the two great [levers] with which we are to work.
I ought to mention here, the death of Wm. A. Goodwin, and estimable citizen of Brooklyn. His life was a remarkable one, and some incidents of it are worth mentioning, but space will not permit. He was a slave in his earlier days, in Virginia. His master, [(]a good old Baptist deacon) regarded him with more favor than the rest of the slaves—hence
his freedom. When a young man, the favorite boy, Bill, as he was called, had some special privileges granted: one was, to accompany his master and mistress to church, by taking hold of the hind part of the gig, and trotting over hill and through valley, some four miles to the village church. But the boy, Bill, when he was liberated, became the man, William A. Goodwin, who at his death, was found to be worth some thirty thousand dollars; and this was acquired by industry, economy, and perseverance and foresight. Added to this, he was a worthy citizen, philanthropist and christian. What a deal may be done in the short space of one life. Two-thirds of his, at least, was spent for others.
I need not make further mention of the arrival of Kossuth, than to say, his reception was beyond even common expectation; in truth it was overcome; but this is a national defect, this running into extremes in such matters, but time and improvement will eventually cure it. The Committee of thirteen, as you may have noticed by the papers, have called on him with an address in behalf of the people of color; and, I doubt not, much good will result from it. They ought immediately to establish a FUND in aid of Hungary, to which all might contribute; thus carrying [out] the enlarged idea of aiding in its struggle the oppressed humanity, whenever and wherever it demands. It is worthy of note, and hence I state it, that it has been left for the great Magyar to come here and expound the great principles and policy of our government. A young lady of color, of New York city, I am told, is dress maker to Madame Kossuth. We are certainly progressing.
Mr. Anderson, of Jamaica, (British West Indies,) held, last week, a conference with some gentlemen, among whom were the Rev. S. F. Cornish, and Rev. Dr. Pennington, in
reference to the emigration of colored persons thither. We await the result of the conference.
A distemper long prevalent among the whites, has broken out here among the blacks. It must be speedily cured: aye, if need be, burned out with caustic, ere it spread, and drink out the very life-blood of the people.—I allude to what is commonly called African Colonization or negro Colonization. A grand consultation of the Doctors, in such matters, was held last week, in the Methodist Church, Brooklyn, for the purpose of applying remedies, &c., several of the diseased patients being present. But one of the aforesaid Doctors, Junius C. Morel, applied the wrong dose—the Colonization medicine. In a word, to drop the figure for the fact, he, Morel, either by oversight or design, I hope not the latter, made an out-and-out Colonization speech, cutting himself loose from all institutions, whether Church or State, at all favoring pro-slavery doctrines, and denouncing those holding any connection therewith, as two-faced, and unworthy of confidence, actuated only by a few paltry dollars and cents. Of course, public schools, though not expressed, must fall in the same category. Dr. Pennington and Rev. S. E. Cornish came in for a full share of the dose, for their connection with the Presbyterian Church.
I have, however, much to learn. I always thought, up to this time, that what we most wanted, and continually sought after, was full admission into, and not secession from these intsitutions of our country; that even that meeting was to express our determination to stay here, and be fully incorporated into all the institutions of the country, and to let go no hold already gained, either in church, school, or state. Was I mistaken?
More anon,
Ethiop.