H. to Frederick Douglass, November 26, 1852
Frederick Douglass, Esq.: Dear Sir:—
The Presidential contest is over, and has resulted in the choice, by the American people, of Franklin Pierce, a most unprincipled, petty pro-slavery despot, a supporter of all the infamous measures that passed Congress during his membership, the vile Atherton gag against the right of petition included. - The leading measure and policy of this man's administration will be the annexation of Cuba, and the extention of slavery.
One of the most extraordinary freaks of political eccentricity, and at the same time gratifying results of a well-directed electioneering canvas - in which you may take some of the credit to yourself, is the elction of Gerrit Smith, the best politician in America—and perhaps the most just in the world—to a seat in the great Congress of the United States. This, doubtless, will be claimed as an anti-slavery triumph; but it is a great mistake. This is apparent, without any other argument, from the fact that the district which elected Gerrit Smith, gave Pierce a majority of one thousand. I think it will be conceded now, even by th most sanguine as heretofore to the contrary, that this nation is eminently, and, to my mind, irredeemably pro-slavery; therefore, such a result as that of the election of Gerrit Smith should not be taken as an indication of any favorable change in public sentiment. For my own part, excepting the tried few, and very few, I have no manner of confidence, nor place any reliance whatever in the whites of this country; and wherever they can, they corrupt the blacks - the colored people of the country - making them equally mean and pernicious with themselves. Consequently, when and wherever I see a prejudiced or treacherous black, I at once trace his tutorage to that of a white.—You may think this ungenerous, perhaps unjust; it is nevertheless true—mark it. According to ancient methodology, whom the gods would destroy, the first make mad; that is, whom they would destroy, they first confuse and delude; as certainly there cannot be more consummate delusion than the election of Mr. Smith to the House of Representatives, the only place in which he can be potent in opposing the measures of the coming administration. O[nly] think of it; Gerrit Smith, the most ultra abolitionist and reformer; and Franklin Pierce, the meanest and most ultra propagandist, both chosen to the councils of the nation at the same time, by the same persons, to carry out the same measures! Two elements as directly opposite in character—as incongruous and disagreeable as a glowing fiery furnace and a magazine of gunpowder! If this be not delusion, then there cannot be such a thing.
I call your attention to another view of this most extraordinary train of circumstances; the most potent obstacles are all out of the way. The distinguished and venerable John Quincy Adams was the most scrupulous conservative in the country, and favored nothing that differed from the most orthodox construction of the old Federal Compact, and never would, as he declared once, while on the floor of the House of Representatives, advocating the right of petition, a federal right, favor the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. "Though Congress would pass a law for its abolition to-day," said the revered politician, "I would oppose it, because I do not think it expedient; the people are not ready for it," or words to this effect. And the South were blind fools that they did not understand him. He was their friend, not their enemy, and only opposed what they favored, for the sake of favoring them. So the good, and, to my mind, honest, though mistaken—old man, having lived out the full measure of his days, was "gathered home to his fathers." And Calhoun, Clay, and Webster—all, all are gone! and singular as it may appear, almost at the very instant that the last link in this most dangerous and wicked trio of despots was broken, riven and laid low by the sturdy, matchless, and unfailing arm of Death, forever removed out of the way, such a man as Gerrit Smith was returned to Congress; there to stand up with Joshua R. Giddings and Horace Mann, in defense of the down-trodden of the country, and in opposition to the schemes of the oppressors; we can do nothing more than leave the event to Heaven, and give glory to the God of Israel!
But the measures of the succeeding administration—the annexation of Cuba, Col. Franklin Pierce being one of the leading spirits of the "Lone Star" order—will be carried out before the elapse of four years, unless prevented by some other power than American; and there is but one power under the whole heavens capable of preventing it—the emancipation of the slaves, and immediate enfranchisement of the whole of the free colored inhabitants of the Island. This, and nothing else will prevent it. And whether this will be done, time alone will show.—Spain has no reliance but [the arm] of Louis Napoleon, the Emperor of the French.—
England will do nothing as she has her own world wide commercial interest to look after and protect, and will hazzard nothing of her own for that of another [illegible] she but too well knows, that in case of [illegible]nterference, the Americans having to [illegible] in the affair of Cuba, would but invoke their already fixed attention upon the Canadas, as this would not necessarily augment their difficulty, while their interests would be enhanced in a ten-fold degree. The South will not oppose the annexation of the Canadas, as they have many millions of dollars of interest in the fugitives, all of which would be realized in cash, by virtue of the infamous fugitive slave law. The South has no objection to the increase of Northern States, while these are compelled to subserve her nefarious purposes; and this, you may rely upon it, the North is sworn to do; so that the black man in the United States have no safety for themselves, wives and children, but the bowie knife and revolver, in the name of Christiana.
By the unerring indications of the politial barometer, all the leading nations of the world are soon to be involved in a general war, instigated by slavery, and brought about by the instrumentality of so meagre a creature, as that which is soon to become the chief executive of this nation of slaveholders; and Cuba will be the point at which this almost universal conflict is to begin. Where it will end, the sagacity of man cannot foresee.
After the Coronation of the Emperor, Louis Napoleon, shortly to take place, by a stipulation in his oath or imperial view, and the conditions of that vow, every Catholic power in Europe is bound, which obligation will be enforced by the Holy See, the Su-
preme Pontificate, Pio Nino, as is called Pope Pius the Ninth. And what a title is that of his French Majesty, besides "Emper[or of] the French, and the King of Algeria," [illegible] Barbaric state of Algiers in Africa; the [illegible]onal attractive and most glorious title of Protector of Holy Places! Such a title! the Protector of Holy Places! What places? Why, certainly all places Catholic, and Rome, the seat of His Holiness, and Cuba, the principal province of her Catholic Majesty in particular, Spain being the most loyal, obedient, and reliable of all his holy domain, throughout the world. This title is certainly original, nothing borrowed from Napoleon the First, and caps the climax of Louis' political sagacity; foreshowing that he will yet disappoint the calculations of thousands of political observers, the English speculators, and Louis Kossuth in particular. I must admit, in this particular I myself have been disappointed. All the former part of his life having been spent in obscurity, he was little known, and that only as a private man secluded in London, so that we could know nothing of him but what his European cotemporaries said of him, and they now prove themselves to have known as little about him as we. All our knowledge concerning him has been obtained since his ascendency to the Presidency of France. But Louis Napoleon is destined to make noise—an important noise in the world; he is now forty-five years of age, just the age to prove the consequences of a universal conquest; and give him but half a chance, and he will do it. This age is the crisis of man's ambition. It is the age at which Hannibal performed his greatest achievements in Spain and Gaul; Phorus, the Indian King, against the phalanxes of Alexander the Great; near the age at which Napoleon the Conqueror performed his most daring deeds; the age at which the Lord Duke of Wellington fought the battle of Waterloo, and conquers the Conqueror, but one year younger than Louis Kossuth himself; the age at which Nicholas, the Emperor of Russia, established himself firmly in power by an overthrow of Warsaw, and subjugation of Poland; and the age at which Toussaint L'Overture, the great man of Haiti, appeared in the majesty of his grand [ ] threw off the fetters that bound him, tore in fragments the habiliments of a slave, rose superior to a bondman, broke in pieces every yoke that encumbered his brethren, cast aside their burdens forever, met the savage hosts of Napoleon, under Leclerc, overthrew and routed them in every direction, established freedom and equality for his people, and made himself master of St. Domingo! At such an age, with adequate means, sagacity to direct, and a judicious course "there is no such thing as fail."
Louis Napoleon is bound to protect Spain, for the sake of her Catholic Majesty, Isabella, in the possession of Cuba, and Austria, and Russia, with all the other Catholic dominions, are bound to defend Louis Napoleon, for the sake of His Holiness, Pio Nino, the Pontiff of the Holy See. But England will not interfere, notwithstanding her stipulated treaty with Spain. She will find it much easier, and more convenient to violate a treaty with a weak power, than risk the consequences of offending a strong one. And this passiveness on the part of England, will be the pretext for a general continental war—a war in which both continents, to a greater or less extent, will be involved.
For this passiveness, as her only protector in behalf of Spain, England will be called to account by the Emperor of France. And as England does not usually permit an interference with her diplomatic and national affairs from any quarter, it may be expected that their French and Catholic majesties will receive the required satisfaction. Though not of the Catholic faith, but stinging under the torture of wounded pride, with the circumstances fresh in his memory, of the orders given by Lord Viscount Palmerston to the Lord Admiralty, who sent the British fleet into the Dardanelles, to defend the sublime Porte, in the protection of Kossuth and the Hungarians, against the crusade of Russia. Nicholas will gladly seize the opportunity to avenge himself on England, and proffer his aid to the Protector of Holy Places.
Maddened with disappointment, peradventure, in the expectations of getting Cuba, and fired with indignation and sectarianism at the religious complexion that the war must most assuredly assume, the Americans will throw themselves into Mexico, to wrest the last vestige of National power from the Catholics in North America; and no man in the nation will more willingly execute such a mission than Major General Winfield Scott, smarting as he is from his late defeat for the Presidency, in which he was sadly forsaken and disappointed by the Catholics, on whom he much depended for support.
Then there is Louis Kossuth, who, like a great hawk, is waiting, ready to pounce down upon his prey, whenever an opportunity ensues. He, too, notwithstanding his pretended impartiality when he left the United States, in matters of religion, anxious to embrue his hands in the blood of Francis Joseph, and still more [...] of Nicholas, with the point of his [...] throw himself into the chances as a leader in the religious crusade. It is evident, from this hasty sketch, that the political world must soon be in commotion, and Cuba will be the starting point. But Cuba must not be permitted to come into this confederacy, bond or free; and if Spain be at all true to herself, on the very first indications of an invasion, the blacks should be proclaimed free; and this could be done by signal guns, previously understood, even though the enemy were in full possession of Havana, and all the ports of the Island. Spain need not fear to trust her black subjects; they are loyal now, and will be tenfold more so. She knows that they are trustworthy, and should not hesitate to do them the justice that belongs to them.—Emancipate the slaves, and enfranchise the free black and colored inhabitants, and all the powers of earth and hell cannot take Cuba. The next four years will test all these mighty questions, and prove to us whether we are to be freemen or slaves. Be that as it may, let colored men be prepared for it, come when it will, and ready to play their part, whenever duty and right may call them; for be ye assured, sir, it is no time now for black men to play the cowen or the coward. The time for action is near at hand.
Yours for God
and humanity,
H.