Publication: FREDERICK DOUGLASS PAPER
Date: January 1, 1852
F. DouglassTitle: LETTER FROM WILLIAM G. ALLEN. -------
Location: Rochester, New York
LETTER FROM WILLIAM G. ALLEN.
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FREDERICK DOUGLASS, ESQ. - DEAR SIR: - You have seen the address of the colored people of New York city to Kossuth. What
a stupendously foolish thing! Not a word of their own wrongs - their sufferings - their enslavement; - no point, no directness,
no nothing except the mere rhetoric. Palaver, the whole of it; and to cap the climax of absurdities, the address winds up
with the assurance to the Hungarian that on the day of giving, they (the colored people) will be on hand with at least the
"widow's mite," if no more. Where did mortal man ever read of such folly as this before? Just as though, if the colored people
are to invest money for the benefit of the oppressed, justice, consistency, and the commonest self-respect, do not require
that such money should be expended in some way for the benefit of the four millions in or own land who are ground to the dust
in chains and slavery, and the tens of thousands of others who, by cruel laws and customs are kept in poverty and degradation.
The men who wrote that address are not fools. No equal number of men in the union can present a greater amount of native
intellect and talent; and in education and accomplishments some of the members of that committee are by no means inferior
to the most favored of their oppressors. How much the more guilty then are they? I cannot let them go gently by. Though no
other colored man should speak out, I, for one, will do so; and let it be known that their is at least one of the oppressed
in America, whose feelings that address, lacking as it does, so much of vitality, does not represent, and who can find next
to nothing to applaud in so ridiculous a performance.
The address, milk and water as it was, failed to make any impression upon Kossuth; and, as a matter of course, he treated
those who presented it with the most withering contempt.
Kossuth is a man of matchless power of mind. He sets aside all orators, whether of ancient or modern date. He is positively
an intellectual wonder. Nevertheless, he has proved himself not only mortal man, but capable of cherishing views and feelings
which are not in accordance with the laws that lied at the basis of our common humanity, and which bind us together in one
bound of general brotherhood.
Kossuth is not asked to turn anti-slavery lecturer, though this is what Wright of the Commonwealth charges upon Wm. Lloyd
Garrison. He is not asked to turn aside from the Hungarian cause, or to divide his energies between the cause of the American
slave, and that of the Hungarian oppressed. Nobody but a a fool would ask that. He is simply asked to do nothing or say nothing
while here, which would imply that he regarded the liberty of the American black man as less sacred than that of the Hungarian
white man: in other words, he is simply asked to see that there does exist among us such an institution as American Slavery,
and to utter to the American, face to face, one burning rebuke by way of its condemnation. Do less than this, he could not,
and maintain his integrity; and doing less than this, it is my prayer at least, that such "Apostles of liberty" as he, may
be fewer than ever were angel's visits, and a great deal farther between.
The plain truth is, Kossuth's disclaimer will get him more money, but be it known unto him, that money gotten thus will curse
him, and not bless him.
Some men I know at this point read us lectures on "Common Sense." Let them read on. I acknowledge no common sense which is
in contravention of the law of rectitude.
Much better would it have been for the cause of freedom the world over had Kossuth maintained his integrity. One word from
him to this people would have startled this nation into a sense of propriety never felt before; and would have given such
an impetus to the cause of freedom as would almost have enabled us to fix the very day when the good time should come. What
retards the cause of republican freedom in Europe more than our abominable inconsistencies? Do not tyrants courage at our
position, and laugh us to very scorn? Were we at one with our professions, democracy could not lag in Europe. It would come
quickly; and not only so, but be a fact, fixed, firm, immovable.
No good comes of the spirit of compromise, and compromising with right and duty. He who cannot read that fact in this country's
history, is quite too stupid to be endured. Do not wise men begin to fear that unless we do something for slavery, soon slavery
will do something for us? And is this fear ill-founded? Are they foolish who fear that slavery in destroying itself may destroy
the nation, and that in a way the equal of which has never yet been written upon any page of human history? But I forbear
to say more. May God help the weak; and give wisdom and power to those who are laboring to bring slavery and oppression to
the dust, not only in Austria or Hungary, but wherever they may be found.
Faithfully yours,
WM. G. ALLEN.
MCGRAWVILLE, N.Y., Dec. 30, 1851.
