W[illia]m James Watkins to Frederick Douglass, February 10, 1859

LETTER FROM WM. JAMES WATKINS.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS, ESQ.: MY DEAR SIR: —Every word uttered, and every act performed by our leading men in the State and nation, should ten to the promotion of that harmony of action, and that continuity of effort, in our divided ranks, without which we have no right to expect success in any important undertaking. And I think the experience of the past has amply demonstrated, that we, as a people, can accomplish more by selecting some one object to be gained by our united efforts, and adhering to our determination to accomplish that, than by attempting to grasp a half-dozen, and dragging our slow length along, doing little else than blocking up our own path, by berating, ad nauseam, those to whom we are constantly appealing for help, and upon whom, notwithstanding their "low platform," we are dependent for success in any effort we may make for our enfranchisement.

As a proscribed and comparatively helpless people, we make ourselves supremely ridiculous, when, with a club as heavy as we can carry, we strike at the only men who have the power, politically, to place us, or help us place ourselves, in a position which will give us influence and command respect.

Entertaining this view of the relative position of the Republican party and the colored citizens of this State; our reciprocal relations growing out of the indebtedness of which you make mention; and the effort now being earnestly made by a few of our number to induce our Republican Legislature to take at its present session the initiatory step toward giving us the Right of Suffrage, untrammeled; I read with mortification and regret the leading editorial in your last week's issue. Its obvious tendency is to disparage the effort adverted

to, and clog the wheels of progress in the direction in which we are laboring.

My dear sir, it seems to me that neither the "subtle calm" of WM. H. SEWARD, nor the "humane sweetness" of GERRIT SMITH, nor the "pardon of a self-convicted kidnapper by our new Republican Governor," has any connection with the fact of our "petitions for twenty or thirty years" to the Legislature, for Equal Suffrage. There is no necessity for these allusions in the connection in which you make them; they can do no good, but are prolific of harm, and of harm only. They develop neither the wisdom of the serpent, nor the harmlessness of the dove. The whole scope of the second and third paragarphs of the article under criticism, is calculated to repel rather than attract those to whom we are now appealing, like drowning, men, for help, HELP! No one sees more clearly than I do, the short comings of our "Republican leaders." With what humble ability I may possess, I have attempted with my pen and tongue, to demonstrate the criminality of their position, and the necessity of entrenching themselves behind such a fortification as will render them invulnerable to assaults from any quarter. But knowing, as I have an opportunity to know that those leaders of the party who have the Equal Suffrage movement committed to their legislative management and control, are right on the subject; and believing that they will in due time, prove the sincerity of their professions by their votes, I respectively submit that it is unwise in those who know nothing to the contrary, to denounce indiscriminately the leaders of the Republican party, thus throwing a stumbling block in the way of those of us who are still clinging to that party (unfaithful though it be) with the hope of thereby the sooner accomplishing a certain object.

It is not necessary to enter into a discussion of the platform of the Republican party. However "low" it may be in other respects, it is certainly high enough and broad enough for us to stand upon as citizens of the State of New York, and plead, with trumpet tongue, our equal right to the ballot-box. By

so doing, we do not endorse all the positions of the party, as you so conclusively proved in your able array of the reasons which induced you, in the Fremont campaign, to unfurl the Republican standard, regardless of the attacks upon your Anti-slavery consistency. I believe you acted wisely. I also believe that I do not abate one jot or tittle of my Anti-slavery consistency by still adhering to he position you then assumed and triumphantly maintained. Let us then do something more than denounce Republicans for not doing their duty to the slave. We should appeal to them to be consistent with their own platform, and give us here in New York, the Elective Franchise. Expediency does not always involve a compromise of moral principle, a derelction of duty. If I mistake not, we are commanded in the good book to be as "wise as serpents."

Again: the article in question is objectionable in another respect. While a few of us are endeavoring to concentrate our scattered forces throughout the State, and bring our united efforts to bear upon the present Legislature, to the end that we may obtain without a property qualification, the right of Suffrage, you come with your dividing wedge, and ask the questions: "Is it right, is it wise to thrown our entire public and organized movements into the single issue of the Suffrage Question? Are there not other objects hardly less important, and decidedly more accessible in which we could concentrate our efforts from Buffalo to Montauk Point?" You then divert our attention from the issue which we are now making with the Slave Power in New York, and present another issue for our contemplation. This, I conceive, to be uncalled for, and unwise. For it is calculated, if not intended, to divert attention from the special movement some of us are already making for our enfranchisement. I do not believe that you would suggest a line of duty, having a tendency to induce on the Suffrage question, that suicidal lethargy which, for the past few years, has characterized us, even amid the convulsive upheavings which have shaken the

land from centre to circumference. But I am to deal with the effect likely to be produced, whatever may be the motive you have in view.

In comparison with the question of Equal Suffrage, that of "obtaining admission for our children into the nearest school-house, and the best school-house, in our respective neighborhoods," is a very trifling one. It is a local affair which can be attended to in those localities where the grievance exists. You very truly say, that "with few exceptions, we are debarred from equal school privileges, not by constitutional exclusions, nor by statute, but in glaring violation of the Constitution and of the School Laws." But, sir, we are debarred from the Right of Suffrage by "Constitutional exclusion;" and it seems to me, that the primary work in which we should be engaged with all our might, is the purging of our Constitution from every pro-slavery stain which rests upon it; we must seek to drive out of it everything which tramples upon our manhood. Achieve a position, so far as the ballot-box is concerned, which will tell against the oppressor. We need have no fears in relation to that "decidedly more accessible" object to which you call attention. Prejudice against color, (as it is called,) in this State, will have no organic Law from which to receive aid and comfort. Perform the greater and more important work first, the less will follow in the wake of the necessary effort.

You remark that you "do not propose this education movement as a substitute for the Suffrage movement." Certainly not; but though not proposed as a substitute we submit it to the sterling good sense of the writer of that article, does not the suggestion, in view of all the circumstances, come rather inopportunely? Is it not calculated to damage our cause?

The relation I sustain to the Equal Suffrage movement now in progress, compels me, in duty to myself and the cause so near my heart, to throw out these suggestions. And I trust they will produce the intended effect. I agree

with you, Mr. Editor, that "the heart of New York is a right true and noble heart." My experience during the past three weeks, confirms your assertion. I have addressed more than fifteen thousand of "the people," in behalf of the Equal Suffrage movement. And I find that that "heart swells in one glorious throb, one generous beat." For six years, I have been doing all in my power towards thawing out the icebergs of popular indifference to the question of our Rights as men, and driving the warm blood through every vein and artery of the body politic. Never before have I met with so cordial a reception; never have my humble labors been crowned with such signal success. Having obtained the Assembly Chamber for the purpose of addressing the "assembled wisdom" of the State, on the specific question of Equal Suffrage, I there commenced my labors. The Chamber was densely crowded. Nearly every member of both houses was present, beside a large concourse of resident citizens. I followed up my meetings in the Presbyterian Mission Church, which was on every occasion filled to overflowing. I should like to say a word concerning my meetings in Hudson, Mechanicville , Troy, Cohoes, and a dozen other places, but I will not trespass further upon your columns. To all the kind friends who in any way assisted me I return through this medium, my most sincere thanks. To my hard-working, faithful and efficient friends and co-laborers, STEPHEN MYERS of Albany, (the colored member of theeh Senate and Assembly?) and GARRET DEYO of Hudson, Messrs. EGBERT, and ADAMS of Cohoes, GREEN, FARNHAM, &cs., of Mechanicville, our zealous friend RICH, and Mrs. JAMISON of Troy, and a host of others, I am especially indebted.

Yours, for the Right,

WM. JAMES WATKINS.

ROCHESTER, Feb. 10th, '59.