JOHN MANROSS TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS Hillsdale[,] Mich. 14 Jan[uary] 1856[.] DEAR SIR— I have lately got hold of your history by which I learn that we were almost neighbors. In 1828 1827 I was family teacher for the children of the Rev. Doctor w Wyatt2 in Baltimore (one month) and for six months the same year I was Classic teacher in the military Academy at Frederick, Md. I should have before stated that I was born at Clinton Oneida Co. N.Y. in 1800 I From Aug. 1828 to Aug. 1831 I was teacher at Hillsborough Academy in Caroline County on the border of Tuckahoe Creek which Separates it from Talbot County I was well acquainted with Mas.r Andrew Anthony5 and I believe your description of him is quite correct. I think that Captain Auld must have moved away before I came there. Edward Harper7 and Jo.s N. Carson were merchants under the hill and Mas.r Andrew had a whiskey shop on the hill. After that I lived at Denton 5 years and Greensborough 1 year and returned to Clinton N. Y. in 1837 and came here in 1838. Your description of scenery and seasons about Tuckahoe,9 is quite refreshing to me as I had not heard much from there since I left. Your derivation of the word Tuckahoe may be quite correct, though I understood that it was of indian origin. In the fall of 1831 I was a soldier in N the famous Nat Turner’s War and was stationed at Denton. At some future time I hope to give you some of the details of that War and the noble daring of Southern Chivalry Yours with respect JOHN MANROSS P. S. Aug 1, 1864—The above was written as dated and mislaid— see over I send a communication if it suits you please have it printed with such alterations or amendments as you please and send me a dozen printed slips of the same yours with respect J. MannonI heard the Rev George Cookman preach several times. At a camp meeting in Queen Anns County he was reading the opening hymn the last day of the meeting--I cannot repeat the hymn but it was something like the following, "Our spirits take their flights "To realms of joy and bliss. As he repeated the last line, the scaffolds on which he stood partially gave way and settled a few inches with something of a crash. He stopped a moment, then smiled and said "We are not gone yet." You divide the first and last six months in year at Covey's with the month of August a mistake of one month only[with] # 1855 J. MannonRochester July 27, 1856 I have this day been looking over my manifold and refreshing my mind with the pleasure of memory. I see here, my kind friend, several letters addressed to you. In comparing these letters with the experience which has intervened writing them. I can but escape(1856) [G??tup?] Bridport Oct. 16, 1886 Dear Frederick Douglass, Wont you accept these two brush portraits of Mrs Josephine Butler, as a remembrance of your visit to Bridport, in the same year that England at lengthe accomplished the Repeal of the C.D.A. I know your cosmopolitan interest in the cause of Social purity 2698You look to England just as we look to America for [muturual] mutual support & sympathy in their great moral movements for right & justice. As you say great reform comes slowly, we must "learn to labour & to wait." Great people are not (Mrs Butler) made in a day. Her father & family before her were reformers & [?] for the freedom of [the] negro slavery, & this gave her impetus to protest against the worst forms of white slavery. This [E??st] is a portrait of her when young, now she is worn with work & illness. I thought you would like one photograph for your wife & one for yourself. Pray give her my kind regards, & say adieu, next you visit Bridport, I shall hope to see you both at Girtups, & show you yourself in the seal skin hat! Wishing you all antislavery success. Believe me Yours sincerely [Sulidena] StephensBrooklyn, N.Y. 19 Dec[ember] 1856[.] TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS MY DEAR SIR, I thank you, and your daughter also, for the copy of your letter to Mrs Sturge. It is an ingenious defense, full as much so as was Mr Burlingame’s with regard to Mr Brooks. Killing wicked men is merely destroying their visible presence among men. They still live. God has put them in this world & we have no right to send them out of it unbidden of God. I repeat, “Vengeance is mine”. The slaves hear a great deal of what is said & printed at the North. What is the cause of the late insurrection. Yes, I have read your paper of the 12th very thoroughly & so has my wife. Your appeal is very able. But I am in doubt. In your speeches & in your paper you advocate the slaughter of slaveholders. I cannot go with you. How then can I take pains to sustain your paper? Say you, Must I cease to be independent? Must I smother my convictions to please my patrons? I answer, By no means. But while you act independently so must I. How can I encourage the wider circulation of a paper, able as it is, deserving in most respects as is the editor, when I believe he is scattering "firebrands, arrows, and death.’’There are so many things in you, my dear friend, that claim my esteem & inspire my confidence that I regret—deeply—that I am unable to go with you in all your sentiments & purposes. I have never been called a coward & I am naturally very sensitive to aggressions; but since I cordially embraced the religion of the Prince of Peace I have believed fully that the belligerent spirit of the world is totally adverse to this princaples. Besides, I think it the most unwise & inexpedient of all conduct. What I should do if attacked or saw a friend attacked I can’t say. Instincts are often stronger than arguments or principles. But it is my deliberate judgment that the whole policy of private & public warfare is bad—I may say wicked—and of the devil. If you will inform me thru your columns how a friend who loves you can extend the circulation of what is consonant to his tastes & principles in your able paper without extending the circulation of what he deems wrong & of evil tendency I shall be glad to read what you write. I call myself a constant reader of your paper, tho’ occasionally a number is laid aside, in the hum of business, but [illegible] [illegible]. Truly & affecy yours’ L. TAPPAN. [P.S.] The 20 days allowed by the law for the discharge of a cargo1—“working days”—will expire on the 22d. Probably the boxes for you were at the bottom of the [illegible]. Yesterday I found an inquiry that they were not out of the vessel. I regret this delay. Please remember me to Mrs Douglass,2 & to your daughter. She writes a good hand, & is a very correct copyist.