Volume II Part 4 (1/2)

The following letter from William Lloyd Garrison to Giles B. Stebbins, then in Was.h.i.+ngton, corroborates the above statements:

ROXBURY, Ma.s.s., _March 4, 1872_.

MY DEAR FRIEND: ... I was glad to see the well-merited tributes paid by yourself and others to the memory of Mrs. Josephine S.

Griffing. She was, for a considerable period, actively engaged in the anti-slavery struggle in Ohio, where by her rare executive ability and persuasiveness as a public lecturer, she aided greatly in keeping the abolition flag flying, enlightening and changing public sentiment, and hastening the year of jubilee.

With what unremitting zeal and energy did she espouse the cause of the homeless, penniless, benighted, starving freedmen, driven by stress of circ.u.mstances into the national capital in such overwhelming numbers; and what a mult.i.tude were befriended and saved through her moving appeals in their behalf! How like an angel of mercy must she have seemed to them all! No doubt the formation of the Freedman's Bureau was mainly due to her representations as to its indispensable necessity; and how much good was done by that instrumentality in giving food, clothing, and protection to those who were so suddenly brought out of the house of bondage, as against the ferocity of the rebel element, it is difficult to compute because of its magnitude. She deserves to be gratefully remembered among ”the honorable women not a few,” who, in their day and generation, have been

”Those starry lights of virtue that diffuse, Through the dark depths of time their vital flame,”

whose self-abnegation and self-sacrifice in the cause of suffering humanity having been absolute, and who have n.o.bly vindicated every claim made by their s.e.x to full equality with men in all that serves to dignify human nature. Her rightful place is among ”the n.o.ble army of martyrs,” for her life was undoubtedly very much shortened by her many cares and heavy responsibilities and excessive labors in behalf of the pitiable objects of her sympathy and regard.

Very truly yours, WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON.

PARKER PILLSBURY, in a letter to Mrs. Stebbins says: ”The anti-slavery conflict could never boast a braver, truer, abler advocate than Josephine Griffing. It was always an honor and inspiration to stand by her side, no matter how fierce the encounter. I have seen her when an infuriated mob a.s.sailed our Conventions, and dashed down doors, windows, seats, stoves, tables, everything that would yield to their demoniac rage, stand amid the ruins calm and unmoved, and with her gentle words of remonstrance shame the intruders, until one by one they shrank away, glad to get out of her sight.

Her beautiful home hospitalities; her warm welcome ever extended to the faithful friends of freedom and humanity, were equal to her unshaken courage and self-control in public a.s.semblies. We used to call that humble home in Litchfield, 'The Saint's Rest,'

and such it was to many a fugitive slave, as well as soldier in his cause.

To the first demand for the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women in 1848, Mrs.

Griffing heartily responded, and in this reform she was ever untiring in effort, wise in counsel, and eminent in public speech. In 1867 she helped to organize the Universal Franchise a.s.sociation of the District of Columbia, of which she was president for years. She was also Corresponding Secretary of the National Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation, and was ever considered the organizing power at Was.h.i.+ngton. She first suggested the importance of annual conventions at the capital, in order to influence Congressional action.

Mrs. Griffing's last appearance in public was at the May Anniversary of the National Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation, held in New York in 1871, and so feeble was her condition that a screen was placed behind her to enable the audience to hear her voice. At the close of the Convention she went to the home of her childhood, in Hebron, Conn., hoping that the bracing air of the New England hills would give her new life and strength, until she could finish her work. But it was already finished. She had taxed herself to the uttermost, beyond nature's power to recuperate. In November she returned to Was.h.i.+ngton, and enjoyed the sweet presence and tender care of her daughters until she pa.s.sed away on Feb. 18, 1872.

THE LADIES' NATIONAL COVENANT.

After the war was fairly inaugurated, the manufactories of the country largely turned their attention to the production of material required by the army, which, combined with the immense number of volunteers from such avocations, and the rise in prices of all home manufactures, created an immense import of foreign goods, which, pouring into our country when gold was at the highest, brought to our doors a danger no less formidable than that of the Rebellion. It was shown from official returns, in 1863, that during a period of nine months, the imports, at the port of New York alone, amounted to $160,000,000 in gold; equal, including exchange, freight, insurance, etc., to twice that sum, while our exports amounted to only $120,000,000 in paper.

This ruinous state of our trade brought on us the taunts of foreign enemies, and roused the attention of the country to devise some method of meeting the new danger; Congress temporarily raised duties fifty per cent. in hopes of stemming the tide of importation. The patriotic women of the nation, ever on the alert for methods of aiding the country, early in 1864 called a meeting of the loyal women of Was.h.i.+ngton, at which time an a.s.sociation, pledging women to the use of home manufactures, was formed under the name of ”The Ladies' National Covenant,” with offices in every State and Territory within the national lines. Mrs. General Jas. Taylor was elected President; Mrs.

Stephen A. Douglas, Vice-President; Mrs. Rebecca Gillis and Miss Virginia Smith, Recording Secretaries; with ten Corresponding Secretaries, of whom Mrs. H. C. Ingersoll was the most active.

This a.s.sociation, formed for the purpose of encouraging domestic manufactures, was composed at its first meeting of the wives of members of the Cabinet and of Senators and Representatives, women of fas.h.i.+on, popular auth.o.r.esses, mothers who had lost their sons, and wives who had lost their husbands. An Advisory and Organizing Committee was appointed, consisting of women from each State and Territory within the national line. An ADDRESS TO THE WOMEN OF AMERICA was issued, and a const.i.tution consisting of eleven sections, together with the following pledge, was adopted:

THE PLEDGE.

For three years, or during the war, we pledge ourselves to each other and the country, to purchase no imported goods where those of American manufacture can be obtained, such as ”dress goods of velvet, silks, grenadines, India c.r.a.pe, and imported organdies, India lace and broche shawls, fine wrought laces and embroideries, watches and precious stones, hair ornaments, fans, artificial flowers and feathers, carpets, furniture, silks and velvets, painted china, ormolu, bronze, marble, ornaments, and mirrors.”

The emblem of this Covenant was a black or gilt bee, worn as a pin fastening the national colors, upon the hair, arm, or bosom, as a public recognition of members.h.i.+p. In August of the same year the Secretary stated that orders for the emblem, the badge of the Covenant, were received by the manufacturer of the pin from all parts of the Union. A meeting was held in New York, rooms opened in Great Jones Street, and the Covenant was in a fair way to a.s.sume large proportions. When Lee's capitulation was announced the necessity for the Covenant ended, and with peace, trade was allowed to drift into its natural channels.

ANNA ELIZABETH d.i.c.kINSON.

Foremost among the women who understood the political significance of the great conflict, was Miss d.i.c.kinson, a young girl of Quaker ancestry, who possessed remarkable oratorical power, a keen sense of justice, and an intense earnestness of purpose. In the heated discussions of Anti-Slavery Conventions, she had acquired a clear comprehension of the province of laws and const.i.tutions; of the fundamental principles of governments, and the rights of man. Like a meteor, she appeared suddenly in the political horizon, as if born for the eventful times in which she lived, and inspired by the dangers that threatened the life of the republic.

At the very beginning of the war her radical utterances were heard at different points in her native State.[31] Her admirable speech on the higher law, first made at Kennett Square, and the discussion that followed, in which Miss d.i.c.kinson maintained her position with remarkable clearness and coolness for one of her years, were a surprise to all who listened. The flattering reports of this meeting in several of the Philadelphia journals introduced her at once to the public.

On the evening of February 27, 1861, she addressed eight hundred people in Concert Hall, Philadelphia. This was her first appearance before so large an a.s.sembly, and the first time she had the sole responsibility of entertaining an audience for an entire evening. She spoke two full hours extemporaneously, and the lecture was p.r.o.nounced a success, not only by the press, but by the many notables and professional men present. Although it was considered a marvelous performance for a young girl, Miss d.i.c.kinson herself was mortified, as she said, with the length of her speech and its lack of point, order, and arrangement.

Soon after, she entered the United States Mint, to labor from seven o'clock in the morning to six at night. Although she was ever faithful to her duties and skillful in everything she undertook, soon becoming the most rapid adjuster in the Mint, her radical criticisms on the war and its leaders cost her the loss of the place. At a meeting just after the battle of Ball's Bluff, in summing up the record, after exonerating Stone and Baker, she said, ”Future history will show that this battle was lost not through ignorance and incompetence, but through the treason of the commanding general, George B. McClellan, and time will vindicate the truth of my a.s.sertion.” She was hissed all over the house, though some cried, ”Go on!” ”Go on!” She repeated this startling a.s.sertion three times, and each time was hissed.

When Gen. McClellan was running against Lincoln in 1864, after she had achieved a world-wide reputation, she was sent by the Republican Committee of Pennsylvania to this same town, to speak to the same people, in the same hall. In again summing up the incidents of the war, when she came to Ball's Bluff, she said, ”I say now, as I said three years ago, history will record that this battle was lost, not through ignorance or incompetence, but through the treason of the commanding general, George B. McClellan.” ”And time has vindicated your a.s.sertion,” was shouted all over the house.