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11/11/24
As I continue to digitize and archive the "Blifkins the Martyr" series of humorous sketches, written as I believe in collaboration by Mathew Franklin Whittier and Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber, I'm beginning to understand the deeper back-story. These are clearly based on stories Mathew either wrote himself, or told to Shillaber, about his disastrous, arranged second marriage to Jane Vaughan, which was apparently masterminded by Mathew's mother, sight-unseen, a year after Mathew's soul-mate, Abby, had died. In several of these stories, "Mr. Blifkins" stays out late with friends, or visits with some disreputable person his wife wouldn't have approved of, and he is cagey with her about it. This only inflames her suspicions; but it doesn't ring true, to me, for Mathew. He wouldn't have stayed out until 3:00 a.m. just to socialize; nor would he be enjoying the company of some other woman on the omnibus, hiding the fact from his wife. I mean, it's could be, but it doesn't sound right.
One possible explanation is that Shillaber added these touches; but again, I don't think that's it.
The answer occurred to me, that these were secret contacts in his under cover abolitionist work, which he could not tell Jane about; and which he could not include in his stories, when he told them to Shillaber, either. So that entire purpose has been excised from these stories, leaving anyone to assume that he was just gadding about town. This is very similar to what happened to his official reputation, when it was assumed in the John Greenleaf Whittier legacy that he "abandoned his family" in 1857; or that he was constantly moving, and held a series of odd jobs. He and Jane were already separated when he moved the family from one place, to a better or safer one. The odd jobs just tided him over for new instances of his real work, which is to say, writing or trading.
In other words, what appears in the Whittier legacy was no more Mathew's real, complete life, than Clark Kent was Superman's real life. Mathew was engaged in two secret activities, which no-one suspected him of, and which he either could not share, or chose not to share. The first was publishing world-class material, in all genres, under a slew of pseudonyms. The second was this under cover abolitionist work. So when he was blacklisted, his edgy "Ethan Spike" satire having been identified as his own, and he was financially ruined as a consequence, all the Whittier legacy has to say about it is that he "abandoned his family." When he was meeting with other abolitionist agents, and operatives for the Underground Railroad, his wife accused him of partying with his friends, and Shillaber assumes the same when he tells the story.
Naturally, it is tough to provide evidence for anyone working as a spy, unless he or she "outs" himself in retirement--which Mathew never did. So how can one prove that he had been in that line of work? Well, here is proof that Mathew was a "disunionist" formally associated with William Lloyd Garrison. This was a very radical, unpopular position. It's probably one of the reasons he was blacklisted. When I say "proof," I mean in-your-face, concrete proof. I get really tired of people cynically thinking I can't prove things.
This is from the Sept. 25, 1857 edition of William Lloyd Garrison's newspaper, the "Liberator." It's an announcement of an upcoming "disunionist" meeting, and listed under Maine are some of the expected attendees. Mathew is among the ten names given--the last one, actually. You will notice that directly underneath, the first name for the State of New Hampshire is Transcendentalist A. Bronson Alcott.
Always Mathew was sort of a minor figure rubbing elbows with much more famous persons. I am the same, today, in the reincarnation studies field.
But do you know what the "disunionist" position was, before the Civil War? William Lloyd Garrison felt it was unethical and dishonest for the free North to be in any kind of "union" with the Southern slave states. And I agree with him, today. What actually was done, is that these states were conquered militarily, and forced to give up slavery. Their response was to assassinate President Lincoln, elect one of their own, and then proceed to violently suppress blacks in their states. Today, what Mathew called the "Slave Power" has risen, again, and is now taking control. They have conquered through propaganda and by manipulating the political system. They will, if they get their way, be treating undocumented immigrants the way they once treated blacks. Back in 1850, a law was passed called the "Fugitive Slave Act." It meant that Southern slaveholders could legally pursue their escaped slaves into the Northern states--but more than that, all Northern citizens were required by law to assist them. Anyone found to be hiding or helping fugitive slaves, was subject to arrest, himself.
Sound familiar? What do you think will happen to men and women of conscience who attempt to help fugitive undocumented immigrants, in this mass round-up running into the millions? They, too, will be subject to arrest.
How convenient. And what sort of conditions do suppose they will be held in, with these kinds of numbers? Concentration camps, of course.
But, I digress. Here, we have "concrete evidence" that Mathew Franklin Whittier was a disunionist, associated with William Lloyd Garrison. None of the other facts I've extrapolated about Mathew's clandestine activities for the abolitionist movement are implausible, having found this clue. Including that he was blacklisted.
My Guru, Meher Baba, instructed his followers to stay out of politics, and I follow that instruction. But if you are cynical when I say I have found instances of concrete proof for my conclusions, this is one example.
Sincerely,
Stephen Sakellarios, M.S.
