Description

Holograph, signed.Title devised by cataloger.Harriet Martineau sends her sympathies to William Lloyd Garrison following the illness of his wife Helen and the "peculiar trial" in which Garrison has been "misunderstood & unkindly treated by old comrades & disciples who shd have distruted their own judgement rather than doubt [Garrison]". Martineau notes that she and Garrison are in "entire agreement" concerning the "question of Mr Lincoln's character, deserts, & claim to reelection". Martineau asserts, in respects to "Wendell Phillips & his clique", that the best course of action is to make "no notice whatever, in any public way, of the split among the old abolitionists", arguing that the "overwhelming interest" in "present national affairs" renders the point somewhat moot, in any circumstance. Martineau asserts that they ought to avow on "all reasonable occasions" their desire for the reelection of Abraham Lincoln, arguing that whatever faults one may find in Lincoln from an abolitionist perspective are overwhelmed by the "sake of the national welfare". Martineau adds that Wendell Phillips's "crazy denunciations" of England have conspired to deprive him of all public influence there.

Record Contributed By

Boston Public Library

Record Harvested From

Digital Commonwealth