L[ydia] Maria Child ALS to W[illiam] P[arker] Cutler, July 10, 1862

Wayland, July 10th, 1862.

Hon. Mr. Cutler,

Dear Sir,

I thank you cordially for
your Speech concerning the "Public Enemy," which, by fraud
and force has been undermining our free institutions, and
causing such a vast amount of loss and suffering to all classes
and conditions. I readily detected the legal mind in the
acuteness of the reasoning. I have had some aversion to that
class of minds, because they are so apt to be impounded
within the narrow limits of mere legal distinctions. But
it is indeed something to be thankful for when a man
possesses legal knowledge and acuteness without having
impaired his clear perceptions of the "higher law," from
which all that is really and truly human law derives its
sacredness. Daniel Webster, in a Speech at Richmond,
some years ago, said: "I see that the Alleganies are higher
than the Blue Ridge; but I cannot perceive any 'higher
law' above the Alleganies." The remark seemed to me so
devoid of either wit or wisdom, that I concluded it must
have been made after dinner. But one thing it clearly
expressed, and that was atheism; for mocking at eternal