Letters of Lydia Maria Child, with a biographical introduction by John G. Whittier and an appendix by Wendell Phillips.

18;LETTERS.
these are times when its best friends have need of
faith. But I believe the difficulty ever is in a lack
of republicanism. The aristocratic principle, unable
to act openly, disguises itself, and sends its poison
from under a mask. What is the root of the diliculty on this great question of abolition? It is not
with the farmers, it is not with the mechanics. The
majority of their voices would be on the right side if
the question were fairly brought before them; and
the consciousness that such would be the resalt
creates the earnest desire to stop discussion. No,
no! It is not these who are to blame for the persecution suffered by abolitionists. Manufacturers who
supply the South, merchanllts who trade writh the
South, politicians who trade with the Soulth, ministers settled at the South, and editors pttronlized by
the South, are the ones who really promote mobs.
Withdraxw the aristocratic influence, and I should be
perfectly easy to trust the cause to the good feeling
of the people. But, you will say, democracies must
always be thus actdl upon; and here, I goran-t, is the
great stumbling-block. The impediments continually in the way of bringing good principles into their
appropriate forms are almost disheartening; and
would be quite so, were it not for the belief in One
who is brooding over this moral chaos with vivifying and regenerating power. What can be more
beautiful than the spirit of love in the Christian r1eligion? Yet where shall we find Moslem or pagan
more fierce and unrelenting than Christians toward
each other.