The History of Woman Suffrage Volume II Part 124

DEAR MADAM:--With pleasure I read the "Call," and gladly would respond to it in person, but must be content with sending my name.

Prospectively I see the places of meeting filled to overflowing, every eye kindling with enthusiasm, every heart swelling with patriotism, all determined to aid in preserving our sacred legacy of liberty. The woman who is not truly loyal is unworthy the protection of our dear old flag.

May G.o.d bless all the efforts made in sustaining the best Government on earth!

Yours sincerely, SARAH J. VOSBURGH.

_From the Loyal Ladies of Stevensville, Pa., to the Ladies a.s.sembled in Convention in New York_:

DEAR SISTERS:--Although unable to co-operate with you in your n.o.ble efforts in behalf of our country by attending your Convention, we dare not remain silent when treason is in our very midst, and thousands, with blind fury, are trying to uproot the fair tree of Liberty which our fathers planted and watered with their blood. We have already sent our fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons to defend our country, and are willing to make still greater sacrifices if necessary. We heartily sustain the President in every effort he has made to put down the rebellion, and hope that the war may be prosecuted with renewed vigor, until every traitor, North or South, shall be subdued. We would express our sympathy for the brave soldiers in the field and for those who are languishing in prisons and hospitals, and pray that their sacrifices and sufferings may not be in vain. May the angel of Peace soon spread her wings over our unhappy country, is the prayer of your loyal sisters,

MRS. ANGIE E. L. STEVENS, _And Twenty-five other Women of Stevensville, Pa_.

WEST AUBURN, PA., _May 9, 1863_.

In compliance with the call for a meeting of the Loyal Women, we, the undersigned, take this method to manifest our approbation of the President's Proclamation. Thinking we comprehend the principles involved in the nation's struggle for existence, we believe it the duty of every loyal woman to pledge herself to co-operate, in word and deed, for the benefit and encouragement of our brave men in the field, until our country is Free.

LUCY A. SEELY, _And Thirty-five other Women of West Auburn, Pa_.

KENNETT SQUARE, PA.

DEAR MRS. STANTON:--The deep interest I feel in the subject to be considered in your Convention, prompts me to an expression of my sympathy in the movement. May you be able to speak G.o.d's truth in tones that shall arouse a nation's heart to a prompt performance of a nation's duty, will be the earnest prayer of many who are not privileged to meet with you in solemn convention.

HANNAH M. DARLINGTON.

COLUMBIA, PA.

DEAR MISS ANTHONY:--Let me have the happiness of giving my name where are my heart and soul, with the loyal women of the nation.

MRS. F. BOARDMAN WELLS.

OHIO.

_To the Loyal Women, a.s.sembled in National Meeting in New York, the Loyal Women of Wilmington, Ohio, send Greeting_:

We have heard your earnest call for a National Meeting of women, and our hearts respond as one to the call, and our hands willing to do more than has yet been done. Here, as everywhere in the North, we have formed societies and united our efforts in contributing what we might to soothe, encourage, and cheer. But we would not speak of what we have done, for it is but a mite compared to the need, and a drop among the millions that have been given our brave ones who are so gloriously defending our homes. But the wide future with its great destiny is before us, and we hope after earnest counseling you will decide what more can be done, and we will gladly work with you as sisters, as daughters of our kind All-Father, as children of our common country for the good of all.

We shall be glad to hear of the decision of your meeting, and doubt not it will waken many who are slumbering to a sense of the duty of immediate action in a cause so just, and fraught with untold interest, not only to our own beloved country, but to the whole world.

LOUISE MCGREGOR, Secretary.

MARTINSBURG, OHIO, _May 7, 1863_.

To SUSAN B. ANTHONY:--I was rejoiced and encouraged on reading your call for an a.s.sembly of the loyal women of the nation, and feel constrained to address you a word. For although I may not be able to elucidate the principles on which a free government is founded, with the force and clearness of many others who will doubtless respond to your call, nor awake enthusiasm with that magic power that some of the anti-slavery women of the North possess in so high a degree, I shall at least give to Ohio and my country one more voice in favor of a united and free republic; and certainly no voice should be silent when called to speak for liberty.

It was fit that the first work of the women of the North should be for the comfort of those who are enduring the hardships of the camp, exposed to sickness, and to the deadly horrors of the battle-field, in their defence.

But this is not all that should be done by intelligent women living under a free government, when that government is in danger of being overthrown by wicked conspirators. Every power and influence granted us under the social and political regulations of our country should be unreservedly laid upon the altar of liberty and right. It is necessary that we fully understand the nature of the conflict in which we are engaged. Enthusiasm can elevate and sustain but for a moment, unless upheld by the power of a great principle. Not only is our welfare as a great nation at stake, but the oppressed of the world look anxiously and hopefully to us as holding the key to their prison doors, which we may unlock if we will.

In view of the greatness of the trust committed to us, let us not flag in our efforts to free our land from slavery and the rebellion inaugurated by its minions, that they might establish it on a firmer base.

By meeting as you are about to do, and giving expression to sentiments in favor of the perpetuation of our Government, and in behalf of those of our citizens who are denied the rights and privileges of citizenship, you will strengthen the hearts and hands of all among our rulers who are endeavoring to execute judgment and justice, and to save our Government under the guidance of Him who controls the destinies of nations.

Trusting that this is but the beginning of a good work among the true women of the nation, I subscribe myself, Yours for the interest of our common country,

LIZZIE WELSH.

MEDINA COUNTY, OHIO, _May 12, 1863_.

DEAR MISS ANTHONY:--This is no time to be idle now. Every _true woman_ must do her whole duty, and buckle on the strong armor of Faith, to meet the enemy face to face. Let the traitors of the country hear our voices, and let Southern tyrants tremble in their high places. Let the prayers of the loyal women ascend to the throne on high. I trust you may have a decidedly good meeting--one, too, that will be remembered in future ages, when war and bloodshed shall have pa.s.sed forever away, and sweet peace shall reign again in our beautiful land. We long for our brave brothers to return to their homes, but not till the Union is restored, and the traitors receive their just punishment. My heart is deeply engaged in the cause of human liberty and justice, and I have given my all in the struggle.

I remain, yours respectfully, EMMA C. HARD.

RICHWOOD, _May 9, 1863_.

SUSAN B. ANTHONY--DEAR MADAM:--In _The New York Tribune_ of April 25, 1863, we observed that a National Convention of the Ladies' Union League is to be held in the city of New York, on the 14th day of May.

We were truly gratified with this intelligence, and should be very happy to be present on that occasion; but as that is among the impossibilities, we deem it a great privilege to represent the Richwood Ladies' Union League through epistolary correspondence. The cause is glorious, and is calculated to elevate woman to a higher sphere. Louder voices and holier motives urge us to duty as never before. At the time _our_ Ladies' Union League was organized, we knew not that there was another in the world, or that there ever would be.

Its infancy was feeble, as we must advance cautiously, if we would surely; but it was as a city set on a hill. The good work is still progressing.

INDIANA.

ANGOLA. IND., _May 6, 1863_.

MISS ANTHONY:--The call for a Convention in New York to express the feelings of woman in view of the condition of the country, is timely.

I regret that I can not be present to share the inspiration of the occasion, and as far as possible to aid in making an impression worthy of the hour. We call this an alarming crisis because it is a struggle involving our lives, our liberty, and our happiness. It must be borne in mind that this nation is great not simply from the number of States it has held in union, but from its creative genius. We are told that this is the best expression of a republican form of government. It is so because it is self-sustaining, self-reliant, and therefore may be self-governing. The stern, smooth-faced Puritan fled from religious persecution in the Old World to find room for an idea in the New; and the planting of one religious idea has yielded a rich harvest of sects, each an improvement on the last.

Yesterday politics had its center in a party; to-day, in the nation; to-morrow, it will find an equilibrium in the individual. This is a stern work, wearing furrows in the cheeks of statesmen, shaking the frame-work of the Government, letting the blood and drinking the treasure of the nation. It can not be avoided. G.o.d has said, "And unto you a child is born," and his name shall be called Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, the Holy of Holies, the Universal Republic. And as G.o.d rested after the first creation, so shall this nation find its Sabbath of rest when this struggle for freedom is over, and from the little child to the bowed-down man, all shall breathe through the new Const.i.tution a fresher, more glorious life. Viewed from the daily papers, the battle is long, terrific, and uncertain. Go to the stricken hearthstones, and we exclaim, "Oh, that this cup might pa.s.s from us!" Visit the solemn battle-field, and in anguish we murmur, "My G.o.d, why hast Thou forsaken us?" Retiring to the high mountain of our faith, we see in this painful view the magnitude of our cause, and that slowly but surely this contest will end triumphantly. From this point we mark the milestones that show we have made indelible foot-prints toward Liberty and Union.

The choice by the people of a Republican President, the firing on Sumter, the defeat at Mana.s.sas, the recognition of Hayti, the treaty with England for the suppression of the foreign slave-trade, the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, the decision of Attorney-General Bates in favor of universal citizenship, the conversion to the anti-slavery sentiment of d.i.c.kinson and Butler, the President's Proclamation, and the arming of the blacks, are signs in the political zodiac, showing our revolution certain as that of the rolling suns in the material heavens. Only Liberty can be our watchword henceforth! To this standard alone will the country, both North and South, rally when a few more days of leadership are over.

G.o.d saw to this in the frame-work of every living thing, when He made his wants to be a blessing with freedom and a curse without it. Open the cage-door to the pining fox, loathing his master's beef and pudding, and see if his instincts are not true as the needle to the pole. Lay the sweet babe before the starved lion, and his want will not bow to your compa.s.sion. So in slaves; it matters not whether slaves to rebellion or to aristocracy. So in all men and in all women, the want of liberty, as the want of bread, is a vital principle in the blood. It is the motive power. Without it man is but a log, and is suited to rule over frogs only; or, like the silent water, becomes a loathsome stagnation. You may suppress, but you can not appease or destroy this divine inheritance in man. On this uniform idea the laws of society depend, and union can have no other. Raise the banner of freedom to all, and you have an imperishable Const.i.tution, supported by the gushing blood of the millions, and immortalized in the spirit of the nation. This is our work: To comprehend liberty, to establish a const.i.tution, and perpetuate union. We began at union, the right-hand figure, borrowing ten, as in mathematics, from the next higher order, observing the rule of maintaining an equal difference by paying what is borrowed.

We saw that fighting for union and slavery left us just what we began with. So we borrowed from the Const.i.tution Fremont's Proclamation, and carried the popular response to the next Congress, and under the second period we wrote the liberty of three millions! We have now to work out the main principle or highest order, to test the virtue of the people, to see whether, when rebellion is put down, the nation can survive; and there is now left us no escape from death or disgrace except in the announcement of freedom as a principle. Do this, and you have enlisted new recruits from men who will n.o.bly dare to die, but never will retreat. Do this, and the mothers of the country will continue to lay their precious sons upon the altar, not as "Union soldiers," as before, but as heroes of a new republic. Do this, and woman, the subtle architect of society, will teach you how to walk the very verge of death with an unflinching hope of life; her faith will separate your light from darkness, truth from error, liberty from slavery. She will demonstrate for you that self-reliance is the condition of all creations, that as "the flower looks to no power outside itself to unfold its tendrils and accomplish its mission," so this nation is self-sufficient. In its warm beating heart lies its folded banner, and each man and woman must unfurl it as the seaman unfurls his sail. Nail Freedom to your banner, and it shall bring a prostrate nation to its staff, and together with their loud applause, "the morning stars shall sing, and all the sons of G.o.d shall shout for joy."

JOSEPHINE S. GRIFFING.

_To the Meeting of Loyal Women to be held in New York the 14th of May:_

MISS S. B. ANTHONY:--Not being able to attend your meeting, I desire to convey to you personally my heartfelt appreciation of your work.

If, as the call implies, your object is to help create and keep alive a loyal public sentiment, it is truly praiseworthy. This is what we need--a public sentiment that will not tolerate disloyalty anywhere.