n intelligent
understanding; to say nothing of the nonsense and ribaldry
proceeding from haunts of vice and "lewd fellows of the
baser sort." But what great reformatory movement was ever
treated any better at the outset? Still, it requires a large
stock of patience to be calm under such trying provocations;
and the consideration that, after all, they are
indispensable to the success of the righteous object sought,
can alone impart serenity.

What is the question? Not whether many or few women are
demanding political enfranchisement; not whether the
marriage institution, as now regulated, is right or wrong;
not whether this woman, or that, advocates "free love," so
called, or anything else; not whether a wife will continue
to be true to her marriage vows, or a mother faithful to her
maternal instincts; not whether the cradle will be rocked,
the pot boiled, and household affairs dutifully looked
after; not whether women are better or worse than men; not
whether they will vote wisely or foolishly, if allowed the
ballot. These and a thousand similarly absurd issues are but
mockeries. The one question to be settled is, shall the
principles and doctrines of the Declaration of Independence
be reduced to practice, so that taxation and representation
shall go hand in hand, and the grand truth be made
practically, as well as theoretically valid, that all are
equally endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
rights, and that all governments derive their just powers
from the consent of the governed?

Yours for equal rights, WM. LLOYD GARRISON.

Letters were also read from George W. Julian, Frances D. Gage,
and Oliver Johnson. The Committee on Business then reported the
resolutions,[191] which were unanimously adopted, after a short
speech by Col. T. W. Higginson.

Mrs. JULIA WARD HOWE referred to the organization of the
association and the necessity for it. We had felt that existing
associations had failed to represent the methods and convictions
which belonged to our way of thinking. No right of a free society
is more valuable than the right of free association, in virtue of
wh