ean
treason; we mean secession, and on a thousand times grander scale than
was that of the South. We are plotting revolution; we will overthrow
this bogus Republic and plant a government of righteousness in its
stead...."[265]

Susan, who felt deeply her right to full citizenship, who herself had
talked revolution, and who had so often listened to the extravagant
antislavery declarations of William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips,
and Parker Pillsbury, was not offended by these statements. She was,
however, troubled by the attitude of the press, particularly of the
_Tribune_ which labeled this gathering the "Woodhull Convention" and
accused the suffragists of adopting Mrs. Woodhull's free-love
theories.

Having experienced so recently the animosity stirred up by her
alliance with George Francis Train, Susan resolved to be cautious
regarding Victoria Woodhull and was beginning to wonder if Victoria
was not using the suffragists to further her own ambitions. Yet many
trusted friends, who had talked with Mrs. Woodhull far more than she
had the opportunity to do, were convinced that she was a genius and a
prophet who had risen above the sordid environment of her youth to do
a great work for women and who had the courage to handle subjects
which others feared to touch.

Free love, for example, Susan well knew was an epithet hurled
indiscriminately at anyone indiscreet enough to argue for less
stringent divorce laws or for an intelligent frank appraisal of
marriage and sex. Was it for this reason, Susan asked herself, that
Mrs. Woodhull was called a "free-lover," or did she actually advocate
promiscuity?

With these questions puzzling her, she left for Rochester and the
West. Almost immediately the papers were full of Victoria Woodhull and
her family quarrels which brought her into court. This was a
disillusioning experience for the National Woman Suffrage Association
which had so recently featured Victoria Woodhull as a speaker, and
Susan began seriously to question the wisdom of further association
with this strange controversial character. Nevertheless, Victoria
still had her ardent defenders among the suffragists, particularly
Isabella Beecher Hooker and Paulina Wright Davis. Even the thoughtful
judicious Martha C. Wright wrote Mrs. Hooker at this time, "It is not
always 'the wise and prudent' to whom the truth is revealed; tho' far
be it from me to imply aught derogatory to Mrs. Woodhull. No one can
be with her,