ccusing
whenever the last ten years she has asked me to do anything, go
anywhere, speak on any topic! Now she makes you pull the chestnuts
out of the fire and thinks I do not see her waiting behind. Ah, the
hand is the hand of Esau, the voice is the voice of Jacob, wicked,
sly, skulking, mystifying Jacob. Why don't "secretaries" write the
official letters? How much they leave the "president" to do!
Naughty idlers, those secretaries! Well, let me thank Miss
Secretary Anthony for her gentle consideration; then let me say
I'll try to speak, as you say, fifteen minutes.... Remember me
defiantly to S.B.A.

In the midst of all this correspondence came a letter from a sweetheart
of her girlhood, now a prominent officeholder in Ohio, stating that he
was a widower but would not long remain one if his old friend would
take pity upon him. It is sincerely to be hoped that the secretary of
the Loyal League found time at least to have one of her clerks answer
this epistle.

The meeting was held in the Church of the Puritans, May 12, 1864, and
soul-stirring speeches were made by Phillips, Mrs. Rose, Lucretia Mott,
George Thompson, Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony. The report of the
executive committee showed that a debt of $5,000, including $1,000 for
postage alone, had been paid; that 25,000 blank petitions had been sent
out; that the league now numbered 5,000 members, and that branch Loyal
Leagues had been formed in many cities. Strong resolutions were adopted
demanding not only emancipation but enfranchisement for the negroes.
The entire proceedings of the convention illustrated how thoroughly the
leading women of the country understood the political situation, how
broad and comprehensive was their grasp of public affairs, and with
what a patriotic and self-sacrificing spirit they performed their part
of the duties imposed by the great Civil War.

By August, 1864, the signatures to the petitions had reached almost
400,000. Again and again Charles Sumner and Henry Wilson had written
Miss Anthony that these petitions formed the bulwark of their demand
for congressional action to abolish slavery. Public sentiment on this
point had now become emphatic, the Senate had passed the bill for the
prohibition of slavery, and the intention of the House of
Representatives was so apparent that it did not seem necessary to
continue the petitions. The headquarters in Cooper Institute were
closed, and the ma