Mrs. Stanton's especial benefit. I am afraid
it will be too late for her when we get it fairly established, which
does not promise to be very soon. Lucy believes her own talents lie in
other directions, and gives no approval to the plan for herself." Lucy
Stone had written: "We must have a paper and dear, brave, sensible Mrs.
Stanton must be the editor." And at another time: "I feel very proud of
Mrs. Stanton, she is so strong and noble. When we have a new paper she
must be the editor."

Mrs. Stanton, with her house and her large family, had no desire for
this position. Miss Anthony herself was not a writer, and many times of
late years had agitated the question of raising money to have Lucy
Stone and her husband at the head of a paper, they having now signified
their willingness to hold such a place. The founding of The Revolution
was totally unexpected and its editors accepted it only because of the
great need of a medium through which the cause of woman might be
thoroughly advocated. There was not the slightest desire to enter into
rivalry with anybody or to antagonize the Republicans. If the latter
had been willing to furnish the money to start a paper, or had allowed
space in their own publications, the favor would have been most gladly
accepted. Had the members of the Equal Rights Association raised a fund
to establish an organ, so much the better, but although the subject had
been talked of for years, the capital had not been forthcoming. There
was no attempt to make the association responsible for the opinions of
The Revolution, as this letter from Mrs. Stanton indicates:

Susan and I, though members of the Equal Rights Association, do
many things outside that body for which no one is responsible. The
idea of starting a paper under its auspices, or as an organ for it,
never entered our minds. We went to Kansas as individuals; personal
friends outside that association gave us money to go and
contributed the funds to start a paper. We object to that
resolution of censure, first, because we were outside its province;
second, because it was an outrage to repudiate Susan and me, who
have labored without cessation for twenty years and had just
returned from a hard three months' campaign. For any one to
question our devotion to this cause is to us amazing. The treatment
of us by Abolitionists also is enough to try the souls of better
saints than we. The secret of all