the duty of every good man is to utter a protest
against what is done amiss.

'Is this protest undiscriminating? are these opinions crude?
do these proceedings threaten to sap the bulwarks on which men
at present depend? I confess it all, yet I see in these men
promise of a better wisdom than in their opponents. Their hope
for man is grounded on his destiny as an immortal soul, and
not as a mere comfort-loving inhabitant of earth, or as a
subscriber to the social contract. It was not meant that the
soul should cultivate the earth, but that the earth should
educate and maintain the soul. Man is not made for society,
but society is made for man. No institution can be good which
does not tend to improve the individual. In these principles
I have confidence so profound, that I am not afraid to trust
those who hold them, despite their partial views, imperfectly
developed characters, and frequent want of practical sagacity.
I believe, if they have opportunity to state and discuss
their opinions, they will gradually sift them, ascertain their
grounds and aims with clearness, and do the work this country
needs. I hope for them as for "the leaven that is hidden in
the bushel of meal, till all be leavened." The leaven is not
good by itself, neither is the meal; let them combine, and we
shall yet have bread.

'Utopia it is impossible to build up. At least, my hopes for
our race on this one planet are more limited than those of
most of my friends. I accept the limitations of human nature,
and believe a wise acknowledgment of them one of the best
conditions of progress. Yet every noble scheme, every poetic
manifestation, prophesies to man his eventual destiny. And
were not man ever more sanguine than facts at the moment
justify, he would remain torpid, or be sunk in sensuality. It
is on this ground that I sympathize with what is called the
"Transcendental party," and that I feel their aim to be the
true one. They acknowledge in the nature of man an arbiter for
his deeds,--a standard transcending sense and time,--and
are, in my view, the true utilitarians. They are but at the
beginning of their course, and will, I hope, learn how to make
use of the past, as well as to aspire for the future, and to
be true in the present moment.

'My position as a woman, and the many private d