think, had
such rapid success. You who remember the indifference which
almost discouraged us in 1848, and who have so bravely faced
ungenerous opposition and insult since, must look back on the
result with unmixed astonishment and delight. Temperance, and
finance--which is but another name for the labor movement--and
woman's rights, are three radical questions which overtop all
others in value and importance. Woman's claim for the ballot-box
has had a much wider influence than merely to protect woman.
Universal suffrage is itself in danger. Scholars dread it; social
science and journalists attack it. The discussion of woman's
claim has done much to reveal this danger, and rally patriotic
and thoughtful men in defense. In many ways the agitation has
educated the people. Its success shows that the masses are sound
and healthy; and if we gain, in the coming fifteen years, half as
much as we have in the last thirty, woman will hold spear and
shield in her own hands. If I might presume to advise, I should
say close up the ranks and write on our flag only one claim--the
ballot. Everything helps us, and if we are united, success cannot
long be delayed.

Very cordially yours,
WENDELL PHILLIPS.

BOSTON, July 16, 1878.

MY DEAR FRIEND--The thirtieth anniversary of the first woman's
rights convention ever held with special reference to demanding
the elective franchise irrespective of sex well deserves to be
commemorated in the manner set forth in the call for the same, at
Rochester, on the 19th instant. As a substitute for my personal
attendance, I can only send a brief but warm congratulatory
epistle on the cheering progress which the movement has made
within the period named. For how widely different are the
circumstances under which that convention was held, and those
which attend the celebration of its third decade! Then, the
assertion of civil and political equality, alike for men and
women, excited widespread disgust and astonishment, as though it
were a proposition to repeal the laws of nature, and literally to
"turn the world upside down"; and it was ridiculed and
caricatured as little short of lunacy. Now, it is a subject of
i