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Letter from Maria Webb, Dublin, [Ireland], to William Lloyd Garrison, 1856 [January] 14th

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Webb, Maria

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Holograph.Title devised by cataloger.In this copy of a letter sent to William Lloyd Garrison, Maria Webb, cousin of R.D. Webb and sister of Richard Allen, thanks Garrison for showing her Harriet Beecher Stowe's letters and comments on Stowe choosing not to fund parts of the antislavery movement. Webb then discussess abolitionists as "Infidels" and states that "Christians should leave it to those who approve of infidelity to pay such teachers," explaining that not "all Garrisonians are infidels, but ... all their paid lecturers ... maintain those sceptical [sic] theories, now so common in America". She claims that some of these "infidels" "go with H[arriet] Martineau into the abyss of atheism; more adopt Theodore Parker's views, such as those set forth & combatted in the 'Eclipse of Faith'". She adds that "within the last fifteen years in Ireland, they have done a great amount of mischief in spreading infidelity among various families" and includes "the perusal of the Liberator" as another source spreading these views. She then criticizes Elizabeth Pease Nichol for patronizing Americans with such views and sends a copy of a letter she wrote to Garrison along with "infidel tirades" from the Liberator (not included). Webb advocates that "British Christians should leave those Anti-Slavery people who approve of infidelity to sustain those promoters of infidelity." She also attacks the American Anti-Slavery Society for "a spirit of intolerance, & often great bitterness towards other abolitionists who differed from them as to the best mode of acting". In the postscript, Webb...
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Correspondence Manuscripts
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