Holograph, signed

Richard Davis Webb comments jocosely on the illegibility of his handwriting. (F. W.) Chesson has not heard from his father-in-law, George Thompson. George Thompson's health has been injured by the climate of India. Lately he has lived near Calcutta, "which has been free from those terrible events which have horrified the world." Mary A. Estlin is at a fashionable watering place "with her favorite Aunt Reynolds and her aunt Mrs. Michell who is not so much a favorite." Richard D. Webb received a note from Harriet Martineau's niece Maria, saying that Harriet Martineau was "a little overdone just now with Indian history on which she is writing," and she reports an improvement in her father's eyesight, Robert Martineau. Richard D. Webb tells about the illness of his son, who overexerted himself. Having heard from Mrs. Chapman that Parker Pillsbury has probably given up the idea of visiting England, Richard D. Webb thinks that "the visit would do him more harm than good." Richard D. Webb found "surprising unanimity of opinion about Pillsbury's "not being suitable to push the cause forward here." Richard D. Webb is sending an Anti-Slavery Advocate containing extracts from The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It, by H. R. Helper. Richard D. Webb expounds on his views on "Popery" in Ireland as an argument for the futility of hoping to improve people through enlightening books. He describes Drumnigh Cottage. He praises his niece, Hannah Ely White, who ia a "good Garrisonian." He discusses India: "I imagine the people are better off under England than they would be under their native ruler---as I am sure Ireland is better off ruled as a part of England than if she were independent... & yet it is the case that a great number of Irish Catholics would much rather have the Priests & the Inquisition than Queen Victoria." Richard D. Webb thinks that the insolence of the English has something to do with the mutinies [in India]

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