Holograph, signed.

This letter is a reply to Anne Warren Weston's letter of Nov. 17, 1857. Richard Davis Webb writes that his daughter fell sick and his mother-in-law, who is also sick, visited him. He tells about his nephew Jacob Sparrow, who may meet Anne Warren Weston in Rome. Richard D. Webb was glad to learn that Anne W. Weston and almost all the Massachusetts abolitionists had escaped the effect of the panic. Webb says: "In Ireland except in the manufacturing town of Belfast, the Panic was little felt." Webb discourses at length on the British rule in India. He says the English have ruled India selfishly---as they have until lately governed Ireland; now no country in the world enjoys a more beneficient government. Letters from Mrs. Maria W. Chapman suggest that it would be better to just collect money instead of holding bazaars. Frederick Douglass attacked Richard D. Webb in his paper. Mary Estlin wrote recently about the death of her father's sister, the widow of the renowned ethnologist (James Cowles) Prichard. The proposition from Boston will be discussed with E. Wigham. Richard D. Webb's friend, Robert Johnson, foresees a civil war and the dissolution of the union "as the most probable solution of the question of slavery." Richard D. Webb tells of his eye trouble, "the dancing motes," and of his daughter Deborah. Harriet Martineau's niece, Maria, reports that Harriet Martineau "holds her own" and "may live for years." Martineau has published books lately, two about India. Richard D. Webb again discusses the British rule in India.