Holograph.

The beginning and end of this letter are missing.

This unsigned letter was presumably written by Maria Weston Chapman. In the letter, she tells of a discussion between herself and George Ripley about John A. Collins. Chapman maintains that Collins has not left the abolitionists. Ripley said that he had left, by embarking on another enterprise. [John A. Collins founded a community in Skaneateles, NY, after 1843.] Chapman replied that although Collins cannot work with the abolitionists as devotedly as before, he is nevertheless respected by friends of the cause, whom he helps whenever he can. Ripley thought that Collins had cheated the abolitionists out of their money when he collected from persons from whom they expected money. Chapman saw no motive for Collins to do that. Ripley called Collins materialistic, and Chapman agreed that he probably had that tendency. Chapman alludes to Gerrit Smith's promise of $10,000 to the Colonization Society "under a mistake as to its nature and purposes." Chapman told Collins of Ripley's unfriendliness. Collins is "evidently returning to spirtualism, ...He makes the self-sacrificing principle the foundation one--Ripley's folks rely on the selfish one."