Page:A letter on "Uncle Tom's cabin" (1852).djvu/23

19 stance he has more power of obstruction), more is demanded from him in the way of individual thought and exertion for the public good.

At the same time, do not think I underrate the causes for occasional despondency. I know how disheartening it is, and how, to use the expression of a favorite old author of mine, it sends one "down to the abysses," to find, after long toil at any matter, where some result of obvious public utility has been proved to be attainable, and even the mode of attaining it shown, that, notwithstanding this, little or no progress seems to be made, and the most contemptible interruptions of great public measures take place by reason of the meanest hindrances.

I am sure that many a man must have felt, as I confess I have, struck down to the earth for the moment by a vast and indefinite despair, at seeing how little is done, compared with what might be done, in the great sanitary reforms that are needed in this country, and, indeed, in most countries; and then, on the other hand, to see the noble way in which smoke, filth, putridity, and miasma stand their ground against the convinced, but not judiciously united, intelligence of mankind. GovernernmentsGovernments [sic] succeed each other, displaying various degrees of apparently resolute incompetency on