It was really pitiful to hear narrow-minded bigots, pretending to be teachers and leaders of men, so cruelly remanding their own mothers, with the rest of womankind, to absolute subjection to the ordinary masculine type of humanity.  I always regretted that the women themselves had not taken part in the debate before the convention was fully organized and the question of delegates settled.  It seemed to me then, and does now, that all delegates with credentials from recognized societies should have had a voice in the organization of the convention, though subject to exclusion afterward.  However, the women sat in a low curtained seat like a church choir, and modestly listened to the French, British, and American Solons for twelve of the longest days in June, as did, also, our grand Garrison and Rogers in the gallery.  They scorned a convention that ignored the rights of the very women who had fought, side by side, with them in the anti-slavery conflict.  “After battling so many long years,” said Garrison, “for the liberties of African slaves, I can take no part in a convention that strikes down the most sacred rights of all women.”  After coming three thousand miles to speak on the subject nearest his heart, he nobly shared the enforced silence of the rejected delegates.  It was a great act of self-sacrifice that should never be forgotten by women.

Thomas Clarkson was chosen president of the convention and made a few remarks in opening, but he soon retired, as his age and many infirmities made all public occasions too burdensome, and Joseph Sturge, a Quaker, was made chairman.  Sitting next to Mrs. Mott, I said: 

“As there is a Quaker in the chair now, what could he do if the spirit should move you to speak?”

“Ah,” she replied, evidently not believing such a contingency possible, “where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

She had not much faith in the sincerity of abolitionists who, while eloquently defending the natural rights of slaves, denied freedom of speech to one-half the people of their own race.  Such was the consistency of an assemblage of philanthropists!  They would have been horrified at the idea of burning the flesh of the distinguished women present with red-hot irons, but the crucifixion of their pride and self-respect, the humiliation of the spirit, seemed to them a most trifling matter.  The action of this convention was the topic of discussion, in public and private, for a long time, and stung many women into new thought and action and gave rise to the movement for women’s political equality both in England and the United States.