Go to our courts of justice, our jails and prisons; go into the world of work; into the trades and professions; into the temples of science and learning, and see what is meted out everywhere to women—to those who have no advocates in our courts, no representatives in the councils of the nation. Shall we prolong and perpetuate such injustice, and by increasing this power risk worse oppressions for ourselves and daughters? It is an open, deliberate insult to American womanhood to be cast down under the iron-heeled peasantry of the Old World and the slaves of the New, as we shall be in the practical working of the Fifteenth Amendment, and the only atonement the Republican party can make is now to complete its work, by enfranchising the women of the nation. I have not forgotten their action four years ago, when Article XIV., Sec. 2, was amended[113] by invidiously introducing the word "male" into the Federal Constitution, where it had never been before, thus counting out of the basis of representation all men not permitted to vote, thereby making it the interest of every State to enfranchise its male citizens, and virtually declaring it no crime to disfranchise its women. As political sagacity moved our rulers thus to guard the interests of the negro for party purposes, common justice might have compelled them to show like respect for their own mothers, by counting woman too out of the basis of representation, that she might no longer swell the numbers to legislate adversely to her interests. And this desecration of the last will and testament of the fathers, this retrogressive legislation for woman, was in the face of the earnest protests of thousands of the best educated, most refined and cultivated women of the North.

Now, when the attention of the whole world is turned to this question of suffrage, and women themselves are throwing off the lethargy of ages, and in England, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Russia are holding their conventions, and their rulers are everywhere giving them a respectful hearing, shall American statesmen, claiming to be liberal, so amend their constitutions as to make their wives and mothers the political inferiors of unlettered and unwashed ditch-diggers, boot-blacks, butchers, and barbers, fresh from the slave plantations of the South, and the effete civilizations of the Old World? While poets and philosophers, statesmen and men of science are all alike pointing to woman as the new hope for the redemption of the race, shall the freest Government on the earth be the first to establish an aristocracy based on sex alone? to exalt ignorance above education, vice above virtue, brutality and barbarism above refinement and religion? Not since God first called light out of darkness and order out of chaos, was there ever made so base a proposition as "manhood suffrage" in this American Republic, after all the discussions we have had on human rights in the last century. On all the blackest pages of history there is no record of an act like this, in any nation, where native born citizens, having the same religion, speaking the same language, equal to their rulers in wealth, family, and education, have been politically ostracised by their own countrymen, outlawed with savages, and subjected to the government of outside barbarians. Remember the Fifteenth Amendment takes in a larger population than the 2,000,000 black men on the Southern plantation. It takes in all the foreigners daily landing in our eastern cities, the Chinese crowding our western shores, the inhabitants of Alaska, and all those western isles that will soon be ours. American statesmen may flatter themselves that by superior intelligence and political sagacity the higher orders of men will always govern, but when the ignorant foreign vote already holds the balance of power in all the large cities by sheer force of numbers, it is simply a question of impulse or passion, bribery or fraud, how our elections will be carried. When the highest offices in the gift of the people are bought and sold in Wall Street, it is a mere chance who will be our rulers. Whither is a nation tending when brains count for less than bullion, and clowns make laws for queens? It is a startling assertion, but nevertheless true, that in none of the nations of modern Europe are the higher classes of women politically so degraded as are the women of this Republic to-day. In the Old World, where the government is the aristocracy, where it is considered a mark of nobility to share its offices and powers, women of rank have certain hereditary lights which raise them above a majority of the men, certain honors and privileges not granted to serfs and peasants. There women are queens, hold subordinate offices, and vote on many questions. In our Southern States even, before the war, women were not degraded below the working population. They were not humiliated in seeing their coachmen, gardeners, and waiters go to the polls to legislate for them; but here, in this boasted Northern civilization, women of wealth and education, who pay taxes and obey the laws, who in morals and intellect are the peers of their proudest rulers, are thrust outside the pale of political consideration with minors, paupers, lunatics, traitors, idiots, with those guilty of bribery, larceny, and infamous crimes.

Would those gentlemen who are on all sides telling the women of the nation not to press their claims until the negro is safe beyond peradventure, be willing themselves to stand aside and trust all their interests to hands like these? The educated women of this nation feel as much interest in republican institutions, the preservation of the country, the good of the race, their own elevation and success, as any man possibly can, and we have the same distrust in man's power to legislate for us, that he has in woman's power to legislate wisely for herself.

4. I would press a Sixteenth Amendment, because the history of American statesmanship does not inspire me with confidence in man's capacity to govern the nation alone, with justice and mercy. I have come to this conclusion, not only from my own observation, but from what our rulers say of themselves. Honorable Senators have risen in their places again and again, and told the people of the wastefulness and corruption of the present administration. Others have set forth, with equal clearness, the ignorance of our rulers on the question of finance....

The following letters were received and read in the Convention:

NEW YORK, Jan. 14, 1869.

MRS. JOSEPHINE S. GRIFFING,—Dear Madam:—Your favor of the 6th inst. is received. Permit me to assure you it would give me great pleasure to be present at your important convention of the 19th, but indisposition will not allow me that gratification.

Looking at all the circumstances; the position, the epoch, and the efforts now being made to extend the right to the ballot, your Convention is perhaps the most important that was ever held. It is a true maxim, that it is easier to do justice than injustice; to do right than wrong; and to do it at once, than by small degrees. How much better and easier it would have been for Congress, when they enfranchised all the men of the District of Columbia, had they included the women also; but better late than never. Let the National government, to which the States have a right to look for good example, do justice to woman now, and all the States will follow....

It was a terrible mistake and a fundamental error, based upon ignorance and injustice, ever to have introduced the word "male" into the Federal Constitution. The terms "male" and "female" simply designate the physical or animal distinction between the sexes, and ought be used only in speaking of the lower animals. Human beings are men and women, possessed of human faculties and understanding, which we call mind; and mind recognizes no sex, therefore the term "male," as applied to human beings—to citizens—ought to be expunged from the constitution and laws as a last remnant of barbarism—when the animal, not mind, when might, not right, governed the world. Let your Convention, then, urge Congress to wipe out that purely animal distinction from the national constitution. That noble instrument was destined to govern intelligent, responsible human beings—men and women—not sex. The childish argument that all women don't ask for the franchise would hardly deserve notice were it not sometimes used by men of sense. To all such I would say, examine ancient and modern history, yes, even of your own times, and you will find there never has been a time when all men of any country—white or black—have ever asked for a reform. Reforms have to be claimed and obtained by the few, who are in advance, for the benefit of the many who lag behind. And when once obtained and almost forced upon them, the mass of the people accept and enjoy their benefits as a matter of course. Look at the petitions now pouring into Congress for the franchise for women, and compare their thousands of signatures with the few isolated names that graced our first petitions to the Legislature of New York to secure to the married woman the right to hold in her own name the property that belonged to her, to secure to the poor, forsaken wife the right to her earnings, and to the mother the right to her children. "All" the women did not ask for those rights, but all accepted them with joy and gladness when they were obtained; and so it will be with the franchise. But woman's claim for the ballot does not depend upon the numbers that demand it, or would exercise the right; but upon precisely the same principles that man claims it for himself. Chase, Sumner, Stevens, and many of both Houses of Congress have, time after time, declared that the franchise means "Security, Education, Responsibility, Self-respect, Prosperity, and Independence." Taking all these assertions for granted and fully appreciating all their benefits, in the name of security, of education, of responsibility, of self-respect, of liberty, of prosperity and independence we demand the franchise for woman.

Please present this hastily-written contribution to your Convention with best wishes.

Yours, dear madam, very truly, ERNESTINE L. ROSE.

WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON writes: Unable to attend the Convention, I can only send you my warm approval of it, and the object it is designed to promote. It is boastingly claimed in behalf of the Government of the United States that it is "of the people, by the people, and for the people." Yet reckoning the whole number at thirty-eight millions, no less than one-half—that is, nineteen millions—are political ciphers. A single male voter, on election day, outweighs them all!

AARON M. POWELL writes: I have no doubt that if a fair and honest vote can be had upon the question, submitted upon its own merits, in the Senate and House of Representatives, both the friends and opponents of the measure here, as in Great Britain when John Stuart Mill's proposition was first voted upon in Parliament, will be surprised at the revelation of its real strength.

Mrs. CAROLINE H. DALL writes: It mitigates my regret in declining your invitation to remember that these are not the dark days of the cause.

Senator FOWLER, of Tenn., writes: It is not possible that the people who have so enlarged the boundaries of the political rights of another race just emerged from slavery, will fail to recognize the claims of the women of the United States to equal rights in all the relations of life.

WM. H. SYLVIS says: I am in favor of universal suffrage, universal amnesty, and universal liberty.

ABBY HOPPER GIBBONS says: My father, Isaac T. Hopper, was an advocate for woman and her work, he believed in her thoroughly. His life long he was associated with many of the best women of his day. With the help of good men, we shall ere long stand side by side with ballot in hand.

PAULINA WRIGHT DAVIS: If women are the only unrecognized class as a part of the people, then woe to the nation! for there will be no noble mothers; frivolity, folly, and madness will seize them, for all inverted action of the faculties becomes intense in just the ratio of its earnestness.

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE writes: I am deeply interested in the work, and hopeful that a broader sphere is opening for woman, that as a class they may be trained in early life more as men are in education and business.

Gen. OLIVER O. HOWARD answers: Please express to the Committee my thanks for the invitation. I should be pleased to accept, but a lecture engagement in the West will compel me to be absent from the city.

JAMES M. SCOVILL, of New Jersey, says: I deeply desire to come. Go on in your great work. The Convention tells on the public mind.

GERRIT SMITH replies: I thank you for your invitation, though it is not in my power to attend the Convention. God hasten the day when the civil and political rights of woman shall be admitted to be equal to those of man.

SIMEON CORLEY, M.C., of South Carolina, writes: Having been an advocate of woman suffrage for a quarter of a century, I had the pleasure yesterday of enrolling my name and that of my wife on your list of delegates. To-day Hon. James H. Goss, M.C., of South Carolina, requested me to have you insert his name. I think you may safely count on the South Carolina delegation.

This Convention was the first public occasion when the women opposed to the XIV Amendment, measuring their logic with Republicans, Abolitionists, and colored men, ably maintained their position. The division of opinion was marked and earnest, and the debate was warm between Messrs. Douglass, Downing, Hinton, Dr. Purvis, and Edward M. Davis on one side, and the ladies, with Robert Purvis[114] and Parker Pillsbury on the other. Edward M. Davis, the son-in-law of Lucretia Mott, was so hostile to the position of the women on the XIV Amendment that he refused to enroll his name as a member of the Convention. Nevertheless, Mrs. Mott in the chair, allowed him to criticise most severely the resolutions and the position of those with whom she stood. She answered his attacks with her usual gentleness, and advocated the resolutions.[115] Robert Purvis, differing with his own son and other colored men, denounced their position with severity. Yet good feeling prevailed throughout, and the Convention adjourned in order and harmony.

The following objective view of the Convention, of the tone of the addresses, and the personnel of the platform, from the pen of one of our distinguished literary women—Sarah Clarke Lippincott—will serve to show that the leaders in the suffrage movement were not the rude, uncultured women generally represented by the opposition, but in point of intelligence, refinement, appearance, and all the feminine virtues, far above the ordinary standard. For the honor of this grand reform, we record the compliments occasionally bestowed.

[From the Philadelphia Press].

WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 1869.

The proceedings were opened with prayer by Dr. Gray, the Chaplain of the Senate, a man of remarkably liberal spirit. This prayer, however, did not give perfect satisfaction. Going back to the beginning of things, the doctor unfortunately chanced to take, of the two Mosaic accounts of the creation of man and woman, that one which is least exalting to woman, representing her as built on a "spare rib" of Adam. Let us hope the reverend gentleman will "overhaul" his Genesis and "take a note."

On the platform was an imposing array of intellect, courage, and noble character. First there was dear, revered Lucretia Mott, her sweet, saintly face cloistered in her Quaker bonnet, her serene and gracious presence, so dignified yet so utterly unpretending, so self-poised yet so gentle, so peaceful yet so powerful, sanctioning and sanctifying the meeting and the movement.

Near her sat her sister, Mrs. Wright, of Auburn, a woman of strong, constant character and of rare intellectual culture; Mrs. Cady Stanton, a lady of impressive and beautiful appearance, in the rich prime of an active, generous, and healthful life; Miss Susan B. Anthony, looking all she is, a keen, energetic, uncompromising, unconquerable, passionately earnest woman; Clara Barton, whose name is dear to soldiers and blessed in thousands of homes to which the soldiers shall return no more—a brave, benignant looking woman. But I will not indulge in personal descriptions, though Dr. Mary Walker in her emancipated garments and Eve-like arrangement or disarrangement of hair, is somewhat tempting.

Senator Pomeroy, acting as temporary chairman, called the Convention to order. Certain committees were appointed, and the Senator spoke for some twenty or thirty minutes, very happily and effectively, on the question of Woman's Rights under the Constitution—both as originally written and as amended. He argued that all born or naturalized Americans are citizens—that neither sex nor color has anything to do with citizenship rightfully. His reasoning seemed to us, who are interested, cogent and logical, and his spirit fearless and broad. Mrs. Stanton spoke on the general question with great force and pithiness. Of all their speakers she seemed to me to have the most weight. Her speeches are models of composition, clear, compact, elegant, and logical. She makes her points with peculiar sharpness and certainty, and there is no denying or dodging her conclusions. Mrs. Mott followed Mrs. Stanton, and at a later hour spoke again. She can not speak too often for the good of this or any cause. Her arguments are always gently put forward, but there is great force behind them—the force of reason and justice and simple truth. Her wit, too, though it gleams out softly and playfully, illuminates her subject as the keener, sharper light of satire never could illuminate it. She is always reasonable, gracious, and judicious. She never strives for effect, and is too conscientious to be sensational, yet no speaker among the younger women of this movement makes more telling points—no one knows so well every foot of the broad field of argument. In her practiced hand every weapon is ready on the instant, whether drawn from the armories of Scripture, history, literature, or politics. She reviewed the history of this movement from the beginning, paying warm tribute to the memory of its early advocates. She proved that for centuries the discontented, the indignant protest in the souls of women, which has culminated in this movement, has formed an element which has been secretly surging and seething under the surface of society. These were no new wrongs or needs of ours, she said; the women of the past, of all ages, had felt them; we are only giving voice to them.

A most eloquent letter from Mrs. Ernestine L. Rose was read, indorsing the Convention; also one from William Lloyd Garrison. Mrs. Griffing, of Washington, spoke with remarkable earnestness and fervor, and was followed by Mrs. Hathaway, of Boston. This lady said: "They say the majority shall rule. Well, there are, east of the Alleghanies, 400,000 more women than men. So the minority rule us." Upon the whole, I was quite willing to have this body of women orators and debaters compared with either of the great legislative bodies who meet over in yonder great marble temple of wisdom, eloquence, logic, and law.

Mrs. Starrett, of Kansas, a bright, ruddy, rosy woman, made a good, practical speech on the influence of the franchise upon the domestic life of women.

Mrs. Butler, of Vineland, N. J., made one of the most charming and womanly speeches, or talks, of the Convention, recounting her experience as one of the gallant band of women who, at the late fall elections, made an imposing demonstration at the polls in her lively and progressive town. Fearful threats had reached them of insult and violence from rough boys and men; but they met with absolutely nothing of the kind, though they did not approach the polls like the Neapolitan heroine who votes for Victor Emanuel, with pistols and daggers in their belts and war medals on their breasts. They were made way for as respectfully as though they had been about to enter a church door. Of course, their votes were thrown out, but it would not always be so. They would hope on and vote on. Touching the reforms that women intend to bring about when they shall "come into the kingdom," she said, "we will rule liquor out of the country;" a declaration which at the present critical stage of affairs, and in Washington, struck me as rather impolitic. "As to the question of woman first or the black man first," she said, "I mean both together"; evidently looking for a constitutional amendment gateway wide enough for the two to dash in abreast, neck-and-neck. "Oh, woman, great is thy faith!" This speaker related some sad stories illustrative of woman's legal disabilities, and dwelt feelingly on the old, palpable, intolerable grievance of inequality of wages, and on the bars and restrictions which woman encounters at every turn, in her struggle for an honorable livelihood.

In reply, Mrs. Mott, in her bright, sweet, deprecating way, cast a flood of sunlight on the dark pictures, by referring to the remodeling of the laws respecting the relation of husband and wife, in regard to property, and the right of the mother to her child, by the Legislatures of the various States and especially by that of the State of New York.

Miss Anthony followed in a strain not only cheerful, but exultant—reviewing the advance of the cause from its first despised beginning to its present position, where, she alleged, it commanded the attention of the world. She spoke in her usual pungent, vehement style, hitting the nail on the head every time, and driving it in up to the head. Indeed, it seems to me, that while Lucretia Mott may be said to be the soul of this movement, and Mrs. Stanton the mind, the "swift, keen intelligence," Miss Anthony, alert, aggressive, and indefatigable, is its nervous energy—its propulsive force.

Mrs. Stanton has the best arts of the politician and the training of the jurist, added to the fiery, unresting spirit of the reformer. She has a rare talent for affairs, management, and mastership. Yet she is in an eminent degree womanly, having an almost regal pride of sex. In France, in the time of the revolution or the first empire, she would have been a Roland or a De Stael. I will not attempt the slightest sketch of her closing speech, which was not only a powerful plea for disfranchised womanhood, but for motherhood. It was now impassioned, now playful, now witty, now pathetic. It was surpassingly eloquent, and apparently convincing, for the boldest and most radical utterances, brought from the great audience the heartiest applause. For this, I love the people. No great, brave, true thought can be uttered before an American audience without bringing a cordial and generous response. All are not ready, of course, to carry into action, into life, legislation, and law the sentiments of liberty and justice they applaud; but they feel that somewhere, in some nameless Utopia far away, such things might be lived out. Thank heaven that Utopia is possible for humanity—a real, practical condition of our mortal life—only a little way before us, perhaps.

Many good, refined people turn a cold shoulder on this cause of woman's rights because their religious sentiment, or their taste, is shocked by the character or appearance of some of its public advocates. They say: "If we were only to see at their conventions that Quaker gentlewoman, Lucretia Mott, with her serene presence; Mrs. Stanton, with her patrician air; Miss Anthony, with her sharp, intellectual fencing; Lucy Stone, with her sweet, persuasive argument and lucid logic—it were very well; but to their free platform, bores, fanatics, and fools are admitted, to elbow them and disgust us." I suppose that such annoyances, to use a mild term, necessarily belong to a free platform, and that freedom of speech is one of the most sacred rights—especially to woman. Yet I think some authority there should be to exclude or silence persons unfit to appear before an intelligent and refined audience—some power to rule out utterly, and keep out, ignorant or insane men and women who realize some of the worst things falsely charged against the leaders of this movement. But to see the three chief figures of this great movement of Woman's Rights sitting upon a stage in joint council, like the three Parcae or Fates of a new dispensation—dignity and the ever-acceptable grace of scholarly earnestness, intelligence, and beneficence making them prominent—is assurance that the women of our country, bereft of defenders, or injured by false ones, have advocates equal to the great demands of their cause.

GRACE GREENWOOD.

EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 1869.

DEAR REVOLUTION:—We hear good accounts from all quarters of the effect of the Woman's National Suffrage Convention. From the numbers who called upon us, the courtesy of our rulers, the marked attentions paid us in society, and the many enthusiastic letters we daily receive, we are led to believe that woman's suffrage is becoming very popular. As both the editor and proprietor of The Revolution are in the sere and yellow leaf, the many attentions and compliments showered upon us are of course from no personal considerations, but so many tributes of respect to the ideas we represent; as such we gratefully accept all that come to us, and thank our hosts of friends for the words of good cheer we received in Washington. As we have never been cast down with scorn and ridicule, we shall never be puffed up with praise and admiration. In the future, as the past, the motto of the good Abbe de Lamennais shall be ours, "Let the weal and the woe of humanity be everything to us, their praise and their blame of no effect." In conversation with some of the members we found them quite jealous of the attentions Mr. Pomeroy was receiving from the women of the nation. This will never do, to be sowing seeds of discord where fraternal love should abound, and we hope the women of the several States will send their petitions to their own members. As Mr. Pomeroy has enough piled up in his committee room to keep him busy all winter, we advise him to distribute them among all the gallant gentlemen who would feel honored in presenting them. Then, too, there is much wisdom in the remarks made by the Hon. Roscoe Conkling, when he presented a woman's petition, on the danger of granting Mr. Pomeroy a monopoly of such privileges, lest he should grow lukewarm in the cause. True, we have looked in vain for any burst of eloquence from the Kansas gentleman, thus far, in the Senate, but it may be that he can not find words to express the depth of his sympathy for oppressed womanhood, hence the silent eloquence of action alone in behalf of the fair petitioners.

One gentleman remarked, "Why do you push Pomeroy forward in your movement? Julian is altogether the most reliable man." We replied, we always push those who come forward. We should have been very glad if Boutwell or Brooks, Wade or Wilson, Harlan or Henderson, Julian or Jenckes had had the courage to come to our platform, but as Mr. Pomeroy was the only member of Congress who did come, he stands before the public as our champion in Washington. These politicians are all alike. No doubt there are many men in both Houses as earnest on this question as Mr. Pomeroy, who are silent on personal considerations, while he is active for the same reason. In Kansas, woman suffrage is a popular question, hence it is safe for Senators from that State, looking to a re-election, to advocate it, and when the women of the several States are as wide awake as in Kansas, the members of Congress will vie with each other to do them honor. We chanced to lunch one day in Downing's saloon with the Hon. Sidney Clark, of Kansas, and Gen. McMillan, of Minnesota, both strongly opposed to the land swindle. The former has just made an able speech on that question. Mr. Clark is a tall, fine-looking man, and bears so striking a resemblance to the editor of the Independent that he is often accosted for him. The subject of discussion over Mr. Downing's fine oysters was woman suffrage. Although Mr. Clark rather gave us the cold shoulder in the Kansas campaign, he promises to atone for his error by renewed ardor when the proposition is again submitted.

Miss Anthony called on Senator Harlan, Chairman of the District Committee, who readily granted us a hearing, which was had on Wednesday, the 26th. Mr. H. being friendly to the idea, we shall look to him to report a bill favorable to woman suffrage in the District. Mr. Harlan has one of the most refined, spiritual faces in the Senate. Mr. Lawrence, of Ohio, who was on the committee for investigating the election frauds in New York, said, when he returned, that the greatest fraud he found there was that one-half the people were not allowed to vote at all.

Messrs. Aiken and Florence, of the Sunday Gazette, were deeply interested listeners throughout our Convention. On being introduced to Mr. Florence, we expressed the hope that he would now sharpen his pen and do valiant service for woman and help to atone for all the injustice and ridicule of the press in the past. He promptly pledged himself to defend our ideas valiantly in the future. And he has started well in writing a glowing editorial in his last paper, and giving two columns to our speech on "Manhood Suffrage." To Senator Trumbull, who is Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, all our petitions, appeals, and addresses are referred. We hope he will not sink under such a weight of responsibility, but read everything we send him with a holy unction to the committee, and report favorably to the Senate.

We learned from the Southern members that the South Carolina delegation will go solid for woman suffrage. It has been a wonder to us that Southern white women did not see the necessity of their speedy enfranchisement, as a foreign race is, by the edicts of the Republican party, exalted above their heads—made their rulers, judges, jurors, and law-givers.

Friday evening, we went to Secretary McCulloch's and Mr. Colfax's receptions. There we saw Mrs. Colfax for the first time; tall, handsome, vigorous. We congratulated her on having won the most popular man in America, whereupon the Vice-President elect smiled and bowed profoundly, and we turned to greet glorious old Ben Wade and his noble wife. Finance seemed to be the theme on all sides, and we have our fears that the negroes, as well as the women, will be lost sight of, in these discussions about the currency. But this finance is a grave question, and the more we read and think on it, the more we are convinced that the need of money is the root of all evil. We were introduced to Professor Helyard and Gen. Eaton, members of a scientific society of gentlemen which meets once a week to discuss all that is in heaven above, on the earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth, without permitting a single one of Eve's daughters to listen to the wisdom. They have lately discussed the subject of earthquakes, and it was stated, we understand, that after the women began to hold conventions in this country, earthquakes became more frequent, occurring from 1850 in California, simultaneously with these conventions in several States, showing that old mother earth sympathizes with the sorrows of women. The fear of similar occurrences in the District fully accounts for the exclusiveness of these scientific gentlemen. Professor Helgard discoursed most eloquently on co-operative housekeeping. As we listened to the many good reasons he gave for cooking, washing, and ironing on a large scale, we felt the women of the nation might be benefited ultimately by these weekly cogitations, if not permitted to enjoy the society of the cogitators.

E. C. S.

The National Woman's Suffrage Convention held in Washington, January 18th and 19th, presented the following appeal to the District Committee:

TO THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

HONORABLE GENTLEMEN: As the Franchise bill is now under consideration, we would urge your committee to so amend it as to secure the right of suffrage to all the women of the District, and thus establish in the capital of the nation the first genuine republic the world has ever known. It would be a work of supererogation to warn you against the puerile proposition to disfranchise all the people of the District, by placing their municipal affairs under the direct control of Congress, for such retrogressive legislation is beneath the consideration of your honorable committee, and would never be tolerated by the American people. The tide of public opinion is setting to-day in the opposite direction; in all governments we see a steadily increasing tendency toward individual responsibilities—to the election of rulers by a direct voice of the people. In this general awakening, woman too has been roused to a sense not only of her own rights as a human being, but to her duties as a citizen under government.

It is especially fitting that the grand experiment of equality should be first tried in the District of Columbia, where such able debates on freedom have been heard during the last century; where slavery was first abolished by an act of Congress; and where the black man was first recognized as a citizen of the United States. But in removing all political disabilities from the male citizens of the District, you have established, for the first time in the history of nations, a government based on the aristocracy of sex; an aristocracy of all kinds the most odious and unnatural. While every type and shade of manhood is rejoicing to-day in all the rights, privileges, and immunities of citizens in the District, its noblest matrons are still living under the statute laws of a dark and barbarous age, running back to the old common law of England centuries ago, having no parallel in our day, but in the slave codes of the Southern States. Here a married woman has no right to the property she inherits, to the wages she earns, or to the children of her love, and from laws like these she has no appeal; no advocate in the courts of justice; no representative in the councils of the nation. Such is the result of class legislation, clearly proving that man has ever made laws for his own mother with as little justice and generosity as he has from time to time for different orders of his own sex. Suffering, as woman does, under the wrongs of Saxon men, you have added insult to injury by exalting another race above her head: slaves, ignorant, degraded, depraved, but yesterday crouching at your feet, outside the pale of political consideration, are to-day, by your edicts, made her lawgivers! Thus here in the District you have consummated this invidious policy of the nation, placing outside barbarians above your Pilgrim mothers, who have stood by your side from the beginning, sharing alike your dangers and triumphs in the great struggle on this continent for free institutions.

We urge you, therefore, to report favorably on Senator Wilson's amendment, because woman not only needs the ballot for her protection, but the nation needs her voice in legislation for the safety and stability of our institutions. We simply ask you to apply your theory of government, your declaration of rights, the principles enunciated by the great Republican party, the far-seeing wisdom with which step by step you have secured all men in their inalienable rights, to our case, and you will see that logic, justice, common sense, and constitutional law are all alike on our side of the question. We need not detain you to rehearse the fundamental principles of our government, your own interpretation of the constitution, or the right of Congress to regulate suffrage in the District, for all this has been argued before the nation and sealed by your own acts. With the argument all on our side, the only question that remains is, does woman herself demand the right of suffrage at this hour? If, honorable gentlemen, you will look abroad, and note the general uprising of women everywhere, in foreign nations as well as our own, you will realize that our demand is the great onward step of the century and not, as some claim, the idiosyncrasy of a few unbalanced minds. Man knows as little of the real feeling of the women of their household as did the proud Southerner of the slaves on his plantation. Woman fears man's ridicule more than the slave did the master's lash. Yes! woman waits to-day but for man's approval, to manifest the intense enthusiasm she feels in the no distant future, when she, too, shall be crowned sovereign of this great republic, where all are of the blood royal—all heirs apparent to the throne.

We are often asked the question, "On what do you base your assertion that the ballot can achieve so much for woman? It has not done much for man; in this country all white men vote, yet the masses are wretchedly fed, housed, clothed, and poorly paid for their labor. Ignorant alike of social and political economy, their voting is a mere form; practically they have no more to do with the government than the masses in the old world who have no representation whatever." These wholesale philosophers, and we meet them every day, are incapable of any patient process of analytical reasoning. If the moment a man is endowed with the suffrage he does not spring up into knowledge, virtue, wealth, and position, then the right amounts to nothing. If a generation of ignorant, degraded men, does not vote at once with the wisdom of statesmen, then Universal Suffrage is a failure, and the despot and the dagger the true government. The careful reader of history will see that with every new extension of rights a new step in civilization has been taken, and that uniformly those nations have been most prosperous where the greatest number of the people have been recognized in the government. Contrast China with Russia, England with the United States. Where the few govern, the legislation is for the advantage of the few. Where the many govern, the legislation will gradually become more and more for the advantage of the many, as fast as the many know enough to demand laws for their own benefit. This knowledge comes from an education in politics; and a ballot in a man's hand and the responsibility of using it, is the first step in this education. Even if a man sells his ballot, there is power in possessing something that a politician must have or perish. The Southern slaves must have acquired a new dignity in the scale of being when Judge Kelley and Senator Wilson traveled all through the South to preach to them on political questions.

The thinking men of England, as they philosophize on the abuses of their government, see plainly that the only way to abolish an order of nobility, a law of primogeniture and an established church, is to give the masses a right by their votes to pitch this triple power into the channel; for all the bulwarks of aristocracy will, one by one, be swept away with the education and enfranchisement of the people. Gladstone, John Bright, and John Stuart Mill see clearly that the privileges of the few can be extended to the many only by the legislation of the many. All the beneficial results of the broad principles they are advocating to-day, may not be fully realized in a generation, but, to the philosophical mind, they are as true now as if already achieved. The greatest minds in this country, too, have made most exhaustive arguments to prove the power of the ballot, and recognized the equality of all citizens, in our Declaration of Rights, in extending suffrage to all white men, and in the proposition to farther extend it to all black men. The great Republican party (in which are many of the ablest men of the nation) declare that emancipation to the black man is a mockery, without the suffrage. When the thinking minds on both continents are agreed as to the power of the ballot in the hand of every man, it is surprising to hear educated Americans ask, "What possible value would suffrage be to woman?" When, in the British Parliament, the suffrage was extended to a million new voters, even Lord Derby and Disraeli, who were opposed to the measure, said at once, now, if this class are to vote, we must establish schools for their education, showing the increased importance of every man who has a voice in the government, and the new interest of the rulers in his education. Where all vote all must be educated; our public school system is the result of this principle in our government. When women vote, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton will throw wide open their doors.

Woman is not an anomalous being outside all law, that one need make any special arguments to prove that what elevates and dignifies man will educate and dignify woman also. When she exercises her right of suffrage, she will study the science of government, gain new importance in the eyes of politicians, and have a free pass in the world of work. If the masses knew their power, they could turn the whole legislation of this country to their own advantage, and drive poverty, rags, and ignorance into the Pacific Ocean. If they would learn wisdom in the National Labor Conventions and not sell their votes to political tricksters, a system of Finance, Trade, and Commerce, and Co-operation could soon be established that would secure the rights of Labor and put an end to the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few. Labor holds the ballot now, let it learn how to use it. Educated women know how to use it now, let them have it.

Immediately after the convention in Washington, Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony made their first tour through the Western States, speaking at various points in Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Ohio, having been invited to attend several State Conventions. The editorial correspondence in The Revolution, gives a brief summary of this Western trip, so valuable in its results, in the organization of many suffrage associations. These meetings aroused the women who had been absorbed by the war to new and higher duties, showing them that although the battles of freedom had been fought and settled by the sword, many questions growing out of the conflict were still to be adjusted by discussion and legislation, and that, all important as their work had been in helping to save the life of the nation, there were other duties to themselves as citizens on which the perpetuation of our free institutions as fully depended.

To awaken women everywhere to a proper self-respect, was the special mission of the suffrage movement, and it was a labor, for the very elect were in favor of negro suffrage first, woman suffrage afterwards, which meant the postponement of the latter question for another generation. The few who had the prescience to see the long years of apathy that always follow a great conflict, strained every nerve to settle the broad question of suffrage on its true basis while the people were awake to its importance, but the blindness of reformers themselves in playing into the hands of the opposition, made all efforts unavailing.

CHICAGO, Feb. 12, 1869.

DEAR REVOLUTION:—Sitting on the platform in the Chicago Convention, we remember that the mail to-night must take a word to you. After traveling forty hours on the railroad, sitting two days in convention and talking in all the leisure hours outside, our missives to you must be short, but not spicy, for we feel like a squeezed sponge at the present writing. Our journey hither, barring delays, was most charming. This was our first trip on the Erie Railroad, and although we had heard much of the majesty and beauty of the scenery through the valleys of the Delaware and Susquehanna, and the spacious, comfortable cars, the journey surpassed our expectations. The convention has been crowded and most enthusiastic throughout; judges, lawyers, clergymen, professors, all taking part in its deliberations. The women of this nation may congratulate themselves that their cause is near its triumph when such noble men as Edward Beecher, Rev. Mr. Goodspeed, Robert Collyer, Prof. Haven, Judge Waite, and Judge Bradwell come forward in public to advocate their cause. Mr. Beecher made an able speech yesterday, showing that "manhood suffrage" was not the demand of this hour, but suffrage for all the citizens of the republic. He pointed out the necessity of woman's voice in the legislation of the country, not only for her own safety, but for the preservation of our free institutions. The Secretary of the convention, Mrs. J. F. Willing of Rockford, is a most accomplished woman. She understands Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian, writes for several periodicals, and is the author of "Through the Dark to the Light," a new book, it is said, of much power and merit.

Library Hall has been literally packed throughout the convention; and, from the letters we have already received urging us to go hither and thither throughout the West, "The prairies seem to be all on fire with woman's suffrage." While politicians are trying to patch up the Republican party, now near its last gasp, the people in the West are getting ready for the new national party, to combine the best elements of both the old ones, soon to be buried forever out of sight. Woman's suffrage, greenbacks, free trade, homesteads for all, eight hours labor, and three per cent the legal interest, will be some of the planks in the platforms of the political parties of the future. Mrs. Livermore, the President of the Convention, discharged the duties of her office with great executive ability, grace, and patience. The women of Chicago are fortunate in having in her so wise and judicious a manager of their cause. She is a tall, dignified-looking woman, has a fine voice and pleasant address. William Wells Brown and Anna Dickinson enlivened the discussions of this afternoon. The former helped to annihilate "us" of The Revolution on the same resolutions we discussed at Washington, and Anna left Mr. Robert Laird Collyer, who had already had a passage at arms with Mrs. Livermore and Robert Collyer, without one logical weapon for his defense. This gentleman and Rev. Mr. Hammond, brother-in-law of Owen Lovejoy, not believing in woman's suffrage, were, unhappily for themselves, though to the great amusement of the audience, made the target for all the wit and satire of the platform. Mr. Hammond, in his death gasp, declared "he believed his Bible," which did not help his case, for everyone else on the platform affirmed the same faith, with only this difference, they did not believe Mr. Hammond's interpretation of the good book. Mrs. Myra Bradwell, editor of the Chicago Legal News, took a prominent part in the convention. She is a woman of great force and executive ability, and it is said her husband is indebted to her for his success in life.

A telegram from Mrs. Minor, President of the Woman's Suffrage Association in St. Louis, says that they have announced us to speak there on Monday evening. What will interest you more than all besides, is the unanimous passage of a resolution in the convention indorsing The Revolution as the national organ of the woman's suffrage movement. The Chicago press has graciously given many columns to reports of the convention.

E. C. S.

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 18.

DEAR REVOLUTION:—While in Chicago we attended a reception at Mrs. William Doggett's, where we met Madame de Herricourt, a distinguished French lady, who published an able work on woman some years since, in which she severely criticised several French writers, Michelet among the rest, for their sentimental nonsense about the sex. She is a very brilliant woman, with a large head, a bright, expressive face, and a stout figure, rather below the medium height. We discussed several French writers, among others, Victor Hugo, and fully agreed as to his women—that they were all lamentable failures. It is strange that a writer who can paint such strong men should so utterly fade out whenever he attempts a woman, and, the strangest part of it is, that he does not see it himself, and get some gifted woman to draw his female characters. To make such grand men as Jean Valjean and Gilliette love such types of womanhood as Victor Hugo creates, always did seem to us a desecration of that sentiment. We called to see Sidney Howard Gay, one of the editors of the Chicago Tribune, and found him writing with his left hand, as, owing to a severe fall, his right hand had forgotten its cunning. If the grand position the Chicago Tribune takes on Woman Suffrage, is the result of this accident, we wish all our Republican editors in the East would take a left handed tilt at our question. Sunday night we left Chicago for St. Louis in the palace cars, where we slept as comfortably as in our own home and breakfasted on the train in the morning. The dining-room was exquisitely arranged and the cooking excellent. The kitchen was a gem, and the cook, in the neatness and order of his person and all his surroundings, was a pink of male perfection. It really did seem like magic, to eat, sleep, read the morning papers, and talk with one's friends in bed-room, dining-room and parlor, dashing over the prairies at the rate of thirty miles an hour. While men can keep house in this charming manner, the world will not be utterly desolate when women do vote. As we consider the great versatility in the talents of our noble countrymen, we are lost in admiration. They seem as much at home in watching the gyrations of an egg or oyster in hot water as the revolutions of the heavenly bodies; in making pins and buttons to unite garments that time and haste may have put asunder as in spanning continents with railroads and telegraphs.

As we reached the eastern bank of the Mississippi, we were met by a delegation of ladies and gentlemen to escort us to St. Louis, where we found pleasant apartments in the Southern Hotel, which is extremely well kept, and where one is always sure of a "christian" cup of coffee. The tea and coffee in all the hotels on the route are the most miserable concoctions of hayseed and chiccory that were ever palmed off on a long-suffering, patient people. We had an enthusiastic meeting in St. Louis, and found great interest manifested in the question of woman suffrage among many of its leading citizens. The ladies were in high spirits, as they had just returned from Jefferson, where they had been most graciously received by their legislators. Miss Phoebe Couzins had made an address at the capitol which was well received. She is a young lady of great beauty and talent, both as a writer and speaker, and is called the Anna Dickinson of the West. She is studying law, and hopes to be admitted to the senior class in the law school next year. Her mother, a woman of rare capacity, is a candidate for the Post Office of St. Louis. We hope she will get it. Tuesday evening we had a reception in the parlors of the hotel. Among others, we were happy to meet Mrs. Tittman, a highly cultivated German lady, sister of Professor Helyard, whom we met in Washington. She announced that two of the German papers had come out in favor of woman suffrage that morning and confessed that they were converted the night before. We were surprised to hear that the paper controlled by Carl Schurz and Emile Pretorius had not taken that position long ago. But, from the character and influence of the German ladies there, it is evident that the German politicians must come to terms. Mrs. Minor, President of the Missouri Woman Suffrage Association, invited us to drive around and see the parks, gardens and new streets of the city.

We drove to the Polytechnic, and were received by Mr. Baily (Librarian) and Mr. Devoll, ex-superintendent of schools. He said that he was ready to vote for educated suffrage, without distinction of sex.

The ladies then proposed to go to the Merchants' Exchange and see the bulls and bears. Accordingly we drove there, ascended into the galleries, and looked down upon a great crowd of men standing round long lines of tables covered with tin pie-plates. At first we thought they were lunching, but we soon perceived that the tins contained different kinds of grains and flour, which wise ones were carefully examining. As we stood there, laughing at the idiosyncrasies of the sons of Adam, lo! two most polished gentlemen approached our charmed circle, and announced that they were a committee from the merchants on the floor to invite us to come down and address them. We descended with Mr. John J. Roe and Mr. Merritt and were introduced to the President of the Board, George P. Plant, and Mr. Blow, who escorted us to a temporary platform, and called the house to order. We made a short speech, and then there were loud calls from all parts of the house for Miss Couzins. She stepped forward and made a few pleasant remarks, when we all bowed graciously to the gallant gentlemen who conferred this great honor upon us, and retired.

SPRINGFIELD, Feb. 21.

DEAR REVOLUTION:—We have been resting here at the capital of Illinois a few days. Of our meeting in the Opera House we will say nothing about it, except that we had the Governor and members of the Legislature as attentive listeners, and the Lieut.-Governor for presiding officer, who made an admirable speech indorsing woman's suffrage. Mrs. Livermore made an able argument, though Robert Laird Collyer says we never have any logic on our platform, as if we had not been so logical in all our positions for the last twenty years that the dear men had no answer to make. Poor fellows! as they saw their outposts, one after another taken, their fortresses riddled through and through, their own guns turned on their defenseless heads, and such fifty-pounders as "taxation without representation," "all men created equal," "no just government can be formed without the consent of the governed," hurled at them, no wonder they left logic and took up ridicule; and now, when we meet them with their own weapons, they say we can not reason. The drunken man always imagines the lamp-posts dancing. Poor R. L. C., in the Chicago Convention, really thought his platitudes logic, and our logic sentiment.

On arriving at Springfield, we found the Chicago delegation all ready to besiege the Legislature. Among them were Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, Mr. Bradwell and his pretty wife Myra, who edits the Chicago Legal News. We have met several members of the bar and judges of the Supreme Court, among others Judge Lawrence and Judge Breese. All these gentlemen of the bar are in favor of amending the laws and constitutions. One thing is certain, unless these Republicans wheel in and do their duty, the Democrats in the West will take up woman's suffrage. We would advise the Western men to come into the measure generously and gracefully, and not be so obstinate and mulish as our Eastern lords have been. There is no escape, and where is the use of courting disgrace and defeat?

Sharon Tyndale, Ex-Secretary of State, escorted us to the House and Senate, and introduced us to the heads of the departments. We had two pleasant interviews with Gov. Palmer. He talks very reasonably in regard to the enfranchisement of women, although he says he does not quite indorse it yet, but as he has a very clear, honest mind, he will soon convince himself that what the ballot has done towards elevating man it will do for woman also.

The telegrams are flying in all directions for us to come here, there, everywhere. Western women are wide-awake to-day. The question of submitting an amendment to the Constitution to strike out the word "male," is under consideration. The poor "white male" is doomed.

E. C. S.

CHICAGO, March 1.

DEAR REVOLUTION:—From Springfield, I went to Bloomington, lectured before the Young Men's Association to a large audience, and met there many liberal men and women. I found that the Rev. Mr. Harrison had just fired a gun in the town paper on the lack of logic in the Chicago Convention and women's intuitions in general. It amuses me to hear the nonsense these men talk. They say God never intended woman to reason, they shut their college doors against her so that she can not study that manly accomplishment, and then they blame her for taking a short cut to the same conclusion they reach in their roundabout, lumbering processes of ratiocination. Do these gentlemen wish us to set aside God's laws, pick up logic on the sidewalks, and go step by step to a point we can reach with one flash of intuition? As long as we have the gift of catching truth by the telegraph wires, neither the sage of Bloomington nor Robert Laird Collyer of Chicago need ask us to go jogging after it in a stage-coach, perchance to be stuck in the mud on the highways as they are. It is enough to make angels weep to see how the logicians, skilled in the schools, are left floundering on every field before the simple intuitions of American womanhood.

Finding the ladies of Bloomington somewhat scarified and nervous under the Reverend's firing, like the good Samaritan, I tried to pour oil and wine on their wounded spirits, by exalting intuition, and with a pitiful and patronizing tone deploring the slowness, the obtuseness, the materialism of most of the sons of Adam. It had its effect. They soon dried their tears, and with returning self-respect, told me of all the wonderful things women were doing in that town. From the scintillations of wit, the fun and the laughter, an outsider would never have supposed that we were an oppressed class, and so hopelessly degraded in the statute laws and Constitution. After the meeting we had a long talk with the clerical assailant, and were happy to find that the good man's pen had done his heart great injustice. He is rather morbid on the question of logic; but the most melancholy symptom of his disease is his hatred of The Revolution. He says it is a very wicked paper, that he had felt it his duty to warn his congregation against taking it, thus depriving us of, at least, five hundred subscribers, though he read it himself (under protest) regularly every week. Strange what a fascination evil things have even for those who minister at the altar! He advised me to strangle Train, gibbet the financial editor, snub the proprietor, and to say no more in the paper on the questions of political economy, until we had one and all studied the subject. Dear Revolution, when I listened to those things, I had the same sinking of the heart that I used to feel when neighbors complained that my boys were running over their house-tops, dropping stones down their chimneys, ringing their bells then running away, throwing balls in their windows, and teazing the girls on the sidewalk. Now, I do hope, dear Revolution, you will not bring my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave, but turn over a new leaf and adopt some Christian means to get back these five hundred subscribers. The reverend gentleman said one thing that was like balm to my bruised spirit. He liked everything over the initials P. P. and E. C. S. Sub rosa, P. P., we must try and circumvent Train, and fill the paper ourselves.

I met some grand women at Bloomington, one who has been a successful merchant in the dry-goods business. She has not only supported her self and a family of children, but cleared $5,000 in five years. Another lady is a furniture dealer; when her husband died she went on with the business, and although he was so much embarrassed that every one advised her to close up and save what she could, she has paid all the debts, saved a handsome sum of money, and been every way more successful than her husband before her. A lady is the head of an establishment where music and pianos are sold. She carries on a large business, and has been very successful. All these women with their intuitions seem to be doing much better than many who can boast the gift of reason. I should not be surprised if, in the progress of events, men should come to think that woman's gift, after all, is the more desirable.

E. C. S.

TOLEDO, March 7.

DEAR REVOLUTION:—A bright, crisp morning I found myself seated beside Mrs. Livermore in the train for Milwaukee, whither we were going to attend a convention. In these eventful times of woman suffrage, having been separated a few days, on meeting, our hearts were overflowing with good news for one another. While I told Mrs. L. all I had seen and heard at Bloomington, and the various conversations I had had with dissenting "white males" on the trains, she told me her plans in regard to her new paper, the Agitator. Having decided to call such a journal into being, what its name should be was the question. Accordingly a council was held of the wise men and willful women of Chicago over the baptismal font of the new comer. The men, still clinging to the pleasant illusions that everything emanating from woman should be mild, gentle, serene, suggested "The Lily," "The Rose Bud," "The New Era," "The Dawn of Day;" but Mrs. Livermore, always heroic and brave, now defiant and determined, having fully awakened to the power and dignity of the ballot, and stung to the very soul with the proposed amendment for "manhood suffrage," declared that none of those names, however touching and beautiful, expressed what she intended the paper should be—nothing more or less than the twin sister of The Revolution, whose mission is to turn everything inside out, upside down, wrong side before. With such intentions, she felt the Agitator was the only name that fully matched The Revolution. All the women present echoed her sentiments, eschewing the "rose bud" dispensation and declaring that they would rather get the word "male" out of the constitution than to have a complete set of diamonds—rather have a right to property, wages, and children, than the best seats in the cars, and the tid-bits at the table. Thus, with one simultaneous shout, the women proclaimed the Agitator. The men calmly and sorrowfully resigned all hope of influence in the matter, and, as they dispersed, it was evident they looked mournfully into the future. Good Prof. Haven said that the mere name of the Agitator gave him an ague chill, and what life would be to most men after this twin sister to The Revolution was under full headway, no one could predict. Filled with profound pity for our beloved countrymen in this their hour of humiliation, we arrived in Milwaukee, where a delegation of ladies and gentlemen awaited us, among whom were a nephew and niece of Rufus Peckham, of New York, young law students of great promise. We drove to the Plankington House, where a suite of beautifully furnished apartments, with a bright fire in the grate, was prepared for us.

The Convention was held in the City Hall, and lasted two days, three sessions each, and was crowded throughout. Miss Chapin, the regularly ordained pastor of the Universalist church, was the President. Mr. and Miss Peckham, Dr. Laura J. Ross, and Madam Anneke were the ruling spirits of the Convention. Madam Anneke, a German lady of majestic presence and liberal culture, made an admirable speech in her own language. The platform, besides an array of large, well-developed women, was graced with several reverend gentlemen—Messrs. Dudley, Allison, Eddy, and Fellows—all of whom maintained woman's equality with eloquence and fervor. The Bible was discussed from Genesis to Revelation, in all its bearings on the question under consideration. By special request I gave my Bible argument, which was published in full in the daily papers. A Rev. Mr. Love, who took the opposite view, maintained that the Bible was opposed to woman's equality. He criticised some of my Hebrew translations, and scientific expositions, but as the rest of the learned D.D.s sustained my views, I shall rest in the belief that brother Love, with time and thought, will come to the same conclusions. A Rev. Mr. England also profanely claimed the Bible on the side of tyranny, and seemed to think that "Nature intended that the male should dominate over the female everywhere." As Mr. E. is a small, thin, shadowy man, without much blood, muscle, or a very remarkable cerebral development, we would advise him always to avoid the branch of the argument he stumbled upon in the Milwaukee Convention—"the physical superiority of man." Unfortunately for him, the platform illustrated the opposite, and the audience manifested, ever and anon, by suppressed laughter, that they saw the contrast between the large, well-developed brains and muscles of the women who sat there, and those of the speaker. Either Madam Anneke, Mrs. Livermore, or Dr. Ross, could have taken the reverend gentleman up in her arms and run off with him. Now, I mean nothing invidious toward small men, for some of the greatest men the world has known have been physically inferior, for example, Lord Nelson, Napoleon, our own Grant and Sheridan, and ex-Secretary Seward. All I mean to say is, that it is not politic or in good taste for a small man to come before an audience and claim physical superiority; that branch of the argument should be left for the great, burly fellows six feet high and well-proportioned, who illustrate the assertion by their overpowering presence.

We were happy to meet Mr. Butler in Milwaukee, a good Democrat, and one of the most distinguished lawyers in Wisconsin, and to find in him an ardent supporter of our cause. I told him we were looking to the Democrats to open the constitutional doors to the women in the several States. He said he thought they were getting ready to do so in the West. In Milwaukee, my pet resolutions that had been voted down in Washington and Chicago passed without a dissenting voice.

MADISON, Wisconsin.

Hearing of the great enthusiasm at Milwaukee, Madison telegraphed for the convention to adjourn to the capitol and address the Legislature. Accordingly, on Friday a large delegation took the train to that city. On arriving, the first person who greeted us was Mr. Croffet, formerly of the New York Tribune. He went with us to the hotel where we were introduced to lawyers, judges, senators, generals, editors, Republicans and Democrats, who were alike ready to break a lance for woman. A splendid audience greeted us in the Hall of Representatives. Governor Fairchild presided. Mrs. Livermore, Miss Anthony and myself, all said the best things we could think of, and with as much vim as we could command after talking all day in the cars and every moment until we entered the capitol, without even the inspiration that comes from a good cup of tea or coffee. Blessed are they who draw their inspirations from the stars, the grand and beautiful in nature, and the glory of the human face divine, for such sources niggardly landlords and ignorant cooks can neither muddle nor exhaust. After the meeting we were invited into the Executive apartments and presented to Mrs. Fairchild, a woman of rare beauty, cultivation, and common sense. She, as well as the Governor, expressed great interest in the question of woman's suffrage. The Governor, with many others, subscribed for The Revolution.

From Madison we returned to Chicago. At Janesville, Wis., the Postmaster, Mr. Burgess, came on board on his way to Washington. In the course of conversation we learned that there had been some trouble in that town about the post office, and it was finally decided to submit the matter to a vote of the people. The result was that Miss Angeline King, Mr. Burgess's opponent, was chosen by fifty majority. This was a bomb shell in the male camp, and half a dozen men started for Washington, to show General Grant that they had, one and all, done braver deeds during the war than Angie possibly could have done, and that their loyalty should be rewarded. Angie, like a wise woman, stole the march on all of them, and reached Washington before they started. If the people of Janesville prefer Angie, as they have shown they do by their votes, we think it would be well for the powers that be to confirm the choice of the people.

In Chicago, we were glad to meet again our charming friend, Anna Dickinson. Miss Anthony spent the day with her at Mr. Doggett's one of the liberal merchant princes of that city. The result of that day's cogitation was one of the most cutting speeches that the "Gentle Anna," as the Tribune called her, ever made. It was a severe, but just criticism of all the twaddle of the Western press after the Chicago Woman's Suffrage Convention. Liberty Hall was crowded with a most enthusiastic audience, and although the press was not very complimentary the next day, the people who listened were delighted. She was advertised to give "Fair Play," but the West is tired of the negro question, and she was besieged on all sides to speak on woman, which she did with great effect.

E. C. S.

GALENA, March 3.

DEAR REVOLUTION:—As you look at the date, your patriotic heart will palpitate to think that the women of The Revolution have taken possession of the home of the President, and propose to hold a Woman Suffrage Convention right under the very shadow of his flagstaff, peering up beside one chimney of a large square brick house with a flat roof. Said house is situated on a high hill with pleasant grounds about. At the present writing we are on the opposite hill under the hospitable roof of "Sarah Coates," whose name appears in the reports of all the early Ohio conventions. She is now Mrs. Harris. We arrived here this morning at six o'clock, and found good Mr. Harris waiting for us at the depot. He is one of the oldest and wealthiest inhabitants in the county. They have a beautiful home, surrounded with every comfort and luxury. Mrs. Harris is a noble woman, tall, fine-looking, and moves about among her household gods like a queen. Although she has a large family of black-eyed, rosy-cheeked children, pictures, statuary, a cabinet of rare minerals, a conservatory of beautiful plants, and a husband who thinks her but little lower than the angels, she still demands the right to vote, and occasionally indulges in the luxury of public speaking. She is the moving spirit in every step of progress in Galena, and was the President of the convention. We have had a most enthusiastic meeting, three sessions, and house crowded throughout on an admission fee of twenty-five cents. The women all over the West are wide-awake. Theodore Tilton had just preceded us, and some ladies laughingly told us that Theodore said they would certainly vote in twenty years!!

Let our cold-blooded Eastern reformers understand that ideas, like grains, grow fast in the West, and that women here intend to vote now, "right along," as the Hutchinsons sing. The editor of the Independent may talk of twenty years down on the Hudson among the Rip Van Winkles in Spookey Hollow, to H. G. in New York, or W. P. at the "Hub," but never to Western audiences, or to the women of The Revolution. Why, Mr. Tilton, when you go to the Senate some wise woman will sit on your right, and some black man on your left. You are to pay the penalty of your theorizing and be sandwiched between a woman and a black man in all the laws and constitutions before five years pass over your curly head. Twenty years! Why, Theodore, we expect to be walking the golden streets of the New Jerusalem by that time, talking with Noah, Moses, and Aaron, about the flood, the Pharaohs, the journey through the Red Sea and the wilderness. We shall be holding conventions by that time on the banks of the Jordan with Eve, Sarah, Rebecca, Huldah, Deborah, Miriam, Ruth, Naomi, Sheba, Esther, Vashti, Mary, Elizabeth, Priscilla and Phebe, Tryphena and Tryphosa, and all the strong-minded women honorably mentioned in sacred history. Do you not know, Theodore, that we have vowed never to go disfranchised into the Kingdom of Heaven? In the meantime, we propose to discuss sanitary and sumptuary laws, finance, and free trade, religion and railroads, education and elections with such worthies as yourself in the councils of the American republic. Twenty years! Why, every white male in the nation will be tied to an apron-string by that time, while all the poets and philosophers will be writing essays on "The Sphere of Man"!

We found the good men and women of Galena filled with faith in the new President. They say he is a sober, honest, true man; that he will entirely revolutionize affairs at Washington, send the old political hacks to their homes, drive bribery and corruption from high places, and draw a new order of statesmen about him. May the good angels guide and strengthen him, for unless something is soon done to rouse the slumbering virtue of the American people, our sun will set in darkness to rise no more. Feeling the deepest interest in the past, the present, and the future of Ulysses, we asked a thousand questions concerning him. Among other things, we proposed to go to the tannery where he used to work, but found that was a myth. We peeped into some of the stores where, in his leisure hours, he used to smoke the pipe of peace, and fancied that in walking up and down the streets our feet might be treading in his footsteps. What a fascination there is in the material surroundings of great souls, and in contact with the people who have seen and loved them! But, alas, how little of the inner life, that is most interesting to hear about, mortals ever reveal to one another.

On the way from Galena to Toledo we met Frederick Douglass, dressed in a cap and a great circular cape of wolf-skins. He really presented a most formidable and ferocious aspect. I thought perhaps he intended to illustrate "William the Silent" in his northern dress, as well as to depict his character in his Lyceum lecture. As I had been talking against the pending amendment of "manhood suffrage," I trembled in my shoes and was almost as paralyzed as Red Riding Hood in a similar encounter. But unlike the little maiden, I had a friend at hand, and, as usual in the hour of danger, I fell back in the shadow of Miss Anthony, who stepped forward bravely and took the wolf by the hand. His hearty words of welcome and gracious smile reassured me, so that when my time came I was able to meet him with the usual suaviter in modo. Our joy in shaking hands here and there with Douglass, Tilton, and Anna Dickinson, through the West, was like meeting ships at sea; as pleasant and as fleeting. Douglass's hair is fast becoming as white as snow, which adds greatly to the dignity of his countenance. We hear his lecture on "William the Silent" much praised. Mr. Tilton's lecture too, on "Statesmanship," is said to be the best he has ever delivered. We had an earnest debate with Douglass as far as we journeyed together, and were glad to find that he was gradually working up to our ideas on the question of suffrage. He is at present hanging by the eyelids half-way between the lofty position of Robert Purvis, and the narrow one of George W. Downing. As he will attend the woman suffrage anniversary in New York in May, we shall have an opportunity for a full and free discussion of the whole question.

TOLEDO, Ohio.

At two o'clock in the morning we reached Toledo, drove to the Oliver House, registered our names, left some notes for friends, who would be looking for us next day, and then retired, giving orders not to be called till noon, even for the King of France. At the appointed hour our friend, Mr. Israel Hall, formerly of Syracuse, was announced. He invited us to his hospitable home, where we stayed during the convention, which was held in Hunker's Hall and pronounced a complete success. At the close of the meetings, a rising vote was called of all those in favor of woman's suffrage. The entire audience, men and women, rose as if one body. Two dissenting "white males" (small, men of course) came to the surface in opposition, to the great amusement of everybody. The platform throughout the meetings was occupied by some of the leading men and women of the city. Judge Jones called the convention to order and presided over its deliberations. There was no lack of questions in Toledo, but they were all cunningly propounded in writing. This was a new feature in our meetings and we were much struck with its wisdom. The questioner in an audience, no matter how bland and benevolent, is always viewed with aversion, and, however well armed at all points, is sure to be unhorsed by a brilliant sally of wit and ridicule. But when a poser is put in black and white, nothing will do but downright logic and argument. To that unwomanly work we addressed ourselves in the Toledo convention, and all admitted that we gave most satisfactory answers. Mrs. Israel Hall is the one who heads the woman's rebellion here. To her let all those write and go who wish to work in that part of the Lord's vineyard. We are glad to see by the papers that while we have been so enthusiastically received in the West, Lucy Stone is drawing crowded houses in all the chief cities of New England.

E. C. S.

THE MAY ANNIVERSARIES IN NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN.

The Executive Committee of the Equal Rights Association issued a call[116] for the anniversary in New York, early in the spring of 1869. Never for any Convention were so many letters[117] written to distinguished legislators and editors, nor so many promptly and fairly answered.

The anniversary commenced on Wednesday morning at Steinway Hall, New York. The opening session was very largely attended, the spacious hall being nearly full, showing that the era of anniversaries of important and useful societies, had by no means passed away.[118] In the absence of the president, Mrs. Lucretia Mott, the chair was taken by Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, First Vice-President. Rev. Mrs. Hanaford, of Massachusetts, opened the meeting with prayer.

LUCY STONE presented verbally the report of the Executive Committee for the past year, running over the petitions in favor of woman suffrage presented during the year to Congress and State Legislatures and the various conventions held in different parts of the country, and remarked upon the greater respect now shown to the petitions. Formerly, she said, they were laughed at, and frequently not at all considered. This last year they were referred to committees, and often debated at great length in the legislatures, and in some cases motions to submit to the people of the State an amendment to the State Constitution doing away with the distinction of sex in the matter of suffrage was rejected by very small majorities. In one State, that of Nevada, such a motion was carried; and the question will shortly be submitted to the people of the State. A number of important and very successful conventions have been held in the Western States, and have made a decided impression. But what is most significant is, that newspapers of all shades of opinion are giving a great deal of space to this subject. It is recognized as among the great questions of the age, which can not be put down until it is settled upon the basis of immutable justice and right. The report was unanimously accepted and adopted.

Rev. O. B. FROTHINGHAM.—I am not here this morning thinking that I can add any thing to the strength of the cause, but thinking that perhaps I may gain something from the generous, sweet atmosphere that I am sure will prevail. This is a meeting, if I understand it, of the former Woman's Rights Association, and the subjects which come before us properly are the subjects which concern woman in all her social, civil, and domestic life. But the one question which is of vital moment and of sole prominence, is that of suffrage. All other questions have been virtually decided in favor of woman. She has the entree to all the fields of labor. She is now the teacher, preacher, artist, she has a place in the scientific world—in the literary world. She is a journalist, a maker of books, a public reader; in fact, there is no position which woman, as woman, is not entitled to hold. But there is one position that woman, as woman, does not occupy, and that is the position of a voter. One field alone she does not possess, and that is the political field; one work she is not permitted, and that is the work of making laws. This question goes down to the bottom—it touches the vital matter of woman's relation to the State.... Is there anything in the constitution of the female mind, to disqualify her for the exercise of the franchise. As long as there are fifty, thirty, ten, or even one woman who is capable of exercising this trust or holding this responsibility it demonstrates that sex, as a sex, does not disfranchise, and the whole question is granted. (Applause.) Here our laws are made by irresponsible people—people who demoralize and debauch society; people who make their living in a large measure by upholding the institutions that are inherently, forever, and always corrupt. (Applause.) Laws that are made by the people who own dramshops, who keep gambling-saloons, who minister to the depraved passions and vices of either sex, laws made by the idler, the dissipated, by the demoralized—are they laws? It is true that this government is founded upon caste. Slavery is abolished, but the aristocracy of sex is not. One reason that the suffrage is not conceded to woman is that those who refuse to do so, do not appreciate it themselves. (Applause.) As long as the power of suffrage means the power to steal, to tread down the weak, and get the rich offices into their own hands, those who have the key of the coffers will wish to keep it in their own pockets. (Applause.)

The Committee on Organization reported the officers of the society for the ensuing year.[119]

STEPHEN FOSTER laid down the principle that when any persons on account of strong objections against them in the minds of some, prevented harmony in a society and efficiency in its operations, those persons should retire from prominent positions in that society. He said he had taken that course when, as agent of the Anti-Slavery Society, he became obnoxious on account of his position on some questions. He objected, to certain nominations made by the committee for various reasons. The first was that the persons nominated had publicly repudiated the principles of the society. One of these was the presiding officer.

Mrs. STANTON:—I would like you to say in what respect.

Mr. FOSTER:—I will with pleasure; for, ladies and gentlemen, I admire our talented President with all my heart, and love the woman. (Great laughter.) But I believe she has publicly repudiated the principles of the society.

Mrs. STANTON:—I would like Mr. Foster to state in what way.

Mr. FOSTER:—What are these principles? The equality of men—universal suffrage. These ladies stand at the head of a paper which has adopted as its motto Educated Suffrage. I put myself on this platform as an enemy of educated suffrage, as an enemy of white suffrage, as an enemy of man suffrage, as an enemy of every kind of suffrage except universal suffrage. The Revolution lately had an article headed "That Infamous Fifteenth Amendment." It is true it was not written by our President, yet it comes from a person whom she has over and over again publicly indorsed. I am not willing to take George Francis Train on this platform with his ridicule of the negro and opposition to his enfranchisement.

Mrs. MARY A. LIVERMORE:—Is it quite generous to bring George Francis Train on this platform when he has retired from The Revolution entirely?

Mr. FOSTER:—If The Revolution, which has so often indorsed George Francis Train, will repudiate him because of his course in respect to the negro's rights, I have nothing further to say. But it does not repudiate him. He goes out; it does not cast him out.

Miss ANTHONY:—Of course it does not.

Mr. FOSTER:—My friend says yes to what I have said. I thought it was so. I only wanted to tell you why the Massachusetts society can not coalesce with the party here, and why we want these women to retire and leave us to nominate officers who can receive the respect of both parties. The Massachusetts Abolitionists can not co-operate with this society as it is now organized. If you choose to put officers here that ridicule the negro, and pronounce the Amendment infamous, why I must retire; I can not work with you. You can not have my support, and you must not use my name. I can not shoulder the responsibility of electing officers who publicly repudiate the principles of the society.

HENRY B. BLACKWELL said: In regard to the criticisms on our officers, I will agree that many unwise things have been written in The Revolution by a gentleman who furnished part of the means by which that paper has been carried on. But that gentleman has withdrawn, and you, who know the real opinions of Miss Anthony and Mrs. Stanton on the question of negro suffrage, do not believe that they mean to create antagonism between the negro and the woman question. If they did disbelieve in negro suffrage, it would be no reason for excluding them. We should no more exclude a person from our platform for disbelieving negro suffrage than a person should be excluded from the anti-slavery platform for disbelieving woman suffrage. But I know that Miss Anthony and Mrs. Stanton believe in the right of the negro to vote. We are united on that point. There is no question of principle between us.