[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 n.o.ble 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, pa.s.sionately 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 emanc.i.p.ated 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 Const.i.tution--both as originally written and as amended. He argued that all born or naturalized Americans are citizens--that neither s.e.x 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 b.r.e.a.s.t.s. 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 const.i.tutional 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 ill.u.s.trative 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 s.e.x. 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 impa.s.sioned, now playful, now witty, now pathetic. It was surpa.s.singly 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 a.s.surance 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 pet.i.tions 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 pet.i.tion, 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 pet.i.tioners.
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 pet.i.tions, 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 enfranchis.e.m.e.nt, 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 n.o.ble 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 munic.i.p.al 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 s.e.x; 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 n.o.blest 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 cla.s.s 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 s.e.x. 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 inst.i.tutions.
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 inst.i.tutions. 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 const.i.tutional law are all alike on our side of the question. We need not detain you to rehea.r.s.e the fundamental principles of our government, your own interpretation of the const.i.tution, 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 a.s.sertion 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 ma.s.ses 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 ma.s.ses 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 a.n.a.lytical 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 n.o.bility, a law of primogeniture and an established church, is to give the ma.s.ses 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 enfranchis.e.m.e.nt 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 emanc.i.p.ation 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 cla.s.s 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 pa.s.s in the world of work. If the ma.s.ses 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 a.s.sociations. 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 inst.i.tutions 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 s.p.a.cious, comfortable cars, the journey surpa.s.sed 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 n.o.ble 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 inst.i.tutions.
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 d.i.c.kinson 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 pa.s.sage 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 amus.e.m.e.nt 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 a.s.sociation 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 pa.s.sage 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 s.e.x. 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 n.o.ble 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 b.u.t.tons 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 d.i.c.kinson of the West. She is studying law, and hopes to be admitted to the senior cla.s.s 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. t.i.ttman, 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 a.s.sociation, 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 s.e.x.