The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-05-08 00:00:00

WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE.

In London, last Saturday night, about 1,500 people assem-
bled in the Bermondsey Drill Hall to hear addresses from
Mrs. Duncan McLaren, Miss Lydia Becker, Miss Helen
Taylor, and others, on the subject of the electoral rights of
women.

Mrs. McLaren said that these gatherings of women,
to agitate for what was only their rights, had a special
purpose, viz., to ascertain what was actually the feeling
of the people generally on the great question of woman's
disabilities, and whether as a mass they would lelp
the women of England to break the bonds which
were fast becoming too hard for them to bear.
They were controlled by laws over which they had no
power, and in the making of which they had no voice.
They asked for no advantage, but only that, as an act
of simple justice, the women who paid the same rates
and taxes, who had the same responsibilities as.men,
and who had an equal voice with them in municipal
and School Board affairs, should have an equal voice
in the representation of the country. Their demand
was the natural outcome of that spirit of progress from
which all great and good measures had come.
Miss Lydia Becker moved : "That this meeting,
recognising the disadvantages under which women
ratepayers at present labour, is of opinion that the
privilewe of the franchise should be exercised by them
in the election of members of Parliament; and,
further, pledges itself to lend all the aid in its power
to promote the success of the movement."

This having been adopted, a further resolution was
proposed by Mrs. Lucas, and carried unanimously,
in favoar of a petition to Parliament to remove the
electoral disabilities of women. Miss Craigin, Mrs.
Jones, Miss Taylor, and ethers addressed the meeting.

In London, on Tuesday afternoon, under the pre-
sidency of Sir W. Power, and at the invitation of
Miss Tod of Belfast, a well-attended drawing-room
meeting was held at 15, Langham-street, to discuss
the question of the electoral disabilities of women.
Mr. James Stansfield, M.P., delivered a speech advo-
cating the cause generally, and giving a review
of the past work of the society. With the advent of
a new Government and a large Liberal ma-
jority, he said, he saw every reason for the
supporters of the movement to take hope; but at the
same time he thought it prudent to discourage a too
sanguine view of the situation. The infantile Govern-
ment had great and absorbing questions pressing
urgently upon it for consideration, but there could be
no doubt that this question would sooner or later
come to the fore. Members must eventually be
logical, and having vested the right to vote munici-
pally with women, they must ultimately grant the
same right Parliamentarily. The question to be solved
was whether household suffrage or individual suffrage
should be adopted, and in either case women, if rate-
payers, must be included. Sesveral ladies also ad-
dressed the meeting.

On Tuesday night a crowded meeting was held in
Beaumont-hall, Mile-end-road, in support of the claim
of women ratepayers to the Parliamentary franchise.
The chair was taken by the Rey. Septimus Buss,
M.A. A letter from Sir E. H. Currie was read, in
which he said,—" I think widows and spinsters are
entitled to the franehise."
- - -

...... _ _
Miss Becker, in proposing the first resolution, re-
minded the meeting that the present Government was
pledged to a New Reform Bill, the principle of which
should be household suffrage in counties as well as
boroughs. What she and her friends said was, Make
the principal universal, and do not disfranchise one-
sixth of the householders because they are women.
She moved—
" That by the exclusion of women from the right to vote in
the election of members of Parliament a considerable portion
of the property, intelligence, and industry of the nation is i
deprived of representation n the House of Commons, and
that in the opinion of this meeting the Parliamentary suffrage
should be given to women on the same conditions as it is
granted to men."

Miss Jessie Craigen (Retford) seconded the reso-
lution.
The Rev. R. H. Hadden, St. George's-in-the-East,
in supporting it, said that, according to his'experience,
the women of the East-end were quite as fitted to
exercise the franchise as their brothers. The resolution
was carried amid loud cheering.
The Rev. J. H. Clews moved alresolution pledging
the meeting to support the demonstration about to be
held in St. James's-hall. Mr. Lucraft seconded the
resolution.

Miss Helen Taylor, in supporting the motion, said
if it was held by men, as it often was, that they were
intellectually superior to women and that that
superiority endowed them with the right to govern
women intall the affairs of life, she would reply that
the same argument, with abundant foundation of
reason, might have been and was urged by the aris-
tocracy of this country against the working classes.
Mrs. Webster, Miss H. Downing, and other ladies
also supported the resolution, which was carried
unanimously.