The Express.
London, England, 1868-11-09 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 9, 1868.

in the other by the lady herself. Against
the opinion of Lord Cora that " women and
" clergymen could not vote," he rested that
Lord Cora was n ot fond of clergymen, andlenehly.
hke Haturxr, not of women either. Re Armed
that in EL marrit's time women weft 'menthe list
of freemen of Lyme Regis, and took partid mirth
legit. Coming down to statutes in Teetreint of
the franchise, he contended that the statute
which first enacted the forty shilling fran-
chise contained nothing making any distinc-
tion between men and women, or rev
tricting any rights which women might
have bad, while other subserpissit sta-
tutes of much later dates coandasd essetmente
which showed that •"persons," and
" people" included lase Mil women alike. In
the Reform Aot of 1832 the 14th section oonferred
fresh franchises upon "every male person" duly
qualified ; while the lath motion, Irbil* premiered
the 40s. franchise, mid that "no person should vote
unless he had a clear qualillostion: This line
of argument it will be permived, was a very close
and fine one, and required very dexterous
and cautions steering. It is not until we
oome to Sir J. ROIOLLY'I Act that we get into
open water. That Act says that in Acts of Par-
liament the male gender shall include the female,
" unless it be otherwise provided." And Mr. COLE-
RIDOZ contended it wasolserthatin the last Reform
Act there was no such express provision. These are
words against which such ungallant remarks as that
of one of the judges thatwomenvotingdid not apply
to voting for members of parliament " because of
" the judgment required in so doing" might seem
to fall pointless to the ground. That women
might be sextons, churchwarden, constables,
and Queens, and yet not electors looks a shocking
inconsistency when epigramatically stated.
Perhaps however, the inconsistency is more
superficial than real ; the analogy between the
exercise of the functions of a churchwarden or a
Queen and those of an elector will not boar oriti-
cirm. The contention that if taxation and
representation are to go together women who
pay taxes ought to vote, makes a strong case aa
doubt for spinsters or widows ; and when Mr.
Coz.axwox insisted that educated women are m
fit as the great body of men to vote and the
best judges of what was best for themselves,
he has common sense and right feeling
on his side. But it is hard, especially in this
country, to struggle against the uninterrupted prac-
tice of centuries, against the common law, against
the long uncontradicted intention of the Leeds-

ture. It was said by a cynic to be an advantage
to a State to have • woman for a Sovereign,
because then it was sure to be governed by a man.
Perhaps it is an advantage to have only the
masculine sex for electors, because where men are
electors they are sure to vote under the dominion
of women, and thus " the everlasting feminine"
prevails. The judgment of the Court of Com-
mon Pleas only shows that for the present the
picture of the noble animal in the toils will
continue to be painted by the man, and until the
sex of the appellants loses one of its strongest
attributes it will not be accepted as the last word
on the subject.