Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-09-08
The Female suffrage Question in
EuVlnnd,

nuStuuo.
Mr.. Stuart Mill lately presented a petit.
ton to the English House Of Commons in
favor of extending the franchise to females,
and in rising to make a motion, spoke as
follows:
After the petition which he had had the
honor to present, the House would natur.
ally expect to be informed, however brief
", Of the nature Of the claims set forth in
that document, and the circumstances at
tending its preparation. The petition It.
self, however. had gone far to furnish an
answer to the chief Of the arguments
which were usually opposed to any pro-
posal for admitting women to the fran
chise.
The petition originated entirely with Ia
dies, and to the best Of his belief, no per-
son Of the male sex participated at all IN
the matter, except in its presentation.
This circumstance. coupled with the fact
that the large number of signatures ap-
pended to the petition had bsen obtained
in u very short space of time, demonstra-
ted that the matter ought to form the sub
ject Of the serious consideration of the
House. The ladies themselves who had
originated the petition had been surprised
at the great number Of signatures it had
obtained. Such being the case no Justih-
cation was required for the motion he was
abou, to make. tHear, hearl.
When a complaint was made that GER
tain citizens Of this nation fulfilling all the
conditions and giving all the guarantees
which the Constitution and the law re-
quired from those who were admitted to
a share in deciding by whom they would
be governed were denied this privilege in
consequence of what appeared to them,
and what appeared to him, a totally irrel-
evant circumstance, the least the House
could do was to institute an examination
as to the number Of persons who were
affected by this grievance, and what add
ton would be made to the constituencies
if their disability were removed. He
would not have attempted more thar this
during the present session even IT the Re-
form discussion had not been brought to
an abrupt close.
The proposal could not be regard as an
endeavor to procure the lowering OF the
franchise or an alteration in the dlstriou-
ton Of power-indeed, many honorable
gentlemen on the Conservative side OF the
House seemed to think that if women
were enfranchised, the result would be, if
anything, in their favor. Hear. The
member for the University OF Dublin had
in his humorous way pointed that out,
and suggested that he should withdraw
the article in question from his political
programme.
This. however, he could not do, as he
was bound 70 consider the benefit of the
community before and above the particu-
lar interest Of a party, and he was firmly
convinced that whatever held out an in
ducement to one-half OF the community to
exercise their minds with O sense of re-
sponsibility upon the great social and po-
litical questions discussed in Parliament
could not by any possibility be ultimately
advantageous to the Conservative or any
any other cause, except as far as that cause
wa O good one.
He rejoiced TO think that many gentle
men on the conservative side of the House
thought the proposal contained in the Pc
,ition which he had before presented was
as truly conservative as he was sure it was
truly liberal. He had listened with pleas
ure to the present Chancellor Of the Ex-
chequer, when in his speech on the motion
for the second reading Of the franchised
bill, he said he could see no reason why
women OF independent means should not
exercise the elective franchise in a country
where they could hold manorial courts
and fulfill the duties of the sovereign.
Without occupying more of the time of
the House, he would be content with NOV
ing for a return of the number Of freehold
ders, h%ouseholders, and others in England
and Wales who, fulfilling the conditions
Of property or rental prescribed by law as
the qualification for the electoral franchise
were excluded from the franchise by rea-
Of their sex.
Mr.. Walpole said he would offer no OBJ
TO the motion, which was then