The Portland daily press., 1867-06-06
SPEECH OF JOHN STUART MILL.

4
great to be healed.
suffrage for Woman
SPEECH OF JOHN STUART MILL.
In the British House of Commons, MAY 20,
John Stuart Mill made an amendment to the
fourth clause OF the Representation bill, to sub
stitute the word ''person" for "men," and sup
ported it with speech Of considerable length
ana unanswerable force of argument. He did
NOT aiseuss the question on the principles Of
"ostraet right, not contending that the politi-
o"' franchise or any other political function is
a' . ""stfact right, or that the withholding of il
ironi any one without Just reason or expedien-
cy Is puohc wrong. His argument ,yas ono
OF expeulency. But he held that Justice was
in itself higher order of expediencv and tbot
the general principles of justice are ,ntripged
if not set aside, by the exclusion of woman
merely as woman, from the suffrage We
make below such extracts from Mr.. Mnp.
speech as our space allows:
TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION.
Does not every woman pay taxes? Does not
every woman who is sli juris contribute exact
ly the same amount of revenue as every man
who has the same electoral qualifications? If
q stake in the country settles 1t, then every
country, whether that holder is a man or wo-
man. No one l think can possibly pretend
that women, many OF whom are responsible
heads OF ffamilies-women who manage estates
or conduct business-women who pay rates
and taxes even to a large amount, and frequent
ly with their own earnings; and many of wnom
in the capacity yofschoolmistresses OF teach great
deal more than gr, at portion of fmale electors
ever learned tlaughterl-no one, / say, can
pretend that they are not fit TO exercise the po-
litcal functions of which every male house
holi Is supposed to be capable. lHear, hear.1
Is Z supposed that If they are admitted to the
suffrage they will revolutionize the State, or
deprived US Of any of our valued institutions,
or that they would be worse governed than at
present? No one believes any of those things.
l--e OBJECTIONS ANSWERED
The house will probably expect that should
not rest my arguments solely or principally
upon general principles either of justice or of
the constitution, but that should allege prac-
tical reasons. Now the reasons which custom
is in the habit OF giving for itself on this SUBJ
ject are very brief, ana that indeed is one of
my difficulties. IL is not easy to refute an in
terjectiOn. Interjections, however, are the on
ly arguments which we usually hear on this
subject, which it appears to me are at all diff
cult 10 refute. 70 '..
The others consist chic fly of such aphorisms
as these-politics are not women's business,
and would make them neglect their proper
duties-women do not desire the franchise, and
would rather not have it-women are sufici-
tiyes-Women have power enough flready.-
tLaughter.1 shall perhaps be thought to
have done enough n in the way OF answering
whenI have answered all these; 1T may, per-
haps instigate any honorable gentleman who
takes the trouble Of replying to me to produce
something more recondite.
WOMEN IN POLITICS.
Politics, it is said, are not woman's busi-
ness. Well, am not aware that politics q
mans business either, unless he is one of the
few who are paid for devoting their time TO the
public service, or member of this or the other
house. The great majority of male voters
have their own business, which engrosses near
iy the whole of their time; but never heard
that the hours occupied in attending once in o
| few years the polling booth, or the time spent
in reading the newspapers or political treatises
has hitherto made them neglect their shops
or their contingencies. 1 have not
| heard that those who have votes are worse
merchants, worse lawyers Oh worse physicians,
! or even worse clergymen than other people
| One would think that the British constitution
allowed no man to vote who was not able to
give the greatest part of his time to politics If
that were the case we should have very limited
constituencies. Hear, hear.] Is it not the
essential bass OF constitutional hber.y that
| men should know whether they are Properly
| governed or not, and by whom? All those ma
| tions which have this privilege excel most in
the conducting of all ordinary affairs. 1t is sa
that the usual occupations OF most women are
and will likely continue TO be domestic. ask
] are these interests incompatible with deep in
| terest in national AFFAIRS and in all that con-
| Germs humanity? To say that they are would
be as futile the apprehension that artisans
would desert their factories and workshops if
they were taught to read.
4, o,.t DO WOMEN WANT THE BALLOT?
We are told that women do not wish Tor the
suffrage. Ii this be so it only proves that near
ly all women are still under this deadening in
huence---tbat the Opiate still benumbs their
minds and copscences. But there are many
women who do desire the suffrage, and have
claimed it by petitions to this house How do
We know how many more thousands there are
who have not asked Tor what they do not hope
to get for fear of being i'll thought OF by men
| or by other women, or from the feeling so sed,
| ulousy cultivated by the whole of tAeir educa-
| tion-aversion to make themselves conspicu-
Gus. Men must have great taenlty OF selt-de-
lnsion if they suppose that leading questions
pat to the ladies OF their families or OF their ac-
4 quaintance will elicit their real sentiments
will be answered with entire sincerity by one
~0man in ten thousand No one is SO well
s.,,. >Hie5 as most women are OF making viz
sono, 'acessity.
POLITICAL POWER.
- women do not want direct po-
i. ~ is SAID that sc they have so much indi-
se', ract P1weI' neeaue 'ugh the influence they
have over their male relatl, - This aroument
Ia laugh.l should like to Il. @ q sreat deal
IN IN other cases; Rich people h, Is this rea.
Oh Indirect influence. lCheers >r1,-
son for denying them vote? lHe..
IL Is true that women have alreaL great
power. 1t Is part of my case that they ave
great power, but they have it under the worse<
conultlons, because 1t is indirect, and therefore
irresponsible. want to make this a resnon-
siDie power. want to make the influence of
women work by manly interchange of opin-
ION La laugh and not by cajolery [Hear,
hear.I l want to awaken in her a political
point OF honor. TIE man alone whom She in
huences is responsible. Her power is like that
OF the baekst-irs influence of a iavorite. Ia
iaugh.]s 4 demand that all who exercise pow
er should have The burden laid on them of
knowing something OF the things which they
have power over. With an admitted right to
vote one would have q sense of the correspond
ing duty A woman Is not generally inferior
to man in tenderness of conscience, and she
will understand that political honesty is not q
foolish personal crotchet but a serious duty.
-.iI PROTECTION BY sUFFRAGE.
1t may be said that women, as women, suffer
no prac teal Inconvenience by not being rep
resented, that their interests are safer in the
I hands OF their fathers and husbands. tits ex-
actly what has been said of ali other unrepre-
sented classes, Are not, it is asked the oper-
atives represented by their employers both hav-
ing common interest? To insinuate the con-
trary is the horrible crime of setting class
against class. We are not living in Arcadia,
but as lately remarked an face Romuii and in
that region workmen need other protection
than that OF their masters, and women than
OF their men. l should like to a return Of
the number of women annually beaten to
death, and trodden to death by their male pro-
tectors. lCheers] / should like this return
to have column of the sentences passed in
which the criminal did not get off altogether,
and third column of the comparative view
OF the amount of property the unlawful TAX
ing of which had in the same session been by
the same judge and law thought worthy of tho
same degree of punishment. We should thus
obtain an arithmetical estimate of the value
set by the male legislature and male tribunals
on the murder of a woman by habitual tor
ture-often prolonged for years-which, If
there is any shame in US, should make us hang
our heads. GCheers.l
Z OF REMEDY FOR PRACTICAL GRIEVANCES.
1 AM sometimes asked what practical griev>
anee lpropose to remedy by enaSnIig women
to vote. 1 propose for one thing to remedy
THIS give these few instances to prove that
women are not the petued favorites OF society
whlch some people seem to imagine; that they
nave not that abundance, thai superfiuity of
influence which is ascribed to them, and are
not sufhclently represented by the representa-
tlon of those who have never cared to do on
their. behalf obvious an act of Justice
lHear, hear.l Grievances of less magnitude
than the law OF the property OF married wo-
men, when affecting persons and classes less
Injured to passive endurance, have provoked
revolutions. tt-4 .-.'. ~
We ought not to take advantage of the se-
curlty which we feel against any such dancer
In the present case to refuse to Imiteo class
OF women that small amount of participation
IN the enactment and improvement OF our
laws which this motion sollcits for them. and
which would enable the general feelings of