New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-06-10
written for the New Orleans Republican,
THE WOMAA SUFFRAGE OUEs-
TIebk

TI0N.
f There can be no doubt that woman
constituted to assert her power over indiyid
uals, and by means Of those endearment
ever uppermost in her mind as her naturs
weapons, whether of offense or defense. an
not by resolutions or addresses in publ
forums. Woman rules man to-day and viii
every day, only, however, by means of he
f affections, that never embrace crowds bu
concentrate on the individual-and no
through her mental powers at all. And tbi
Will continue to be her means of governing
ballot or no ballot. Any usurpation of men
tai authority by woman is in visitation O
the laws of her being, and will fail in asser
tlon. 1t will stay the sympathetic tide
moving to her, and leave her life a bleaI
waste without the quality to inspire friend
sup IN any hearts save those in like disor
der and that mutually known to be simula
tion. Take woman to the hastings and she
viii damage irrecoverably her woman's self
ana the more she picks to pieces her politi-
Cal adversary-how delightful to DO when
another woman-the more will she soil her
DAINTY fingers. 1t is not the association
win men, but the occasion of it, BY which
she is to be impaired. So all uses assort
themselves In our minds by means of gender.
| ana those which are unfeminine have the
| inexpensive masculine Introduction as per.
petual fat.
90 does man govern woman and always did
ana Will, by the coarser means of authority
Such government antedates all civilization.
yet IS asserted IS unqualifedly to.day-by
other methods, as souvenirs, batteries and
protestatlons-as in the era of savagism, It
IL an effective government as to the rule OF
subsection, but in respect to it's remoter or
more Interior consequences, it fails. Mater.
nifty Is the privilege of woman, and the
paterniziDg license is comparatively small
immunity. She mouds in her creative and
tulllonal departments the capacities that
are to fructify with their intelligence the
governments to be. If she WELD the ballot
and her mental habits cease to outflow from
her affections; if she devote her powers to
the service of the big world, what will
become of her little world of home for want
OF its endearments-of the caress and the
sweet motherly voice, and the prayers said,
and the life-lessons incu Gated? And where
will be afterward the men fit for govern
ments, with only school education and out
door growth?
1t shonld be the province Of suffrage to |
represent the honesty and Intelligence of a. |
community, not its numbers; or, in other |
words, community should be SO consti- |
tuted as that lis intelligence and honesty |
should provide Its laws. These qualities in |
woman should, hence, be called into exer.
else, II dormant, and their benefits conferred |
upon the State. But are they so? Is not |
her suffrage more fifty exercised, and more
surely, by the bands who hold the affections
from which it is her nature to speak and
act-by husbands, cons, brothers, sweet
hearts and friends? Would not her holding
Inc ballot lead to uncongenial acts and as
sociations! Contemplate little house.
body, such as We all know in numbers.
hunted on election day from her home by a
partisan committee, appointed to see that
everybody votes. Suppose her a mother,
Il |
plenty, and cross husband-who is sat the
Dolls already, and. perhaps, sent the saw
lges. How shall her home be safe without
Keeper, If she so 10 vote, or she safe in
UGH keeping if she refuse TO go? How,
hen, shall she be defended from the i'm.
pertinent intrusions and the insolence of ,
aasculinity2 And without such committee
o brighten the suffragist of feminine char
cteristics into conformity with party be.
ests, what portion of such qualified voters t
7ould attend the sovereign exercise of bal
ot.slingins at all? These, however. are
considerations that attach only to the policy .
t woman suffrage.
Another and more imperious issue is in a
aspect to the question of right. Putting
side disordered homes and neglected
1ildren-as on washing days-and disre. D
arding the dangers incident to voting or
eglecting to vote, has woman an urcondi-
onal, individual right to such privilege? a
his is the question which now agitates the
ewspapers, and; higher journalistic litera-
ire; inspires the Revolution, and WoodhM b
ClGfin'S, and finds numberless advocates
the genus lectuess-an itinerant, of large O
dividual persuasons to the effect that
ousers, no less than the ballot, ought to
} the prerogative of woman. If women
I've the right to vote, the representative M
omen have the right to agitate, and that's
lars the matter; not that woman wants to
tie sgainst the supposable hostile sentiment
friends troubled with masculinity. g.
ALI right is primarily constituted of F
ght. Every individual has the right alb
lutte to govern himself, but if he go into az
community he may fail to do SO agreeably. Oh
2 will have to modify his individual gov.
nment, N compensation for which he of
~ acquire the privilege of voice, signi- tie
d by a vote, in that OF the whole. But the 90
ascuIine. or will power, ofsuch community
the exercise of might, will regulate rights ST
to femenine or other elements pervading
g constituent body in such manner as -
al be suitable to its interests or feelings. q
under higher conditions to its sense of
ty. Thus, woman can have no absolute,
lerent or natural right to vote; no such "
hit existing in nature. Nature establishes
rights by means of legislation. Her
n laws are adequate to all government,