The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1873-07-04
THE LEAYEN IS WORKING.

/ We call the attention of the Republi-
can leaders to the following editorial,
published in the Toledo Sunday Jour
udl, a paper which ranks side by side
with the Toledo Blade in its demand for
the enfranchisement of woman:
WHERE WE STAND.
1t is well occasionally that the Wom-
an Suffragists should look about them
and take the bearing of things. At the
great National Republican Convention,
June 9th, 1872, when the success of the
Republican party was in jeopardy, and
a division had occurred i'm its ranks
which threatened to be formidable, this
! party, ostensibly pursuing a leading
principle which at its formation had
been its corner stone, that of reform,
stamped upon its banner the following
I declaration of sentiments: ''The Repub-
| lican party is mindful of its obligations
| to the loyal women of America, for their
/ noble devotion to the cause of freedom;
their admission to wider fields of use
| fulness is viewed with satisfaction, and
the honest demands of any class of citi-
zens for additional rights should he
treated with respectful consideration"
| On the 2Sth of August, the old Bay
State, which has always sought to
maintain its rank of precedence where
valor or principle were the issue, went
so far ahead of the National platform, as
to boldly declare: ''rhat we heartily
approve of the recognition of the Rights
OF Woman contained in the fourteen
clause of the National Republican plat
formi that the Republican party of Mas
sachusetts, as the representative Of lib
erty and progress, is in favor of extend
oil
lean citizens, irrespective Of ser, and
will hail the day when the educated iu-
tellect and enlightened conscience Of
woman will find direct expression at the
ballot box" So uncomprOmising de-
claratiOn of sentiments as this of course
drew all true womanly women, of that
State at least, into the Republican ranks,
and all over the country the women ac-
cepted the Republican recognition, and
their influence, and in many cases their
oratory, was given, and as freely ac-
cepted by the party thus counting their
allegiance.
In several of the States eloquent wOm-
en- were employed by Republican Cen
trail Committees, and did good service.
a Republican woman, employed by the
Ohio Central Committee is said to have
delivered more effective speeches, than
any which were made in the whole
, Western States during the campaign.
The party thus offering its support to
the women and supported by them in
return, gained in strength and power;
their candidates were elected; and now
we shall see how their part of the friend
ly league, after the election, was full
filled
One of those who had most promi-
nently aided toward the success of the
. cause, in concert with others in all good
faith voted for the candidates whom she
had labored to elect. The first fruits of
this, was the arrest of these women, by
officers of this same great national party
which had acknowledged its obligations
and rendered them respectful consider
alton. The last act i'm this same farce,
We find to be, that a trial was refused them
in the county in which it had been ap-
pointed the reason, forsOoth, that the
Republican L. s. Attorney concluded
that the jurors of that county had be-
come too well educated in the principles
of justice and equality. The hunted
woman, stung by the party whom she
had helped to place in power, had spoken
among the people setting forth the true
arguments in the case and the jury to
be qualified for the important duty,
should be eignOrantand unenlightened on
the true principles of the great questiouat
issue-otherwise the Republican govern
ment regarded them as biased and unfit
to render impartial judgment
We turn now to Massachusetts, and
the whole attitude of the Republican
party through its Republican legisla-
ture, is basely treacherous toward its
women, Insulting them in the halls of
legislation by the language of its men,
bers, and treating them like children,
with violated promises. In our own
fnf e.,I D., IL
ing woman from an office affording
her an honorable livelihood, for the sole
and only reason that she is woman.
In Illinois, Judge of the Supreme
Court, sustained by this same party
4 which had offered respectful considera-
tion TO women, refuses to allow q woman
who has spent time and money in ac-
quiring thorough legal education, to
practice law, in its Court, the offence in
this case being, also, the circumstance
of sex. Verify, the women, if not ush-
cred into political rights, have learned
their first lesson in politics, and their
sad experience has now become dis
trust of parties. Whether a new party
must be formed discarding the rubbish,
cleaning what is best from the old, and
accepting, as its higher law, the eman-
cipation Of women, seems as yet dimly
apprehended.. Certain it is, however,
to-day, that women, although gaining
constantly in accessions of the good, and
honorable, and great, still so far as pplit-
ieal aid is concerned, stand alone. But
stand they will, and gather around them
forces which must eventually sweep the
stakes. The animus of the dominant
party, from the acts for which they are
responsible, cannot be mistaken. Never
before has similar political action, to-
ward woman, transpired. In the whole
record of our country, no demonstrations
in opposition to woman's rights, similar
to those inaugurated under Republican
rule, have occurred. Thus far, it is sad
to say of that great party, that they
have been trusted, tried, and found want
ing. Hypocrisy in the first place, and
eowardice and distrust in the last place.
seems to have marked their action.
Henceforth, like the man without a
country, the women can truly be said to
be without party, until circumstances,
or fate, or Providence, or their own in
trinsic power, shall rally party around
them, which even now, would seem al
most in its incipient stage. AS good
men are ashamed of the shameful frauds
which the last Congress adopted, so
must they be ashamed of the oppression
which has been developed under the
government, toward the women. And
) If this is true, they can yet make
amends, by laboring now to place wom-
en- where they rightly belong; and IKE
the anti-slavery veterans Of former days
who refused 10 fraterniZe with any party