, 1874-12-11
WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN ENGLAND,

JOHN BRIGHT la4 brother. His nntno is
JAcop, aud he follows JonS with coseness
TINT makes the Scriptural phrase about stick
ing closer than brother utterly inapplicablo
in his case. Tho thing ia an impossibility.
Tn ono point, howovor, JACOB out-Herods
JonN Ho is a fanntic, instoad of friond,
on the question Of woman suffrage. His
panacca for all moral, social, and political ills
is to bo found in q procession Of women to
tho polls. Tho womon may be stupid, or
vile, or venal, but dropping ballot into q
box ia to transform them, according to ]. B.
tho less, into a band Of ratiant angels living
in D heavenly world. ]. B. tho greater
docs not go to snch 1ongthH. Flo
believes in woman suffrage, but he
does not consider it tie ono thing ueedfu1,
tho political pearl Of great price. JACOB
BR1aur failed to bo returned to Parliament
at the last general election. we do not know
whether Ills advocacy Of Ills hobby defeated
linn, as Gen. BurLEn thinks it did him. There
may hnve been in tho English case, us there
certainly wore in tho American, mitch grAver
reasons for the dofeat, but Mt any rate the
leader of tho Woman Suffrage wing Of tho
British Parliament lost his seat His zeal
only glows tho brighter. Ho Gun, aud docs,
give all Ills timo now to lis mnnia. He rides
his somewhat jatlod hobby through MI tho
papers which will give him space, and
ho parales it on Nil the platforms
on which philanthropists aud refor,nera
aud other persons rndu1y anxious about the
worlds welfare are wont to gather. His Inst
/ public appearance was as President Of tho
annual meeting of tho National Society for
Woma1l's Suffrage at Manchester, Oh the 18Th
nit. The reports presented there and 11r.
DEIou2's comments upon them seem to show
TINT petticoatisn" is mahing henl1way in
England. 1n tho last Parliament, 1928 men,
bcrs Of tho House opposed woman suffrage
md 2o7 favored it. III the present Parlia-
mont, 23t Co1nmoners favor the measure $50
oppose it, 30 declare themselves neutral,
snd 14o have not mado their views
known. The fifty mny be set down
] as camp-followera. They will join
whichever army secures the majority of the
1i0 men Of unknown belief. These men,
thon, will be the battlefield. They are to be
| vigorously attacked by the sufrragists, and
! this will doubtloss stimulate tho other party
I to efforts at proseiytis1n. Their friends ca,l-
not but grove over their doom. A man who
is forced by his position to listen to every
enthusiast who calls upon him must ever be
m object Of pity. When most Of the ell
thusiasts are women, with a chronic ability
to talk md a chronic inability to perceive
when n man is busy and bored, tho needed
pity is beyond bounds. A state Of things in
which only talk is required to carry the
1ay naturally excites the livelicst hopes
among political women. 1t is due to those
Of England to say, however, that they have
hitherto not only talked but worked. Thcil
record is most honorable one. They arc
now, ns may bo imagined, jubi1ant over the
prospects Of their pet cause. D1sRAE11 is
slightly with them. GLADSTONE is no.
strongly against them. Miss FA1Tnru11, re.
viewing these facts, exclaims, in Wome's and
1VorA for the 21st ult. ''The question OF
woman suffrage is, in principle, practically
gained; 1t caunot be long before that princi.
pie will be established by the formal act o.
the Legislature"