The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1874-05-06

The Woman Movement.
The following is from Harper's
Magazine for May, and places WOMAN
in her true status as regards her
rights as an American citizen clearly
and unmistakably before the country.
Now that "the sex" are becoming
power in the land, the extract which
we give will be perused with increased
interest:
There is no contemporary event
more remarkable than what is clum-
silly called the Woman Movement. 1t
should hardly be thought a novelty,
for woman has been always moving,
and to some purpose, from the days Of
Eve down to those of Maria Mitchell,
Elizabeth Fry, Mary Somerville, and
Florence Nightingale. From Helen of
Troy to Katharine of England and
Mary of Scotland, she has been the
causa causans of great epical and his
torical events. Flattered, idolized,
worshiped, with the widest hyperbole
of poetry. and at last solemnly deifed
as ''the mother of God" her voice is
latterly heard quietly asking, Are
you also willing to be just?'
Everywhere equality Of opportunity
is DOW demanded for her; fair chance
at all kinds Of employment, the high
est education, a place in the pulpit, at
the bar, in medical practice, and. as
the security of all political equality.
The demand is constantly made, and
in the way it is made it is entirely new.
Women, under the English law, have
voted in local and municipal elections
but they have never been equal mem
bers of the state; they have never had
a voice in making the laws that gov
ern them. And this is now the exact
demand. This is that fearful
Woman's Rights which is symbolic
ed to so many innocent minds by a
scrawny female figure with spectacles
upon large thin nose and wiry hand
rcsolutely grasping baggy umbrella
The signs of this feeling are every
where visible. The voting and jury
duty of women in Wyoming Territory;
the voting Of the women in Utah; the
resolution Of the Ohio Constitutional
Convention that they may be elected
to serve upon school committees; their
election to serve upon such boards in
Boston; the public meetings of protest
when their seats were refused; the
unanimous decision of the Supreme
Court of Massachusetts, that they are
Constitutionally eligible; the incessant
appearance in Constitutional Conven-
tion and in State Legislatures of the
demand for political equality; the
steady refusal of Miss Hunt in Boston
for many years to pay taxes levied up
on her property without representa-
tion of her wishes; the sale of the COW
of the Misses Smith in Glastonbury to
satisfy the tax collector; the refusal of
Mrs. Foster and others in Worcester
to pay taxes without representation
and the general public attention
called to the subject by these incidents;
the opening of many colleges to women
as we'll as to men; the Oxford exami-
nations for men in England, and
those of Cambridge in this country;
the curious excitement occasioned by
DR.. Clark's little book upon the sex
in education; the medical schools for
women: the calm and powerful appeals
to Parliament for their enfranchise-
ment in England; and the public ad-
hesion TO their cause of shrewd politi-
clans in America-all show the
strength of the current.
As all the force and energy of the
movement proceed from women them
selves, it is very amusing to hear the
wise remark that it will be time to
consider the question when women
show that they are themselves inter-
ested in it. In England both Mr..
Gladstone and Mr.. Disraeli are in fa-
vor of the county franchise; yet the
number of petitioners for that meas
ure during the last session of Parlia-
ment was l. $50, willie for the woman's
disability bill there were 329 206 Reg
ularly every year delegation of wo-
men appear before committee of the
Massachusetts, Legislature, and urge
the ever-fresh argument. But Solon
still says, Certainly, when women
show that they are interested" In
there are very many who
are not, and there are some who before
the same committee plead earnestly
that such direful new responsibilities
may not be thrown upon their over
burdened shoulders. But it is an eK-
traordinary argument that intelligent
persons who ask responsibility which
they demonstrate to be necessary to
their welfare, and for which their ca
pacity is not seriously denied, should
be refused it because others, for any
cause, do not wish it. And Solonfs
bland reply that it will be time to grant
it when women show that they wish it
is intended, not for argument, but for
evasion.
Meanwhile the decision of the aues-
tion rests with men. and they hold
generally one Of four attitudes. They
are wholly indifferent or contemplu-