The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-08-28
SUFFRAGE AND RELIGION.
BY MRS. F.F. VICTOR.

ming OF religious movement in favol
OF suffrage for women. It has been un.
fortunate for the cause all along that SC
many people have treated it as if it were
a thing that could not be prayed for
but should, on the contrary, be prayed
against
Very few women-such is their relig-
ious tenderness OF sentiment-can be
brought to work for anything for which
they cannot pray. Aud men, artfully
or conscientiously, as the case may be,
generally contrive to make women feel
that there is something in the liberty OF
the ballot that is essentially defiling TO
the purer womanly nature.
Now, the very principle upon which
Republican government is based is the
intelligent consent of the governed.
That thought was made the central Idea
of American institutions scarcely a
hundred years ago. But many things
have been discovered, and many new
conditions evolved In a hundred years.
During this period, men have demon
strated TO the satisfaction OF the world
that arbitrary government is not good
for them. Gradually the Injustice of
involuntary subsection for themselves
has come to shock their sense of right
and justice.
And now has come a new departure.
The peculiar position of woman In socI-
ETY., half of equality and half OF bond
age-Or rather halt of social equality
and aehoLly Of political bondage-the in
tricate complications of her relations to
society have prevented even herself from
including herself in the class Of persons
who were entitled 10y the spirit Of the
age to the right of self-government.
Every woman, theoretically, was part
OF some man, and as such was supposed
10 be free, as he was free. But with the
increasing intelligence of the age, with
greatly enlarged opportunities for com.
pailng the facts Of the case, 1t at last
became apparent TO women that being
theoretically free, because men were
free, was a very different thing from be
ing free because they were lmfettered.
When the idea became plain to them
it was easy to discover to how many O
their material interests this freedom b,
proxy was injurious, and how sure /
was Of being abused But Il was a mat
ter Of more serious study to discover al
the ways in which women are and hav,
been injured, mentally and morally, b,
the conditions of their parasitic exist
ence.
Suppose we commence with the tel
commandments as an illustration OF
our subject.
God says: Thou shalt have no other
Gods but me-
Men, 10y their injunctioHs of duty to
themselves, say, practically: "Worship
meas lover, husband, minister, or what
not-never mind about GOd.U
God says: Thou shalt not bow down
unto idols, nor serve them; for | thy
God am jealous God, visiting the in
iquity Of the fathers upon the children
unto the third and fourth generation.
Men say "Iou shall make an idol of
your love for US, and serve us without
question: no matter what our sins and
iniquities, nor what the danger Of en-
failing them upon your children"
God says: Thou shalt not take the
name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Men say: at is your first duty to up
hold your husband in anything he may
do, though not only his words, but his
whole life may dishonor God. tits he,
and not God, whose name you must not
take IN vain or doubtingly.D
God says: The seventh day is the Sab
bath Of the Lord; in il thou shalt not do
~ work; thou nor thy son nor thy
daughter, thy man-servant nor thy
maid-servant.
Men say: 1--WE want extra good din
ners on the Sabbath day and while I
repose myself from the labors Of the
the week, let the woman attend to the
qualification Of my stomach: she and
her man-servant and mald-servsnt, aud
let company be asked to dinner"
God says: Honor thy father and thy
mother, that thy days may be long in
the land which the Lord thy God glveth
thee
Men say: "Yon owe no duties TO father
or mother after you become a wife; and
especially are 0lotheTs-in-IdiC odiousw
God says: Thou shalt not kill.
Men say: Except you find it neces-
sary to Kill yourself or your unborn chill
dren In my service"
God says Thou shalt not commit
adultery
Men say: "But 1t would not te " ro,o
for you to overlook so natural fauJt IN
us; on the contrary, 1t rebounds 10 yon-
credit to cover up such matters abon,
your husbands"
God says: Thou shalt not steal.
Men say; "If you know OF your bps-
band committing theft, you would do
wrong TO relieve your conscience about
him. Il Is expected a wife will become
partsker; and it is not anything crimi-
nal In her TO keep a criminal secret"
God says: Thou shalt not bear false
witness against thy neighbor