The star. (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1874-1875, 1875-05-07
Female Suffrage in England.

Speaking of the "W oman's Disabili-
ties Bill" the London Standard says:
The bill is one OF the shortest ever
submitted to Parliament, consisting, In
fact, of six lines, and its object Is to give
to unmarried women, having the same
qualifications as entitle men to the
franchise, the right of voting for men,
proposes to do by directing that what
ever in the reform act of 1867 words oc-
cur expressive OF the masculine gender
shall be taken as including the femi-
nine also.
AT first sight it may seem thatssup-
posing the bill to pass, it would enfran-
chise wives as we'll as spinsters. But
Mr.. Forsyth pointed out that by the COM
mon law married women are disqualified
from voting, and consequently ne did
not think 1t necessary to retain the
clause contained in the bill of last year
expressly disfranehising women under
| coYerture of marriage. Only single wo-
men being thus affected by the bill, the
argument that it would disturb the home
lite of England and cause dissension be-
9ween husband and wife falls to the
ground. At the same time 1t would In
| troduce very considerable female ele-
ment into the constituencies.
| 1t appears from last census that there
are in the United Kingdom over 100000
women in excess of men-over 100000
women, that is, who never can be mar
ried, because there 3gist no husbands
for them. These women, or at least the
vast majority of them, must support
themselves, must contribute to the reve-
nue., must obey the laws. And the ar
guments of the advocates of the bill is
that therefore they are entitled to par
ticipate in the choice of those who tax
their earnings and their properties, and
make the laws which regulate their
lives.
Granting, as most of us readily do, that
marriage Is the naturaland the desirable
lot tor woman, and that when married
she is rightly represented by her hus-
band, for the woman here in question
this argument does not hold. Without
any fault Of their own, nearly million
lof women in the United Kingdom can
not marry, and can not therefore be rep
resented by husband. The question
lls, then, are these women capable Of
properly discharging the duties OF
voters?
Tho opponents of the bill reply that
they are not; that women are politically
Ignorant, are weak in time of trouble,
and timld in time of danger, and always
and everywhere dependent for guidance
and counsel upon some man, whether he
be husband, lover, priest, or minister.
We are afraid, however, that this de-
scription would apply with almost as
much truth to the majority of men as to
the majority of women. The constitu-
ency which sent Dr.. Kenealy to the
House of Commons the other day did not
1 contain a single woman, and yet it was
capable OF believing the impostor Orton
to be Sir Roger Tichborne, and accepted
nr KanaaIv him saIf na a n,artyr in the
cause of the pure administration of
Justice.
No really impartial person can con-
tend, then, that the majority of women
likely to be enfranchised under Mr.. For
syth's bill would be inferior in intelli-
gence to the majority in the existing
constituencies, or less able to form a
Judgment on questions OF interest to
them. or course, it may be urged that
the ignorance and the dependence with
which we are already burdened are suf-
fciently great without adding to them.
But the person who uses this argument
is estopped from laying special stress on
the incompetence OF women.
But while we can not admit that
women are SO much more ignorant and
weak than large numbers OF existing vo-
tiers, we concede that there is danger
that they may be led by their feelings
Into agitations which would conduce to
the benefit neither of public morals nor
of any class in the community. Even
here, however, there is danger that
we may be led into exaggeration by our
prejudices. And, at any rate, it is to be
borne in mind that there is an entire de-
partment OF legislation in which women
as class are specially interested, and
upon which it is desirable that women
should have the means Of expressing an
effective opinion.