Morning journal and courier., 1882-01-19
Price Four Cents.


 their own, and, as the antagonists of the rn- ral arlstocracy played distinct part in uo- htical development. This belongs to tbe past; city is now little more than a denseIv peopled district requiring 8 special sdrnini9- tratlon- Moreover, the great merchants who were the leaders and magistrates of the cities in former days do not now live in them hut ln villas outside of them, DOT do they seek city offices the guilds are dead: the neonle even ln the same street, know little or noth ing Of each other. All unity is gone there IS only human sand heap, among the grains of which moves with sinister activity tbe ward politician. The chief, almost tbe only function of city government in these days IS to raise and expend money: in eouitv and reason, therefore, the franchise ought to be in some measure proportioned to ibe amount of the contribution 1t ought to fol low the rule of joint stock companies. rather than that of political communities. in which the poorest mans rights and liberties are of as much value as those of the richest. Nor IS the present system in any way favorable to the poor, who are led by the petty bribes offered them by sharpers or rings. and by appeals to their class passions to vote for public plunder. The money goes into the pockets of the Tweeds; and nowhere are the health and comfort of the poorer citizens less cared for than in cities which are under the government of these rogues. 4 strong, per manent, pure and enlightened administra- tlon, of thoroughly business and scientific character, Is what is needed by the people of every city, and by the inhabitants of the poorest quarters most of all. ''
 What would be the condition of a nation In dangerous crisis like that of secession in the United States, or even the Irish crisis here, If its policy were swayed to and fro by the emotions of the women? The advocates of women's suffrage hardly realize that they tQrnlnQ ipNn hands; yet in the United States, where the franchise IS personal, the female voters would at once outnumber the females: and in Eng land 1t IS well understood that the limitation to widows and spinsters is merely put for ward as a mask. The next step would be demand of eligibility to Parliament and to political office, which is probably the personal aim of some of the female leaders Tone of whom indeed, wanted to be Q candidate for the Presidency, and could not consistently be refused. But could women in office ever be made accountable like men? A sex which is not thoroughly justicia- ble cannot be made thoroughly respon- sible; and when women have inter fered in politics their want of a restraining sense of accountability has appeared. So far from women not being able to get justice in court under the existing law. the difficulty IS to get justice against Q woman and both in America and in England male legislatures have been passing laws respect ing the property relations of married people which in effect release the wife from all the obligations and liabilities of matrimony. leaving the husband as fast bound as ever American ladies who demand that marriage shall not be a union but only "a copartner- ship would soon finch from the consequent ces of their own principle That domestic outrage exists In barbarous classes is too true; and it is committed as oi 'u, perhaps, by women against children as by ruen against women, though the complaints UT the chil- dren are not so often heard; but fifty votes given to the unhappy victims would not cor rect the brutality of a savage home. The women who head this movement do not real ly want equality: they want and expect to retain, with political power and freedom from marital control, all the present privi- leges of their sex. They do not want to be thrust to the wall by main strength in 6 struggle for existence, to have the penal law extended to them in all it's severity or to be compelled 70 do the rough and dangerous work of the world But they will find that they cannot have both equality and privilege, or at once renounce and retain the guardian ship of affection The suffrage movement is, in the United States at all events, only part of a movement against the limitations of sex, against the bondage of matrimony and the burdens O; maternity. Those who are thus striving to break up the political unity of the family are assailing its integrity in other ways by sep arating as much as possible the interest of the wife from that of the husband and teach ing her to regard him not with confidence. but jealousy The writer has heard in seFsFz1 quarters that some of the female leaders of the movement do all in their power to deter young women from marriage The name of John Stuart Mill on the banners of the movement indicates it's real charac- ter, and shows that it extends to the general status of women. If it spreads in America the consequence will be that the Anglo-American race will be supplanted by the Irish and Germans, whose women are loyal to sex, true to the family, and good mothers, while all the Irish and half the Germans belong to church by which the family has always been upheld. What no- body will deny is that the question is one of the most tremendous significance. The fam fly is more important than the State to hu- man character and happiness and while the State may be regenerated by the family, the family cannot be regenerated by the State. Ievity, therefore, and concession to vague sentiment are criminal Man, as the respon- sible holder of political power, is bound to decide unselfshly and generously; but he is bound to decide carefully and wisely, in the interest of his partner as well as in his own. In England conservatism has of late been led
 
 self with beer and ignorance against intelli- eence, or stirring up war passions as revoiu- tionary as they are wicked and destructive, it would take to guarding property and the family, its just influence in the State would be increased"
 ''The more insufferable the American House of Representatives becomes, the more tenaeiously will it cling to it's evil existence and electing members pledged to consent to the submission of an amendment for its re- formation or abolition would be desperate Iy difficult process for the people, when the organizations are in the hands Of the politi- cisns. The only visible remedy would be revolution; and revolution, though not bloody one, would apparently be inevitable if the British nation were to G=ake up its mind to abolish the veto on national legisla- ton at present possessed by the six hundred privileged families represented in the House of Lords. The object might be attained by providing that it should be lawful at any election of representatives for the electors to inscribe on the same ticket a requisition for the submission of a constitutional amend ment, and that the Legislature should be bound to submit the amendment to a plebi- scite, if a certain proportion Of the elector- ate had supported the requisition. No one who is familiar with the character of democ- racies and knows the extent of the ris iNe7- tie which prevails in them, will deem the