Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-07-09
FEMALE SUFFRAGE N ENGLAND
New York SUM-

| New York Sun
Are women ia be excluded from 30
benefits promised by the project o
electoral reforms nov before the British
Parliament That is q question whict
has been this week debated. and which
/ viii presently BE- pressed TO the test Of &
division on the woodan amendments Il
the new reform bill Strange as II may
appear 20 many politicians on this side
of the Atlantic. she bestowai of suffrage
upon women has long been advocated
ey some OF the most influential mem
sers OF both political parties in Great
Britain. and there are reasons for think
ing the present iuncture particularly
| favorable % toe 50 scess of the move
msut
The Parliamentary agitation of the
claims sf women 10 equal political
rights In the United Kingdom NAV be
said - have begun in May, 1861. when
John Stuart Mill moved 70 amend the
Disraeli Reform bill. BY striking ont
the word man" and inserting the word
person" Eighty-one members voted
fer the motion. eleven Conservatives
including Mr.. Russell GurKey, being
numbered among Mr. Mills CO. workers.
Notwithstanding this repulse, many
women hoaseholders claimed, az the
tirst general election after the passage
of the Disraeli bill. TO be put upon the
roll of voters, on the ground that in all
acts of Parliament words importing the
masculine gender had by statute been
declared TO include the feminine. In
several places this claim was allowed
BY the revising barristers, and votes
were accordingly cast By women but
IN November, lS6s, the Court Of Com
mon Pleas decided that the division on
the Mil amendment had denied the
right OF the female sex to exercise the
franchise
la the following year, however, the
active discussion of the subject bore
substantial fruit in the passage of an
act comforting on female householders
In England the privilege of taking part
In municipal elections. Further prog
ress was made In 1870, when Mr.. W. E.
Forster carried his Education bill.
which not only gave women house
holders the power to vote at school
board elections, but also qualified them
TO sit as members of school boards. In
the same year the admission of women
10 the Parliamentary franchise was
strongly urged by Sir Charles Dixie and
Mr.. Jacob Bright, and their bill actually
passed second reading by l2i against
81, though the Liberal Government sub
sequently abandoned its attitude of
neutrality. and protesting dread of in
trusting an untried element of the COM
munity with the suffrage, caused the
measure tn be rejected. In 1871, the
Women's Disabilities bill was reiutro-
duced. and although Mr.. Gladstone
spoke against it, the Supporters muster
ed l59 votes against 22S. Ii is note
worthy that the minority included Mr..
Disraeli and Mr.. Ward dunt, besides
snsh Liberals as Sir Charles Dixie, Mr..
Fawcett, Mr.. Playfair. and Mr.. Trevel-
yam. Ia the two succeeding years the
same measure was proposed, and al
though defeated, showed a continual
gain of votes among men of influence.
Sir Stafford NOrthcote having. in 1873,
announced himself a convert to the
principle embodied in the bill.
During the first year of the last Con.
sentative Administration there was no
debate upon the subject, but in 1875
was taken, which gave great en-
to the friends of the move
meDt, the numbers being ITO against
aO5. When the bill came mp again,
however, in 1876, it encountered severe
blow through the unexpected detection
OF Mr.. John Bright, who, though he had
joined Mr.. Mill in advocating the re-
form, now opposed it on the ground that
women, not constituting a separate
class, did not need representation. Mr..
jacob Bright was not in the least shaken
by his brothers change of view, and
within a twelvemonth Mr.. Leonard
Courtney, now a member of the Gov
eminent, enrolled himself among the |
sctive champions of the measure. But |
alt Though in 1873 he took the bill in |
charge, he could only secure l55 adher- |
ents, against "a votes in opposition.
The outcome of the debate and division
IN 1879 was even less suspicious.
Since the accession of the Liberals to |
power in 1880, the strength of the wo-
mems suffrage party has not been fairly
tested, though there have been several
in and out of Parliament of
material gains. In 1881. for instance,
he royal assent was given to bill
passed by the Manx Legislature giving
women possessed of a certain amount OF
'eal estate the right to vote in the Isle
" Man. and the results of this expert
nent IN corpore BaiHiBso are acknowl.
'dged to be highly satisfactory. year
lfterward DR.. Cameron carried bill
through Parliament comforting the same
municipal franchise upon women in
scotland. which since 1869 they had en-
Dyed in England. Still more significant
vas the passage of law Operative
ince January l. 1888, by which a mar
led woman is made capable of aoquir-
ng real or personal property, and dis
losing OF IL as her separate estate, Just
Is IL she we're single.
As We have seen, the claim of women
% vote has found about as many de-
enders among Conservatives as among
Liberals. Not long ago Sir Stafford
declared thatif Parliament
we're called upon to lower the qualifica.
ions for the suffrage, the case of women
'atepsyers ought certainly to be dealt
With. IL is known that several mem
oers of the present Government enter
ain the same opinions. The Woodall
therefore, cannot well be
made party measure, and Mr.. Glad
'tone is not unreasonably requested
oy its supporters t. maintain
/ neutral position. In any event the
reform bill is almost sure to be thrown
,ut by the House of Lords. and it would
10 the Ministry no good at the coming
general election to be held responsible
Tor the defeat of the female suffrage
Il has been observed that |
he prospects of the pronounced op-
posers of the reform have invariably |
experienced a mysterious blight. and
Lord Beaconsfeld was far too shrevd |
10 set the wonen against him. OF this
II least we may be sure, that whether |
the Woodall amendment il or 10 not |
lacked on 10 the present reform bill. the |
right of women to vote in the United |
Kingdom cannot now be long deferred. |