Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-01-21

deprived Of their rights In order she said,
to show the Senator that there was one woman
at least who was ready to assert the rights of
the sex, she submitted resolution which
| stated that the woman had been deprived of
| any representation in the management of the
centennial exposition of 1876, and that an
enort De made to secure representation Of
| women In the management of the proposed
centennial celebration of the constitution. to be
held in New York city, April 10. 1889.
Miss Anthony stated that the resolution
would be considered. as Mrs. Hooker had said
| at the meeting of the executive committee this
afternoon. She added that all the ladies were
in favor of the esolution.
FREDERICK DOUGLASS WELCOMED.
MIR. Frederick Douglass came upon the plat
form while the resolution was being read and
| was cordially welcomed by the ladies.
| Miss Anthony then read the following letter
from Mrs. Stanton, the president of the asso-
citation, which she intended to take the place
OF the address which she would have made If
she had been present
| Mrs. Stanton's Letter.
The president Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
wrote regretting that she would be unable to
be present, but she sent words of sympathy and
congratulation for what had been achieved,
and of reproof for our rulers who still with
hold from the women of the nation their inalien-
able rights.
She referred to the letters Of Judge Chas. B.
| Waite. Of Chicago, and Hamilton Wilcox, Of
| New York, who had found documents which
prove conclusively that, by the laws and consti-
buttons of the original thirteen colonies. women
possessed and exercised the right Of suffrage
| a right their foremothers also possessed far
| back in English history.
Mrs. Stanton adds: From time immemorial
| women have voted and held some of the high
est offices in the kingdom of Great Britain from
| queen down to poor-law guardian, and this
| principle of the English Magma Charta of
| rights was one Of the corner-stones of our re-
public. Woman's title-deed, long ago recorded
| IN the national archives, is now eXhumed from
the dust and prejudice of two centuries. and
We learn for the first time with deep feelings of
indignation that, in the reorganization of the
| colonial governments into states woman's
share in the rich inheritance was wholly ig-
nored. The spirit and letter of the original con-
| situations were entirely changed. For the
| words freemen,' persons inhabitants,
'householders, under all Of which classifica-
| tions women voted they substituted the invidi-
GUS and restrictive term, white male citizen,
thus basing republic on an aristocracy of
| color and sex-an aristocracy that made white
men sovereigns, all black men and women
Understanding to Franklin, who said: They
| who have no voice in the rulers and laws under
which they live are slaves
| This aristocracy has already cost US one
civil war, and may, by narrowing its basis, as
iii now doing by corporations of wealth and
power, involve us in another. A combination
! OF dissatisfied classes, with the element Of
enthusiasm that woman can give to any move
ment, may in the near future force our rulers
| to do for self-protection what they have re-
fused on the grounds of justice. There is no
reason to suppose that women will patiently
endure forever this wholesome robbing Of
their most sacred rights, without some deter
| mined resistance,
Queens in the old world have uniformly
maintained their right to the royal succession
| to their thrones, even at the point of the
| bayonet, and on what principles should the
women of this republic quietly submit to dis
franchisement-to be cunningly robbed of their
crowns and scepters, their rights of self
sovereignty, by fraudulent interpretations in
| the original compact?
| ITO supinely surrender our rich inheritance
| to an equal share in the blessings and privi-
leges of free government, is to prove ourselves
| unworthy the honOrs and responsibilities that
| belong to citizens of a republic. The fact
| that women did possess and exercise the right
| OF suffrage in the mother country and in the
| Inauguration of our own, adds a new signif-
canoe to the present demand, and new argu-
| ment for the arrangement OF our rulers not
only for Withholding from US our rights of in
heritance, but for premeditated fraud, in
tampering with the original compact.
| STEPS OF PROGRESS.
IN looking over the past year / note here
and there some steps of progress which will be
| given in our regular report and by speakers
present. But we do not find the marked change
in our laws and public sentiment that the faith
| full labors of half a century should. long ere
this, have achieved. Until woman is recog-
nized as an equal factor in civilization-pos-
sessed of her rights Of person and property
| civil and political-all minor privileges and
concessions are but 80 many added aggrava-
| tons and insulting mockeries of that Justice
liberty, and equality that are the birthright of
every citizen Of republic. Universal suf-
frage, said Chas. Sumner, 'is the first truth
and only basis of genuine republic
| Another remarkable step in progress in the
last year Is seen in woman's contributions to
literature in every department of thought
Helen Gardeners magazine articles written
after years of patient research, ON the equality
! OF womans brain, has left certain pseudo
ground to stand upon. No magazine
article for years has called out such hot dis
cussion Mona Card, on Marriage in the
Westminster Review. The entire English
press denounced the article and its author
| They seemed to think that the audacity of her
theories was only equaled by her audacity in
presuming to touch that question at ALL Men
| seem to forget that women have an equal in
terest with themselves in that question and an
| equal right in its discussion and adjustment
The authors of John Ward
Preacher, Robert Elsmere' and The
African Farm have sent their bomb-shells
/ into other time-honored superstitions The
GOODNESS and bravery with which these women
nave eacn IN turn with more or less SKILL held
| up the masculine theories of time and eternity
proves woman's capacity to look into the soul
! OF things and her courage to describe what she
beholds.
THOSE WHO HAVE PASSED AWAY.
"Among the changes of the last year, we
mention with sorrow the large number of our
valued coadjutors who have passed to another
sphere of action. In their devotion to their
| chosen public work and the harmony of their
private lives they have honored alike them
selves and their families and the great reform
they represented While we decorate their
| graves with immortelle wreaths let us embalm
| their virtues in our memories and initiate them
in our lives. To the roll-call for active duty
| they will answer no more but the names of
| Samuel Z. Sewall, Clemence S. LoZier, Abbey
| w. May, Eliza E. Morrill,, Harriet S. Brooks
Orpha G. DinsmoOr, Caroline de Barrau. James
Freeman Clarke, DIR. Mary +. Thomas, Frances
Z. Miller, Jerusha G. Joy and Harriet n. Pit
man will be written in golden letters by the re-
| cording angel and will long be remembered by
those of us who mourn their loss to-day. In
behalf of this association, would express our
sympathy for the friends and families of these
noble reformers. with the hope that other
| representatives of their kindred may yet fill
their vacant places in our ranks In summing
up the causes of human progress, who can esti-
mate the influence of characters like these
Their isolated actions, their fragmentary lives
may not have seemed heroic and eventful in
passing, but every true word and deed have
| been constant inspiration to the widening
| circle in which they moved"
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