Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1890-05-15
In WOMAN'S BEHALF.
THE RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE.
Woman's Claim Upon the Ballot Backed
Up by Principles of Truth and Justice.

WOmtnb Sldiui upon tuc AbachoN
Up by Principles of Truth and Justice.
In recent speech, before the State
House Committee on Woman's Suffrage,
in Boston, VIM. Lloyd Garrison said:
"f you will consider and analyze care
fully the arguments which the remon-
strants have brought to this discussion,
we may be grateful to them for their in
voluntary assistance to our cause. The
logic they have used, where it has not
refuted itself, tends to conclusion
which strikes at the roots of democratic
government.
SIT was the venerable DR.. Peabody, OF
Harvard College-a dear and respected
name-who affirmed that there is no
such thing as right of suffrage. be-
lieve,' he said, that universal suffrage
most dangerous experiment, and do
not want to double the danger"
''If that is the mature conclusion OF
student of society whose observation
and experiences cover four-score years,
ought we not to conclude that the ex-
pertinent of self-governmentis failure?
1t is enough to make one long for the
good old days when George Ill was king
and Samuel johnson berated republican
ism and defended the divine right of
monarchs.
Therefore, the suffrage which you
enjoy is not a right Suppose, in that
case, we were petitioning for its con-
traction, and as the legislators of the
State have not always been wise or just
and have made many mistakes, that we
ask to haveyou personally disfranchised.
What answer would you make? Re-
member that universal suffrage is a
most dangerous experiment, and that
DIR. Peabody does not want to double
the danger. Imagine that, sharing in
this belief, we demand that it shall be
diminished one-half, and, as we must be-
gin the reduction somewhere, we begin
with you.
81 fancy that you would indulge in no
nebulous or sentimental defense, but
plant yourself upon the ground of indi-
vidual right. You would quote with
JUNCTION Abraham Lincoln's famous die
tum that this government is of the peo-
pie, for the people, and by the people,
and you would talk Bunker Hill and
Lexington, before you would part with
fraction of your ballot, misuse it how
you may. And you would be entitled tc
universal sympathy, because your action
would be grounded on right; right
which, If once surrendered, would bring
back despotic form OF government and
wreck the hope of mankind.
''If suffrage is not right, is it privi
lege? If so, who was the favored indi
vidual or corporation that conferred it
and where did he or they obtain the
right to endow others with the preroga
tive? Alas, if any thing can make ont
question the efficacy of self-governmen
it is to see distinguished product o
freedom and culture come here to ar
raign with distrust the mother that nur
tured him. What singular ingratitude
'But you know, gentlemen, that yo'
do not owe your ballot to the grace o.
bounty of any human being with right
beyond your own. The moment re
public was decided upon-and no re
public was decided upon-and no re
public ever had its foundations lai,
theore tically so deep or broad as this
that moment privilege had no place un
: der its @gis, and rights were coextensiv
with the realm. Our government is bu
. an association of human beings for mu
, tual benefit, and implies the consent O
n11 NJ 10 1oir ha lnci W
right to make the laws, is as indefensi
= BILE as for King or emperor. In equal
. ity there are rights always, privilege
, never.
{ "It is humiliating, long after the cen
| tennial celebration of the nations birth
) that we are forced to discuss principle
which the fathers settled for all time
=, but to which their children are recreant
' We simply ask the application of az
;. cepted doctrines. And while woman
/. governed and taxed, and punished
. she breaks a statute, we insist that l
Justice and in accordance with tru
: democracy she be allowed voice
making the laws upon which her happ
ness and dignity and power of self-d'
: fense depend. submit that all fri'
> olous objections urged by the remoi
: strants fail to touch in single poir
these fundamental truths.
"But Harvard College has sent us be
" ter words than fell from the pessimist
! lips of it's venerable Plummer professo
n and l conclude with the broader stat
ment and more hopeful outlook of Jam,
!. Russell Lowell, whose comprehension
true government has found matchle
: expression in his address on Demo
racy:
II Have the Serene Highnesses and Enligi
l. ened Glasses carried on the business OF manki
~ SO well. then, that there is no use in trying
a less costly methodl The Democratic theory
;. that those constitutions are likely TO pro
~ steadiest which have the broadest base, tn
g the right to vote mark the world makes
safety-valve of every voter, and that the bt
, way Of teaching a man how to vote is to q
= him the chance to practice. For the question
u no longer the academic one, rs 1t wise TO q
q every man the ballots'' but rather the practi,
u one, ut is prudent to Deprive whole classes
n 1t any longer." 1t may be eoniectured that
= is cheaper in the long run TO lift men up than
u" hold them down. and that the ballot in tn
y hands is less dangerous TO society than q ser
of wrong in their hands,
10 ''In every nation, civilization may
D, gauged by the extension Of the fra
a chise, every step in widening it mai
n ing the decline of despotism and the l
e; rising of the people. Shall we, W
y flaunt our example of equality to
world, persist in this monstrous ineQu
ity which the disfranchisement of OF
half the people, and the pauper hs
n proclaims?
IN ''Gentlemen of the committee, save
b. from the massachusetts,
" forgive her, she's a-kneelin' with :
1t rest Help her to her feet and to
il sense of justice, now smothered in
b. prejudice Of sex"
ID We have Glanced upon decisive q
w critical hour of history. Shall not ev,