The record-union., 1893-10-26
WOMEN IN POLITICS.
Indignitles Submitted to in English
Campaigns.

Indignitles Submitted to in English
Campaigns.
The part which women play in an Eng
1 lish election is one Of the things which
no American can accept as an improve
InenC over our own methods. 1t may
either amuse him or shock him, but he
would not care to see it adopted at home.
| The canvassing in the country from cot
| tage to cottage he can understand; that
seems possible enough. 1t takes the
! form OF Il polite visit to the tenants. and
the real object is cloaked with a few
vague inquiries about the health of the
! children or the condition of the crops,
and the tractlike distribution of cam
paign documents. But in town il is diff
| ferent. The invasion Of bachelor apart
| mentS by young Primrose danes is en-
/ barrassing and unnice, and it is the sort
/ OF thing we would not allow our sisters
/ to do; and the house-to-h canvass in
the alleys of Whitechapel or among the
! Sav3geS Of Lam beth, which results in in
suit and personal abuse, is, to our way OF
| thinking, q simple impossibility. The
! English, as a rule, think we allow our
women TO do pretty much as they please,
and it is true that they do in many things
| enjoy more freedom than their British
cousins, but the men in our country are
not so anxious 10 get into office, greedy
as they are after IL, as to allow their
wives, in order to attain that end, to be
even subject to annoyance, certainly not
! to be stoned and hustled Oft their feet or
/ splattered with mud OF the Mile-End
! Road. Anyone in England who followed
/ the election last year knows to the wife
! Of which distinguished candidate and 10
! the daughters Of which Cabinet Minister
! l refer.
! l have seen women of the best class
struck by stones and eggs and dead fish,
and the game did not seem to me to be
worth the candle. l confess that at the
time | was so intent in admiring their
pluck that it appeared to me as rather
line than otherwise, but from this calmer
distance / can see nothing in the active
work Of the English woman in politics
which iustities the risk she voluntarily
runs of insult and indignity and bodily
| injury. 4 seat III the house would hard
/ ly repay candidate for the loss OF one
of his wite's eyes. or of all of his sisters
front teeth, and, though that is putting it
! brutally, it is putting il fairly.
/ 1t would not be 1air, however, if I left
the idea in the readers mind that the
women 90 into this work unwillingly;
some OF them are as clever at 1t as the
men ana go to as great lengths, from
Mrs. Langtry, who plaStered her house
! from pavement to roof with red and
white posters for the Conservative candi-
date, to the Duchesses who sat at the side
OF the member from Westminster and re-
GREETED that il threatened TO be an order
~ meeting. 1t is also only fair to add
that many of the most prominent Eng
! lisbmen in politics are as much opposed
to what they call the Interference OF
women in matters political as they are to
bribery and corruption, and regard both
elements of an electoral campaign with q
pronounced distayor.
The reply which the present President
of the United States made 10 those en-
thusiastic and no doubt well-meaning
women vino wished to form leagues and
name them after his wife, illustrates the
spirit with which the interference of
women in politics is regarded in this
country. But then it is a new thing with
us. and it is only right to remember that
from the days of the Duchess Of Devon
shire'S sentimental canvass to the pres
ent, English women have taken part in
general elections; that there is prece-
dent for it; and when you have said that
of anything English you have justified it
for all time to come. The young Ameri-
address men from q platform and give
them chance to throw things at her,
must remember that the English girl
would not give the man she knew cup
of tea in the afternoon unless her mother
were in the room to take care of her.
And [ am sure the women in My Candi-
dates campaign almost persuaded me
that they, as the political agent declared,
did more than himself to win the cleo
tion.-Richard Harding Davis, III Har-
UaIfq MaU9Zipp