Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1898-06-30
ON WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
The views of William Ewart Gladsto,

Iiie views OF W llllam EWart Gladstone
upon the question OF extending the fran
cise to women are set forth in the fol-
lowing extracts from letter written by
Mr.. Gladstone in 1892 to Samuel Smith,
II. 2.
81 speak Of the change as being fund-
amental change in the whole social lunc-
tion OF woman because | am bound in
considering this Bill to take into view
not only what it cnacts, but what it in
wolves. The first OF these. though inn
poitant, is small in comparison with Tie
last.
"What the Bill enacts Is simply 10
place the individual woman on the same
footing in regard to Par lamentary cleo
tons, as the individual man. She is to
vote, she is to propose or nominate, she
is to be designated by the law as compe-
tent to use and to direct, with advantage
not only to the community but to herself,
all those public agencies which belong to
our system of Parliamentary representa-
ton. She, not the individual woman,
marked by special tastes, possessed CT
special gifts, but the woman as such, is
by this change to be penaiily launched
into the whirlpool of public life, such as
it is in the nineteenth, and such as it is
to be in the twentieth century
$50 much for what the Bill enacts ;
now for what it involves, and involves
in the way of fair and rational, and there
fore of morally necessary, consequence
For long time we drew distinction
between competency to vote and compe-
tency to sit in Parliament. But long be-.
fore our electorate had attained to the
present popular proportions, this distinc.
ton was felt to involve palpable incon-
sistency, and accordingly it died away.
1t surely canno: be revived; and if it
cannot be revived, then the woman's
vote carries with it, whether by the same
Bill or by consequential Bill, the WON.
ans seat in Parliament. These asser.
tons ought to be strictly tested. But, if
they cannot be confuted, do not let them
be ignored.
II the woman's vote carries with it the
woman's seat, have we at this point
reached our terminus, and found q stand
ing ground which We can in reason and
in justice regard as final? Capacity to
sit in the House OF Commons now legally
and practically draws in its train Capaci-
ty to fiji every Office in the State. Can we
alter this rule and determine to have two
categories OF Members OF Parliament, one
of them, the established and the larger
one, consisting of persons who can travel
without check along all the lines Of pub
lie duty and honour, the other, the novel
and the smaller one, stamped with disa-
bilitv for the discharge Of executive. ad.
ministrative, judicial, or other public
duty? Such stamp would l apprehend
be brand. There is nothing more obi.
Gus, nothing more untenable, than an
inequality in legal privilege which does
not stand upon some principle in its nat
ure broad and clear. Is there here such
principle, adequate to show that when
capacity to sit in Parliament has been
established, the title to discharge execu-
tive and judicial duty can be withheld ?
Tried by the test Of feeling, the distinc-
ton would be offensive. Wound it stand
better under the laws OF logic? 1t would
stand still worse if worse DO possible.
For the proposition We should have to
maintain would be this. The legislative
duty is the highest OF all public duties ;
for this we admit your fitness. Execu-
tive and judicial duties rank below it
and for these we declare you unfit.
think it impossible to deny that there
have been and are women individually
fit for any public Office however mascu-
line its character; just as there are per-
sons under the age OF twenty.one better
fitted than many of those beyond ii for
the discharge OF the duties of full citizen
ship. In neither case does the argument
derived from exceptional instances seem
to Justify the abolition Of the rule. But
the risks involved ia the two supnositions
are UNNECESSARILY different. In the one,
individual Judgment and authority plain
" would have TO distinguish between
childhood and manhood, and TO specify 9
criterion OF competency in each case
which IS now more conveniently fixed by
the uniformity OF law. In the other &
permanent and vast difference OF typf
has been impressed upon women anC
men respectively by the Maker Of both
Their differences Of social office res
mainly upon causes. not flexible and elias
tic like most mental qualities, bnt phys
ical and in their nature Interchangeable
for one am not prepared TO say which
Of the two sexes has the higher ant
and wllch has The lower province. Blu
| recognize the subtle and profound char
acter Of the differences between them
and | must again, and again, and again
deliberate before aiding in the issue G
what seems an invitation by public au
thority to the one 10 renounce as far Il
possible its own office, in order to assam
that Of the other am not without tn