Year: 1870

what Miss Catharfne Beeehcr Wants


and Dome want.


AT the Thursday meeting of the
American Woman Suffrage Associa-
tion in New York, Miss Catharine
Beecher came on the platform and
offered her objections to woman suf.
frage. Henry Ward Beecher, who
presided, said that he knew many
clergymen better than himself who
were not there. But he had too
much respect for the liberty of the
individual to wish them to come un-
Til they could bring conscience and
enthusiasm with them. "If Won can
afford to wait, we cam He an.
nounced that his sister, Miss Catha-
rine Beecher, would read her ohjec-
tions to woman suffrage. He re-
marked that she brought ND a part of
him and was responsible for many of
his excellencies, but none of his
faults. lie was sorry to say that she
yet fingered i'm the bondage of dark.
ness on the subject of woman suffrage.
Miss Beecher said: / will begin by
saying what l am not opposed to. /
am not opposed to women speaking
in public to any willing to hear, nor
DO object to woman's preaching,
sanctioned as 1t Is by a prophetic
apostle-as one of the millenial re.
suits. 1t Is true that no women were
appointed among the first twelve, or
the seventy disciples sent out by the
Lord, nor were women, appointed to
be apostles or bishops or elders. But
they were not forbidden to teach or
preacc, except In places where 1t vio-
lated a custom that made a woman
appear as one of base and degraded
class III she thus violated custom.


Nor am opposed to woman earn
ing her own independence In any
lawful calling and wish many were
open to her which now are closed.


Nor am opposed to the agitation
anu organization or women, rs wo-
men, to set forth the wrongs suffered
oy great muititudes of our sex, which
are multiform and most humiliating.
NOR am opposed to women's under
taxing to govern both boys and men
they always have done it, and al.
ways will. The most absolute and
cruel tyrants L have ever known
were selfish, obstinate, unreasonable
women, to whom were chained men
OF delicacy, honor, and piety, whose
only alternatives were helpless sub.
mission, or ceaseless aud disgraceful
broils,


Nor am opposed to the claim that
women have equal rights with men.
L rather claim that they have the
sacred, superior rights that God and
good men accord TO the weak and de.
fenseless, by which they have the
easiest work, the most safe and com
Portable places, and the largest share
OF all the most agreeable aud dcsira.
Ole enJoymentso of this life. NV main
objection to the woman suffrage Or
ganization is mainly this, that n
wrong mode is employed to gain a
right object.


The right object" sought is to
remedy the wrongs and relieve the
suf1erlngs OF great multitudes of our
sex. The wrong moden is that
which aims to enforce by law instead
or by love. 1t is one which assumes
that man is the author and abettor of
all these wrongs, and that he must
be restrained and regulated by con-
.stltutions and laws, as the chief and
most trustworthy method.


In opposition to this, hold that
the'fault Is as much, or more. with
women than with men, inasmuch as
that we have all the power we need
to remedy all the wrongs and suffer
ings complained of aud vet we do
not use Ii for that end. 1t In NV deem
conviction that all reasonable and
conscientious men of our age, and
especially OF our country, are not
only willing but anxious to provide
ior the best good OF our sex, and that
they will gladly bestow all that is
just, reasonable and kind, whenever
we unite in asking i'm the proper
spirit ana manner. 1t is because we
do not ask, or "because we ask
amiss," that we do DOT receive all we
need, both from God and men. Let
me Illustrate my meaning by brief
narrative OF my own experience. To
begin with my earliest: cannot re-
memser time when | did not find
iather's heart 30 tender that IL was
always easier for him to give anv-
thing L asked than to deny me. or
my seven brothers, | know pot one
who would not take us much or
more care of my interests than
should myself. The brother who
presides, Is here because it is so hard
fof MIN to say mo" to any woman
seeking his aid.


IL Is half century this very spring
since 1 began to work for the educa.
noh and relief of my sex, and have
succeeded SO largely by first convinc-
ing intelligent aud benevolent wo-
men that what 1 aimed Mt was right
ana desirable, and then securing
thelr influence with their fathers
brother and husbands, aud always
with success. American women
have only to unite i'm asking for
whatever Is just and reasonable. i'm a
proper spirit aud manner. in order to
secure all that they need.


Here, then, / urge my greatest OBJ.
lection TO the plan of female suffrage:
TOT my country~women are seeking
IL only as an instrument for redress
ing wrongs and relieving wants by
law and civil influences. Now, I
ask. why not take shorter course,
and ask to have the men to do for us
what we might do for ourselves If we
had the ballot? Suppose we point
out to our State Legislatures and to
Congress the evils that it Is supposed
the ballot would remedy, and draw
up positions for these remedial meas.
ure5, would not these petitions he
granted much sooner, and with far
less irritation and conflict than must
ensue before We gain the ballot?-
And in such petitions thousands of
women would unite who now deem
that female suffrage would prove
curse, rather than benefit.


AND here will close with my final
opJection to woman suffrage, and
that is that it will prove a measure of
injustice and oppression to the wo-
men who oppose 1t. Most of such
women believe that the greatest cause
OF the evils suffered by our seq is
that the true profession of woman
in many of Its most important de-
partments, Is not respected than
women are not trained either to the
science or the practice of domestic
duties as they need to be, and that,
as the consequence, the chief labors
OF the family state pass TO ignorant
foreigners, and by cultivated women
are avoided as disgraceful. They be.
lieve the true remedy is to make wo-
mans work honorable and remuner,
ative, and that the suffrage agitation
does not tend to this, but rather to
drain off the higher classes of culti-
waited women from those more inn
portant duties to take charge of no.
litical and civil affairs that are more
suitable for men. Now if woman
are all made voters it will be their
duty to vote, and also qualify them
selves for this duty. But already
women have more than they can do
Well In all that appropriately belongs
to woman, and to add the civil and