Florence Balgarnie

“ Strange that one whose golden words, "The essence of Liberalism is trust in the people, qualified by prudence; the essence of Toryism is distrust of the people, qualified by fear," should, in the question of women's enfranchisement, have shown himself to be an ultra-Tory. ”

“ The Federation was organised in 1887, twenty years after the first Suffrage society was founded. Thus for nearly a generation women had enjoyed opportunities for reading reports of debates in Parliament, books, pamphlets, and some of them of attending meetings on the subject. But to none save the few had it become a vital issue. Suffrage societies in great centres of population such as London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol, &c., had endured in spite of all reverses, but planted in smaller places they had as a rule withered away. ”

“ They realise what some wise men fail to comprehend, that to enfranchise even a fraction as a first instalment is to burst the sex barrier which has so long held us in thrall; while to postpone our question until "Manhood" Suffrage has been solved would be to erect a well-nigh unscaleable wall of sex ascendancy. ”

“ Many men are only too ready to accept, and even invite, services from women whom they treat and intend to treat as "political Uitlanders."
The Federation, therefore, whilst absolutely agreed as to the justice and necessity of Women's Suffrage, contained individual members and associations divided in opinion as to the best method of attaining their end. The "Practical Suffragists" pointed out the inconsistency of working for Liberal candidates who were not in favour of Women's Suffrage, and they brought forward motions in the Annual Council each year to give effect to their policy. ”

“ Men do not now speak of women as being in the same category as "idiots and lunatics," but for political purposes they place them there. Even in the eighteenth century such sentiments were resented by some women, and outraged feelings found vent in 1792 in that classic of the suffrage movement, Mary Wollstonecraft's "Vindication of the Rights of Women." ”

“ It has been the means of educating many candidates prior to the General Election, and in the present Parliament, out of the 420 members who have pledged themselves to support the question, nearly 300 are Liberals. Had the Conservative and Unionist women acted as the Liberals have done, Women's Suffrage would be in a much better position than it is to-day. The Liberal women have also brought their influence to bear upon the Men's National Liberal Federation, and in considerable numbers have attended their Council meetings as delegates from men's associations. ”

“ Enquiries made in these colonies elicited the interesting admission that early settlers were influenced by the writings of John Stuart Mill when founding their new states, and with their wives, the pioneer comrades of their years of hardship, by their side, the cold arguments of the philosopher were illuminated by living witnesses to the fact that the civilisation of new communities depends upon the presence and co-operation of women. ”

“ Eva McLaren entitled "The History of the Women's Suffrage Movement in the Women's Liberal Federation," furnishes an illustration of one of our most strongly-marked national characteristics, our inability to comprehend an argument until it receives practical application in our daily life. ”

“ Lord Chief Justice Bovill having conceded that in a few instances women had "been parties to the return of members to Parliament," proceeded to argue "that the non-user of the right for so long a period raised a strong presumption against its having legally existed, that the legislature in 1867 used the word 'man' in order to designate expressly the male sex, as distinct from women, and that therefore Lord Brougham's Act did not apply. ”

“ It has been done in the inconclusive fashion which characterises all franchise legislation in our islands. Women in Ireland and Scotland, whether married or unmarried, vote on precisely the same terms as men, but throughout England and Wales do not possess the owner, lodger, or service franchises, whilst married women may not vote for borough or county councils, unless they are fortunate enough to live within the County of London, where they are empowered to vote for the county council and the borough councils. ”

“ THE WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
BY FLORENCE BALGARNIE
IN education, social freedom, and opportunity, most satisfactory progress has been made by women during the last century.
But our political standing is still as it was in 1790, when a learned writer explained that people unfit for the county franchise were those who "lie under natural incapacities, and therefore cannot exercise a sound discretion, or (who are) so much under the influence of others that they cannot have a will of their own in the choice of candidates. ”

“ In later years the vote of the Leader of the Anti-Corn Law Bill, Mr. C. P. Villiers, was always recorded in favour of the Suffrage for Women. He had, in the turmoil of fight, tried women and not found them wanting, for the Anti-Corn Law circular of December 30, 1841, says, "The women of Manchester have set a noble example to their sisters throughout the country. They have already obtained more than 50,000 signatures to the memorial adopted at the Corn Exchange. ”

“ Humility and subjection to man had for centuries been inculcated to such a degree upon women that the sex appeared to have lost the power of initiative. It took a second man to rouse them to sufficient energy to collect the hundred signatures which Mr. Mill said would be necessary if he were to present the first petition to the House of Commons. This man was none other than Mr. Disraeli, who on April 28, 1866, had made a powerful statement in favour of women's right to vote. ”

“ It was not until 1832 that the Reform Act was carried which extended the right to vote from the freeholders and freeman to the middle-class male householder. This enabling law for men was a disabling law for women. ”

“ In it he contended that the safeguard of the elective franchise is necessary to protect our liberties from encroachment, but he added "all those individuals whose interests are included in those of other individuals may be struck off the electoral roll." "In this light women may be regarded, the interest of almost all of whom is involved in that of their fathers, or in that of their husbands." ”

“ The unanswerable arguments sown broadcast throughout the pages of "The Subjection of Women" have not yet blossomed into fruitage in Great Britain, but the harvest has been almost completely garnered in our self-governing Australian and New Zealand colonies. ”

“ Necessarily non-party in their basis, the committees formed in different parts of the country acted as centres for propaganda rather than for organisation of large bodies of women. They sowed the seed which others garnered. The British woman, like the British man, is keenly partisan in politics. ”

“ This was soon found to be too vague a declaration for practical politicians confronted with the dilemma of being called upon to work and canvass for candidates who were not necessarily in favour of the enfranchisement of women. ”