no longer confined to a small sect. They challenge our attention at
every turn. We meet them in society; we read them in the public
prints; we hear of them in grave legislative assemblies, in the
Congress of the Republic, in the Imperial Parliament of Great Britain.
The time has come when it is necessary that all sensible and
conscientious men and women should make up their minds clearly on
a subject bearing upon the future condition of the entire race.

There is generally more than one influence at work in all public
movements of importance. The motive power in such cases is very
seldom

441
simple. So it has been with the question of female suffrage. The
abuses inflicted on woman by legislation, the want of sufficient
protection for her interests when confided to man, are generally
asserted by the advocates of female suffrage as the chief motives
for a change in the laws which withhold from her the power of voting.
But it is also considered by the friend of the new movement that to
withhold the suffrage from half the race is an inconsistency in
American politics; that suffrage is an inalienable right, universal in
its application; that women are consequently deprived of a great
natural right when denied the power of voting. A third reason is also
given for this proposed change in our political constitution. It is
asserted that the entire sex would be greatly elevated in intellectual
and moral dignity by such a course; and that the effect on the whole
race would therefore be most advantageous, as the increased
influence of woman in public affairs would purify politics, and elevate
the whole tone of political life. Here we have the reason for this
movement as advanced by its advocates. These are the points on