that an equal share of taxation fell upon excluded from the franchise, that it was them, and, therefore, that they ought to a mark of great disrespect and injurious have some control over the expenditure to their position, will not women have of this taxation. They have told us that the same feeling? There are inferior it was not within the power of this House men in every rank of life. They have either to enact a law or to repeal a law no objection to degrade women and keep without affecting advantageously or dis- them in degradation. So long as Paradvantageously the whole people of the liament legislates in this way, so long as country. The non-electors made ano- it puts them in an inferior position polither statement. They said "Your ex- tically, it gives considerable support to clusion of us from the political pale is the course taken by the class of men to tantamount to a declaration of our moral whom I have referred. At the present and intellectual inferiority. It dimi- moment what does Parliament say to nishes our own self-respect; it takes women who are occupiers and owners of away from us the respect of the other property? It says to them-You are fitted portions of the community; and it ne- to vote in local matters-in small concessarily makes our career in life far cerns which do not greatly affect you harder and less successful." Is there you are entitled to have your vote; but any one of these reasons which men when we come to Imperial affairs, then have so persistently urged for admission you are disqualified, and we refuse to to the franchise which does not apply admit you. But I am told that the with equal, and even with greater, force theoretical arguments on this subject to women? Is there a single tax which cannot be answered; that theoretically men pay which women do not pay also? women undoubtedly have a right to that Is the ability to pay on the part of men which they claim; and the advocates of and women equal? There is not a male this measure are asked to deal with it and female rate of taxation, but there is practically. We are asked to show of a male and female rate of wages and what injustice women complain, and earnings. Women everywhere, with a what changes they would propose to few remarkable exceptions, are getting make in case they were admitted to polifar less money than men; they have to tical privileges? All these questions work much longer for the same money; were put to the non-electors of England and they are even paid much less when previous to the Reform Bill of 1867, and they are doing precisely the same work. I believe they were not unsatisfactorily Taxation must, therefore, fall somewhat answered. But I undertake to say that more heavily upon women than upon the inequality of the law betwixt voters men. Are there any laws imposing re- and non-voters prior to 1867, was as strictions and obligations on men-any nothing compared with that which now laws of a penal character-from which exists between men and women. Allow women escape ? No; but are there not me, then, to call attention to some of laws of recent origin which fall with these inequalities. I am not going to terrible harshness upon women, and say how they should be altered; but I which place their peace and security in have a right to point out that they exist, peril? Are there not such laws-laws and that they have been made by that from which men wholly escape? These portion of society having power against laws may be just and necessary. It is that portion which has no power. Take not for me to discuss them at the present the law as it affects married women. moment. My hon. Friend the Member may be told that this Bill would not for Cambridge (Mr. W. Fowler) will give the franchise to married women. give the House an opportunity of de- That is quite true. This is a practical fending them in a short time; but I measure. It is only in our power to give have a right to say that the fact that votes to those who can submit to the one sex legislates for another and im- tests which have been established by poses burdens upon an unrepresented Parliament; but we propose to give the portion of the people, which it does not franchise to those who have been married take upon itself, forms an additional and are widows, and to spinsters who reason why women should ask for the are yet to be married. I contend that suffrage, and strengthens the claim which this would give adequate security to the I am urging at the present moment. If whole sex. Look for a moment at the it be true that men felt when they were law with regard to the property of mar

I

ried women.
law of England, a married woman, in
regard to the rights of property, is in
the position of the negro in the Southern
States of America before the American
Revolution. She cannot control her pro-
perty, and she has not the possession of
one farthing of her earnings. According
to my view, the possession of property is
necessary for education, and for the pro-
per development of character. Be the
woman ever so prudent, be the man ever
so imprudent-be the woman ever so
sagacious, and be the husband ever so
imbecile, still he has absolute control,
not only of his own but of hers. Sir,
the House is agreed upon this question,
and is unanimous upon the injustice of
the present law. The hon. Member
for Chester (Mr. Raikes) is of the same
opinion as the right hon. and learned
Member for Southampton (Mr. Russell
Gurney). I may, then, be asked why
need women have votes, if they can ob-
tain redress without them? It is one
thing to acknowledge an evil and another
to find a remedy for it. We legislate in
the following order:-First, for those who
can make themselves dangerous; next,
for those who exercise a pressure at the
polling-booth; and lastly, or not at all,
for those who have no votes, and there-
fore no constitutional influence. The
Married Women's Property Bill has
three times received the sanction of this
House, and it has been twice before a
Select Committee; but he would be a
very imprudent man who would under-
take to say when it will become law, or,
further, that it will become law without
greater mutilations than it has yet re-
ceived. But that is not the way in which
the class which has the franchise is
treated. Look at what has been done
with regard to the working classes since
the passing of the Reform Act of
1867. I have seen Members of this
House sit here till daylight in order
to defeat the Married Women's Pro-
perty Bill, which seeks to prevent the
confiscation of the property of a vast
number of persons, and I have been
glad to see the same hon. Members com-
peting in this House in their desire to
protect the funds of trades unionists and
to protect the trades unions themselves.
That is the effect of the franchise. Last
Session the Government brought in a Bill
to protect the funds of trades unions,
and this year they propose to intro-

According to the common | duce another Bill to put these associ-
ations on a more satisfactory footing;
but I am afraid it will be a long time
before the Government undertake to
deal with these questions which belong
to a portion of society among whom the
franchise does not exist. But let us look
a little further at these inequalities of the
law. Look at the position of a woman
who loses her husband. If he die intes-
tate, the law protects her and gives her
a certain portion of the income arising
frem his property, whatever that pro-
perty may be; but if he choose to make
a will, she is left entirely to his justice
and mercy. I do not deny that the ma-
jority of widows are fairly treated in
this respect; but it must be remembered
that when we pass laws we do not legis-
late for the majority; we legislate be-
cause of the existence of that minority
who possess neither justice nor mercy.
I have known many cases of this sort.
Take the case of a couple just entering
life in one of the industrial districts of
England. They begin life often with
nothing but good character and intelli-
gence. The man works at his business;
the woman attends to him and to the
family; and the man often becomes rich.
If the law were equal, the wife would
have some kind of security with regard
to that wealth which she had helped to
make. As I said before, I do not pro-
pose to say what changes should be
made in these matters; I merely point
to an inequality, and I may remind the
House that these inequalities have been
made by a section of the community. It
is required that a woman should receive
10 times the provocation that a man re-
ceives before she can obtain a divorce.
A woman has no control over her chil-
dren when they become seven years of
age: the husband may part them from
her when they reach that age. I know
the case of a lady who was deserted by
her husband when she had one child.
Amidst much suffering she had to get a
living for herself and her child, and
when the child was seven years old, be-
cause she importuned her husband for
some assistance, he threatened to take
away the child, and she had to conceal
both herself and her child in order to
escape the danger. I might say some-
thing also in regard to education.
is to me a very painful thing to see
the difficulties which women have to
contend against in order to get anything

Mr. Jacob Bright

It

when he said

like a high education in this country. churchwardens or overseers of the poor, I do not Women are charged with being frivo- see, where a woman has so much to do with the lous; but that charge is very often made Church and with the State, on what reason, if you come to right, she has not a right to vote." with great frivolity, and it is too often But the right hon. Gentleman made a made by those who look at women still more direct avowal of his opinions through the medium of what they call in a debate in this House in April, 1866, society. So long as it is the custom of the country for women only to be admitted to the frivolous occupation of men, it is likely that that charge will continue to be made. Men and women may mix at the dance, the pic-nic, and the theatre; but when they go to the lecture room it is considered improper. However, there is a class of men growing up who consider these things, and they believe that the morality of this country will be greatly improved when the lecture rooms are opened to all. I might even go to the primary schools, in order to show what is the influence of those above upon those below. There is a great free school in Manchester-an

to be universal suffrage, women have as much "I have always been of opinion that, if there is right to vote as men; and, more than that-a woman having property now ought to have a vote in a country, in which she may hold manorial courts and sometimes acts as churchwarden."[3 Hansard, clxxxiii. 99.] But, whatever claim I may have on the support of hon. Members on that side of the House, I feel that I have a stronger claim upon the great Liberal party to which I have the honour to belong. I do not know what meaning we are accustomed to attach to that word "Liberal" on this side of the House; but to-day I do not ask for liberality-I ask only for admirable school-which takes children the barest justice. According to our out of the gutter; but it only takes in the professions on every hustings, we have male children, and the girls are left in certainly said that if justice does not rethe streets. Surely such a thing must quire that every individual should have have a very bad infiuence upon those a vote, it does require that every class boys and girls. I am glad that in this should be represented; and we have esproposition, which I now make to the tablished it as a political axiom, that no House, there is nothing of a party cha-class ever will receive legislative equality racter, though I must say that this is the first proposition for the extension of the Parliamentary franchise which has ever been free from party conflict, and from the passions arising out of that conflict. When this proposition was made to the House in 1867, by Mr. John Stuart Mill, it received a very general support. Five of the Members of this House who supported that sition are now Members of the present Government, and that does not exhaust the Members of the Government who are in favour of this Bill. There were also many eminent Members on the opposite side of the House who supported the proposition. The opinions of the Leader of the opposite party are, of course, no secret. I am sorry the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Buckinghamshire is not now in his place, because if he had been, I think he would have supported this measure. here from one of his published speeches, in which he says—

propo

I have an extract

"In a country governed by a woman, where you allow women to form part of one of the Estates of the Realm-I allude to the Peeresses in their own right-and where they have power to hold manorial courts, and may be elected as

at the hands of another class. We have always said that those who are called on to obey the laws should have some voice in making the laws, and that representation should follow taxation. I have been met by this argument from some of my political friends: they have said

"Our principles do not require that we should support your Bill. We are in favour of good government; that is our only aim. We will enfranchise those who are fitted to be enfranchised; but we deny that women are fit, and we shall, therefore, oppose your Bill." Now, let me examine that argument for a moment. In the first place, it strikes one as not being very new. No class has ever asked to be admitted within the political pale in this or in any other country without receiving that answer; and in this country, at any rate, no class has ever been advantage to itself and the country. In admitted to the franchise without great Northern States to a very large extent, the Southern States of America, in the and in this country to a great extent also, the people were told before the American War that the negro was not fit for freedom. People never are fit for freedom or for constitutional rights until they