| Show THE ENGLISH MEMORIAL THE tim following is spoken of as ole oue of the ablest and most statesmanlike like documents upon the woman status question ever published in any iny cot col country it was i introduced by y miss sturge and adopted by the national confer conference elite eiloe of women held at birmingham en england land jan 2 1874 i I 1 to the eight sight honorable welliam william TV illiam ewart zwart gladstone af M JP first lard of der her Maje naje treasury tile TIIE THE MEMORIAL or AND purnie euerle THE NATIO NATIONAL sal NAL SOCIETY foit rob SUFFRAGE I 1 IN conference ASSEMBLED AT birmingham JANUARY luy ity 22 that your Memoria lists earnestly desire deslie to urge on the attention of her Maje government thebus the justice and expediency of abolishing tho iho the pie disability which precludes women in en otherwise legally qualified I 1 from front voting in the tho election of members of parliament they submit that the disability is anomalous inasmuch as it exists only in respect to the parliamentary franchise anchise Fi the electoral rights of women have been from time immemorial anem orial equal and similar to those of men in parochial and other ancient f franchises and in the 3 year yean ir 1869 a w was as passed f i kh ith the sanction of the adminis tri iii t tion ion of which you are the head it turing abid confirming the rights of ratepayers rate payers to the exercise of bf the municipal franchise the electoral disability is further anomalous because by the law and constitution of this realm women are not disabled from the ex erciso enelse of political power writs returning members to servo serve in the house mouse of common signed by women asten nitea as electors or returning officers ers are now in existence and the validity of such sueh returns has never been disputed women who were li cirs to peerages pee rages and other dignities exercised judicial jurisdiction and enjoyed other privileges appertaining to such offices and lordships lord ships without disability of sex the highest political function known to the constitution may be exercised by a woman the principle ah that at wo women men may have political power is is coeval with the british constitution on the other hand the practice of women taking partin part in voting at popular elections is equally ancient in date and has been restored and extended by the abtil action on of the present parliament your Memoria lists therefore submit that to bring existing principle and practice into harmony by removing the disability which prevents women who vote in local elections from voting in the election of members of parliament would be a step in the natural proa cess of development by which in institutions while retaining the strength and authority derived from the traditions of the past and preserving the continuity of the national life continually undergo such modifications as are needed in order to adapt them to the exigencies of the ago and the changed condition of modern life they also submit that the old laws regulating the qualifications of electors do not limit the franchise to male persons that the laws under which women exercised the parochial franchise were couched in the same general terms as those regulating the parliamentary suffrage and that while the latter were not expressly limited to men the former were not expressly extended to women there is therefore a strong presumption that the exclusion of women from the parliamentary lia suffrage was an infringement on their ancient constitutional rights gendered len ien dered pcs possible sible sibie in a barbarous age by the comparative weakness and smallness of the numbers of persons affected by it and continued until the exclusion had become customary tile the franchise of women in local elections has been from time to time under judicial consideration and their right to take part in such elections has been repeatedly confirmed by the judges during the arguments 0 in these tiles cases the question of their ri right night 1 lit to vote in the election of 1 members of parliament was frequently mooted and conflicting opinions ophilo ns thereon incidentally expressed by various judges but the matter was never iudici judicially ally aily decided and no authoritative judgment was ever given against the right until the year 1868 after the passing of two modern acts of parliament in 1862 1802 and 1867 the former of which for the first time in english il history ory in terms limited the franchise created by it to every male person and the latter to everyman every man qualified under its ts provisions vis ions lons your Memoria lists submit that had bad the question of tile the right of women to vote in the election of members of parliament been raised in in the law courts court under sunder the old statutes which contain no reference to sex and beform before the passing of the limiting acts of 1862 and 1867 the precedents which had bad determined the right in their favor in the construction st of tilo tile law as to the local government must have been held to apply to the case of quail qualified nned fled freeholders freeli or others who claimed the right as regards parliamentary government they submit also niso that even after these limiting acts women had reasonable grounds for claiming the suffrage under the existing law there is an act of parliament which declares that in all acts words importing the tho masculine gender ender shall be deemed and taken V to include females unless tile the contrary is expressly provided 11 tile the act of 1867 contained clauses imposing person liabilities and pecuniary mary wary burdens on certain classes of ratepayers rate payers in these clauses as in th tho the enfranchising clauses and throughout the act words importing tho the masculine gender were alone used no provision was made that these words should not include females s accordingly in enforcing the act the extra liabilities and burdens were imposed on women ratepayers rate payers to many of whom they caused grievous grievous hardship there was t therefore ge reason to expect that the enfranchising clauses would bear the same interpretation inasmuch as they were confessedly offered as an all equivalent for the increased liabilities but when the women who had bad been subjected to the liabilities claimed their votes they found that words importing the maseu masculine gender were held to include women id tilo the clauses imposing ir burdens and to exclude them in the clauses conferring privileges in one and the tile samo same act of parliament tills this kind of injustice was shown in a marked manner in the case of certain women ratepayers rate payers of bridgewater who in fa memorial addressed to you in 1871 set forth the grievance of most heavy and unjust taxation which was levied on th them L ll 11 in common with the other ahti householders eli ell of that chased borough for the payment of a prolonged commission respecting political political bribery the memorial ests felt it to be unjust and oppressive inasmuch as not exercising the franchise nor being in any way directly or indirectly concerned in tile the mal practices which led to the commission they were ne less required to pay not jess less ess than three shillings in the pound according to their rental to that memorial you caused a reply to be sent through mr secretary bruce statin stating that it was not in the power 0 of f g the e secretary of state to exempt women owning or occupy occupying in property from the local and imperial taxation to which that property is liable while fully admitting this your Memoria lists beg to represent that it is in the power of the le legislature to secure to women tho the vote voto ote which their property would confer along with its liability to local and imperial taxation were it owned or occupied by men they submit that this concession has recently been granted in respect to local taxation and that if justice demands that women should have a voice in controlling the municipal expenditure to which their property contributes justice yet more urgently demands that they should have a voice in controlling the imperial expend expenditure tu i e to which the same property is liable tile the local expenditure ot the country amounts to about the imperial expenditure to to about about annually if therefore tile tiie matter be regarded as one of taxation only the latter hotels vote voto is of more importance than the former local government deals with men and women alike ind knows no distinction betwee bet wco ode odo o do and female rate zate payers but imperial government deals matli ith ath men inen and women on dif dlf different principles and aud in such a manner that whenever there is any distinction made in the rights privileges and protection accorded to them respectively the difre difference rence renoe ls is aldaya always against women and always in favor of men they believe this state or of things is a natural result of the exclusion or of women from representation and that it will be found impracticable to amend it until women are admitted to a share in controlling the thie legislature by the deprivation of the parliamentary vote w women omen in the purchase or re renting liti ng of property obtain less for their money than men in a Bill which passed the house of commons last session provision was made for the amalgamation in one list of the municipal and parliamentary lia register of electors in that list it appeared that the same house the same rent and the same taxes conferred on a man the tile double vote in municipal and parliamentary government and oil on a woman the single vote only and that the less honorable and important one when the occupation of a house is transferred from a man to a woman say to the widow ol of the former owner that home loses the privilege of representation in the imperial government though its relations relation with the continue unaltered there have havo been various societies formed with a view to enable persons to acquire portions of landed or real property partly for the sake of the vete voto attached to such property should a woman purchase or inherit such sueh an estate the vote which has been one important consideration in de cr er mining the value would be lost through her legal disability to exercise it the deprivation of the voto vote is ig a serious disadvantage to women in the competition for farms A cae case is recorded of one estate in suffolk from which seven widows have been ejected who if they had possessed votes would have been continued as tenants A sudden ejection often means ruin to a family who have sunk capital in the land and it is only too probable that no day passes without the occurrence of some such calamity to some unhappy widow who but for the electoral disability might have retained the home and the occupation by which she could have brought up her family in comfort colfo t and independence pen dence besides this definite manner mann c r in in which the electoral disability injures women farmers it has a more or less directly injurious influence on all self dependent women who maintain themselves and their families b by other than domestic labor A disability the basis basia 0 which is the presumed mental or moral incapacity of the subject of it to form a rational judgment on matters swithin the ordinary ken of human intelligence carries with it a stigma of inferiority calculated to cause impediment to the entrance on or successful prosecution of any pursuit demanding recognized ability and energy tills this presumed incapacity is probably the origin of the general neglect of the education of women which is only now beginning to be acknowledged and the absence of political power in the neglected class renders it difficult if not impossible to obtain an adequate share for girls in the application of educational funds and endowments dow ments so lo 10 long iong i ng as women are specially excluded from control over their parliamentary representatives at ve 8 so 50 long will their interests be p postponed to the claims of those who have otes votes to give and while parliament shall continue to declare that the voices of women are unfit to be betoken betaken taken into account in choosing members of the legislature tare the masses of men will continue to act as if their wishes opinions and interests were undeserving of serious consideration it is now nearly two years since you in your place in the house of commons said that the number of absolutely self dependent women is increasing from year to year and that the progressive increase in the tile number of sueh such women is a very serious fact because those women aro are assuming the tile burdens that belong to men and you stated your belief that when they are called upon to assume those burdens and to undertake the responsibility or of providing for their own subsistence they approach the task under greater difficulties than attach to their more powerful competitors Y your our memoria lists there therefore foie rolo ask bouto you to aid women in overcoming these difficulties by assisting to place them politically at least oil on a level with those whom you designate as their more powerful competitors ono of the greatest hindrances in the path of seif self dependent women is the opposition shown by members of many trades and professions to women who attempt to engage in them the medical and authorities of the sity of edinburgh have successfully crushed the attempt of a small band of lady students to qualify themselves for the medical profession and the same spirit of trades unionism is rife in the tile industrial community A few months ago tile the printers of manchester learning that a few girls were practicing practising typesetting type setting and endeavoring to earn a little money thereby instantly passed a rule ordaining a strike in the shop of any nay master printer who should allow type set up by women to be sent to his machi maehl machines nes neg to be worked at tile tilo present time in a manufacturing district in yorkshire where tile tiie there are broad and narrow looms at the former of which much more money can be earn carn edthe men refuse to allow women to work at the broad looms though they are quite able to manage them themy because the work is considered too teo remunerative for women at nottingham there is a particular mach machine ineat at which very high wages can call be earn edat which wa women amen now ow work and the men inch in order ato to drive women out of such profitable employment have insisted on the masters taking no more women on but as those at present employed leave supplying their places by men A master manufacturer fac reports we have machines which women can manage quite as well or better than men yet they are not permitted by a selfish combination of the strong against the weak these are only s samples amples of tile tilo cases that are constantly occurring of successful attempts to drive women out of remunerative munera tive occupations your memoria me lists submit that women would be more able to resist such attempts if they had the protection of the suffrage and that men would bo be less likely to be thus aggressive gres sive and oppressive if they had learned to regard women worden as their political equal equals besides the ther restrictions on the tile industrial liberties of women efi eflee ec ted by combinations of men there aro are existing and proposed legislative restrictions from which men are exempt and which exercise a powerful influence on the market for their labor for the coming session we have the proposal further to limit their hours of paid labor in factories and to place other restrictions on their labor in shops also a proposition to place married women on the footit footing ig of half balf tim ers without here expressing an any y opil opinion llon ilon as to the wisdom of these proposals we urge that |
