0, a convention was called in Washington by the
officers of the National Society. This meeting, large in
attendance and deeply earnest, marked an historical era, the
influence of which can not be estimated. A hearing before the
joint committee of the House and Senate of the District was
asked, in order to present the question of woman suffrage, and
granted. Elizabeth Cady Stanton made the argument in favor of
enfranchising women of the District of Columbia. It was clear,
incisive, and cogent; divested of all sentiment, and condensed
into a twenty-minutes' speech. It was very impressive. Susan B.
Anthony, Madam Anneke, and others made a few pertinent remarks.
At the close of the hearing, Hon. Charles Sumner said: "In my
twenty years' experience in the Senate of the United States, I
have never witnessed so fine a hearing as this one, so large an
attendance, and such respectful attention." Thus begins the
national history of this great reform--a fitting opening for
1870.

The work, not only in this country, but in Europe, was greatly
accelerated by the publication of John Stuart Mill's inestimable
book, "The Subjection of Woman," which has been extensively
circulated in a cheap form in this country, and has been
translated and reprinted in France, Prussia, and Russia. The
first National Woman Suffrage Convention was held in London,
July, 1869, at which Members of Parliament, professors of
science--noble men and noble women, still more ennobled by this
great work--took active part, and now women have the right of
suffrage there in the municipal elections. The bill was
introduced by Mr. Jacob Bright, and, says Prof. Fawcett: "In one
night it passed beyond ridicule, so ably and calmly was it
presented, and in less than one year it is a fixed fact." How
stands the comparison, Aristocratic England and Democratic
America? The Crown Princesses of Prussia and Italy are strong
advocates of this movement, while women, who pay taxes in Austria
and Russia, vote and have a voice in making laws. Will America
hold on to her barbarism in this, as she did to chattel slavery,
till all the nations of the earth cry out against her wrong to
womanhood?...

A few of the earlier women who came to this work should be named
here. Martha C. Wright, sister of L