d the right of suffrage to
the women of the country, and my pledge to make that sympathy active
on the first and all occasions that may arise for my official action.

Very respectfully your obedient servant, E. G. ROSS.

WASHINGTON, Jan 19.

Mrs. ELIZABETH CADY STANTON--MADAM: Your favor of the 18th instant,
inviting me to address the convention now in session in this city for
the promotion of the cause of female suffrage, has been received. I
regret that my official duties will not allow me the time to comply
with this request; but I assure you, and the ladies with whom you are
associated, that I am heartily in sympathy with the efforts you are
making for the success of the cause which you especially have so long
and so ably advocated. I beg further to say that the bestowal of the
right of equal political suffrage upon the women of this republic can
not, in my judgment, be much longer withheld, and that whatever
influence I have shall be exerted, at every proper opportunity, to
hasten the consummation for which you are laboring. I have the honor
to be, very truly, yours,

MATT. H. CARPENTER.

[131] Rev. Olympia Brown, Connecticut; E. H. Heywood and Jennie
Collins, Massachusetts; M. Adele Hazlitt, Michigan; Mrs. Francis Minor
and Phoebe Couzins, Missouri; Hon. Henry B. Stanton; Judge Barlow,
Canastota; Josephine S. Griffing, Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford, Lizzie M.
Boynton, Maud D. Molson, Susan B. Anthony, Gen. E. M. Lee, Act Gov.
Wyoming; Hon. A. G. Riddle, Washington; Hon. Jas. W. Stillman, Rhode
Island; Col. R. G. Ingersoll, Illinois; Hon. J. M. Scovill, New
Jersey; Dr. James C. Jackson, New York; Mrs. Louisa H. Dent, New York;
Lillie Peckham, Wisconsin; Mrs. M. E. J. Gage, New York; Mrs. Dr. S.
Hathaway, Boston; and S. D. Dillaye, Syracuse.

[132] The Fifth Avenue Conference proposition was presented to the
members of the National Association, duly discussed, and so far as one
of the parties could do, accepted; that is, the National Society
pledged itself to be merged into a Union Association, provided the
American would make the same surrender at its first Anniversary. But
as this overture for peace was rejected, the mission of the Union
Society ended, leaving the National free to reassert itself and go
forward with its catholic platform and persistent demands for
"National protection for United