as follows:

_And be it further enacted_, That all male citizens of the
United States, above the age of twenty-one years, who shall
have been actual residents of said District for three months
prior to the passage of this act, except such as are _non
compos mentis_, and persons convicted of infamous crimes,
shall be entitled to vote at said election, in the election
district or precinct in which he shall then reside, and
shall have so resided for thirty days immediately preceding
said election, and shall be eligible to any office within
the said district, and for all subsequent elections, twelve
months prior residence shall be required to constitute a
voter; but the Legislative Assembly shall have no right to
abridge or limit the right of suffrage.

It will be seen by the terms of this act that females are not
included within its privileges. On the contrary, by implication,
they are excluded. We do not understand that it is even insisted
in argument that authority for the exercise of the franchise is
to be derived from law. The position taken is, that the
plaintiffs have a right to vote, independent of the law; even in
defiance of the terms of the law. The claim, as we understand it,
is, that they have an inherent right, resting in nature, and
guaranteed by the Constitution in such wise that it may not be
defeated by legislation. In virtue of this natural and
constitutional right, the plaintiffs ask the court to overrule
the law, and give effect to rights lying behind it, and rising
superior to its authority.

The Court has listened patiently and with interest to ingenious
argument in support of the claim, but have failed to be convinced
of the correctness of the position, whether on authority or in
reason. In all periods, and in all countries, it may be safely
assumed that no privilege has been held to be more exclusively
within the control of conventional power than the privilege of
voting, each State in turn regulating the subject by the
sovereign political will. The nearest approach to the natural
right to vote, or govern--two words in this connection signifying
the same thing--is to be found in those countries and governments
that assert the hereditary right to rule