poor, keeper of the "gate house" (a public
prison), governess of a house of correction, keeper of castles,
sheriffs of counties, and high constable of England. If women are
legally competent to hold minor offices, I would be glad to have
the rule of law, or of propriety, shown which should exclude them
from higher offices, and which marks the line between those which
they may and those which they may not hold.

Another objection is that women can not serve as soldiers. To
this I answer that capacity for military service has never been
made a test of the right to vote. If it were, young men from
sixteen to twenty-one would be entitled to vote, and old men from
sixty and upward would not. If that were the test, some women
would present much stronger claims than many of the male sex.

Another objection is that engaging in political controversies is
not consistent with the feminine character. Upon that subject,
women themselves are the best judges, and if political duties
should be found inconsistent with female delicacy, we may rest
assured that women will either effect a change in the character
of political contests, or decline to engage in them. This subject
may be safely left to their sense of delicacy and propriety. If
any difficulty on this account should occur, it may not be
impossible to receive the votes of women at their places of
residence. This method of voting was practiced in ancient Rome
under the republic; and it will be remembered that when the votes
of the soldiers who were fighting our battles in the Southern
States were needed to sustain their friends at home, no
difficulty was found in the way of taking their votes at their
respective camps.

I humbly submit to your honor, therefore, that on the
Constitutional grounds to which I have referred, Miss Anthony
had a lawful right to vote; that her vote was properly received
and counted; that the first section of the XIV. Amendment secured
to her that right, and did not need the aid of any further
legislation. But conceding that I may be in error in supposing
that Miss Anthony had a right to vote, she has been guilty of no
crime, if she voted in good faith believing that she had such
right. This proposition appears to me so obvious, that were it
not for the severity to my c