the day of my
arrest last November, this is the first time that either myself or any
person of my disfranchised class has been allowed a word of defense
before judge or jury--

JUDGE HUNT--The prisoner must sit down--the Court cannot allow it.

MISS ANTHONY--All of my prosecutors, from the 8th ward corner grocery
politician, who entered the complaint, to the United States Marshal,
Commissioner, District Attorney, District Judge, your honor on the
bench, not one is my peer, but each and all are my political sovereigns;
and had your honor submitted my case to the jury, as was clearly your
duty, even then I should have had just cause of protest, for not one of
those men was my peer; but, native or foreign born, white or black, rich
or poor, educated or ignorant, awake or asleep, sober or drunk, each and
every man of them was my political superior; hence, in no sense, my
peer. Even, under such circumstances, a commoner of England, tried
before a jury of Lords, would have far less cause to complain than
should I, a woman, tried before a jury of men. Even my counsel, the Hon.
Henry R. Selden, who has argued my cause so ably, so earnestly, so
unanswerably before your honor, is my political sovereign. Precisely as
no disfranchised person is entitled to sit upon a jury, and no woman is
entitled to the franchise, so, none but a regularly admitted lawyer is
allowed to practice in the courts, and no woman can gain admission to
the bar--hence, jury, judge, counsel, must all be of the superior class.

JUDGE HUNT--The Court must insist--the prisoner has been tried according
to the established forms of law.

MISS ANTHONY--Yes, your honor, but by forms of law all made by men,
interpreted by men, administered by men, in favor of men, and against
women; and hence, your honor's ordered verdict of guilty, against a
United States citizen for the exercise of "_that citizen's right to
vote_," simply because that citizen was a woman and not a man. But,
yesterday, the same man made forms of law, declared it a crime
punishable with $1,000 fine and six months' imprisonment, for you, or
me, or any of us, to give a cup of cold water, a crust of bread, or a
night's shelter to a panting fugitive as he was tracking his way to
Canada. And every man or woman in whose veins coursed a drop of human
sympathy violated that wicked law, reckless of consequences, and was
justified in so doing. As then, the slaves who got their freedom must
take it over, or