meaning of the Statute, and as it were, a _key_ to the understanding
thereof."

Blackstone lays it down as a fundamental principle, that we "must argue
from generals down to particulars." Here is good legal authority. I have
cited men whose opinions are accepted. We have thus argued down from the
_generals_ of the Declaration and Constitution to the particulars which
appertain to each individual alike, and what is the result? Freedom for
all; equal rights. We have read the Preamble of the Constitution, and
quoted authorities to show in what light it must be read in reference to
its following provisions. By its Preamble, the Constitution is shown to
make no distinction in favor of sex. From secret debates of the
convention which framed it, we find the motives and the arguments of its
framers.

The great foundation and key stone alike of our Republican ideas, _of
our Constitution_, is _individual, personal representation_, and it is
the greatest blessing to the country at large that the question of
representation has come up in the person of Miss Anthony. Men are
_compelled_ to think upon underlying principles. They are compelled to
ask themselves where they get either natural or constitutional right to
govern women.

From the earliest ages men have queried among themselves as to where lay
the governing power. In the time of Abraham, and even now in some parts
of the world the Patriarch of the tribe is looked upon as its supreme
ruler. Members of Scottish clans to-day, look with more reverence upon
their chief, than upon the Queen: they obey his behests sooner than
parliamentary laws. Other men have believed the governing power lay in
the hands of a select few, an aristocracy, and that these few men could
by right make laws to govern the rest. Others again have believed this
power vested in a single man called King, or Czar, or Pope, but it was
left to our country, and our age, to promulgate the idea that the
governing power lay in the _people themselves_. It took men a great many
thousand years to discover this pregnant fact, and although our
government laid down at the very first, certain underlying truths, it
has taken a very long time even for this country to see, and practice
these principles; but as men have opened their eyes to liberty there
have been constant advances towards securing its full blessings to each
and every individual, and in this progress we had first, the
Declaration; second, the Articles of Co