ve of liberty; she is to-day
battling for the rights of every man, woman and child in the country;
she is not only upholding the right of every native-born citizen, but of
every naturalized citizen; to-day is at stake in her person, the
new-born hopes of foreign lands, the quickened instincts of liberty, so
well nigh universal. All these are on trial with her; the destinies of
America, the civilization of the world, are in the balance with her as
she stands on her defence. If the women of this country are restricted
in their right of self-government, what better is it for them to have
been born in the United States, than to have been born in Russia, or
France, or England, or many another monarchical country? No better; nor
as well, as in all these countries, women vote upon certain questions.
In Russia, about one-half of the property of the country is in the hands
of women, and they vote upon its disposition and control. In France and
Sweden, women vote at municipal elections, and in England, every woman
householder or rate-payer, votes for city officers, for poor wardens and
school commissioners, thus expressing her views as to the education of
her children, which is a power not possessed by a single woman of this
State of New York, whose boast has been that it leads the legislation of
the world in regard to women. Property-holding women in England, vote
equally with property-holding men, for every office except
Parliamentary, and even that is near at hand, a petition for it of
180,000 names going up last year. England, though a monarchy, is
consistent with herself. As the foundation of English representation is
property, not persons, property is allowed its representation, whether
it is held by man or by woman.

"Are ye not of more value than many sparrows?" said one of old. Is it
less pertinent for us to ask if personal representation is not more
sacred than property representation? "Where governments lead, there are
no revolutions," said the eloquent Castelar. But revolution is imminent
in a government like ours, instituted by the people, for the people, in
its charters recognizing the most sacred rights of the people, but
which, in a sovereign capacity, through its officials, tramples upon the
most sacredly secured and guaranteed rights of the people.

The question brought up by this trial is not a woman's rights question,
but a citizen's rights question. It is not denied that women are
citizens,--it is not denied