and often in varied
feminine costume, was done by men five feet four, "picked men," not
for their bravery, but for their inferiority. Depriving women of their
right to vote, because the men abused their privilege, under cover of
sex, in 1807, was, however, on the same principle that politicians in
1881 propose to disfranchise the women of Utah, because of their
polygamous relations. That is, punish the women who claim a right to
only one-sixth part of a man's time and affections, because the men
claim six wives apiece. The question naturally suggests itself to any
fair mind, why not deprive the men of the suffrage, and let the women
vote themselves each one husband? Who doubts the fate of the system
under such legislation? Every woman in her normal condition, unless
wholly perverted by the religious dogma of self-sacrifice and
self-crucifixion, desires to own the man she loves as absolutely and
completely, as every man desires to consecrate to himself alone the
woman he loves. So to deprive the women of Essex of their right to
vote to have the county buildings in Elizabeth, because of the undue
excitement and dishonesty of the men, was to punish the best class of
citizens for the crimes of the worst.

2d. The assumption that "free white male citizens worth fifty pounds,"
could legislate for "aliens, women, and negroes," better than those
classes could for themselves, is to deny the fundamental principle of
republicanism; Governments derive their just powers from the consent
of the governed; and to reassert the despotic ideas of the old world
that national safety depends on the wisdom of privileged
orders--nobles, kings, and czars. The experiment in Wyoming has fully
proved that when "free white male citizens" reigned supreme, the polls
there were scenes of drunkenness, violence, and death; men knocking
each other down and putting bullets through each other's brains were
of annual occurrence. But when the suffrage was extended, and women
admitted to the polling booths, quiet, good order, and dignity were
inaugurated.

3d. "Taxation without representation is tyranny." James Otis said: "To
tax a man's property without his consent, is in effect disfranchising
him of every civil right. For what one civil right is worth a rush,
after a man's property is subject to be taken from him at the pleasure
of another?" Is not such injustice as grievous to woman as man? Does
the accident of sex place woman outside of all ordinary pr