rom both ladies and gentlemen of known ability
will be presented, and a general and comprehensive plan of
operation proposed, whereby woman may aid in the promotion of a
cause which appeals to her sympathy through the avenue of every
relation which binds her to the race.

It is earnestly hoped that this meeting will be numerously
attended.[92]

SUSAN B. ANTHONY, H. ATTILIA ALBRO, AND MARY C. VAUGHAN,
_Central Committee_.

The officers of the Convention were then chosen. Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, President,[93] who on rising said:

I fully appreciate, ladies, the compliment intended, in choosing
me to fill this place on an occasion of such interest and
importance. If a sincere love for the principles of temperance, a
fervent zeal in the welfare of woman, and an unwavering faith in
the final triumph of truth, fits one for this post of honor, then
am I not unworthy, though I must confess myself, from the novelty
of the position, ignorant alike of the rights and duties of the
office of President. I shall deeply regret if in any omissions or
commissions of duty I fail to reflect back on this Convention a
full share of the honor now conferred upon me.

How my heart throbs to see women assembling in convention to
inquire what part they have in the great moral struggles of
humanity! Verily a new era is dawning upon the world, when
woman, hitherto the mere dependent of man, the passive recipient
alike of truth and error, at length shakes off her lethargy, the
shackles of a false education, customs and habits, and stands
upright in the dignity of a moral being, and not only proclaims
her own freedom, but demands what she shall do to save man from
the slavery of his own low appetites. We have come together at
this time to consult each other as to what woman may do in
banishing the vice of intemperance from the land. We can do much
by years of preparation and education of ourselves, for a great
moral revolution will burst forth with the regeneration of woman.
We shall do much when the pulpit, the forum, the professor's
chair, and the ballot-box are ours; but the question is, what can
we do to-day, under existing circumstances, under all the adverse
influences that surround us? I will briefly mention several