he has her rights equal with man, she would
cease to be woman--forsake the partner of her existence, the
child of her bosom, dry up her sympathies, stifle her affections,
turn recreant to her own nature. Then his blind selfishness took
the alarm, lest, if woman were more independent, she might not be
willing to be the obedient, servile tool, implicitly to obey and
minister to the passions and follies of man; "and as he could not
rob himself of these inexpressible benefits, therefore he said,
No."

The speech of Antoinette Brown, and the resolution she presented
opened the question of authority as against individual judgment, and
roused a prolonged and somewhat bitter discussion, to which Mrs.
Stanton's letter,[111] read in a most emphatic manner by Susan B.
Anthony, added intensity. It continued at intervals for two days,
calling out great diversity of sentiment. Rev. Junius Hatch, a
Congregational minister from Massachusetts, questioned the officers of
the Convention as to their belief in the paramount authority of the
Bible, saying the impression had gone abroad that the Convention was
infidel in character. The President ruled that question not before the
Convention.

Thomas McClintock[112] said, to go back to a particular era for a
standard of religion and morality, is to adopt an imperfect standard
and impede the progress of truth. The best minds of to-day surely
understand the vital issues of this hour better than those possibly
could who have slumbered in their graves for centuries. Mrs. Nichols,
whom the city press spoke of as wielding a trenchant blade, announced
herself as having been a member of a Baptist church since the age of
eight years, thus sufficiently proving her orthodoxy. Mrs. Rose,
expressing the conviction that belief does not depend upon voluntary
inclination, deemed it right to interpret the Bible as he or she
thought best, but objected to any such interpretation going forth as
the doctrine of the Convention, as, at best, it was but mere opinion
and not authority.

The debate upon Miss Brown's resolution was renewed in the afternoon,
during which the Rev. Junius Hatch made so coarse a speech that the
President was obliged to call him to order.[113] Paying no heed to
this reprimand he continued in a strain so derogatory to his own
dignity and so insulting to the Convention, that the audience called
out, "Sit down! Sit down! Shut up!" forcing the Reverend