women. He asked, however, why women should be allowed to take a
part in the civil government of the country. This question will,
I doubt not, be answered to-day by some one more able than
myself; and if the person who asked it be present, and open to
conviction, he will hear reasons sufficient to convince him.

Why should women vote? She should vote, first, because she has to
bear her portion of the burdens imposed by the government which
the voting makes. Is not this one reason amply sufficient for any
honest-minded man? Taxation and representation go hand in hand,
says a principle of our body politic. Is woman represented? No.
Is woman taxed? Yes. How is that? Is it consistent with the
profession; and, if there were no profession, is it right, is it
just? The burden falls equally on woman and her brother; but he
has all the power of applying it; she must bear it to the end of
the journey, and then know nothing, say nothing, as to how it is
to be disposed of. What kind of justice is that? Were woman
exempted from those burdens, why, then, the exemption would so
far be an argument on the other side; although even that would
fail on investigation, because other equally immutable principles
show that neither exemption nor representation is the condition
in which any portion of the political body should be allowed to
remain. But where there is no exemption, but a full apportionment
of the burden, and, at the same time, no representation, the
absurdity of injustice has reached its climax. (Laughter and
cheers).

In the second place, woman should vote, because she ought to be a
sharer in those benefits which government is formed to confer
upon the governed. She has property which the government must
protect, a person which it must defend, and rights which it is
bound to secure. Were the millennium arrived, were there no such
thing as selfishness on earth; were simple truth and justice the
prominent elements in all men's minds, and the guiding spirit of
all men's actions, then indeed might woman confide herself to
man; then might she rely on him to secure those governmental
benefits which are her due, as a portion of the general
community. But is this the state of things? Alas! not yet; and,
until it is, the horrible injustice of the laws which