ourt, that a woman is capable
of serving in almost all the offices of the kingdom, such as
those of queen, marshal, great chamberlain and constable of
England, the champion of England, commissioner of sewers,
governor of work-house, sexton, keeper of the prison, of the
gate-house of the dean and chapter of Westminster, returning
officer for members of Parliament, and constable, the latter of
which is in some respects judicial. The office of jailor is
frequently exercised by a woman.

"In the United States a woman may administer on the effects of
her deceased husband, and she has occasionally held a subordinate
place in the post-office department. She has therefore a sort of
post mortem, post-mistress notoriety; but with the exception of
handling letters of administration and letters mailed, she is the
submissive creature of the old common law." True, the unmarried
woman has a right to the property she inherits and the money she
earns, but she is taxed without representation. And here again
you place the negro, so unjustly degraded by you, in a superior
position to your own wives and mothers; for colored males, if
possessed of a certain amount of property and certain other
qualifications, can vote, but if they do not have these
qualifications they are not subject to direct taxation; wherein
they have the advantage of woman, she being subject to taxation
for whatever amount she may possess. (Constitution of New York,
Article 2, Sec. 2). But, say you, are not all women sufficiently
represented by their fathers, husbands, and brothers? Let your
statute books answer the question.

Again we demand in criminal cases that most sacred of all rights,
trial by a jury of our own peers. The establishment of trial by
jury is of so early a date that its beginning is lost in
antiquity; but the right of trial by a jury of one's own peers is
a great progressive step of advanced civilization. No rank of men
have ever been satisfied with being tried by jurors higher or
lower in the civil or political scale than themselves; for
jealousy on the one hand, and contempt on the other, has ever
effectually blinded the eyes of justice. Hence, all along the
pages of history, we find the king, the noble, the peasant, the
cardinal, the priest, the layman, each in tur