by striking out the phrase, "_except
her husband_," thus enabling a married woman to protect the
property given to her by the husband, in which the Act of 1860
was lame, and in other ways gave more freedom and power to
married women. The fourth section of the Act of 1862 amends the
eighth section of the Act of 1860, but only in its verbiage. The
fifth section of the Act of 1862 does not impair the Act of 1860;
it simply puts the woman before the courts, and the law as an
entity able to go alone. The sixth section of the Act of 1862
increases the powers of a married woman, by giving her a veto on
some acts of her husband. The seventh section is like the fifth.
In no other respect than those I have named did the Act of 1862
affect the Act of 1860. In but one thing did it repeal, in the
sense of taking away any right or power or privilege or freedom
that the Act of 1860 gave. On the contrary, in some respects, it
gave more or greater.

I am glad that you wrote to me. I am glad that I have the
opportunity to defend the memory of a good man, Judge John
Willard. I make bold to ask you to turn to the thirty-seventh
volume of Barbour's Supreme Court Reports, Appendix, pp. 670 et
seq., and read the words spoken of him by his peers. I am glad
also to have the opportunity to speak a word for my Judiciary
Committee.

And I will not close this lengthened answer, without suggesting a
suspicion, that those who have taken the notion that the Act of
1862 was a retrograde step, have done so without comparing for
themselves the two acts.

For myself, I have the distinction of being one of less than
half-a-dozen Senators who voted that women have the right to vote
for delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1866; and one
of about a dozen and a half members of that Convention who voted
to erase from the suffrage article the word "male." I have never
been convinced of the expediency of giving to females the
privilege of suffrage; but I have never been able to see the
argument by which they were not as much entitled to the _right_
as males.

Trusting that you will forgive the length of this epistle,

I am with respect, yours, etc., etc.,
CHARLES J. FOLGER.
MISS SUSAN B. ANTHO