s are authoritative.

It is hardly necessary to add that our duty is limited to
declaring the law as it is, and that whether any change in that
law would be wise or expedient is a question for the legislative
and not for the judicial department of the government.

Petition dismissed. MARCUS MORTON, _Chief-Justice_,

[Signed:] CHARLES DEVENS, WILLIAM E. ENDICOTT,
WILLIAM ALLEN, OTIS P. LORD,
CHARLES ALLEN, WALBRIDGE A. FIELD.

The three preceding decisions of the Supreme Judicial Court of
Massachusetts against the rights of the women of the commonwealth
were as follows:

The first decision was in the case of Sarah E. Wall of Worcester,
who had refused to pay her taxes under the following protest:

Believing with the immortal Declaration of Independence that
taxation and representation are inseparable; believing that the
constitution of the State furnishes no authority for the taxation
of woman; believing also that the constitution of the higher law
of God, written on the human soul, requires us, if we would be
worthy the rich inheritance of the past and true to ourselves and
the future, to yield obedience to no statute that shall tend to
fetter its aspirations, I shall henceforth pay no taxes until the
word _male_ is stricken from the voting clauses of the
constitution of Massachusetts.

Worcester _Daily Spy_, October 5, 1858. SARAH E. WALL.

Miss Wall was prosecuted by the city collector, and she carried her
case before the Supreme Court, where she appeared for herself, W.
A. Williams appearing for the collector. In an account of this
matter in 1881, Miss Wall says: "Although it was in 1858 that my
resistance to taxation commenced, it was not until 1863 that the
contest terminated and the decision was rendered. I think the
Supreme Court would always find some way to evade a decision on
this question."

_Wheeler vs. Wall, 6 Allen, 558_: By the constitution of
Massachusetts, c. 1, Sec. 1, article 4, the legislature has power to
impose taxes upon all the inhabitants of and persons resident,
and estates lying within the said commonwealth. By the laws
passed by the legislature in pursuance of this power and
authority, the defendant is liable to taxation, although she is
not qualified to vote for the officers by whom th