part of the work rests on her shoulders."

[170] See Mrs. Collins's Reminiscences, chapter V., Vol. I.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

RHODE ISLAND.

Senator Anthony in _North American Review_--Convention in
Providence--Work of State Association--Report of Elizabeth B.
Chace--Miss Ida Lewis--Letter of Frederick A. Hinckley--Last
Words from Senator Anthony.

Rhode Island, though one of the smallest, is, in proportion to the
number of its inhabitants, one of the wealthiest states in the
Union. In political organization Rhode Island, in colonial times,
contrasted favorably with the other colonies, nearly all of which
required a larger property qualification, and some a religious test
for the suffrage. The home of Roger Williams knew nothing of such
narrowness, but was an asylum for those who suffered persecution
elsewhere. Nevertheless this is now, in many respects, the most
conservative of all the States.

In the November number of the _North American Review_ for 1883,
Senator Anthony, in an article on the restricted suffrage in Rhode
Island, stoutly maintains that suffrage is not a natural right, and
that in adhering to her property qualification for foreigners his
State has wisely protected the best interests of the people. In his
whole argument on the question, he ignores the idea of women being
a part of the people, and ranks together qualifications of sex,
age, and residence. He quite unfairly attributes much of Rhode
Island's prosperity--the result of many causes--to her restricted
suffrage. His position in this article, written so late in life, is
the more remarkable as he had always spoken and voted in his place
in the United States Senate (where he had served nearly thirty
years) strongly in favor of woman's enfranchisement. And the
_Providence Journal_, which he owned and controlled, was invariably
respectful and complimentary towards the movement.

While such a man as Senator Anthony, one of the political leaders
in his State, regarded suffrage as a privilege which society may
concede or withhold at pleasure, we need not wonder that so little
has been accomplished there in the way of legislative enactments
and supreme-court decisions. Nevertheless that State has shared in
the general agitation and can boast many noble men and women who
have taken part in the discussion of this subject.

The first woman suffrage association was formed in Rhode Island in
December, 1868. In describing the