uffrage, women are constantly asked
by the opposition if they cannot trust their own fathers, husbands
and brothers to legislate for them. The answer to this question may
be found in an able digest of the old common laws and the Revised
Statutes of Pennsylvania,[255] prepared by Carrie S. Burnham[256]
of Pennsylvania. A careful perusal of this paper will show the
relative position of man and woman to be that of sovereign and
subject.

To get at the real sentiments of a people in regard to the true
status of woman we must read the canon and civil laws that form the
basic principles of their religion and government. We must not
trust to the feelings and actions of the best men towards the
individual women whom they may chance to love and respect. The
chivalry and courtesy that the few command through their beauty,
wealth and position, are one thing; but justice, equality, liberty
for the multitude, are quite another. And when the few, through
misfortune, are made to feel the iron teeth of the law, they regret
that they had not used their power to secure permanent protection
under just laws, rather than to have trusted the transient favors
of individuals to shield them in life's emergencies.

The law securing to married women the right to property,[257]
inherited by will or bequest, passed the legislature of
Pennsylvania, and was approved by the governor April 11, 1848, just
five days after a similar law had been passed in New York. Judge
Bovier was the mover for the Pennsylvania Married Women's Property
Law. His feelings had been so often outraged with the misery caused
by men marrying women for their property, that he was bound the law
should be repealed. He prevailed on several young Quakers who had
rich sisters, to run for the legislature. They were elected and did
their duty. Judge Bovier was a descendent of the Waldenses, a
society of French Quakers who fled to the mountains from
persecution. Their descendants are still living in France.[258]

The disabilities and degradation that women suffer to-day grow out
of the spirit of laws that date from a time when women were viewed
in the light of beasts of burden. Scarce a century has passed since
women were sold in this country with cattle. In the _Pennsylvania
Gazette_ for January 7, 1768, is the following advertisement:

TO BE SEEN.--At the Crooked Billet, near the Court-house,
Philadelphia (Price Three Pence), A Two Year Old Hogg, 12 Hands
high, an