r love of order,
not spasmodic or sentimental merely, but springing from the
heart; all these,--the better conscience, the exalted sense
of justice, and the abiding love of order, have been made by
the enfranchisement of women to contribute to the good
government and well-being of our territory. To the plain
teachings of these two years' experience I cannot close my
eyes. I cannot forget the benefits that have already
resulted to our territory from woman suffrage, nor can I
permit myself even to seem to do so by approving this bill.

There is another, and in my judgment, a serious objection to
this bill, which I submit for the consideration and action
of your honorable body. It involves a reference to that most
difficult of questions, the limitations of legislative
power. High and transcendent as that power undoubtedly and
wisely is, there are limits which not even it can pass. Two
years ago the legislature of this territory conferred upon
certain of its citizens valuable rights and franchises. Can
a future legislature, by the passage of a law not liable to
the objection, that it violates the obligation of contracts,
take away those rights? It is not claimed, so far as I have
been informed, that the persons upon whom these franchises
were conferred have forfeited or failed to take advantage of
them. But even if such were the case it would be rather a
matter for judicial determination than for legislative
action. What that determination would be is clearly
indicated in the opinion of Associate-justice Story in the
celebrated case of Trustees of Dartmouth College _vs._
Woodward: "The right to be a freeman of a corporation is a
valuable temporal right. * * It is founded on the same basis
as the right of voting in public elections; it is as sacred
a right; and whatever might have been the prevalence of
former doubts, since the time of Lord Holt, such a right has
always been deemed a valuable franchise or privilege."

But even if we concede that these rights once acquired may
be taken away, the passage of this bill would be, in my
judgment, a most dangerous precedent. On