women
burgesses and municipal voters were assembled, and while the
responsibilities of the vote they already possessed were pointed
out to them, attention was called to the prior importance of the
vote which was withheld from them.

In 1873, for the fourth time, our unwearied champion, Mr. Jacob
Bright, brought forward his bill. This time the second reading was
fixed for April 30. He was supported in the debate by Mr. Eastwick,
Sergeant Sherlock, Lord John Manners, Mr. Fawcett, Mr. Heron, Mr.
Henley, and Sir J. Trelawny. While all these gentlemen deserved our
thanks for the able assistance they rendered the cause, the speech
of Mr. Henley, Conservative member for Oxfordshire, so old a member
that he was styled the "Father of the House," excited special
attention. He said he had once felt considerable doubt and dislike
of the measure, but after careful watching of the way in which
women gave the local votes, he had come to the conclusion that an
extension of the principle would be useful. The votes in favor of
the bill increased at this debate to 155 (with tellers and pairs
172), a larger number than had ever before been obtained, while the
opposition remained stationary.

Along with the petitions of this year were two memorials signed by
upwards of 11,000 women, and presented to Mr. Gladstone and Mr.
Disraeli. Every English county, with the exception of the smallest,
Rutland, and most large towns sent representative signatures. An
effort was made this session by Mr. William Johnston, the member
for Belfast, to introduce amendments into the Irish Municipal bill,
which would have had the effect of extending the municipal
franchise to Irish women householders. But the bill was withdrawn,
and similar efforts made in subsequent years have met with the like
fate.

This year the death of Mr. John Stuart Mill saddened the hearts of
all. He will never be forgotten as the first man who carried this
question into the arena of practical politics and gave it the
weight of an honored name. The strength and vitality of the
movement were further tested by a disaster which threatened to do
it a lasting injury. The general election took place early in the
spring of 1874, and to the regret and consternation of the friends
of equal suffrage, their able and devoted leader, Mr. Jacob Bright,
lost his seat for Manchester--a loss in a great degree attributable
to his unshrinking advocacy of an unpopular question. Never did his
clients,