tances your memorialists earnestly request that you will
use your influence as leader of the House of Commons and of the
government to secure the passing of the bill introduced by Mr.
Jacob Bright, either as a substantive enactment, or as an
integral portion of the next measure that shall be passed dealing
with the question of the representation of the people.

Signed on behalf of the conference,

CAROLINE M. TAYLOR, _President_.

The first vote that was given by the new parliament was on April 7,
1875, Mr. Forsyth having moved the second reading in an able
speech. It at once became manifest that the question had made great
progress in the country. In spite of the loss of the seventy
friends at the preceding general election, our strength in the new
parliament had greatly increased. Including tellers and pairs, 170
voted for the bill, and only 250 against. This result appears to
have alarmed our opponents, who proceeded to form an association of
peers, members of parliament and other influential persons, to
resist the claims of women to the suffrage. They issued a circular
which will be read by future generations with a smile of
amazement.[544]

It may have been partly owing to the influence of this association
that the next year, when Mr. Forsyth again brought forward his
bill, April 26, 1876, although the numbers of our friends and
supporters remained undiminished, the opponents had considerably
increased. This was due, also, no doubt, in great degree to the
unexpected attitude taken on this question by the Right Hon. John
Bright, the most powerful living advocate for freedom and
representative government. In Mr. Mill's division of 1867, Mr.
Bright had voted in favor of the measure, and while his brother had
charge of the bill, he had never opposed it. His opposition speech
in this debate, therefore, caused extreme disappointment and
discouragement. It had little of the force which had always
characterized his pleas for political justice. The most eloquent
voice in the House of Commons lost its magic power when no longer
inspired by truth. The women in the gallery listened with sorrowful
hearts. Though they knew Mr. Bright's opinion could not block the
wheels of progress, yet they felt intense regret that so honored a
friend to freedom should abandon his most cherished principles when
applied to women.

The parliamentary history of the next few ye