ssen, Right Hon. J. R. Mowbray,
Sir Thomas Bazley, Mr. Butt, Mr. Gibson and Colonel Kingscote.

[545] We must mention the names of the ladies who during the
previous two or three years had been most active in speaking and
organizing societies. So many meetings had been held that there was
hardly a town of any importance in England, Ireland or Scotland
where the principles of woman suffrage had not been explained and
canvassed. One of the foremost for her activity in this department
of work was Miss Mary Beedy, an American lady, resident for some
years in England. She had thoroughly mastered the legal and
political condition of the question in this country, and her
untiring energy, her clear common sense, and her ready logic made
her advocacy invaluable. The regret was general when she was
compelled to return to America. Miss Helena Downing, niece of Mr.
McCarthy Downing, member of parliament for Cork, arranged and gave
many lectures during 1873 and 1874. Miss. Lillias Ashworth,
honorary secretary of the Bristol committee, frequently spoke at
meetings about this time. In Scotland Miss Jane Taylour and others
still continued their indefatigable labors, in which they were
frequently assisted by Miss Isabella Stuart of Balgonie in
Fifeshire. In Ireland, in addition to the usual meetings in the
north, a series of meetings in the south was undertaken by Miss
Tod, Miss Beedy and Miss Downing. Other meetings were addressed by
Miss Fawcett, Miss Becker, Miss Caroline Biggs, Miss Eliza Sturge,
Miss Rhoda Garrett, Mrs. Fenwick-Miller and many others. During
1873 Mrs. Henry Kingsley, sister-in-law of one novelist and wife of
another, also spoke frequently. Space fails me to do justice to the
varied powers of the speakers who have carried our movement on
during these years of patient perseverance; to the clear logic and
convincing power of Mrs. Fawcett's speeches; to the thrilling
eloquence of her cousin, Rhoda Garrett, now, alas! no longer with
us; to Miss Becker's accurate legal knowledge and masterly
presentation of facts and arguments; to Miss Helena Downing's
eloquence marked by the humor, pathos and power which were hers by
national inheritance. During these years of trial, too, the cause
owed much to the strenuous advocacy of the Misses Ashworth, Anne
Frances and Lillias Sophia, nieces of Jacob Bright. Miss Ashworth
did not herself speak at meetings, but she comforted and helped
those who did, while Lillias possessed the fa