of the first for a hundred years; that the women of the country
now contributed, directly and indirectly, one-third of its
revenues, and that the House of Representatives had just robbed
them of $500,000 to pay for a centennial celebration in which
they had no part. As for serving on jury, they did not claim that
as a privilege, as it was usually regarded as a most disagreeable
duty; but they did claim the right of women, when arraigned in
court, to be tried by a jury of their peers, which was not
accorded when the jury was composed wholly of men. Lastly, as to
serving their country in time of war, it was a fact that women
had actually enlisted and fought in our late war, until their sex
was discovered, when they were summarily dismissed without being
paid for their services.

Hon. Aaron A. Sargent, of California, in the United States
Senate, and Hon. Samuel S. Cox, of New York, in the House of
Representatives, presented the memorial asking the enfranchisement
of the women of the District of Columbia, as follows:

IN THE SENATE, Tuesday, January 25, 1876.

Mr. SARGENT: I present a memorial asking for the establishment of
a government in the District of Columbia which shall secure to
its women the right to vote. This petition is signed by many
eminent ladies of the country: Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage,
President of the National Woman Suffrage Association, and the
following officers of that society: Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Henrietta Payne Westbrook, Isabella
Beecher Hooker, Mathilde F. Wendt, Ellen Clark Sargent; also by
Mary F. Foster, President of the District of Columbia Woman's
Franchise Association; Susan A. Edson, M. D.; Mrs. E. D. E. N.
Southworth, the distinguished authoress; Mrs. Dr. Caroline B.
Winslow; Belva A. Lockwood, a practicing lawyer in this District;
Sara Andrews Spencer, and Mrs. A. E. Wood.

These intelligent ladies set forth their petition in language and
with facts and arguments which I think should meet the ear of the
Senate, and I ask that it be read by the secretary in order that
their desires may be known.

The PRESIDENT _pro tempore_: Is there objection? The chair hears
none, and the secretary will report the petition. The secretary
read:

_To the Senate an