Volume II Part 46 (1/2)
Conventions were held during the summer at Saratoga and Newport. The following letter from Celia Burleigh gives a bird's-eye view of that at Saratoga:
SARATOGA, July 16th, 1869.
The advocates of Woman Suffrage have fairly earned the t.i.tle of Revolutionists by their recent bold move on the enemy's stronghold. The great foe to progress is want of thought, and the devotees of fas.h.i.+on are about the last to come into line and work for any great reform. Not a little surprise, and some indignation, were expressed by the representatives of upper tendom sojourning here, that strong-minded women were not only coming to Saratoga, but actually intending to hold a convention.
What next? What place would henceforth be safe from the a.s.saults of these irrepressible amazons of reform? Saratoga has survived the shock, however; Flora McFlimsey has looked in the face of Miss Anthony, and has not been turned to stone. More than that, finding the convention pouring into the parlors of Congress Hall, and escape actually cut off, Flora, after deliberating whether to faint and be carried out, or gratify her curiosity by looking on, finally submitted gracefully to the inevitable and did the latter. From her crimson cus.h.i.+oned arm chair by the window, she saw the meeting called to order, saw one after another of ”those horrid women, whose names are in the newspapers,” quietly taking their places, doing the thing proper to be done, and carrying forward the business of the meeting. Really, they were not so dreadful after all. They neither wore beards nor pantaloons.
There was not even a woman with short hair among them. On the contrary, they seemed to be decidedly appreciative of ”good clothes” and if less familiar with the G.o.ddess of fas.h.i.+on than Miss Flora they did not walk arm in arm with her, they at least followed at no great distance and were, to a woman, finished off with the regulation back-bow of loops and ends. Spite of herself, Miss McFlimsey became interested, and when Miss Anthony mentioned the fact that the majority of men felt it necessary to talk down to women, instead of sharing with them their best thoughts and most vital interests, Flora looked reflective, as if in that direction might lie the clew to the insufferable stupidity which she often found in the young gentlemen of her acquaintance.
That a Woman Suffrage Convention should have been allowed to organize in the parlors of Congress Hall, that those parlors should have been filled to their utmost capacity by the habitual guests of the place, that such men as Millard Fillmore, Thurlow Weed, George Opd.y.k.e, and any number of clergymen from different parts of the country, should have been interested lookers-on, are significant facts that may well carry dismay to the enemies of the cause. That the whole business of the Convention was transacted by women in a dignified, orderly, and business-like manner, is a strong intimation that in spite of all that has been said to the contrary, women are capable of learning how to conduct meetings and manage affairs. Even the least friendly spectator was compelled to admit it, that the delegates to the Convention were as free from eccentricity in dress and manner as the most fastidious taste could demand; that they were remarkable only for the comprehensive range of thought, indicated in their utterances, and the earnestness with which they advocate principles which they evidently believe to be right. Another fact worth noticing is the character of the reports of the Convention furnished to the daily papers. They were, for the most part, full, impartial, and respectful in tone; especially was this the case with the local papers. Altogether, the Woman Suffrage Conventions in the State of New York must be regarded as a decided success. The interest manifested shows that thought on the subject is no longer confined to the few, but that it is gradually permeating the whole public mind.
In its present condition, Saratoga realizes one's ideal of a summer resort, and yet in the good time coming, we can imagine an improvement--that even Congress Hall, with its gentlemanly and courteous proprietor, its sumptuous appointments and army of waiters, may yet have an added excellence; when, by the possession of the ballot, woman becomes a possible proprietor and actual worker; when to earn money is as honorable for a woman as it now is for a man, we may hope to find in every hotel not only a host, but a hostess; and whatever may be said of the excellence of men as housekeepers, I confidently predict that even Congress Hall will be vastly improved by the addition.
The chief speakers at this Convention were Charlotte Wilbour, Celia Burleigh, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Rev. Mr. Angier, J. N.
Holmes, Esq., Judge McKean, and Mrs. Dr. Strowbridge.
C. B.
THE NEWPORT CONVENTION.--_Dear Revolution_: Susan B. Anthony having decided that neither age, color, s.e.x, or previous condition could s.h.i.+eld any one from this agitation--that neither the frosts of winter nor the heats of summer could afford its champions any excuse for halting on the way, our forces were commanded to be in marching order on the 25th of August, to besiege the ”b.u.t.terflies of fas.h.i.+on” in Newport.[125] Having gleefully chased b.u.t.terflies in our young days on our way to school, we thought it might be as well to chase them in our old age on the way to heaven. So, obeying orders, we sailed across the Sound one bright moonlight night with a gay party of the ”disfranchised,” and found ourselves quartered on the enemy the next morning as the sun rose in all its resplendent glory.
Although trunk after trunk--not of gossamers, laces, and flowers, but of Suffrage ammunition, speeches, resolutions, pet.i.tions, tracts, John Stuart Mill's last work, and folios of _The Revolution_ had been slowly carried up the winding stairs of the Atlantic--the brave men and fair women, who had tripped the light fantastic toe until the midnight hours, slept heedlessly on, wholly unaware that twelve apartments were already filled with invaders of the strong-minded editors, reporters, and the Hutchinson family to the third and fourth generation.
Suffice it to say the Convention continued through two days with the usual amount of good and bad speaking and debating, strong and feeble resolutions, fair and unfair reporting--but, with all its faults, an improvement on the general run of conventions called by the stronger s.e.x. We say this not in a spirit of boasting, but with a heart overflowing with pity for the ”men of the period.” The chief speakers were Paulina Wright Davis, Isabella Beecher Hooker, Theodore Tilton, Francis D. Moulton, Rev. Phebe Hanaford, Lillie Devereux Blake, Elizabeth R.
Churchill, the Hon. Mr. Stillman, of Rhode Island; and the editor and proprietor of _The Revolution_. The occasion was enlivened with the stirring songs of the Hutchinsons, and a reading by Mrs.
Sarah Fisher Ames, the distinguished artist who moulded the bust of Abraham Lincoln which now adorns the rooms of the Union League.
The audience throughout the sittings of the Convention was large, fas.h.i.+onable, and as enthusiastic as the state of the weather would permit. From the numbers of _The Revolution_ and John Stuart Mill's new work sold at the door, it is evident that much interest was roused on the question. We can say truly that we never received a more quiet and respectful hearing; and, from many private conversations with ladies and gentlemen of influence, we feel a.s.sured that we have done much by our gatherings in Saratoga and Newport to awaken thought among a new cla.s.s of people. The _ennui_ and utter vacuity of a life of mere pleasure is fast urging fas.h.i.+onable women to something better, and, when they do awake to the magnitude and far-reaching consequences of woman's enfranchis.e.m.e.nt, they will be the most enthusiastic workers for its accomplishment.
E. C. S.
The Fourth of July this year was celebrated for the first time by members of the Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation, in a beautiful grove in Westchester County. Edwin A. Studwell of Brooklyn made all the necessary arrangements. Speeches were made by Judge E. D. Culver, Mrs.
Stanton, and Miss Anthony. The Woman Suffrage meetings at the Bureau were crowded every week. October 7th there was an unusually large attendance, to discuss the coming Industrial Congress at Berlin. The following letter to the Berlin Congress was read and adopted:
NATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE a.s.sOCIATION, } NEW YORK, September 28, 1869. }
_To the Woman's Industrial Congress at Berlin_:
At a meeting of our Executive Committee the call for your Convention was duly considered, and a committee appointed to address you a letter. In behalf of the progressive women of this country we would express to you the deep interest we feel in the present movement among the women of Europe, everywhere throwing off the lethargy of ages and a.s.serting their individual dignity and power, showing that the emanc.i.p.ation of woman is one of those great ideas that mark the centuries. While in your circular you specify various subjects for consideration, you make no mention of the right of suffrage.
As yours is an Industrial Congress in which women occupied in every branch of labor are to be represented, you may think this question could not legitimately come before you. And even if it could, you may not think best to startle the timid or provoke the powerful by the a.s.sertion that a fair day's wages for a fair day's work and the dignity of labor, alike depend on the political status of the laborer. Perhaps in your country, where the right of representation is so limited even among men, women do not feel the degradation of disfranchis.e.m.e.nt as we do under this Government, where it is now proposed to make s.e.x the only disqualification for citizens.h.i.+p.
The ultimate object of all these labor movements on both continents, is the emanc.i.p.ation of the ma.s.ses from the slavery of poverty and ignorance, and the shorter way to this end is to give all the people a voice in the laws that govern them, for the ballot is bread, land, education, dignity, and power. The extending of new privileges and abating of old grievances may afford some temporary relief; but the kernel of the whole question of the people's wrongs can never be touched until the essential equality of all citizens under the government is fully recognized. In America we have the true theory of government, and step by step we are coming to its practical realization.
Seeing that no cla.s.s ever did or ever can legislate wisely for another, the women, even in this country, have done complaining of specific wrongs, and are demanding the right to legislate for themselves. We are now holding conventions in the chief cities of the several States, and pet.i.tioning Congress for a sixteenth amendment to the Federal Const.i.tution that shall forbid the disfranchis.e.m.e.nt of any citizen on account of s.e.x. In January, soon after the convening of Congress, we shall hold a National Convention in Was.h.i.+ngton to press our arguments on the representatives of the people. Sooner or later you will be driven to make the same demand; for, from whatever point you start in tracing the wrongs of citizens, you will be logically brought step by step to see that the real difficulty in all cases is the need of representation in the government. However various our plans and objects, we are all working to a common centre. And in this general awakening among women we are taking the grandest step in civilization that the world has yet seen. When men and women are reunited as equals in the great work of life, then, and not till then, will harmony and happiness reign supreme on earth.
Tendering you our best wishes for the success of your convention and the triumph of our cause in Europe, we are yours, with much esteem,
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, ELIZABETH B. PHELPS, CHARLOTTE B. WILBOUR, SUSAN B. ANTHONY.
PAULINA WRIGHT DAVIS.