hers and longs to enjoy; I might repeat to her in the words of the same poet :

"We weep, because the good we seek is not,
When but for this it is not, that we weep;
We creep in dust to wail our lowly lot,
Which were not lowly, if we scorned to creep;
That which we dare we shall be, when the will
Bows to prevailing Hope, its would-be to fulfiil.

It can be done. This demand of woman can be nobly and successfully asserted. It can be, because it is but the out-speaking of the divine sentiment of woman. Let us not then tremble, or falter, or despair I know we shall not. I know that those who have taken hold of this great work, and carried it forward hitherto, against obloquy, and persecution, and contempt, will not falter now. No! Every step is bearing us to a higher eminence, and thus revealing a broader promise of hope, a brighter prospect of success. Though they who are foremost in this cause must bear obloquy and reproach, and though it may seem to the careless looker on, that they advance but little or not at all; they know that the instinct which impels them being divine, it cannot be that they shall fail. They know that every quality of their nature, every attribute of their Creator, is pledged to their success.

"They never fail who gravely plead for right,

God's faithful martyrs cannot suffer loss.
Their blazing faggots sow the world with light,

Heaven's gate swings open on their bloody cross."

PRES. MAHAN.—If I would not be interrupting at all, there are a few thoughts having weight upon my mind which I should be very happy to express. I have nothing to say to excite controversy at all, but there are things which are said, the ultimate bearing of which I believe is not always understood. I have heard during these discussions, things said which bear this aspect-that the relation of ruler and subject, is that of master and slave. The idea of the equality of woman with man, seems to be argued upon this idea. I am not now to speak whether it is lawful for man to rule the woman at all; but I wish to make a remark upon the principles of governor and governed. The

idea seems to be suggested, that if the wife is subject to the husband, the wife is a slave to the husband. Now, I contend that it is not true in any sense, or any form; there is a fundamental difference in all respects, between a ruler and subject, and a master and slave. The relation between the master and slave is in no form that of a ruler and subject. It is unlike it; it is not a government. Permit me to illustrate these thoughts-and I will lay down this as a proposition, that, in all cases of appropriate authority, the relation of ruler and subject, when appropriately exercised, dignifies and exalts both, and that is a universal law which knows no exception. I will take the case of a parent and child in illustration; and I ask, and appeal to the good sense of the audience, where is the child that is prepared for freedom, to stand up before the world a freeman? It is the child who has learned obedience to parental authority, and he only who is prepared to be free. It is only this child who can appreciate freedom; and it is subjection to authority which is the perfection of freedom. Whenever lawful authority exists, and, for the very end for which it ought to be exercised, it exalts and tends to the highest conceivable freedom. Our fathers fought for freedom. Freedom from what? Freedom from all rule and authority? No. They fought for righteous rule and authority, for legitimate rule and authority; and wherever that exists, wherever it is exercised for the end for which it should be exercised, there freedom is exercised in the highest form.

I will take what is said in the Bible, and suppose we understand it in the sense in which the ministry explain it. Take the commandment "Wives be in subjection to your husbands." Suppose there is a form of authority there, which the husband should exercise; I say the wife being subjected to that form of authority, instead of being degraded, is elevated; and that is a universal principle. Now, in order to show that the woman is not to be subject to the husband, you must show, not that subjection is slavery, but that the relation of ruler and subject in any form, is slavery. Why has the parent the right to control the child? Because the child is dependent on the parent; and wherever dependence exists, there, to the extent of that dependence, control ought to exist. As far as the woman is depend

ent upon man, she ought to acknowledge that; and so far as man is dependent on woman, he ought to acknowledge it; and that is a universal principle that knows no exception. Well then, the question of human rights should never be argued upon this principle. You never can show upon this principle, that one intelligent being has not the right to rule another. The parent has that right, and woe to the parent who does not use it.

There is a thought here I have said enough to vindicate the ground, and that is all I wished. I wish to have it understood, then, that just so far as subjection in any form is enjoined, if it is enjoined by the Author of man and woman, it is enjoined because it ought to exist, and in its existence both parties are elevated and neither degraded.

There is one thought to which I will allude; that woman has wrongs in the laws, wrongs in the usages of society to complain of. Who can doubt it? I don't believe you can find an audience in the length and breadth of the land, where, if woman will come and state her grievances as they are, she will not have a respectable hearing. It was said by a great Statesman in reference to the American Revolution, that it never could have succeeded had the conviction obtained that the progress of that Revolution would be unfavorable to Christianity; that the progess of that Revolution would injure the influence of that dearest of Books which excels all others

"The Old Family Bible that lies on the stand."

And now let me say here, should the conviction once obtain, that the principles which this society advocates, are in any form unfavorable to the prevalence of that dearest of Books, or that you are attempting to put them in that position, you will meet a rock. Any cause that strikes upon that rock will be broken, and any cause upon which that rock descends, will be ground to powder under it. No, no; in that dearest of Books there is not a right that woman canask of God or man which is not secured to her, not one; and if in that Book, in the careful and prayerful study of it, it should be found that He who made the mind and gave it its powers; made the body, and constituted man and woman-if He has said, in the sense in which

188

NATIONAL WOMAN'S RIGHTS CONVENTION.

some would have it, even, that the woman should be subject to the man, and the wife to the husband, you will find that in no other position will woman attain her dignity; for God has never dropped an inadvertent thought, never penned an inadvertent line. There is not a law, or principle of his being, that whoever penned that Book did not understand. There is not a right which that Book does not recognize; and there is not a duty which man owes to woman, or woman to man, that is not there enjoined.

(Here Mr. BARKER put a piece of writing into the speaker's hand.) MR. MAHAN continued the question handed me, don't concern the audience.

(Several voices.) The question; read the question.

MR. MAHAN. (Without reading the question.)-It is my firm conviction, that there is but one thing to be done on this subject—if the women of this State want the elective franchise, they can have it. I don't believe it is in the heart of man to refuse it. Only spread the truth, adhere to Woman's Rights, and adhere to that one principle, and when the people are convinced that her claim is just, it will be allowed.

It was moved, seconded, and passed, that Mrs. Pauline W. Davis be appointed Chairman of the Central Committee for the ensuing year-Antoinette L. Brown, Secretary, and that the other officers and members be re-elected.

WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON presented, on behalf of the Committee, a declaration of sentiments, a draft of which was referred again with that of Seneca Falls and the letter of Wm. H. Channing, to the Committee for final action.

LUCY STONE, followed with an eloquent and earnest appeal to her sisters, especially those just coming to womanhood, to act in the living present, learn lessons of self-help, and go courageously onward in all the ways in which the good God had fitted them to walk. Living out their highest and best natures as immortal, responsible creatures. The audience manifested great interest throughout, and closed at a late hour.

The Convention adjourned sine die.