another moment think of withholding them, and especially shame on those who can treat woman's demand with scorn or indifference.

Woman can be safely trusted with her rights. When different classes of the community put in their claim for liberty, or their share of power, some people hesitate to grant the claim, on the pretense that if the power be granted, it will be ill used. It is on this pretense, that the ruling classes of the old world refuse the elective franchise to the people, You will be told that they have no stake in the interests of the country, and that if they obtain power, they will use it against the country. This is the constant objection in Ireland and Great Britain, and other countries in Europe. If there were any just grounds to fear that woman would use power for evil purposes, the objection would be worth considering; and then the question would be how the granting of her rights could be secured against abuse. But does any one believe, that if women were placed on a legal equality with man, she would really abuse her privileges? that woman would injure them, in the elective franchise with them? nothing of that sort to apprehend. I am not afraid to state my own conviction, that woman may not only be securely, but most advantageously trusted with whatever power man possesses.

Have men any reason to believe case she were permitted to share It appears to me, that they have

I have often said that the real reason why the ruling classes in the old world will not yield their rights to their subjects, is, not that they' are afraid that they will make a bad use of them, but that they will make too good a use of them. The working classes have always shown themselves more in favor of a good cause, than the ruling classes: and when the ruling classes have refrained from doing harm, it has generally been because they were afraid of the working classes; and they know that if the working classes had the power, they would establish right in many cases; would establish just and salutary laws, and that they would overturn corrupt institutions, and establish better in their stead. The ruling classes have so many corrupt interests, that they are afraid of the working classes having power, for fear that they will do justice to the long blinded and tortured of their race.

Now if men have any fears with respect to the use which woman may make of that increased power which they demand, my impression

is that the object of their dread is not some evil that she may do, but some good. There cannot be a doubt that woman would be sure to go against the drinking usages, and against the dirty traffic in tobacco and snuff, and in favor of reform in health; and doubtful as the men are ever likely to be, they cannot doubt that woman will be as forward to oppose any aggressions upon human rights; any interferance with human liberty, as man can be. The little power that woman has had, she has used creditably, and that gives us reason to suppose, that she will know how to use greater power, that she would use it with equal credit, for all just and beneficent purposes. I could myself trust the country as confidently in the hands of women, as in the hands of men. I could more securely trust the governing power, in the hands of woman, than in the hands of man. Not only has woman never so greatly abused the power she has had, but she has given us evidence to show that she has been incapable of abusing it, to the same extent that men have, in almost all ages.

I know that it is frequently objected, that the interests of men and women are so much the same, that women's interests are secure in the hands of the men. But those who make this objection to her claim for equal rights, do not make good their case. The interests of woman are not safe in the hands of man. They ought to be, but they are not. Man ought to prove that he has respected the rights of woman in the past, but he cannot prove it. I should at once plead guilty to unparalleled wrongs against woman. The position of the world to this present hour, shows that woman has been wickedly betrayed by man, and that he has failed in his duty most egregiously. Look at woman's interests and rights as they exist to-day, and see if she has been safe in man's keeping in times past. Take the matter of property. Is it shown that woman's property is as safe in his keeping as in her own? Has man, when he has taken woman in marriage, always shown a jealous regard for his wife's right, to her personal property, to her earnings, or her estate? Has he shown an anxiety to secure every particle of her property to herself, and to dispose of it according to her wishes? It may seem almost folly to ask such questions. In cases innumerable, man has shown the worst forms of selfishness imaginable, and has treated woman with the worst conceivable cruelty.

When a man finds himself possessed of the person of his wife, then he has her property. The law offers the greatest temptation to the meanest of mankind, to plot the ruin of women. Man knows that if he can induce woman to submit to the marriage ceremony, he can obtain her property, and then if he can induce her to leave him, or if he can kill her quietly, the property remains to him, and nobody can dispute it. What is the result? A race of men known all over the world as "fortune hunters" has sprung up, and these men are the meanest of their race; hypocritical, making deceit an art, a study, a perpetual labor. They set themselves to work to find what unmarried females are possessed of property, intrigue to get introductions to them, and, with all kinds of protestations of adoration and sometimes "crocodile tears," they endeavor to convince their victims that they love them most devotedly, and cannot live without them. They succeed at length, for women who do not practice deceit themselves, are least suspicious of it in others. It frequently happens, therefore, that the very best of women fall into the hands of the very worst of men, and cases do occur where men obtain the person and property of women for no other purpose than to indulge their vices at their legal wives' expense; and so long as the law continues in its present state, we may expect these most distressing cases to frequently occur. It requires a woman to be somewhat wicked herself to suspect men. The best education we can give woman to secure her against the deceit of such practised villains, is no safeguard. There is no remedy, then, but to give her the legal ownership of her own property, the same as man. This at once removes the temptation which has given birth to so many crimes against woman. Then, if a man should turn out bad after he has become the husband of a woman of property, it still leaves the woman in possession of whatever she had at the time of marriage, and enables her to make the best of her unhappy situation.

Woman's Rights, then, have not been safe in man's keeping. Give woman her rights; make her not the master of man, but man's equal. Take away the lordship from both wives, will take care to treat ths,

them good wives, and keep the

and then, men who have anner calculated to make

1 wives, to the end of the chap.

ter. The fact is, that if man had no regard for anything but the true interests of woman, he would never wish to have power over her, and would wish her to have her share of power. The man who is most anxious to have more power than is his due, is most apt to abuse it; and the very fact that men wish to get possession of power, proves that they are not fit to have it; and the man who would best use power, is the very man who would shrink from assuming it. The man who is least fit to trust with your money, is the man who is most anxious to get hold of it. The most upright men do not like to be in debt, though conscious of their own integrity. They are more afraid of some casualty which would injure those who have trusted them.

The man who is conscious of wishing to do nothing but justice, wants no power over woman, and does not wish to have her at his feet. The man who wishes woman to be prostrate before him, may justly be suspected of wishing to trample upon her. I am afraid the opposition we sometimes hear to woman's claims, originates, not in a regard for woman, nor in a fear that she would injure herself, or any body else, but in an unworthy feeling, a discreditable wish to control an individual as deserving as he himself can be.

I did not rise to make a speech. I rose simply to bespeak a candid consideration for whatever may be advanced. We wish all to state their views. Many persons when they begin to teach, instruct themselves as well as others; and I think if you undertake to put your arguments against Woman's Rights, into shape, you will be very much dissatisfied with them, and throw them away. If not, however, you will discover that if, unaided, you could not find out their falsity, such aid will be rendered by those on the other side, as will leave you no desire to repeat your arguments. Nothing suffers by discussion. Nothing is in danger, but error. Truth bears all kinds of friction, and will only shine the more for being burnished. The head of gold will never break; it is only the feet of iron and clay that will crumble. If you have a thought and think it gold, out

with it, that it may be stripper

fitted by the exposure.

MRS. E. L. ROSE.-You

its disguises, that all may be bene

ca

harag many arguments, my friends,

ity.

of expediency and policy presented, why woman should be heard; why her claims should be examined; why her rights should be given her; and yet many, many more might be adduced why it should be done. But there is one argument, which in my estimation is the argument of arguments, why she should have her rights, not on account of expediency, not on account of policy, though these, too, show the reasons why she should have her rights; but we claim-I for one claim, and I presume all our friends claim-our rights on the broad ground of human rights; and I for one again will say, I promise not how we shall use our rights. I will no more promise how we shall use our rights, than man has promised, before he obtained them, how he would use his rights. We all know that rights are often abused; and above all things have human rights in this country been abused, from the very fact that they have been withheld from half of the community. To this effect I will read our first resolution, and then speak to the subject.

Resolved, That by Human Rights, we mean Natural Rights, in contradistinction from conventional usages, &c.

Upon that ground we claim our rights, and upon that ground our rights have already been conceded by the Declaration of Independence, in that first great and immutable truth which is proclaimed in that instrument, "that all men are created equal," and that therefore all are entitled to "certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Our claims are based upon that great and immutable truth, the rights of all humanity. For is woman not included in that phrase "all men are created free and equal"? Is she not included in that expression? Tell us ye men of the nation, ay, ye wise law-makers and law-breakers of the nation, whether woman is not included in that great Declaration of Independence? And if she is, what right has man to deprive her of her natural and inalienable rights? It is natural, it is inherent, it is inborn, it is a thing of which no one can justly deprive her. Upon that just and eternal basis do we found our claims for our rights,— political, civil, legal, social, religious, and every other.

But, at the outset, we claim our equal political rights with man, not only from that portion of the Declaration of Independence, but