suffrage, voted to burden itself until three thousand millions of debt was rolled up. There is an instance of what men will do with universal suffrage. Yes, and that among the common people; for the large copperhead element was to be found among capitalists, not among the masses. "Well, but," it may be said, "sober second thought will come; wait until the people come to pay the debt, when currency depreciates and greenbacks become scarce!" Now as they had gone to the war for a sentiment, a patriotic sentiment, not because they had received material damage or expected any pecuniary damage from the South, but purely from the glorious sentiment of a united country, as they fought through four years of the war backed up by votes at home, so when the question came up, "Will you sustain the honor of the Government? Will you pay the debt that has been incurred?" look at the answer. Never did trap of dishonesty, so concealed in its interior structure, present so tempting a bit of cheese to humanity. Yet when the question came, after full discussion and trial in all the States of the North successively, by majorities that no man will choose now to gainsay or resist, by overwhelming majorities, they said, "The debt shall be paid, every penny of it!" The North so voted. It was the common people that voted it; men that live on wages. By that experiment two things were shown; one that when the whole people are appealed to, they do stand up to the interests of the States better than educated classes do; and the other, that when it comes to the question of sentiment or National integrity, the common people are to be trusted; and it is not the day, in the face of the magnificent disclosures of that trying time, to say that it is unsafe to trust the welfare of a country in the hands of such people. I say there is no man that comes to years of discretion who is not fit for the responsibilities of citizenship. Women will also improve when we welcome them to the open air of liberty.
The sum of all these remarks is simply this, "Amen" to Brother Blackwell.
Lucy Stone came forward and reminded the audience that a bill is now before Congress which provides that the employees in the Government departments at Washington and in both Houses of Congress shall be equally paid irrespective of sex, and that petitions should be sent to Congress advocating the passage of the bill; that blanks for the purpose would be found in the hall, and she hoped the friends of the cause would sign them. She read a letter from Mr. Giles B. Stebbins regretting his inability to be present, and expressing confidence in the ultimate triumphant success of the cause.
Mr. Powell, of the Anti-Slavery Standard, was introduced: Ladies and gentlemen—My first feeling this morning was one of congratulation in view of the encouraging auspices under which we meet here to advocate the enfranchisement of women. I regard this movement to-day as just entering upon its earliest efficient practical work. The era of curiosity and novelty is past. There is no longer in the public mind that feeling which has hitherto manifested itself in connection with the discussion of the proposition that women should vote. We have now to contend with the more difficult and solid portion of the problem. The right of woman to speak has been argued and settled; the right of woman to the ballot has been quite generally admitted—indeed, almost universally so—as it must be by any one who