given us at the residence of Dr. Ewing Whittle. Several short speeches were made, all cheering the parting guests with words of hope and encouragement for the good cause.
Here the wisdom of forming an international association was considered. The proposition met with such favor from those present that a committee was appointed to correspond with the friends in different nations. As Miss Anthony and myself are members of that committee,[1] now that these volumes are finished and we are at liberty once more, we shall ascertain as soon as possible the feasibility of a grand international conference in New York in 1888, to celebrate the fourth decade of our movement for woman’s enfranchisement. Such conventions have been | held by the friends of anti-slavery, peace, temperance, social purity and evangelical christianity, and why may not the suffrage cause, too, receive a new impetus from the united efforts of its friends in all countries.
On the broad Atlantic for ten days we had many opportunities to review all we had seen and heard. There we met our noble friends, Mr. and Mrs. Hussey of New Jersey; also Mrs. Margaret Buchanan Sullivan of Chicago, just returning from an extended tour in Ireland, who gave us many of her rich experiences. Sitting on deck hour after hour, how often I queried with myself as to the significance of the boon for which women were so earnestly struggling. In asking for a voice in the government under which we live, have we been pursuing a shadow for forty years? In seeking political power, are we abdicating that social throne where they tell us our influence is unbounded? No! no! the right of suffrage is no shadow, but a substantial entity that
- ↑ The following is the report of the action prepared that evening by Mrs. Parker: "At a large and influential gathering of the friends of woman suffrage, at Parliament Terrace, Liverpool, November 16, 1883, convened by E, Whittle, M. D., to meet Mrs, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Susan B. Anthony prior to their return to America, it was proposed by Mrs. Margaret E. Parker of Penketh (near Warrington), seconded by Mrs. McLaren of Edinburgh, and unanimously passed : "That this meeting, recognizing that union is strength and that the time has come when women all over the world should unite in the just demand for their political enfranchisement ; therefore "Resolved, That we do here appoint a committee of correspondence, preparatory to forming an International Woman Suffrage Association. "Resolved, That the committee consist of the following friends, with power to add to their number: “For the American Center—Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Miss Susan B. Anthony, Miss Rachel Foster. London Center—Mrs. Peter A. Taylor, Mrs. Margaret B. Lucas, Miss Helen Taylor, Miss Henrietta Müller. Miss Caroline A. Biggs, Mr. and Mrs. Charles McLaren, Miss Eliza Orme, Miss Rebecca Moore, London; Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch, Basingstoke. Manchester Center—Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Bright, Manchester; Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Thomasson, Bolton; Mrs. Margaret E. Parker, Penketh; Dr. and Mrs. Whittle, Liverpool; Mrs. Oliver Scatcherd, Leeds; Mr. and Mrs. Walter McLaren, Bradford ; Mrs. Philips, Liverpool; Mr. and Mrs. Crook, Bolton; Mr. Berners, Mr. Russell, Liverpool ; Miss Becker, Manchester. Bristol Center—Miss Helen Bright Clarke, Street: Mrs. Alfred Ostler, Birmingham ; Miss Priestman, Bristol. Center for Scotiand—Mrs. Duncan McLaren, Mrs. Elizabeth Pease Nichol, Miss Eliza Wigham, Edinburgh. Center for Ireland—Miss Tod, Belfast; Mrs. Haslam, Dublin. Center for France—M'lle Hubertine Auclert, Mr. and Mrs, Theodore Stanton, Charlotte B. Wilbour, Paris.
