Then followed Mr. S. B. Beckett, just returned from a trip to the Holy Land, who testified, among other things, that he had seen women both in London and Ireland who knew "how to keep a hotel," which is reckoned among men as the highest earthly qualification—and proved it by managing some of the largest and best in the world.
And then Mr. Charles Jose, late one of our aldermen, who, half in earnest and half in jest, took t'other side of the question, urging, first, that this was a political movement—as if that were any objection, supposing it true; our whole system of government being a political movement, and that, by which we trampled out the last great rebellion, another, both parties and all parties coöperating in the work; next, that women did not ask for suffrage—it was the men who asked for it, in their names; that there were no complaints and no petitions from women! As if petitions had not gone up and complaints, too, by thousands, from all parts of the country, from school-teachers and office clerks and others, as well as from the women at large, both over sea and here.
But enough. The meeting stands adjourned for a week. Probably no organization will be attempted, lest it might serve to check free discussion.
May 5, 1870.
Mr. W. W. McCann wrote to the Woman's Journal of this suffrage meeting in Portland, in 1870:
Judge Howe's voice, when he addressed the jury of Wyoming as "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Grand Jury," fell upon the ears of that crowded court-room as a strange and unusual sound. Equally strange and impracticable seemed the call for a "woman suffrage meeting," at the city building, to the conservative citizens of Portland. However, notwithstanding the suspicion and prejudice with which this movement is regarded, quite a large and highly respectable audience assembled at an early hour to witness the new and wonderful phenomenon of a meeting to aid in giving the ballot to woman.
Hon. John Neal, who issued the call for the meeting, was the first to speak. He reviewed the history of this movement, both in this country and in England. He gave some entertaining reminiscences of his acquaintance with John Stuart Mill forty years ago. Mr. Mill was not then in favor of universal suffrage; he advocated the enfranchisement of the male sex only. Mr. Neal claimed the right for women also. He was happy to learn that since then Mr. Mill has thrown all the weight of his influence and his masterly intellect in favor of universal suffrage. He then entered into an elaborate discussion of some of the objections brought against woman suffrage, and, much to the surprise of many present, showed that the rights which women demand are just and reasonable, and ought to be granted. John M. Todd remarked that he was not so much impressed by the logical arguments in favor of suffrage as by the shallow and baseless arguments of the opposition. The friends of woman suffrage are becoming active and earnest in their efforts, and discussion is freely going on through the daily papers.