Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 3.djvu/618

Rh may be naturalized and become a citizen of the United States, and that, too, without the consent of her husband. A woman may be a citizen of the United States, be subject to the laws, own property, and be compelled to pay taxes to support a government she has no voice in administering or vote in electing its officers.

In the same issue of the News we meet with an earnest appeal for the prompt passage of a law conferring upon woman a right to her earnings. When we realize that one of the Supreme Judges soon after this assured Mrs. Bradwell that she was editing a paper that no lawyer could afford to do without, we shall understand how important a part this journal has played in the courts. In the sixth number of the News we find the attention of the legal fraternity called to the fact that in the reign of James I. it was held in the cases of Coats vs. Lyall and Holt vs. Lyall, tried in Westminster Hall, that a single woman, if a freeholder, had the right to vote for a parliament man; and in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Lady Packington, in right of property held by her, did actually vote for a return of two burgesses to parliament for the borough of Aylesburg; and in the time of Charles I., Mrs. Copley voted, in right of her property, for the return of a burgess for Gratton. The subject of their return was brought before parliament, and amended by joining other persons with Mrs. Copley in the right of returning burgesses for Gratton. Women have actually sat and voted in the English parliament.

In 1868, Sorosis, a woman's club, was organized in Chicago, with Mrs. Delia Waterman president, and soon after several periodicals were established; The Chicago Sorosis, with Mrs. Mary L. Walker, Cynthia Leonard and Agnes L. Knowlton, editors; The Inland Monthly, Mrs. Charlotte Clark, editor and publisher; and The Agitator, with Mary A. Livermore and Mary L. Walker editors. Though all were short-lived, they serve to show woman's ambition in the direction of journalism.

In 1868 there was a decided "awakening" on the question of woman suffrage in central Illinois. In the town of Elmwood, Peoria county, the question drew large audiences to lyceum discussions, and was argued in school, church and caucus. The conservatives became alarmed, and announced their determination to "nip the innovation in the bud." A spirited editorial in the New York Independent was based upon the following facts, given by request of some of the disfranchised women:

Rev. V. G. Pierce was the pastor of the Elmwood Congregational Church. A large majority of the members were women, and there was no discrimination against them in the church manual. The pastor and two or three members decided that a change of rules was needed. A church meeting was held in March, 1868, at which the number in attendance was very small, owing to some irregularities in issuing the call. The suffrage question was brought up by the pastor, and the talk soon became so insulting that the women present felt compelled to leave the house. The manual was then -amended so as to exclude women from voting "in matters pertaining to the welfare of the church," and making a two-thirds vote of adult males necessary to any change thereafter. This was carried by five yeas to one nay only six votes out of a membership of 210! The church was taken by surprise, and there was no little excitement when the fact became known next day. A vigorous protest and a call for reconsideration was quickly signed by nearly a hundred members and sent to the pastor. The meeting was not called for weeks, and when at last it was secured, he, as moderator, ruled reconsideration out, on the ground that there was an error in the announcement