Page:Letters to a friend on votes for women.djvu/57

 sex. Nor for this are they wholly to blame. They dimly perceive that it is not always easy to decide which of two guilty parties is the wrong-doer and which is the victim. They catch in practice a glimpse of the consideration, which is often overlooked in theoretical discussions, that sexual errors, which may be covered by one and the same name, differ almost indefinitely in the degree of moral culpability attaching to those who have violated a social law which it is assuredly necessary to keep in force.

It is usually assumed that the votes of women will always make for peace. Now, some forty years ago I dined at the house of an eminent Liberal whose wife was a clever talker. After dinner I stupidly fell half-asleep. I was roused from slumber by hearing my hostess say: 'Women would always be in favour of peace.' I exclaimed, though then an ardent advocate of woman suffrage: 'What is your reason for saying that?' My abruptness was inexcusable, but the lady could not find a single reason to give me in support of what to her was a moral axiom. Nor have I ever myself been able to find any