Punch: Punch (36.1859)

138

! " There now, Mr. Punch ! What do you say to that, Sir? This is
what a statesman, you observe, Sir, says for us. The inanieliable
(what a horribly hard word, and how difficult to spell!) the ilanienable
right to electoral power must be—do you hear, Sir ?—' iitjst be for the'
women as well as for the men!' That dear Mr. Roebuck ! What a
duck the man must be ! Ho-w can you call him names when lie speaks
such noble sentiments ! Sheffield file, indeed! You ought to be
ashamed of it.

" As for what he says, though, about ' wishing to relieve us from

the trouble of politics,' I would reply, We 're muofe obliged, Sir, but we

don't want to be relieved. Trouble, indeed! Why, bless the man!

does he think women such dolls that we can none of us bear troubles?

Pray, what is marriage but a trouble!—yet do women ever shrink from

it? What are housekeeping and shopping and dinner-ordering but

troubles !—yet do you ever hear of women wishing to be ' relieved' of

them ? What are husbands but great troubles!—yet don't we poor

weak women somehow manage to get over them ? Trouble is a pleasure,

at least some troubles are, and I'm sure that to right-minded females

: the exercise oipoiver of any sort is one of them.

" I repeat then, Mr. Punch, on the authority of a statesman, that

we ladies ' must have ' an inalienable (there!—that's spelt right,

now isn't it ?) right to vote. Mr. Roebuck says we must, so there

i cannot be a doubt of it. Dear, delightful man! It's quite a novelty

to hear such gentlemanly sentiments. I declare if I'd been present

I when he spoke so, I'd have hugged him! Had Mr. Smith been

present (Mr. Smith's my husband), I should have braved the danger

of such an indiscretion. And yet this is the man whom you are all

inventing names for. This is the man whom you put down as a ' Bath

bun' Sir! But it's just like you men. Always jealous of your betters,

. including Mr. Roebuck, and your better halves, Sir. And that's the

reason, I believe, why you won't let us into Parliament. You fear our

heads would be too long for you. And so you greedy creatures keep

all your nice //electoral powers to yourselves, and don't allow your poor

mTT^TT/^Tr T m_ „,„ -n-i?\-u i" dear wives the chance of a ^electoral one !

THOUGH LOST TO SIGHT 10 MEMORY DEAR ! „ ^ a_ woman j cry shame upon such MEANNESSj Mr. Punch, and

Gent. "Hullo, Charles! have you been fighting? That looks rather a remain, Sir,
black eye you 're got." Yours, defiantly, Xantippe Smith.

Waiter. " Fight, Sir ? Yessir. Black eye, Sir? Yessir—p'raps it is a «pg You will insert my letter, won't you? Bo now, there's a

little dark. But talking o'black eyes, Sir, lor / you should ha' been and fenm I

seen the t other party ! " £C p g j re_open tMg to gayj that if yQU >U print my letter Mk Smitii

.-- - — -------- shall buy a copy, and I'll make him read it out to me and dear

Mamma, who so admires you ! "

WOMANHOOD SUFFRAGE.

" My dear Mr. Punch, " Cicero Cottage, Camberwell. rYW& SONG OF THE FRENCH EAGLE.

" We ladies are so much obliged to vou for your inserting that _ . „ , in

report of what you justly call our Great Reform Meeting. We all so B™EV? ™,e> that a11 ^hof B^atS™8 and smali arms'

hoped that the Times would have sent us a reportress, and it was most .T Which 1 m castm? 9/ hundreds, you say;

unmanly in them not to do so. I am sure that what we said deserved Need by no means excite your vain fears and alarms :

to be made known as publicly as possible, and I can't think why the Dismiss all such disquietudes, pray

Times didn't condescend to notice us. Indeed the press generally has All these terrible weapons mere playthings are tor,

behaved in the most shameful way to us poor injured creatures. Your- lhey are warranted never to kill: _

self honourably excepted, not one of the mean things has said a word And altho you may think 1 m preparing tor War,

about our gathering, and yet their columns have been teeming with At Peace I quite mean to be still,

reports of your men's meetings. It is really most unfair that you ,m- . T > • : \ , ,

male people should have all the talking to yourselves, and never Tis tme I m increasing my Army, tis known

printl word that we poor women utter. I know that, f I had my J1^ «? I h I f each day;

way, I should like to kidnap all the Editors in England, and have their But by this no belligerent pronenes is sIkdwu

ears puUed till they listened to the voice of Justice. It seems quite lis to prove that L Empire c est la Paix !

clear to me, that women's wrongs will not be righted, till the fair sex lt | arm> tlsf for ^ 1 ¥lt' i{1S tm loVe;

get a fair hold of the public ear; and if ladies will but organise a T ,For ^ifr S^8*^ wflL

deputation to do this, 1 for one will gladly lend a hand to do the 1 ^ bir| w,lth ^e hef ^ ,andAhe T°lCe ,°f a d°Ve'

pulling Of an Eagle although I ve the claws !

" I merely throw this hint out en passant as you say, for when a -- — --

good thing strikes one I think it is a shame to keep it to oneself. But

what I wished to say, Sir, was, that if our meeting had not broken up THE COMPLAINT OE THE COALWHIPPERS.

so suddenly (one's husbands as you know are always in the way), ,, , ,, . 01.

there was one especial point which I should have ventured some Coalowners, come oyer the coals—and bring Shipowners with yoi.

remarks upon, as I consider it of vital importance to our cause We What means the complaint that the coalwhippers are bringing against

met, if you remember, to complain of your Reform Bill, because it J™ for insisting on paying them at pot-houses instead of a prop?r

made no provision to give women a vote Now that Womanhood ofllce> whereby, m the hrst place, they are made to depend tor their

Suffrage is one of Woman's Rights has been admitted by a statesman employment on publicans and middlemen, and, in the next, obliged to

(need I mention Mr. Roebuck ?) in the following plain words:— spend a great part of their reduced wages m gin and beer ? Is it true

■ ° that Parliament has had, from time to time, to pass Acts compelling

i at nnoe m Wnn tv.m°t^ i^Vih evePT inan J1 aJn ina^enat)le right to electoral power, you to hire them and pav them at a decent place, and in a proper

I at once tell you that I don t understand that language. What is the inalienable L J it. i- 'l j. j. j.u a a j- a,- j

right? Is there any country in the world in which that power exists. No. If there manner ; and that VOU at last got those enactments discontinued Oil

were, the people would not be oppressed. They have not, then,'as a matter of fact,

",™i ^^^^^i^f^A^l6".*1516 Y^11* ;.or in <it]a^r^:?r4si .universal suffrage, you yourselves finally to abandon your Tow and disgraceful line of

manhood suffrage or the other terms they give it * * What I believe is necessary
is that the boay of electors should represent the interests of the community at large
Here again is a difficulty in understanding this inalienable right; for one half of the
population, and more than that, are women. How are they to become an elective
i.ody. Itns is a matter which has often been discussed: and I must say that
owing as I do everything to women, for their happiness and our own, I would
certainly relieve them from the trouble of politics. But, mark you, if vou talk of
the inalienable right to eICctoral power, it must be for the women as "well as for
the men.

the pretence that they had answered their purpose, that is, had caused

lo1

dealing with those men; and then that, having thus succeeded in
deluding the Legislature, you forthwith reverted to that shameful
system, and persist in it now ? For, if these charges against you are
true, the coalwhippers might, with great propriety and justice, if but
lawfully, have their sphere of usefulness extended by a little further
work, and be employed, not only in whipping your coals, but likewise
yourselves.