INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 184, 3 August 1904, Page 9

INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN.

QUISQUEXXIAL 3IEETDCG HELD IN

BEEUX, JUKE, 1904.

(By Wilhehnina Sherriff Bain.)

Berlin i? very attractive in the bonny •Tune of the Northern Hemisphere. It is a clean city: regiments of men and boy? are constantly employed in maintaining the order of its tnorougiifarc*. Thr street architecture i=; lofty and

symmetrical. There are no sky raker? fcuch a? hsve l>egun to disfiffurp Mcl

hourn?. for instance: neither is there rieid uniformity. Five storey? prpvaiJ; and. a< ibf streets arc always fairly vdde and often beautifully spacious, the mik , ? on rails.' of buildings—with their sculptural adornments and their prospering baleonie* all abloom trith tap iiowpr;

of the ?e<t?on —make :i really noble, display. Probably because p&larcv-, museum?, -and other erections occupy quite tlir licart of the city. the mansions of the rk-h likewise r-oii-frort many of the main avenues, instearl of tending suburbanwards. as is the colonial curtom. In every Platz there i? soTUPthinc , to adxnire: designs ablaze witn flew«TS &ad margined by gTeensat af.d trimnic;t of grass, fountain, mo-numc-nt. or raemoTisl church; while the Tiergarten and otner public pleasaonces are e*er delightful. Prussion is proud of the metropolis tl'at has obliterated the. little fishing village on the .Spree, and her later monfuxhs appeat Iα heve vied vriih. «»ch

i.*hments. ributed a rativp of id olhor may not liiiffiT ju*T now. nor may w jrazc upon vxjild-fiunoua paintings." nor stroll Unter den Linden, wlicrt', annis-iiiwly fii(>i;"li a almost all the trees are not linden*.

other in their suecesMVo e.mbell Thp Kmp«»roi' has eont j-erios oj ;!2 monuments illusl tho Ilohenzollcrn dynasty—ai gift*—in Berlin. By we

We turn h> Prinz Albrechl Stra.sse, ! :uid rind our μ-jv to tho stately hall ■within which women of many nationalities have congregated. Tables are arranged in a hollow square, with one Ion;? table for reporters within the cnrlowd space. Anil there, in tlie leadinj? position. Jiis fnisan B. Anthony, the most remarkable woman of our time one r>f thp great women of all time. On lier left is Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, a .■!i«tinguishcrl American forensically trained, and on he;- right the brillians yeiißj: German interpreter, Dr. Schirinafhcr. Other- famous women arc. present, noticeably the Rev. Anna Shaw, of United States, who. within a few days, vill deliver the firsc sermon ever prearhed by a woman in (iermany. There are strong kind faces all arouud. mteliert and a keen sense of responsibility are everywhere manifest, dignity and grace pervado tha assembly. There women hav<? come together to inaugurale an

INTERNATIONAL WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE ALLIAXCE, and their leader is the woman who has advocated ihc enfranchisement, of wo-

men for more than "><J years past. Through indifference, ridicule, hostility,

ohjequy. Mi?? Anthony has urjred the rerormitiOß of wenan's co-equality with man: ssd. intensely practical as she is, she ha* claimed the suii'rajro for her sex, because the right to -vote is the o-ne constitutional lever of reform—the one eonsiitutional badge of human values.

And now, preliminaries are over, and Mi-s Anthony viands to address the meeting. Kor a brief space there is silence, and we look with affectionate reverence upon the woman of 84 years, so upright, steadfast, indomitable! Her carren features—of leonine type—look just :i liltle sad in repose; her shining silvery hair is smoothly braided into a still massive coil, allowing the fine proportions of her head to bn seen; in her quiet bJack satin gown she stands more erect than many a woman of middle age! Quite simply she begins. First she mentions the disadvantage of speaking \rntler interpretation: "But I will do mv , best/ she. promises, -She expresses j>leaa>

xae in meeting delegates from so msajl eountries-r-in the manifestation that th* desire for enfranchisement haa got into woman's world-\ridc consciousness. Then, forgetting every sort of disadvantage, I «he launches into a masterly address. Starting with Mary Woolstonecroft, she cites a glorious roll call. Johu Stuart Mill, the grand apostle of liberty for all: Frances Wright, -a noblo Scotchwoman, who visited America in. the youth of the 10th century; Ernesl,ine Rose, the beautiful orator who fled, from Poland to avoid religious persecution; "Mathilde." the gifted Hungarian, who nought refuge in the f«r West: ami other Europeans. who sowt*l the sjood seed in good soil; Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton. and Lucy, Stone, amount the American women \vho>e lifelong devotion fructified that seed. For a few minutes she dwells upon the first Woman's llights Convention (IS4S). and then she resumes her seat, having uttered not one word about her own career. Mrs Chapman Catt then rises. She a; pears widdle-aged; her face is keenly, intellectual, her form i< graceful, her manner then and throughout subsequent proceedings perfect in that self-control which is" lined k> control the largest and the mo~t i-oufiicling a-sseniblagp. *he coon proves herself an able rind effective speaker, for. in the name of the women or' Wyoming. she presents to the International Conferomt —for the chair uf the alliance about 1o be funned—the gayer which was used at the. first meeting oi enfranchised women ever held, and eloquently she narrates the story of Wyoming suffrage, it is a beautiful story. Everyone present forcibly realises; the significance of the gift which conies from women who, with the help cf some staunch men, so heroically struggled for *the right to vote, and who have, voted /.or ?>i years past, "Wyoming, Colorado, Ctah. Idaho, our four stars in the national banner! We shall soOu b«vn more, we shall have them all; and this griAat meeting will help us, a* it •will nelp every other land!" was the. conclusion of Sirs Chapman C'att's address. This speech having been interpreted, as >fiss Anthony's had been interpreted, section by sectiou. so that simultaneous interest was maintained, the meeting deeide«i some necessary formalities, and then considered the DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES, which may be thus summarised: The natural relation of the sexes is hhst oi interdependence and co-opera-tion, and the repression of: the rights and liberty of one box inevitably work 3 injury to'tJae other, and hence to the whole rate. No government ought to impose taxes and laws upon women citizens -without giving them the same power of consent, or dissent, which it grants to men citizens. The. ballot is cue only legal ond permanent means of defending the rights of the individual; therefore women should be vested with, ail privileges of ejectors under any re« preventative form of government. The. declaration having been fully de« bated and duly adopted, the vjoxsxrruTiox of the inter. NATIONAL WOMEN SUFFRAGE ALLIANCE was then discussed. The object of the Alliance was stated to be. the uniting of every organisation which taliins to secure the, enfranchisement of women, tor the purposes of co-operation and irnternal helpfulness. Article by article :he constitution was accepted. Then in a brief but impressive speeph Rw. Mi»s Anna Shaw proposed. Mi?s Anthony as ihe president of the newlytormed Alliance. Every woman in the aall rose and did silent h<pma™e to the •rreat pioneer. But Miss Anthony, her iones just slightly trembling, declined the honour. "My working days are Jove now,' , she said; '"you know I am in my Both year." Mrs Cbppman Catt iva& next proposed, and appointed by; acclamation. Then Miss Aaithony vra* joininated as honorary president. Agaia those women from nortU, south, east and west by one impulse stood, and :his time they would accept no "Xay."* x) Miss Anthony made some thrilKng remarks, and promised to accept the position of the woman whose devoted lelpfulness had enabled her to cany oil the struggle might—as first member of .he Alliance —rank beside her now. "Stand, Mary!" she. called out to her jster. and that dear little old ladj; alushingly received well-won distinction. Other appointments were, made, and all jieep.soary officialisms concluded. Then, through their representa-tives, jiphteen countries entered into agreement, to win for their women, as for, their men. the right to vote, the New; Zealand delegate* enlisting themselves Individually as a.-soeiate members of the international Women Suffrage. Alliance. June 21, 1904. (To be continued.)