A Woman's Letter to Women.

Evening Star, Issue 7337, 8 October 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

A Woman's Letter to Women.

[By Phyllis Browne, in the • Temperance World.'] The Jubilee celebration is now over, and we may hope that in a little while we shall have settled down again to quiet life. If it is expected that I shall add to the lengthy accounts of it which may have appeared in the newspapers, with a statement of my personal experiences on the occasion, I am afraid there will be disappointment, for on the eventful Tuesday I remained at home. I do not like going iuto crowds, and I could not afford to pay the high price which was asked for a decent place, so I stayed away, and consoled myself with thinking how very hot and tired the people would.be who had gone to the show ; how much they were in danger of accident; and how safe were those who did not venture forth. Yet, even while doing this, I found it eminently satisfactory to reflect that the individual over whom all thi3 stir was being made all over the country was a woman. Women sovereigns have not done very badly for England. We still talk with respect of good Queen Anne, and England took the highest position it had up to that time attained among nations in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, while now eloquence exhausts itself in praise of Queen Victoria. Honesty obliges us to confess, however, that a large part of this praise is not deserved. The Queen has been a good woman, and she has done her work very well; but she is not the author and originator of all the progress which has been made during the last fifty years. It would have been accomplished just the same if she had not been there. Her great achievement has been that she has not hindered it. The fact is that in the past we have been so accustomed to monarchs who are bad, who set themselves against liberty, aud are the worst foes of the people, that when we happen to light upon a sovereign who is as good as ordinary folks, and who does not spend all her time in stealing, killing, and destroying, we are so much astonished that we count these negative virtues to her for righteousness. We are quite reasonable in doing this. It would be a great blessing for the world if kings, queens, and rulers would cease to be hindrances.

Some one said, the other day, that future historians will probably remember the Victorian era as the era of the emancipation of women. This is profoundly true. Before Victoria began to reign, women, as women, were legally and socially nowhere. Their rights were not'recognised; their claims to justice, equality with men, independence, education, the possession of property, their guardianship of their own children, were scorned; and lawmakers never stopped to think what poor women had to endure who were tied to miserable brutes. Now what a change there is! Truly " the woman's hour has struck." The woman's movement is the most remarkable movement of the age. It affects not England ouly, but every other nation; indeed, it is greater in the New World than it is in the Old. Yet even amongst ourselves it is so decided that none are blind to it but those who will not see. Every year as it closes now finds women possessed of some privilege which they did not possess when the year began, and their influence is steadily on the increase. It will go on, we trust and believe, until— The statelier Eden Bhall come back to men; Then will reign the world's great bridals, chaste and calm; Then spring the crowning race of human kindMay these tilings be. People say women have done themselves harm by trying to get the franchise. Such people do not know what they are talking about. Before women began to agitate it was almost absurd to try to get a law passed on their behalf, or to persuade the public to listen to them in any way. Look at what has been done since that agitation commenced. Miss Helen Blackburn, a great friend of the w» man's cause, published some time ago in the • Women's Suffrage Calendar 'an account of women's progress. From this the following details are compiled. They Bhow how much has been gained in each year since women united to try and obtain political enfranchisement—that is, since 1866—twenty-one years ago. Before this, it will be understood, women had been granted in this direction nothing. 1866. The first petition for women's suffrage was signed by 1,500 women. The first Committee for women's suffrage formed. 1867.—Women were admitted to special examinations at the London University. Mr John Stuatt Mill moved as an amendment to Mr Disraeli's Reform Bill that the word person be used instead of Man, in order that women might be included therein. Of course the amendment was rejected. The National Society for Women's Suf-1 frage was founded. 1868. —The first public meetings on Women's Suffrage held—one in Manchester, the other in Birmingham. 1869.—The first public meeting was held on women's suffrage with women speakers. These ladies were received with a storm of scorn and ridicule. A National Women's Suffrage Society was founded in America. The right of women to vote in municipal elections was acknowledged. Women's suffrage was adopted in Wyoming. A Women's Congress was held in Berlin. 1870.—A Bill to remove the Electoral Disabilities of Women was introduced for the first time in the House of Commons. Women admitted to the Swedish universities. The Married Women's Froperty Act passed. The power to vote at school board elections, and also to sit upon school boards, was conferred upon women. Medical education and medical degrees were opened to women in Paris. Examinations for apothecaries were opened to women in Holland. 1871.—The Vigilance Association formed for the defence of personal rights and the amendment of laws relating to women. 1872.—Girton College established. Women were admitted to matriculate in Australia. 1873.—First girls' public day-school opened. 1874J—A woman was appointed Poor-law Inspector. Women's Protective and Provident League was founded. Married Women's Property Act Amendment Act was passed. A law with the same object was passed in Sweden. Protection orders were given to wives in Scotland. The London School of Medicine was opened to women. The University of Berne was opened to women. Degrees were conferred upon women at Leipsig. 1875.—The first lady Poor-law guardian was elected. NewnhamHall, Cambridge, was opened. Women delegates from women's unions attended the Trades Union Congress at Glasgow. Women were admitted to the Pharmaceutical Society, Ireland,

Degrees were oonferred upon Women in Copenhagan. The Medical College, Madras, was opened to women. 1876. Manchester New College was opened to womem An Act was passed for enabling qualified persons to be registered in medicine without distinction of sex. The King's and Queen's Colleges of Physicians, Ireland, opened medical degrees to women. Fifteen universities of Italy were opened to women. 1877.—5t. Andrew's College opened degrees in letters to women. Women were admitted as students to the Royal Free Hospital. Women were admitted to matriculation in Calcutta. An Act passed the Italian Parliament permitting women to witness civil document?. 1878.—A new charter passed admitting women to London University. The Matrimonial Causes Act passed. The University of Geneva opened to women. 1879. Somerville Hall, Oxford, was opened. Women first took degrees in Finland in medicine, and in Gottingen in arts. 1880.—Women's suffrage passed the House of Keys, Isle of Man. Secondary education for girls was decreed in France. Married Women's Property Act passed

in Denmark. 1831.—Women were admitted to the Cambridge Tripos examinations. Municipal franchise was extended to women in Scotland. The Married Women's Property Act (Scotland) passed. 1882.—Municipal votes were conferred on women ratepayers in Iceland. Consolidated Married Women's Property Act passed. First lady physician established in Spain. 1883.—Women's Suffrage Association formed in Canada. 1884.—Queen Margaret's College, Glasgow, opened for the higher education of women. Degrees of Doctor of Science and Master of Arts conferred for the first time upon women at the London University. 1885.—A resolution in favor of women's suffrage was passed in the Australian Parliament. The Criminal Law Amendment Act was passed. Women were admitted to classes and degrees of the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland. 1886.—The Married Women's Maintenance Act was passed. The Guardianship of Infants Act passed. This is the crowning triumph. Is not this a wonderful record of progress? Surely those are not mistaken who say that the Victorian era will be spoken of by future historians as the era of the emancipation of women. All women ought to join with the girls who attend the high schools, and the women who are at the universities, in rejoicing very much just now because the announcement has recently been made that a Girton student, Miss Ramsay, a young lady only twenty years of age, has come out senior classic of the year, and is the only student in the first division. She is not only first in the first division, but she alone is in the first division; all the rest, male and female students both, are a whole division below her. This is really a remarkable achievement, and it is one which has never been accomplished before. Many great men have been senior classics, but not one has so far out-distanced his companions as to be placed in a division to which no one but himself was found deserving of admission. It is particularly felicitous just now, because a petition is once more about to be presented to the authorities praying that Cambridge University degrees may be open to women. In the list given above it will be seen that in 1881 women were admitted to the examinations of the University; to the examinations, that is, but not to the degrees. It follows, therefore, that this lady, who has proved herself to be worthy of a degree beyond all the other students, will not receive a degree, simply because she is a woman. Even the Vice-Chancellor and the Senate must see that this is unjustifiable. Miss Ramsay's success may be the means of helping women on.