FEMALE SUFFRAGE.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " BPEOTATOR..1
Sir, I trust that you will not deny my claim to the title of " a plain man," if I venture to point out that two of the supposed " discrepancies " in Mr. Courtney's argument for female suffrage can be reconciled in a very common-place
manner, and without any exercise of " subtlety." Surely, no maxim is more generally admitted than that intercourse between people possessing different virtues and different defects may be an advantage to both parties. Yet this, as it seems to me, is one of the " subtle paradoxes" which Mr. Courtney defends. If women have too little interest in the public affairs in which men take part, and consequently fall into .certain narrownesses of view, surely the obvious cure for the 'evil is the providing a new impulse, which may quicken their interest in these matters. But it does not therefore follow that women may not have other excellences, and many capabilities of excellence, which are not to be found in the ordinary male politician ; and the application of these qualities to:political life may improve "practical" politics, as much as the attention to political science may benefit women. So far is this argument from subtlety, that I feel ashamed of writing such obvious .common-places ; but, if you will find subtleties where others see only common-places, you must expect common-place answers where you had hoped for a " subtle " discussion.
May I ask, in conclusion, in what sense the advocacy of female suffrage "abuts on " the Conservative creed P—I am,
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