From The People

To the Editor of tli Ann Arbor Courier: Dkar Sik :- It is the sentiment of the American people, m evldenced by the Constitntion of the United States established in 1788, that education and popular representaron are the pillars of liberty, and the immovable foundation and corner-stonei of good government. Now "conslstency is a jewel," yet while the founders of the Republic have, 100 years go, traced in characters so deep and indelible that all the revolutions of all the ages cannot erase then this assertion, that "taxation without representation is tyranny,1' they have established a formidable barricr, moro impassable than the ('hiiiesc wall, from Canada and the Great Lakes on the north, to Mexico and the Gulf on the south, by which thousands of citizens, in actual possession of real estáte valued at mili on. s of dollars, and first-class business euterprises, are disenfranchised, and not allowed to have an audible volee in affairs of public andcoinmon concern in the conncils of the nation, with men, who, possessin;; no more in many cases than a few shillm;rs lifter paying for a steerage passage to thls country, with their children, soon becoine citizens, voters and cheap laborers to lower the wages of American workmen. The voice of the people can be the volee of God only when all the people are allowed to have a voice in matters of comiiKiii interest both social and political. Tueii why should not the people speak - not tue American, Germán, A frican, English, Chinese, Irish or Indiai (male) people, but all the people ? Kvery body knows tluit many persons of wealth and rennement come irotn the contiuent of Europe to niake tuis country their home; but then (separated only by the aecond cabin, and uiten not by that) comes the prolligate and degraded, both rich and poor, - the breaker of Sabbaths and all ordinances by whicli the Pilgrim Fathers and their immediate descendants establisbed tbemselves (on general principie?) aa patterns of piety to people of all nations: and if these lust, on whom respectable woinen must forever look with pitying contempt and loathintr, are to be aílowed to vote and receive the honors and emoluments of ollice, shall the women of America wliosc sympathies, by an overwhelming majority, are on tbesideol right - whose hearts have been pierced by tlie arrows and bulli't-i of the savage in pioneer times, and by the sorrows incident to civil war and social evils in more recent decade?, be debarred of their just tightsin times of seeming ieace ? An emphatic no should be the answer of all true men who would have the precious influence of their wives, sisters and growndaughters thrown into the national balance on theside of Truth and Justice. Men of to-day, let us lay aside the illiterate traditions of the duik ajres - make obsolete their cutoms - anniliil ite their existence, and throwing awy the mask si au insipid prejudice, like the illiistrioiis knights of the middle ages, encased in impenetrable armor, with swordí nvincible, march in unhrokeo phalanx to delend the risrhts of wumaii. who with few tious. lias never fuiled to do her diity toward us in hor God-given capaciiy ot help-meet, eitlier in the liour of abounding prosperity or excruciating need. Let us grasp with a flexible faith the defiuute fict, wliicli everj' man capable of "ronding belween the lines1' tlie inside hÍ8tory of this progreísive ceutury , knows to be such, tliat the "hand that rocks the world" mar rule the world, and hold with honor any ofllce In the legislative, judicial or executive courts of this mlghty Republic. If cornil) e events cast their shadows befon-, símil not that 'l'ruth and .1 ustico, the crowotajf perfect ion of wliich cannot be reached till tlie power of woman is exerted through the ballot-box, and her voice 9 lieard in the interest of our common humtmity, cast both direct, and by ite inseparable reflex power, a brilliant halo of inmortal glory, wliich shall drive the fonl spirits which under the HiUc of friendsbip are squandering the haid-t;arned wealth of the uation, to their native gloom; and bind theru in letters ot iron, a perpetual hostage, and positive guarantee to the welfare of those whom they have taken captive, in chains, at wili Allow me to assume the garb of prophecy and say, that, before the end of the twentieth century, the popular political voice of woman wilt be heard from Maine to Florida, and from ocean to ocean, rebuking, with no uncertain sound, the great ocial und political mistakes ol the times. No teeling of sickly sentimentality urges me to write thus - no desire for newspaper notoriety, but hearing, like Whittier, the "Tread of ploneers Of mt ons yet to be The long low plash of waveg where soou W1U roll a human sea." I feel impelled, in the interest of human welfare, to labor for the acconiplishment of this great purpose. It is not a Question of gallantry to woman, bóause she Is a woman, thatshould determine or direct our course of action n 'iis matter, but of right, becauae it is ''nt. It seems to me that here in Aun Arbor with her scores of educators, and busy multitude of ï'.T.r.ici.-, 's tbr most appropriate locality to strike the keynote of this reform, with such a firm and decided touch, that it mny be heard throughout every part of the State. It must be the labor of men true to every instinct of manhood and human rlifhts who must inuagurate and systemize this moveinent. They must be men courageous in battle, pliilosophic in defeat, and pursuant in victory pledged to the cause for life, both personilly and in tlieir posterity, who will do the most etïective work, to make the issue a pleasure and success. To such tlie cause Mili be as dear as life. The bloodless weapons witli wliich it must be won wlll be transferred with doublé power f rom dying slre to 8on; and these grand states may yet almost erase llie borrid stains indelible, where rusty bondsextiuguisbed fertilebrains. "May God basten the day" should be the petitioti of 11 who wonhlp nt the shrine of an undeñled religión, sustained by a eteadfast faith, made practically manifest by earnest and aggressive work, like a very tree of life bearing the fruits of peace and righteousness; the lavesof wbich are for the bealing of the nations. Huch in happy unisón with the astonisbed shepherds 011 Bethleheui's starry plain, we gladly jolu in a liarmonious re-echo of the anjrle's song of "peace and jfood will to (all) mankind," This good wlll cannot be realied in its most symmetrical fullnessunless woman, witb her wealtb of sympathy, love, and labor abunüant, is allowed the f ree and respected expression, and cholee, in all public mattere and measurea whereby sbe is affected. The immediate occasion wbich bas led to the expreasion of the above thoughts (and others tliut may follow If permission tor tlieir publictiou be granted by the Editor) Iihs been the letter reccntly Ñsiic.l and publi8hed over the sijfnature of Mrs. Mary L. Doe, President of the Kqual Siiiïrage Association of Michigan, and addressed to the voters of the State. Witb a sincere desire that ere long, with the entire 8isterhood, sbe may receive the jusl jfift of Womau'a Rights, I wlll close with the words of a noted author: "A pnre and noble woman is one the fairest leaves in (iod's great book of Nature. Nolhing can olí her." Yours in the cause of human reform.