They have, however, under the so-called rule of universal suffrage, the same or cqual powers politically as the same number of heads of families. This is unjust and unfavorable to the best interests of society. An evil, proved to be such by experience, and of so serious a character as to demand attention and correction.

39. The civil government of a country has a variety of functions to perform, one of the most prominent of which is the protection of persons in their right to property. Divest men of property and their persons will seldom be exposed to injury.

40. In every community it is found that the ownership of property is principally confined to the heads of families.

They contribute most of the means for the support of government. They are, as a class, the most industrious and the most frugal, the most exemplary in their conduct, and have the strongest interest in the maintenance of good government.

They are therefore the most reliable and trustworthy, and are entitled, by every consideration of right and justice, to the privilege of framing and regulating the civil institutions of society.

41. In many states of the Union a knowledge of the rudiments of education, so far as to be able to read and write, is made a condition for the exercise of the privilege of an elector, but this qualification possesses but little value as a guaranty for a right and stable government, compared with the responsibility which attaches to a husband or a parent.

42. The view now being taken of this subject places the heads of families in the. position of a privileged class in society. They are in truth such, being especially honored and endowed with the political power of the nation from the source of all power. The inspired record is not wholly silent upon the subject. The commandment (and it is the only one with promise) 3

to "Honor thy father and thy mother tha thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee," may be considered to have a peculiar significance in relation to this question of civil governWe fail to honor our parents in a most important particular when we neglect to support the government they have been instrumental in erecting or preserv ing and maintaining for their and our benefit.

ment.

43. If this duty is faithfully performed and all filial obligations duly observed, the days of the nation are multiplied, and the wellbeing of all under its protection promoted in the highest degree. The promise, therefore, while it is obviously not that of a long life to a good son, is an assurance of a long national life to that people which shall properly cherish and sustain and give due honor and respect to the family institution.

44. The elective franchise, as it is

termed, both by natural and by divine right, (using the latter expression in the sense of a special manifestation of God's will,) and by all those considerations which point most strongly to the best good and welfare of the race, rests with the heads of families. Upon the latter is devolved the right and the duty of originating and maintaining the government of the country, a duty especially delegated and confided to them, and from which they can not shrink without incurring the displeasure of heaven. It is in their power by right, and numerically, to control the franchise, and upon no consideration should they part with it, or abandon its exercise.

45. A government thus established, regulated and restricted, will, it is believed, be found the most perfect possible. It excludes, from participation in its functions, all who are thus excluded in the government of the family, namely, the females and children or minors. It ex

cludes all of the male sex of mature age who are unfit, from moral considerations and other causes, to exercise power over others, and includes those only who are most deeply interested in multiplying the number of comfortable homes, the most important of human institutions. Institutions which, it has been shown, it is the first object and duty of all to sustain and make as perfect as possible, and universal, because within them are centered all that is of most worth and most highly prized by mankind.

46. Let it not be said that the importance of woman is ignored in the system here presented. In the government of the family, the wife, in the presence of her husband, is subordinate. In the civil -government of the country woman takes

no part, but she has duties to perform not less important than those performed by man.

47. The training of the young, their