conferences of about a hundred persons; not that we shall in future fail to have also some large public meetings on the subject, but at present it is not so desirable, owing to the difficulty there always is in keeping anything like order in a large public meeting in Italy.

"I told you some days ago that the Left intend making our question a part of their programme in Parliament; we shall consequently have a great many more votes favourable to us than I at first dared to hope. Several of the supporters of the Government are also favourable to our cause. Bertani, Cairoli, and other influential members of the Left, have promised to speak on our subject, and the discussion will come on probably shortly after the Christmas holidays. I shall continue my account another day. I have now to go to a meeting of members of Parliament, in order to discuss the different points in our question, and the reasons why we cannot accept S. Morelli's second Article.

"Believe me, yours faithfully,
"G. NATHAN."

CHAPTER VI.

"The system of official tolerance of prostitution is irreconcilable with the idea of the State as a moral power, and with every sound principle of social economy, and is regarded with just reprobation by the conscience of the immense majority of the people."-Extract from the decree issued by the municipal authorities of Zurich suppressing " Maisons de Tolerance."

E now turn to the contemplation of what has been done in Switzerland during the past year, and here we encounter a great activity and vast progress made. We see here the action in this question of a free nation, the centre of great moral and intellectual activity; and in the events which we are about to narrate, much will be found from which instruction and encouragement may be gathered by all engaged elsewhere in the abolition work. It is characteristic of the question before us, that wherever it takes vital root we observe the joint action of men and women. The women of Switzerland have shown remarkable power of self-organisation for active work. The following letter was received by Mrs. Butler in June, 1875, from Madame Courvoisier :

Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, June, 1875. "DEAR MADAM,-Your visit has left in the hearts of all the women who heard you ineffaceable impressions, and there are many who are disposed to join with me in enrolling themselves in the grand league against legalized prostitution. At the close of our first Con

ference, a meeting of ladies was held at my house, with the view of working in the way which you had pointed out to us. My own wish was to proceed straight to the object in view, and to take up at once our position in the contest; but I had to reckon with the scruples of many persons, as fully persuaded as myself of the iniquity and the horror of the scourge of prostitution, but too timid as yet, or too fettered by circumstances, to dare to pronounce themselves. . . . We have formed a society, of which I am the secretary. ... We have established an asylum for the reception of poor and friendless girls, with the object of protecting them and procuring them work, and above all, of saving them from becoming victims of the licensed houses of prostitution. Although very indirectly, our Refuge Society attaches itself to your Association by this last-named feature; it is a preventive measure.

"As to the main work, that which I have so much at heart, an open opposition to the evil, and a complete adhesion of a large number of persons to the Federation, it has at last commenced in this town. My desire was that our Refuge Society should declare itself in this sense, but not being generally supported in this, I have been obliged to commence otherwise, while still entertaining the hope that, ere long, a large number of the members of the Refuge Association will give me their names. I accordingly, a few days ago, assembled a few ladies at my house, and after having read to them your letter of last April, the address from Birmingham, signed by the Committees of the Ladies' National Association, and some articles from the Shield, which I thought calculated to enlighten those ladies who had not been present at your Conference as to the nature of the enemy you are opposing and whose attacks are making themselves felt among ourselves also, I had the gratification of receiving their names for the formation of a

ABOLITIONIST LADIES OF SWITZERLAND.

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Committee in alliance with the Federation, the members of which are resolved to take steps in their respective neighbourhoods to obtain as large a number of names as possible. We reckon upon the distribution of your address, and upon that of the address from Birmingham, to aid us powerfully. I am fain to believe that the Committee of Gentlemen at Chaux-de-Fonds will likewise send you in their adhesion, as in the case of Neuchâtel. However it may be, with the help of God, there will be a protest in the interests of justice and of public morality. We feel that we are very weak and very inexperienced; our beginning is very small, and we have need of direction and encouragement.

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It is, I presume, to the office of the Federation that I should address the adhesion of our Committee: you will perhaps have the goodness to receive it.

'I beg you, dear Madam, to accept the expression of my affectionate regard. M. COURVOISIER. "P.S.-Please convey to the Central Committee of the British and Continental Federation for the Abolition of Legalized Vice, the following:

" June 10th, 1875, was formed at Chaux-de-Fonds, a committee of fifteen ladies, who declare their adhesion to the Federation, and who will seek, by all the means in their power, the abolition of prostitution as sanctioned by the laws or by their representatives."

The sympathies of the women of England who have laboured in this cause soon became strongly aroused for the women of other countries whose efforts had been from time to time reported to them. The following is the address alluded to by Madame Courvoisier. It was signed by the representatives of the Ladies' Committees throughout Great Britain, and sent to the ladies of Switzerland who had joined in this work :

"DEAR FRIENDS,-Our beloved fellow-worker, Mrs.

Butler, of Liverpool, has apprised us of your great sympathy for the cause which she and we have so much at heart, and for which a short time ago she left her family and her country to carry to you the message which God had put in her heart to communicate to you.

"We wish first to thank you cordially for all your goodness to her, and to tell you that we believe the success which she had among you to be an answer to our prayers for her, when we sent her forth with the certainty that your God, who is also ours and hers, would guard her in safety under the shadow of His wings. .

"We look upon you, dear Swiss friends, as allied with us in a special manner. We and you have advantages which are not possessed by less favoured countries. You, like ourselves, enjoy great freedom; like ourselves you also possess the open Bible, and perfect liberty to worship God according to the convictions of your own hearts. But you have certain advantages which we do not share. You have no great standing army; and, up to the present time, the curse of prostitution has not been established among you by the State. It appears to us that all these advantages render you especially suitable for being the principal guides of a movement which, beginning humbly, will extend itself on all sides, and be the means of delivering Europe from a great curse and a terrible oppression.

"We wish, however, affectionately to assure you that we do not fail to appreciate what this will cost you, for we are not engaged in any trivial conflict. Many among us could tell you what horror and repugnance took possession of our souls, when our eyes were opened for the first time to the knowledge of the evil which we were called upon to resist in our own country. Some among

us, accustomed to consecrate the greater part of our time to the care of our children and households, shrank