vention; but there were several new delegates, whose names were not on the lists. Mr. Phillips and his colleagues were among the latter. He went to the president, and said, "I rely upon you to be admitted to the hall, for we know that our names are not yet on the list." The president assented.

The delegates were re-admitted by the roll-call: it is needless to add that the two delegates Miss Brown and Wendell Phillips were not called.

We turn now to the proceedings, so far as they fall within our present scope, of the Woman's Rights Convention, which was held in the Broadway Tabernacle on the 6th and 7th of September, 1853. The fact that the Anti-slavery Society held a meeting on Sunday morning, and Antoinette Brown preached to five thousand people the same evening, called out the denunciations of the religious press which intensified the mob spirit, culminating at last in the Woman's Rights Convention.

The Tabernacle, holding three thousand persons, was packed long before the hour of opening. Mr. Channing made an opening prayer; and the president, Mrs. Mott, made a few appropriate remarks. Then the business went on. Among the speakers of the first day were Mr. Garrison, Charles C. Burleigh, Dr. Channing, and Antoinette Brown.

The next morning "The Tribune" stated as follows:

"The Woman's Rights Convention was somewhat disturbed last evening by persons whose ideas of the rights of free speech are these two thousand people assemble to hear a given public question discussed, under distinct announcement that certain persons, whose general views are well known, are to speak throughout the evening. At least nineteen-twentieths come to hear those announced speakers, and will be bitterly disappointed if the opportunity be not afforded them. But one-twentieth have bought tickets, and taken seats on purpose to prevent the hearing of those speakers, by hissing, yelling, and stamping, and all manner of unseemly interruptions."

The second day's proceedings were characterized by blackguardism, defamation, rowdyism, and profanity. The convention seemed entirely under the control of the mob. As it was inconsistent with Mrs. Mott's Quaker principles to call upon the police, she vacated the chair after inviting Ernestine L. Rose to take her place. The president then introduced a German lady, Madame Mathilde Francesca Annekè, editor of a liberal woman's rights newspaper which had been suppressed in Germany.

Madame Annekè attempted to speak, but her voice was drowned by the tumultuous yells of the ruffianly element in the audience. Quick as a flash, Mr. Phillips sprang upon the platform. He said,

"Allow me to say one word, purely as a matter of the self-respect which you owe to yourselves. We are citizens of a great country, which, from Maine to Georgia, has extended a welcome to Kossuth; and this

New-York audience is now looking upon a noble woman who stood by his side in the battle-fields of Hungary, one who has faced the cannon of Francis Joseph of Austria, for the rights of the people. Is this the welcome you give her to the shores of republican America? A woman who has proved her gallantry, and attachment to principles, wishes to say five words to you of the feelings with which she is impressed toward this cause. I know, fellow-citizens, that you will hear her."

Madame Annekè then addressed the audience for a few moments, and retired amid a great uproar, which increased when Mr. Phillips presented himself again.

"I am not surprised at the reception I meet," he shouted in a loud voice.

"As presiding officer for this evening," interposed the president, "I call upon the police. The mayor, too, promised to see that our meeting should not be disturbed; and I now call upon him to preserve order. As citizens of New York, we have a right to this protection; for we pay our money for it. My friends, keep order, and then we shall know who the disturbers are."

"You are making a better speech than I can, by your conduct," continued Mr. Phillips. "This is proof positive of the necessity of this convention. The time has been when other conventions have been met, like this, - with hisses. [Renewed hisses.] Go on with your

If it be your

hisses: geese have hissed before now. pleasure to argue the question for us, by proving that the men here, at least, are not fit for exercising political rights" [Great uproar.]

Again the president called upon the police to maintain order.

"You prove one thing to-night," concluded Mr. Phillips, "that the men of New York do not understand the meaning of civil liberty and free discussion." Five minutes later the convention was forced to adjourn sine die.

“The Tribune" of Sept. 9 commented severely upon these disgraceful proceedings:

"We do not know whether any of the gentlemen who have succeeded in breaking up the Woman's Rights Convention, or of the other gentlemen who have succeeded in three sessions at Metropolitan Hall in silencing a regularly appointed and admitted delegate, will ever be ashamed of their passion and hostility; but we have little doubt that some of them will live to understand their own folly."

Thirty years have passed over the republic; and later generations, recalling these painful events of the past, would like to ask those gentlemen-what answer?

CHAPTER XI.

PHILLIPS AND THE WOMAN'S RIGHTS MOVEMENT.

A Plan for Action first proposed. The Call.-Responses.-The Worcester Convention of 1850.-Outline of the Proceedings. Attitude of the Press. - The Convention of 1851. Mr. Phillips's Address.- Harriet Martineau. -The Legislature. - The Boston Convention of 1854.-Resolutions. - The Convention of 1855.Donations. Assembling of the Seventh National Woman's Rights Convention in New York, 1856. — Mr. Phillips's Speech. —Indifference of Political Parties towards the Movement. - The National Convention of 1858.-The Convention of 1859. - Mr. Phillips makes a Stirring Address. - The Legislatures Memorialized. - The New-England Convention. - Mr. Phillips again. The "DrawingRoom" Convention. Mrs. Dall's Lectures. - The Tenth National Convention, 1860. - Marriage and Divorce discussed - Mr. Phillips opposes Discussion. The Woman Question laid aside. -"After the Slave- then the Woman."

"Throw open the doors of Congress, throw open those court-houses, throw wide open the doors of your colleges, and give to the sisters of the Motts and the Somervilles the same opportunities for culture that men have, and let the result prove what their capacity and intellect really are."

"It is on the ground of natural justice, and on the ground again of the highest expediency, and yet again it is because woman, as an immortal and intellectual being, has a right to all the means of education, it is on these grounds that we claim for her the civil rights and privileges which man enjoys."- PHILLIPS.

AT

T an anti-slavery meeting held in Boston, in 1850, an invitation was given from the speaker's desk to all those who felt interested in a plan for a woman's