egard it as of as much force as anything he said after it. But in
point of fact the question does not turn upon the person, but upon the
principle. I have received an anonymous letter containing the following
among other things, "Beware how you attack the holy cause of woman. Do
you not know that obstacles to progress are rem-o-o-v-e-d out of the
way?" The signature of that letter is ingenious. I cannot tell whether
it was a man or a woman, for it reads as follows, "A Lover of your Soul
and of Woman." Now, Mr. President, the only candlestick that ought to be
removed out of its place is the candlestick that contains a candle that
does not burn the pure oil of truth. And I believe, sir, that with the
best of intentions the three speakers who have appeared have given us
three chapters in different styles of a work of fiction, and it is my
duty to undertake to show where they have slipped. The Apocrypha says,
"An eloquent man is known far and near; but a man of understanding
discerneth where he slippeth." I have no claim to eloquence; never
pretended to have any; but I have a claim to some knowledge of Methodist
history, to some ability to state my sentiments, and to be without any
fear of the results, either present or prospective.

Now, Mr. President, you notice from my friends that if they cannot
command the judgment of the Conference they propose to say the women are
in, and defy us to put them out. I am sorry that my friend did not take
in the full significance of that. And they say that everybody who has
a certificate in form is in until he is put out. Why, they do not
discriminate between ordinary contested cases and a case where the
constitutional point is involved. If these women have a right here,
they have had it from the beginning by the Constitution. It is not a
contested case as to whether John Smith was voted for by the people who
ought to vote for him, or in the right place. Now, they talk of bringing
up documents here. I wrote to the Hon. George F. Edmunds, the most
distinguished member of the United States Senate, and simply put this
question, If a certificate of election in the Senate shows anything that
would prove the person unworthy of a seat, would he be seated pending an
investigation or not? He did not know what it referred to, and I read
it _verbatim_. I never mentioned the name of Methodist, and I read
_verbatim_ from his letter:

"No officer of the Senate has any right to decide any such question