not vote, when the sloping-shouldered,
sloping-skulled youths who proposed to marry them, or had married
them, had that right and did not exercise it and showed no
information and no concern as to the rottenness of the local
government.... The upper class of women are enlisted. Woman
suffrage is the one interesting subject of discussion in the whole
fashionable quarter.

This campaign brought also another surprise. In all the forty years of
suffrage work, one of the stumbling-blocks had been the utter apathy of
women themselves, who took no interest either for or against, but now
they seemed to be aroused all along the line. In Albany a small body of
women calling themselves "Remonstrants" suddenly sprung into existence.
For a number of years there had been a handful of women in Massachusetts
under that title, but this was the first appearance of the species in
New York. They seemed to be fathered by Bishop William Croswell Doane,
and mothered by Mrs. John V. L. Pruyn. Seven men and a number of women
were present at the first meeting in that lady's parlor, and they formed
an organization to counteract the vicious efforts of those women who
were asking for political freedom. Evidently under the direction of her
spiritual adviser, Mrs. Pruyn submitted a set of resolutions, which were
adopted, begging the Constitutional Convention "not to strike out the
word 'male';" setting forth "that suffrage was not a natural right; that
there was no reason why this privilege should be extended to women; that
no taxation without representation did not mean that every citizen
should vote; that universal suffrage was a mistake; that the possession
of the suffrage would take women into conflicts for which they were
wholly unfitted; and that it would rudely disturb the strong and growing
spirit of chivalry." Another branch was formed in Brooklyn with Mrs.
Lyman Abbott at its head and the Outlook at its back, edited by Rev.
Lyman Abbott. A society appeared in New York at about the same time and
opened headquarters at the Waldorf. There was also an "Anti" club at
Utica.[95]

The Democrat and Chronicle published a long interview with Miss Anthony
in regard to these "Remonstrants," from which the following is an
extract:

"This opposition movement is not the work of women," she said,
"although it has that appearance. There was held in Albany
yesterday afternoon a meeting at which resolutions con