suffrage, although I was as much convinced as they were that I was
entitled to a vote, and hoped that I might be able to exercise it
before I was too feeble to hobble to the poll. I have unfortunately
lost the letter Mr. Mill wrote to me about my letters to The Register,
and my "Plea for Pure Democracy," but it gave him great pleasure to see
that a new idea both of the theory and practice of politics had been
taken up and expanded by a woman, and one from that Australian colony,
of which he had watched and aided the beginnings, as is seen by the
name of Mill terrace, North Adelaide, to-day. Indeed, both Hare and
Mill told me their first converts were women; and I felt that the
absolute disinterestedness of my "Plea," which was not for myself, but
only that the men who were supposed to represent me at the polling
booth should be equitably represented themselves, lent weight to my
arguments. I have no axe to grind--no political party to serve; so that
it was not until the movement for the enfranchisement of women grew too
strong to be neglected that I took hold of it at all; and I do not
claim any credit for its success in South Australia and the
Commonwealth, further than this--that by my writings and my spoken
addresses I showed that one woman had a steady grasp on politics and on
sociology. In 1865, when I was in England, Mr. Mill was permanently
resident at Avignon, where his wife died, but he had to come to England
to canvass for a seat in Parliament for Westminster as an Independent
member, believed at that time to be an advanced Radical, but known to
be a philosopher, and an economist of the highest rank in English
literature. I had only one opportunity of seeing him personally, and I
did not get so much out of him as I expected--he was so eager to know
how the colony and colonial people were developing. He asked me about
property in land and taxation, and the relations between employers and
employes, and I was a little amused and a little alarmed when he said
he was glad to get information from such a good authority. I had to
disclaim such knowledge; but he said he knew I was observant and
thoughtful, and what I had seen I had seen well. He was particularly
earnest about woman's suffrage, and Miss Taylor, his stepdaughter, said
she thought he had made a mistake in asking for the vote for single
women only and widows with property and wives who had a separate
estate; it would have been more logical to have asked for