Do you not remember that when Paul was brought up, preparatory
to being scourged, he demanded by what right they scourged him, a Roman
citizen. The chief captain said, "I bought this freedom with a great
price." Paul replied, "I am free born"; then great fear fell upon the
chief captain, and he ordered the bonds removed from Paul. Native-born
Roman citizenship was worth as much as that two thousand years ago.
To-day, the foreign-born American citizen, who has bought his freedom
with a great price, who has left his home and country, and crossed the
sea to a strange land, in order that he may find freedom, is held to be
superior to "free born" American women citizens.
But Miss Anthony is not battling for herself alone, nor for the woman
alone; she stands to-day, the embodiment of Republican principles. The
question of to-day, is not has woman a right to vote, but has _any_
American citizen, white or black, native-born, or naturalized, a right
to vote. The prosecution of Miss Anthony by the United States, for the
alleged crime of having cast a vote at the last election, is a positive
declaration of the government of the United States that it is a crime to
vote. Let that decision be affirmed, and we have no republic; the
ballot, the governing power in the hands of every person, is the only
true republic.
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