To him replied Mr. Stansfeld, in a stern speech, displaying
some indignation at Mr. Smollett's coarseness, but indicating, as we have elsewhere shown, that his own mind was a little disturbed from its usual perfect equilibrium by his own very strong prepossessions. Sir Henry James proved that Mr. Stansfeld was at direct issue with the chief devotees of women's rights, when he declared that the Bill might be accepted as in some moderate sense a final settlement of the question, and Sir H. James also insisted on the danger of women's votes being given under spiritual authority on behalf of very bad causes,—an argument which had some weight with the House which passed the Public Worship Act. On the division, the Bill was rejected by a majority of 35 (187 to 152) ; but the discussion was not, on the whole, good. It was a little personal, a •little vulgar, a little epigrammatic, and a little narrow. It hardly mounted into the higher air of political principle, but this was, perhaps, partly due to the illogical and half-and-half character of the measure.
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