WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE AND PHYSICAL FORCE. [To THE Etwros OF THE
"SPECTATOR."] SIR,—The Times and the Spectator say that it is necessary for Parliament to represent the physical force of the nation, and that therefore women must leave the vote to men. It would
seem to follow still more clearly that civilians should leave the vote to the Army. Would you be prepared to advocate this ? Or, if the present law allowed votes to soldiers only, would you oppose any change am, Sir, &c.,
The University, Birmingham. HELEN WODEHOUSE.
[Our correspondent cannot, we think, have pursued her studies in the Faculty either of Law or of History. Otherwise she would be aware that every Englishman is a potential, even if untrained, soldier. The Sovereign has the right (through the Sheriff who raises the posse comitatus or levee en masse) to call on every citizen to fight against invaders or other enemies of the King. Again, the State may call upon any and every citizen to put down riot or civil commotion, and to assist the police in stopping felonies and generally in the discharge of their duties. Women are not subject to these obligations. The principles of the common law are the same here as in the United States, and the citizens bear the same obligations. During the Civil War our kinsmen dis- covered that these obligations, though they had been dormant for many years, were by no means dead.—En. Spectator.]
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