There were enthusiastic cheers when Mrs. Clark had finished speaking. The historical interest, the self-evident justice of the plea brought forward by the daughters of the great reform leaders on behalf of the continuance of the grand cause of freedom for which their fathers had so bravely battled, went to the hearts of the crowded assembly. Delegates who had come determined to vote against the resolution—the "monstrous political fad," as one of our opponents in parliament had called it—said, almost with tears in their eyes, "We can't vote against the daughters of Bright and Cobden," and when the resolution with the rider was put, a forest of hands went up in its support, and in that vast crowd there were only about thirty dissentients. The following evening Miss Jane Cobden and Mrs. Scatcherd addressed an open-air meeting of 30,000 men who could not gain access to Victoria Hall, where John Bright was speaking on the franchise for men, and a unanimous cheer was given in favor of women's suffrage.
This was only the beginning of the autumn campaign among the Liberal associations. The general committee of the Edinburgh United Liberal Association met on November 16, 1883, in the Oddfellows' Hall (No. 2), Forrest road, Edinburgh, to consider the questions of the Local Government Board (Scotland) bill, the equalization of the burgh and county franchise, and the extension of the parliamentary vote to women householders. After the two first subjects had been considered, the following resolution, moved by ex-Bailie Lewis, was adopted:
