ABSTRACT
William Thompson was credited as sole author of the Appeal, but in the preface, “Letter to Mrs Wheeler”, he nevertheless acknowledged it as his “joint property” with fellow Irish socialist Anna Doyle Wheeler. James Mill posited that women were in no need of the vote, as their interests were meant to be taken care of by their fathers and husbands. The trade of prostitution, consigning to untimely graves the youth and beauty of every civilized land, and gloated on by men pursuing individual wealth and upholding the sexual and partial system of morals, could not here exist. Woman’s love must under such circumstances be earned, be merited, not, as now, bought or commanded: it would not be prostituted on heartless miscreants who could first steal the gem and then murder with their scorn its innocent confiding owner. By Mutual Co-operation of large numbers, the power and the means of exercising it, and the desire of exercising it, are equally withdrawn.
