What is true of Mr. Mill's influence on the women's-suffrage question is true also of the other political movements in which he took an active interest.
The first organised opposition by women to women's suffrage in England dates from 1889, when a number of ladies led by Mrs Ward appealed against the proposed extension of the Parliamentary suffrage to women.
What draws men and women together is stronger than the brutality and tyranny which drive them apart.
Mr. Mill was the one member of Parliament whose high intellectual position enabled him to raise the question without being laughed down as a fool.
Just as radical heirs apparent are said to lay aside all inconvenient revolutionary opinions when they come to the throne, it was believed that Mr. Mill in Parliament would be an entirely different person from Mr. Mill in his study.
What he has done for women is final: he gave to their service the best powers of his mind and the best years of his life. His death consecrates the gift: it can never lessen its value.