This position is further strengthened by the reflection, which I have vindicated, that changes have taken place in the structure of modern life which have of themselves destroyed the old partition between man's sphere and woman's sphere. Parliaments, in their embryonic form, grow out of the informal discussions among the men of a tribe about matters that they alone were competent and naturally designed to carry out. The broad scope of a modern Parliament is so remote from this narrow institution that the old reason for excluding women has utterly disappeared. But I have said enough of the four social revolutions of the nineteenth century that make up this change. In principle they are fully recognised, and the reader must therefore not be surprised at the relative scantiness and incompleteness of the details given in the last chapter. They suffice to show that it is now an unthinking repetition of an outworn phrase to say that woman's place is the home _only_. In concluding, I would glance for a moment at a few subsidiary aspects of the question, which may throw further light on the general position of this essay. The first point is an examination of the just and rational basis of enfranchisement, as political moralists have determined it. The various extensions of the franchise during the nineteenth century have been wrung from the reluctant holders of power by force, or the threat of force. We flatter ourselves, not quite unreasonably, that the age of violence has given place to an age of justice, and it is therefore extremely advisable to determine precisely why _anybody_ has a vote--in other words, what is the moral basis of enfranchisement--and then test the claim of women on the principle we may detect. For this purpose I briefly examine the conclusions of a few of the most distinguished political moralists. We must, naturally, confine ourselves to a democratic age, so that in effect we can only consult writers of ancient Athens or modern England. From these, however, I do not make a purposive selection, but will consider those whose authority is most regarded.