At Judge Selden’s request, Hon. John Van Voorhis, one of the ablest lawyers in Rochester, had been associated with himself for the defense.  Both made strong, logical arguments, and Miss Anthony herself spoke most earnestly in behalf of the three inspectors, who also had been arrested.  The commissioner held all of them guilty, fixed their bail at $500 each, and gave them until the following Monday to furnish it.  All did so except Miss Anthony, who refused to give bail and applied for a writ of habeas corpus from U. S. District-Judge N. K. Hall.  The Rochester Express, which stood nobly by her through this ordeal, said editorially: 

Miss Anthony had a loftier end in view than the making of a sensation when she registered her name and cast her vote.  The act was in harmony with a life steadily consecrated to a high purpose from which she has never wavered, though she has met a storm of invective, personal taunt and false accusation, more than enough to justify any person less courageous than she in giving up a warfare securing her only ingratitude and abuse.  But Miss Anthony has no morbid sentiment in her nature.  There is at least one woman in the land—­and we believe there are a good many more—­who does not whine others into helping her over a hard spot, or even plead for help, but bravely helps herself and puts her hand to the plough without turning back.  Those who are now regarding her as practically condemned to State prison or the payment of a fine of $500, need not waste their sympathy, for she would suffer either penalty with heroic cheerfulness if thereby she might help bring about the day when the principle “no taxation without representation” meant something more than it does.  In writing lately to a friend, she thus expressed herself: 

“Yes, I hope you will be present at the examination, to witness the grave spectacle of fifteen native born citizens, of sound mind and not convicted of any crime, arraigned in the United States criminal courts to answer for the offense of illegal voting, when the United States Constitution, the supreme law of this land, says, ’All persons born or naturalized in the United States ... are citizens; no State shall deny or abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens;’ and ‘The right of citizens to vote shall not be denied.’  The one question to be settled is, are personal freedom and personal representation inherent rights and privileges under democratic-republican institutions, or are they things of legislation, precisely as under old monarchical governments, to be given and taken at the option of a ruling class or of a majority vote?  If the former, then is our country free indeed; if the latter, then is our country a despotism, and we women its victims!”

Under date of December 12, Benjamin F. Butler, then a member of Congress, wrote Miss Anthony regarding her case: