CHAPTER VIII.

THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN.

THE present chapter is devoted to a general survey of the rights of woman--the rights of one half of the human race -and which I do not propose to treat as the "better half,” but rather as the equal half of mankind. I shall not mock woman with fulsome adulation, lest I should offend her pride -nor yet withhold from her appropriate praise, lest I should offend her sense of justice. Man surely makes no very humiliating concession when he admits her to be his equal-and her proper ambition may well be satisfied without aspiring to be his superior. Woman is deprived of her natural dignity when the laws depress her below the condition of man-and she may be treated as an usurper when she aspires to exercise dominion over him.

Man was not "born to command," nor woman "to obey.” They are not wedded to each other by human laws, nor by the church, but by the law of their natures, whose ministers are the common sentiments and affections of their mindsand which consecrate their union, demand its sacred inviolability, and admonish them perpetually to love, honor and cherish each other so long as they both shall live. By these neither is commanded to obey the other, but only the Creator's laws.

But woman is to be regarded not only as the companion and equal of man, but as the same intellectual being as himself, possessed of the same sentiments and affections--the same

this offensive practice were discussed with great ability. Instead of resorting to the punishment of the gallows and the prison, Mr. Eames proposed that the duelist should incur legal disabilities to the fullest extent which can be inflicted by legislation: that he should be unknown to the law as a man and a citizen-so that he could not vote, nor hold an office, nor exercise any learned profession, nor be a witness-nor, indeed, have any legal capacity more than an idiot or lunatic. Few, indeed, would vindicate their honor at so great expense as this.

emotions and wants, and consequently of the same natural rights.

One need but to hint to "ears polite" that woman is powerful in intellect, noble in sentiment, and that she aspires to the perfection of her being, by all the means allotted by the Creator for the attainment of true excellence and happiness --and all this and much more will be conceded before it is half expressed. I shall take this concession from the cultivated and polite, and treat it as though it were made in good faith. It ought not to be regarded as “small talk," nor construed tenderly, as though made to please the ladies;" since, if we set about it earnestly, we can prove that this concession, although made in the spirit of gallantry, might well have been dictated by a sense of justice.

Inquire of the physiologist whether woman hath the same cerebral organization as man; and he will answer that her brain and nervous system are the same in structure, and execute the same functions.

Inquire of the phrenologist, and you will be informed that as in man, so in woman, by means of the brain, all mental powers are manifested; that these powers have their respective seats in distinct parts of the brain: and that not one of them which is found in man is wanting in woman: that these powers, whether of sentiment, intellect or passion, vary indefinitely in the different individuals of the human race, whether male or female-but that they are common to man and woman, who have therefore one common nature.

Consult the writers upon natural law as to the derivation of human rights, and the most approved of these will state that they emanate from the natural wants and emotions of mankind, as I have attempted to show in the preceding chapters.

What, then, let me inquire, necessarily follows from these premises? Nothing less than this, That the rights of man and the rights of woman are precisely one and the same: the "lord of creation " is just as well off as the lady of creation, and not one whit better.

You have now the concession of gallantry, the testimony

of the physiologist, the demonstration of the phrenologist, and the authority of writers upon the natural law, all establishing the rights of woman upon the same foundation as the rights of man. You present these to the British or American magistrate, and demand that the same legal protection shall be afforded to one as the other-nay, that the laws shall not be made for man or woman--but for mankind; that all rights are human rights, and pertain to human beings, without distinction of sex; and he will be filled with surprise, if not with horror. What then is the difficulty? Nothing less than this, That the laws of England and America, touching the Rights of Woman, are at variance with the laws of the Creator; and the question is, Which shall stand?

It would be going too far to say that the laws of these countries do not recognize the rights of woman at all; for they do acknowledge and protect the rights of a single woman or "spinster," as these laws politely term her. But marriage forms an astonishing legal era with this same "spinster;" she becomes most emphatically a new creature after this event—a being of the law's own creation--a monster, (pardon the word,) whom nature disowns-a fictitious being, breathing a legal, not a moral atmosphere. She is courted and wedded as "an angel," and yet is denied the dignity of a rational, moral being ever after. I am aware that this is bold language; but I propose to demonstrate its truth and justice.

We have before seen that marriage is a natural institution, proceeding necessarily from the organization and condition of the sexes; and that the law of their natures demands an union for life. This union is necessary to their happiness, and as it is dictated by the desires and sentiments of their common nature, to live in the married state is a sacred right.In a former chapter, I showed that man was ordained by his mental constitution to live in human society-and this being so, he must enter the social state without surrendering any of his rights, since the designs of nature all harmonize with each other. The foundation was thus laid for asserting that woman by entering the married state, doth not properly surrender any right whatever.

My argument is this, That woman's mental forces and wants are designed to have a free and harmonious exercise and gratification-and while single her rights to this extent are conceded to her-that marriage results from her mental constitution, and is necessary to her happiness, so that she has a right to live in the married state; having such right she can demand its enjoyment, without the surrender of any other right incident to her nature-since no one proper natural want is to be answered at the expense of another's denial; and as woman no more requires the married state for her happiness than she demands that full scope and exercise be given to the various powers of her nature, it cannot be claimed that she must surrender any of her natural rights upon entering into the married state.

She follows not less than man the great law of her nature when she "pursues her own true and substantial happiness." By the laws of her organization she has the same faculties and wants as man, and they demand the same exercise and gratification. Her rights have therefore the same origin and extent as his own. Now I suppose I have established, in my introductory chapter, that man surrenders not a solitary natural right, when, by yielding to the harmonious demand of all his intellectual forces, he enters the social state, and acquiesces in the proper institutions of government. Why then should woman, by yielding to a like general demand of her nature, and entering the married state, be required to surrender any of her natural rights? Let it be borne in mind that the state of marriage is not more demanded by woman's nature than by man's. It is as necessary to his happiness as to her own. He is in an unnatural condition out of wedlock.— In both it is the voice of nature that pronounces them to be “husband and wife." He surrenders not a single right when summoned by this voice to the altar of Hymen-but walks erect in all the dignity of his nature, the stern and immutable man; taketh the vow, and goeth forth undivested of any of the rights of humanity. While she, who went forth in pride, returns in humility. She who was wooed by the bended knee of suppliant man, hath promised to obey that man,

now proudly claiming to be her lord. She who went forth an intelligent moral being, obedient only to the will of Heaven, returns the creature of man's will-having transferred her allegiance to him.

She was before his equal--she is now his inferior. She existed before as a distinct moral being, full of rights and bounden by duties; that existence is now merged in her husband-and in the eye of the law she exists not at all. But from her legal tomb he gains an accession of power, dignity and rights. Her submission exalts the throne of his power: her legal insignificance elevates his dignity, and her lost rights are appropriated to himself. The law allows him to exact her obedience, and to compel it by appropriate chastisement and restraint. It confers upon him her estate-every body knows that the dead cannot keep their property-and the wife is legally dead. She therefore exchanges her freedom of will, her moral dignity and her worldly estate, for that most uncertain estate, a man--upon whom she can lavish her affections, and, by looking upward to him with sufficient awe and reverence, can call into complete exercise her veneration and her wonder! Well is it for the aggressor that the aggrieved was made for love rather than for war, or he would be put upon immediate self-defence. No man asks of his fellow, no nation demands of another, any like concession of rights, when the closest friendship springs up between them. The honor belongs to English and American lawgivers, of having discovered the class of human beings which will endure the greatest deprivation of rights, with the least effectual resistance. Doubtless it is a valorous thing to conquer woman, and "to the victor belong the spoils of the vanquished!"

Go forth, valiant Saxon! not frowning like Mars--but with a countenance clothed with smiles; not breathing destruction, but the soft whispers of gentle love; subdue the heart of fair, confiding woman, and the law shall load you with spoils!— Gain her affections, and you shall not be annoyed with her moral dignity; obtain her hand, and you shall have her purse also. Let not the characteristic modesty of your nature de