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    write of us . New glimpses into our social and national peculiarities are perpetually given us by this ingenious people . They always teach us something we had never before suspected . Our character presents a new aspect ; our virtues and defects assume quite a startling novelty . In the last number of the . Revue des Deux Mondes , an author for whom we have great respect , M . D . Nisabd , gives the result of his inspection of English society . Having resided in England on more than one occasion , and having married an

    Englishwoman , he is more than usually qualified to form an opinion . His admiration of our greatness , our * eal liberty , and our solid respectability is une . vocal . But' he does not admire our conversat . v . i . You may fancy , perhaps , this arises from our speaking French to him , or from his speaking English to us ; and Leibnitz himself would own . either to be a " sufficient reason . " But , no . M . Nisard finds our conversation dull because it is not animated by egotism . In English society no man is suffered to speak of himself or of others ; confining himself to generalities , he abstains from all that is personal j

    consequently , the conversation lacks individuality , physiognomy . " True it is , " adds M . Nisard , " that not speaking of themselves nor of others , vanity and scandal are unknown . J have never seen a conceited Englishman , I have never heard an evil speaker . " Well , that is new . In our small experience of society we believe we have heard men speak of themselves and not a little of others ; we think , moreover , that such a phenomenon could be found as a conceited Englishman , and not a few lovers of scandal . Rare , perhaps , but certainly discoverable within the limits of the United Kingdom these individuals are . M . Nisard has not

    met with them , and , in consequence , he finds English conversation wanting in those graces of animation and personality which enliven that of the French ; but , in default of those graces , our conversation is distinguished by such precision and boldness—the qualities of our race—that M . Nisaud declares you necessarily mistake the first man you meet for un Jiomme distingue . Strange that we should not have been deceived by Jones , that we should have at once detected Robinson to be

    anything but distinguished " : but our sagacity is , perhaps , preternatural , for M . Nisard says that , if it is difficult to recognize un homme d" esprit in the uniformity of English conversation , it is still more difficult to recognize the stupid . Now , it has always appeared to us that the stupidity of those who are " men and brothers" is alarmingly patent , and that no one can utter twenty sentences without betraying , by the very intonation of his voice and the idiom of his thoughts , whether he be distinaur . or stupid .

    As a bit of gossip not without interest , we may mention that Lamautine has just completed a continuation of his Girondins , in four volumes , to be called L'Histoire du Directoire ; and his publishers promise another novel shortly , Le Tailleur de Saint Points . The former work will be certain of an immense sale . Let us also add that Arm and Maurast has for a long time been writing a Histoire des Montagnards—but we fear the world has been overdosed with the French Revolution to

    make that work very successful . A cheap reissue of Pierre Leroux ' s works has been commenced , and the Pere Lacordaire is actually publishing an introduction to a work called Le Monde Occulte —a revelation of the mysteries of magnetism by means of somnambulism .

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    THE HISTORY OF WOMAN . Jlhtoire Morale des Famines , l ' ar M . Ernest T esouvtf . Duluu aim Co . The noblest study cf mankind is woman . That was what the moralist meant to say . Of late years it has become more and more a belief that woman is not merely the Sultana of a harem , but the worthy companion of man ; equal to man though dissimilar ' , ranking as high in imy moral estimate , though organically diverse ; and if placed in a lower scale

    lowering the whole standard of civilization . In assigning to woman an equality with man , we arc not j oining those who declare woman should exorcise all the functions of citizens . We believe that Nature has unequivocally pronounced in the mutter , She has shaped the woman ' s career , and ag-tinat her laws it is fatal to rebel . By constituting woman with an organization , the main function of which obviously is maternity , she has given to woman the empire of domesticity . If we considor for a moment the enormous part which maternity plays in a woman ' s life , —

    and in maternity we here include all the collaterals of maternal influence , —it will be seen how fitly to fulfil her function in the world she must devote herself to Home ; and how in . the social world her action must for the most part be indirect , that of influence rather than of guidance . Whatever direct action women may hereafter take in public affairs , it remains clear that their main exertions must be devoted to the family . But has the subject hitherto been rationally treated , even with respect to this restricted circle of her life ? Far from it . Men have uttered sounding sentences to the effect that women must restrict themselves to household duties , and not interfere in the affairs of men ; women have been harshly ordered to keep their " proper place , " and yet , instead of permitting them to be free agents in their own sphere , the tyranny of legislation has uniformly kept them slaves . The history of woman is a startling picture of irrational legislation . The idea of a woman claiming " rights" as a human being is thought so anarchical , that to promulgate it brings down upon your head a storm of obloquy , and the accusation of wishing to undermine air morality , to ruin the family ! In . this Journal we are proof against cries of the wolf . We have the utmost possible contempt for any society that is to be ruined by common sense and justice . If truth is anarchical , we respect anarchy . If flagrant injustice is necessary for the " preservation of society , " we demand that society be scattered to the winds . No prospective terrors shall cause us to " stand by" the nonsense of our grandmothers . Accepting the plain indication of Nature , which gives to woman the supremacy of the affections , we may be quite willing that men should have supreme direction in matters of state , but we are not willing that laws should arbitrarily declare woman to be the mere slave of man , without a voice of her own , a will of her own . We do not believe with Housseau , that

    " woman was made for the special gratification of man . " That is but a corollary from the theory of might . It is a part of the same arrogance which teaches that all the beasts of the field and birds of the air , and all the starry glories of the universe were made for man ' s especial gratification . One might with equal justice say that " man was made for the special gratification of wo nan . " We hold , with Tennyson , that : — " Woman is not undeveloped man , But diverse : could we make her as tlie man Sweet love wei'e slain , whose dearest bond is this : J \'' ul like to tiki ' - but like in difference : Yut in the lon-j years liker must they grow ; The man be more of woman , sheofman ; He gain in sweetness and in moral height , Nor lose the wrestling thews thitt throw the world ; She mental breadth , nor fail in child ward care : More as the doublenaturecl Poet each : Till at the last she set herself to man , Like perfect music into noble words . "

    But to admit of this development , man must forego the brutality of his legislation and woman be suffered to act as an independent being . The Histoire Morale des Femmes which calls forth these remarks is a work ao temperate in expression , so moderate in its views , and so healthy in its morality , that we should be glad to sec it translated and widely circulated , for even prejudiced minds

    would listen to its winning advocacy . It is written by the son of the author of Le Merita des Femmes , a poem of the last century which has gone through fifty editions . We cannot highly praise its erudition or its eloquence ; nevertheless , although many lacunto aro loft iu the historical portions , the facts hero collected are both curious and indisputable . The book is not equal to its "high , argument ; " but it is , perhaps , the bettor adapted for popularity .

    The plan of the work is good . lie begins with woman on her entrance into the world , and passing in review the separate conditions of girlhood , wife , mother , and citizen , ho sketches rapidly the historic evidence of woman's position in all countries ; bringing thus the i >; tst and present face to face , ho shows how slowly woman has been emancipated from the decunsideration which her physical weakness originally caused in a state of society whore Force was King .

    In early times the birth of a daughter was always a melancholy event , often a shame . The hopes of the world seemed to repose on men ; the birth of a girl was a bitter disapjjointment . In Sparta all deformed children were strangled immediately after birth ; and about seven out of ten of these infanticides were reckoned to be those of girls , —their sex

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    was equivalent to deformity ! We are more humane now ; but even in our century how much disappointment and vexation is caused by the birth of a daughter , and that , too , not in families where a son is necessary for the preservation of hereditary wealth and grandeur , but in bourgeois families , where the cause of anxiety is how to get children " on in the world . " In this anxiety is involved a whole code of unjust legislation .

    Then , as to education . We give to girls a frivolous education , and use their frivolity both as a pretext for not giving them solid instruction and for not allowing them to play a serious part in life . Ask a man whether his daughter may learn science and philosophy , he will say , •« She will have no use for it—it will only make her pedantic ; " ask him , whether women ought to have any control over the affairs of life , and he will say , " Bah ! they are too frivolous ; they have not the strength of intellect for such things . " We forbear to estimate the strength of intellect possessed by the men who thus exclude women from

    it-There is a chapter in this work on seduction , to which we refer those readers curious about the revolting tyranny of legislation ; but the subject scarcely admits of treatment here , the more so as English laws are different from French , and it is of France mainly that Legouve writes . The chapters on the Wife " are full of examples of legislation made by husbands for husbands . A married woman can scarcely be said to have rights . The ring enslaves her . She is , as a wife , in perpetual tutelage ; her signature is without value , her will is powerless , her children do not belong to her , her fortune is her

    husband ' s . In depriving woman of all power over her own fortune we place her in the same category as idiots , madmen , and children . Our very law which declares every individual a responsible being— " age "—on reaching one-and-twenty , is violated by the laws of marriage , which throw the wife into a perpetual minority—and this minority exists for the woman of forty as for the girl of twelve . She has no legal right over her property , very little legal responsibility even of her actions . We forbear to enter into the other questions of marital right . Enough if we cite the deliberate opinion of the greatest of modern lawmakers—Bonaparte : —

    "A husband should have absolute power over the actions of his wife ; he has the right to say to her , ' Madame , you shall not go out ; you shall not go to the theatre ; you shall not see such and such a one ; Madame , you belong to me body and soul . ' " A chorus of husbands responds to that sentiment as perfectly just . " There must be a master everywhere . " To whisper the notion that women are human beings equally capable of rational conduct with men , and equally entitled to the free exercise of their volitions , would be to ?• destroy society . "

    We all know that in point of fact , women do exercise their volitions ; but they do it often by finesse and cajolery , seldom by the considcrateness of their husbands . Is that a good training for them ? And if in point of fact women are suffered to have a voice in the conduct of affairs , why is not the fact expressed in our laws ? The absolute power of the husband over the wife is seldom exercised because men are better than their opinions ; but every now and then wo find a man who docs exercise that

    tyranny accorded lnm by the law ; you call him a brute to enforce the law ; but why do you place such a weapon in the power of a brute ? We refer to M . Legouve for illustrations of this point , and translate the following example he gives of the present system : — " All kinds of treachery obtain public sympathy or pity for the betrayed person ; if a man is duped by his friend , the world pities him ; if a man is duped by his daughter , the world weeps with him ; but let a husband

    be ueceived by his wife , and the world , laughs ! And yet such a deception is , perhaps , more to that man than death itself would be ; his heart bleeds , but to others it is a matter for laughter . Yut this misfortune is called dishonour , and in consequence ! of the senseless state of opinion , the fault of the guilty becomes the shame of the innocent ; no matter , the world laughs , and such is the force << f this ridiculous opinion , that , in order to efface it , the husband must kill or be killed .

    " whence this cruel contradiction ? la it from human malignity which rejoices in the spectacle of the sufferings of others ? No ; since no other mi s fortune excites these feelings of raillery . It has another stronger , deeper cause , and that is marital autocracy ! Man has obtained full powers from the laws ; he may bar windows , bolt doors : Jiartholo appears , and with him comedy . The more keys hang from , his waist , the more piquant becomes the evasion of the captive . The husband is ridiculous as an overreached gaoler , because the wife is helpless and touching as a victim sent to the Bastille .

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    Nov . 16 , 1850 . ] &t ) e 3 leaiitV + 809

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 16, 1850, page 809, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1859/page/17/