On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
llest ' offictfs of domestic rtion to her ignorance and childish vanity- Unacquainted with the importance 3 and its purposes , trained to a 6 elfish coquetry and love of petty power , she does aok beyond the pleasure of making herself felt at the moment , and governments liaken and commerce brokeu up to gratify the pique of a female favourite . The ish shopkeeper ' s wife does not vote , but it is for her interest that the politician isses by the coarsest flattery , gain : — I wives , bad or good , loved or unloved , inevitably influence their husbands from > ower their position not merely give ? , but necessitates of colouring evidence and ng feelings in hours when the—patient , shall I call him ?—is off his guard , liar now what Mary Wollstonecraft says on the same subject : — mien have been allowed to remain in ignorance and slavish dependence many , many years , and still wo hear of nothing but their fondness of pleasure and sway , preference of rakes and soldiers , their childish attachment to toys , and the vanity makes them value accomplishments more than virtues . History brings forward ¦ fu l catalogue of the crimes which their cunning has produced , when the weak s have had sufficient address to overreach their masters "When , fore , I Call women slaves , I mean in a political and civil sense ; for indircctly obtain too much power , and are debased by their exertions to obtain illicit sway . The libertinism , and even the virtues of superior men , will always give in of some description great power over them ; and these weak women , under the nee of childish passions and selfish vanity , icill ihrotc a false light orcr the objects the very men view with their eyes who owjht to en ! ighUn their judgment . Men of , and those sanguine characters who mostly hold the helm of human affairs in al , relax in the society of women ; and surely I need not cite to the most superreader of history the numerous examples of vice and oppression which the private ues of female favourites have produced ; not to dwell on the mischief that ally arises from the blundering interposition of well-meaniug folly . For in the ictions of business it is much bitter to have to deal with a knave than a fool , because re adheres to some plan , and any plan of reason may be seen Uirough sooner than a i flight of folly . The power which , vile and foolish women have had over wjse vho possessed sensibility is notorious . icre is a notion commonly entertained among men that an instructed in , capable of having opinions , is likvly to prove an impracticable yokei ' , always pulling one way when her husband wants to go the other , ilar in tone , and prone U > give curtain lectures on metaphysics . But y , so far as obstinacy is concerned , your unreasoning animal is the most mageable of creatures , where you arc not allowed to settle the question cudgel , a whip and bridle , or even a string to the leg . For our own , we see no consistent or commodious medium between the old plan of > rnl discipline and that thorough education of women which will make rational beings in the highest sen ^ e of the word . Wherever weakness I harshly controlled it nni 4 f / nrcrn , as you nr . iy see when a strong man > a little child by the hand , how he is pulled hither and thither , and ied in his walk by his submission to the whims ami feeble movements 3 companion . A really cultured woman , like a really cultured man , be ready to yield in trifles . So far as we see , there is no indissoluble exion between infirmity of lojjic and infirmity of will , and a woman innocent of an opinion in philosophy , is as likely as not to have m \ intable opinion about the kitchen . As to airs of superiority , no woman had them in consequence of true culture , but only because her culture hallow or unreal , only ns a result of what Mrs . Malaprop well calls ineffectual qualities in a woman "—mere acquisitions carried about , and nowledge thoroughly assimilated so ns to cuter into the growth of the ictcr . return to Margaret Fuller , some of the best things she saj-s arc on the of absolute definitions of woman ' s nature and absolute demarcations of m's mission . " Nature , " she says , " seems to delight in varying the gements , as if to show that she will be fettered by no rule ; and we admit the same varieties that she admits . " Again : " If nature is bound down , nor the voice of inspiration stilled , that is enough . A'N e leased that women should write and speak , if they feel need of it , from g something to tell ; but silence for ages would be no misfortune , if ulcncu bo from divine commund , and nut from man ' s tradition . " And is a passage , the beginning of which has been often quoted : — you ask ino what offices they ( women ) may fill , I reply—any . I do not caro case you put ; let them bo sea-captains if } -ou will . 1 do not doubt thoic arc n well fitted for auuh an oilicu , and , if so , I should bo as glad us to weleomo the of Saragoasa , or tho Maid of MUsoloughi , or the Sulioto heroine , or F . inily I think women need , especially at thin juncture , a much greater range of ution than they have , to rou . so their latent , power * . ... In families that I , some littlo girls like to saw wood , others to use carpenter ' s tools . " Where those are indulged , cheerfulness nnd good-humour are promoted . Whero they arc den , becnufio •' such things aw not proper for girls , " they grow sullen nti < l nifs-) uo . Fourier had observed tlieno wants of women , as no one can fail to < lo who iea tho dcflircs of little girl * , or knows tho << ntwi that haunts grown women , oxvhere thoy innko to th < Mnfu > lvcn a serene littlo world by art of . some kind . Ho , fore , In proposing a great vnriHy of employments' , in manufactures or tho euro of » and animals , allows for ouo-third of woinon aa likely to have a taste for m « s-) purnuito , one-third of men for feminine . . . . 1 have no doubt , however , i largo proportion of women would givo , thomselvea to the . same employments as because there aro citcuiustiiuooa that mu . st lead thorn . Mothers will dolijjUt to tho nest soft and warm . Nature would take caro of that ; no need to clip tho
wings of any bird that wants to soar and sing ;" oFfinWin Itself : tn ^ sfrengffi ~ dT p 1 nlott fora migratory flight unusual to its kind .: The difference would be that a // need not be constrained to employments for which some are unfit . A propos of the same subject , we find Mary Wollstonecraft offering a suggestion which the women of the United States have already begun to carry out . She says : — Women , in particular , all want to be Iadie 3 . Which is simply to have nothing to do , but listlessly ^ go they scarcely care where , for they cannot tell what . But what have women to do in society ? I may be asked , but to loiter with easy grace ; surely you would not condemn them , all to suckle fools and chronicle small beer . No . Women might certainly study the art of healing , and be physicians as well as nurses . . . . . Business of various kinds they might likewise pursue , if they were educated in a more orderly manner . . . . Women would not then many for a support , as men accept of places under government , and neglect the implied duties . Men pay a heavy price for their reluctance to encourage self-help and independent resources in women . The precious meridian years of many a man of genius have to be spent in the toil of routine , that an " establishment " be kept up for a woman who can understand none of his secret yearnings , who is fit for nothing but to sit in her drawing-room , like a doll-Madonna in her shrine . No matter . Anything is more endurable than to change our established formulae about women , or to run the risk of looking up to our wives instead of looking down on them . » SV / divus , dummodo iion sit vivus ( let him be a god , provided he be not living ) , said the Roman magnates of Romulus ; and so men say of women , let them be idols , useless absorbents of precious things , provided we are not obliged to admit them to be strictly fellow-beings , to be treated , one and all , with justice and sober reverence . On one side we hear that woman ' s position can never be improved until women themselves are better ; and , on the other , that women can never become better until their position is improved—until the laws are made more just , and a wider field opened to feminine activity . ¦ But we constantly hear the same difficulty stated about the human race in general . There is a perpetual action and reaction between individuals and institutions ; we must try and mend both by little and little—the only way in which human things can be mended . Unfortunately , many over-zealous champions of women assert their actual equality with men—nay , even their moral superiority to men—as a ground for their release from oppressive laws and restrictions . They lose strength immensely by this false position . If it were true , then there would be a case in which slavery and ignorance nourished virtue , and so far we should have an argument for the continuance of bondage . But we want freedom and culture for woman , because subjection and Tgnorance have debased her , and with her , Man ; for—If she be small , elight-natured , miserable , How shall men grow ? Both Margaret Fuller and Mary Wollstonecraft have too much sagacity to fall into this sentimental exaggeration . Their ardent hopes of what women may become do not prevent them from seeing and painting women . as they are . jOn the relative moral excellence of men and women Mary Wollstonecraft speaks with the most decision : — Women are supposed to possess more sensibility , and even humanity , than men , and their strong attachments and instantaneous emotions of compassion are given as proofs ; but the clinging affection of ignorance has seldom anything noble in it , and may mostly be resolved into selfishness , as well as the affection of children and brutes . I have known many weak women whose sensibility was entirely engrossed by their husbands ; and as for their humanity , it was very faint indeed , or rather it was only a transient emotion of compassion . Humanity does not consist " in a squeamish ear , " says an eminent orator . "It belongs to the mind as well as to the nerves . " But this kind of exclusive affection , though it degrades the individual , should not be brought forward as a proof of the inferiority of the sex , because it is the natural consequence of confined views ; for even women of superior sense , having their attention turned to little employments and private plans , rarely rise to heroism , unless when spurred on by love ! and love , as an heroic passion , like genius , appears but once in an age . I therefore agree with the moralist who asserts " that women have seldom so much generosity as men ; " and that their narrow affections , to which justice and humanity arc often sacrificed , render the sex apparently inferior , especially as they are commonly inspired by men ; but I contend that the heart would expand as the understanding gained strength , if women were not depressed from their cradles . We had marked several other passages of Margaret Fuller ' s for extract , but as we do not aim at an exhaustive treatment of our subject , and are onlv touching a few of its points , we have , perhaps , already claimed as much of the reader ' s attention nshe will be willing to give to such desultory material .
Untitled Article
EXIL 15 IN SIBERIA ' . J / y Exile in Siberia . By Alexander Ilerzen . 2 vols . Hurat and Blackett . The author of these Memoirs is one of the most distinguished writers of his nation . We claim him as a friend and collaborateur . A politician , an historian , a romancist , ho scarcely reached manhood before the Emperor Nicholas feared and persecuted liim as an enemy . His associations had betrayed his opinions ; ho was twice arrested , twice exiled , watched , thwarted , and long deprived of all but illicit fame ; for the Government forbids any person , once condemned for a political * offence , from publishing , unless anonymously , or under a pseudonym . Thus , Alexander Herzen , forcing his ideas into circulation , was named nn < l praised only in seditious circles of free speech—beyond the range of spies . Nevertheless , his reputation extended throughout the empire ; his works , though now prohibited , roused the more intelligent classes from their apatliv , and were so significantly popular , that
to admire one of Hurzcn ' s books was to avow tho revolutionary spirit . In a moment of incautious compliance the Emperor Nicholas , in 1847 , granted to Ilerzen a passport out of Russia . IIo emerged from that vase fortilied empire , in which every individual is under the Autocrat a iianu , travelled in France , Germany , nnd Italy during the insurrectionary penpu , acquired a facility of writing in tUo French and German languages , ana tixus formed relations with tho great fraternity of liberal minds in we * tern Kill-one . When a continuous process of reaction hiul * tMod - ^ r ' ' entVsouaro Cont ncnt , Herzen migrated to London , and established in Kegent s-souare
Untitled Article
^ TOBSas m 1658 , } T HiE ^ JADE . % 9 S 9
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 13, 1855, page 989, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2110/page/17/
-