r, he looks simply for an earnest of the
future, for a humble beginning of that wonderful revolution in
favor of women which has occurred in the United States, and to a
less degree in England, during the past quarter of a century, his
expectations will be fully realized. More than this; he will close
this long account of woman's emancipation in the new world
convinced that in due season a similar blessing is to be enjoyed by
the women of the old world.

For the moment, the woman question in Europe is pushed into the
background by the all-absorbing struggle still going on in various
forms between the republican and monarchical principle, between the
vital present and the moribund past; but the most superficial
observer must perceive, that the amelioration of the lamentable
situation of European womanhood is sure to be one of the first
problems to come to the front for resolution, as soon as liberty
gains undisputed control on this continent,--a victory assured in
the not-distant future. When men shall have secured their rights,
the battle will be half won; women's rights will follow as a
natural sequence.

The most logical beginning for a sketch of the woman movement on
the continent, and indeed of any step in advance, is of course
France, where ideas, not facts, stand out the more prominently;
for, in questions of reform, the abstract must always precede the
concrete,--public opinion must be convinced before it will accept
an innovation. This has been the _role_ of France in Europe ever
since the great revolution; it is her _role_ to-day. She is the
agitator of the old world, and agitation is the lever of reform.

[Illustration: George Sand]

The woman movement in France dates from the upheaval of 1789.
Though the demands for the rights of man threw all other claims
into the shade, a few women did not fail to perceive that they also
had interests at stake. Marie Olympe de Gouges, for example, in her
"Declaration of the Rights of Woman," vindicated for her sex all
the liberties proclaimed in the famous "Declaration of the Rights
of Man." During the empire and the restoration the reform slept;
under the July monarchy there was an occasional murmur, which burst
forth into a vigorous protest when the revolution of 1848 awakened
the aspirations of 1789, and George Sand consecrated her talent to
the cause of progress. During the second empire, in spite of the
oppressive nature of the government, the movement took on