men have a dignity
and value greater than society or themselves have discovered,--because
their talents and virtues place them on a footing of equality with men,
it is maintained that their present sphere of action is too contracted a
one, and that they ought to share in the public functions of the other
sex. Equality, mental and _physical_, is proclaimed! This is matter too
ludicrous to be treated anywhere but in a professed satire; in sober
earnest, it may be asked, upon what grounds so extraordinary a doctrine
is built up! Were women allowed to act out these principles, it would
soon appear that one great range of duty had been left unprovided for in
the schemes of Providence; such an omission would be without parallel.
Two principal points only can here be brought forward, which oppose this
plan at the very outset; they are--

1st. Placing the two sexes in the position of rivals, instead of
coadjutors, entailing the diminution of female influence.

2d. Leaving the important duties of woman only in the hands of that part
of the sex least able to perform them efficiently.

The principle of divided labour seems to be a maxim of the Divine
government, as regards the creature. It is only by a concentration of
powers to one point, that so feeble a being as man can achieve great
results. Why should we wish to set aside this salutary law, and disturb
the beautiful simplicity of arrangement which has given to man the
power, and to woman the influence, to second the plans of Almighty
goodness? They are formed to be co-operators, not rivals, in this great
work; and rivals they would undoubtedly become, if the same career of
public ambition and the same rewards of success were open to both.
Woman, at present, is the regulating power of the great social machine,
retaining, through the very exclusion complained of, the power to judge
of questions by the abstract rules of right and wrong--a power seldom
possessed by those whose spirits are chafed by opposition and heated by
personal contest.

The second resulting evil is a grave one, though, in treating of it,
also, it is difficult to steer clear of ludicrous associations. The
political career being open to women, it is natural to suppose that all
the most gifted of the sex would press forward to confer upon their
country the benefit of their services, and to reap for themselves the
distinction which such services would obtain; the duties hitherto
considered peculiar to the se