Female Suffrage | Page 6

in every department of
her government. Isabella I. of Spain gave proof of legislative and
executive ability of the very highest order; she was not only one of the
purest and noblest, but also, considering the age to which she belonged,
and the obstacles in her way, one of the most skillful sovereigns the
world has ever seen. Her nature was full of clear intelligence, with the
highest moral and physical courage. She was in every way a better ruler
than her own husband, to whom she proved nevertheless an admirable
wife, acting independently only where clear principle was at stake. The
two greet errors of her reign, the introduction of the Inquisition and the
banishment of the Jews, must be charged to the confessor rather than to
the Queen, and these were errors in which her husband was as closely
involved as herself. On the other hand, some of the best reforms of her
reign originated in her own mind, and were practically carried out
under her own close personal supervision. Many other skillful female
rulers might be named. And it is not only in civilized life and in
Christendom that woman has shown herself wise in governing; even
among the wildest savage tribes they have appeared, occasionally, as
leaders and rulers. This is a singular fact. It may be proved from the
history of this continent, and not only from the early records of Mexico
and Cuba and Hayti, but also from the reports of the earliest navigators
on our own coast, who here and there make mention incidentally of this
or that female chief or sachem. But a fact far more impressive and truly
elevating to the sex also appears on authority entirely indisputable.

While women are enjoined by the Word of God to refrain from public
teaching in the Church, there have been individual women included
among the Prophets, speaking under the direct influence of the Most
Holy Spirit of God, the highest dignity to which human nature can
attain. But all these individual cases, whether political or religious,
have been exceptional. The lesson to be learned from them is plain. We
gather naturally from these facts, what may be learned also from other
sources, that, while the positions of the two sexes are as such distinct,
the one a degree superior, the other a degree inferior, the difference
between them is limited--it is not impassable in individual cases. The
two make up but one species, one body politic and religious. There are
many senses besides marriage in which the two are one. It is the right
hand and the left, both belonging to one body, moved by common
feeling, guided by common reason. The left hand may at times be
required to do the work of the right, the right to act as the left. Even in
this world there are occasions when the last are first, the first last,
without disturbing the general order of things. These exceptional cases
temper the general rule, but they can not abrogate that rule as regards
the entire sex. Man learns from them not to exaggerate his
superiority--a lesson very often needed. And woman learns from them
to connect self-respect and dignity with true humility, and never, under
any circumstances, to sink into the mere tool and toy of man--a lesson
equally important.
Such until the present day has been the general teaching and practice of
Christendom, where, under a mild form, and to a limited point, the
subordination of woman has been a fact clearly established. But this
teaching we are now called upon to forget, this practice we are required
to abandon. We have arrived at the days foretold by the Prophet, when
"knowledge shall be increased, and many shall run to and fro." The
intellectual progress of the race during the last half century has indeed
been great. But admiration is not the only feeling of the thoughtful
mind when observing this striking advance in intellectual acquirement.
We see that man has not yet fully mastered the knowledge he has
acquired. He runs to and fro. He rushes from one extreme to the other.
How many chapters of modern history, both political and religious, are
full of the records of this mental vacillation of our race, of this illogical
and absurd tendency to pass from one extreme to the point farthest

from it!
An adventurous party among us, weary of the old paths, is now eagerly
proclaiming theories and doctrines entirely novel on this important
subject. The EMANCIPATION OF WOMAN is the name chosen by
its advocates for this movement. They reject the idea of all
subordination, even in the mildest form, with utter scorn. They claim
for woman absolute social and political equality with man. And they
seek to secure these points by conferring on the