But were their
understanding once emancipated from the slavery to which the pride and
sensuality of man and their short-sighted desire, like that of
dominion in tyrants, of present sway, has subjected them, we should
probably read of their weaknesses with surprise. I must be allowed
to pursue the argument a little farther.
Perhaps, if the existence of an evil being were allowed, who, in the
allegorical language of scripture, went about seeking whom he should
devour, he could not more effectually degrade the human character than
by giving a man absolute power.
This argument branches into various ramifications.- Birth, riches,
and every extrinsic advantage that exalt a man above his fellows,
without any mental exertion, sink him in reality below them. In
proportion to his weakness, he is played upon by designing men, till
the bloated monster has lost all traces of humanity. And that tribes
of men, like flocks of sheep, should quietly follow such a leader,
is a solecism that only a desire of present enjoyment and narrowness
of understanding can solve. Educated in slavish dependence, and
enervated by luxury and sloth, where shall we find men who will
stand forth to assert the rights of man;- or claim the privilege of
moral beings, who should have but one road to excellence? Slavery to
monarchs and ministers, which the world will be long in freeing itself
from, and whose deadly grasp stops the progress of the human mind,
is not yet abolished.
Let not men then in the pride of power, use the same arguments
that tyrannic kings and venal ministers have used, and fallaciously
assert that woman ought to be subjected because she has always been
so.
Pages:
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79