nd, and I can merely point to thee as the
potent champion of our down-trodden rights! Instead of dwelling in dull
obscurity, victims to the caprice of men; mending their thread-bare
clothing and scolding servants--base, unwomanly pursuits!--instead of
listening in silence to the storms of political debate; instead of
remaining within the shadow of our own roofs, and gathering around the
domestic hearth the thornless roses of existence; rendering home a haven
of rest to the weary and care-worn; instead of slumbering idly, in the
security of our mansions, when the torrent of war rolls over the land;
instead of girding then our brothers for the stormy fight, bidding them
GOD-speed; instead of ignobly bending before the tyrannical power of Man,
thou, O! astute NEAL! wouldst have us pluck the laurel-wreath from our
kinsman's brow, and bind it on our own. Thou wouldst have us rise in all
the dignity of offended 'equality,' and boldly assert the holy right of
'_free suffrage to all_!' Why, forsooth, should _we_ rather be confined to
the narrow circle of home than our friends of the other sex? Are we not as
capable of sounding the loud alarm of war, of mingling in the strife and
tumult of the battle-hour, as the ladies of antique Amazonia, or the
warrior-_men_ of our own day? Have we not intellect enough to cope with
the WEBSTERS, the CLAYS, and the WRIGHTS, in the halls of Congress? Is not
our dignity sufficient to maintain, with honor to our country and
ourselves, the various offices of the government? Why may not our superior
talents elevate us to the lofty station of the presidential chair?--to
become Ambassadresses, Generalesses, Stateswomen? Surely our intellect is
as lofty, as noble, and as clear as that in which proud man exults. Arise
then, Women of America! Study immediately the tactics of military
discipline; proceed to the green savannahs of Florida; wrest their
authority from those who now possess it, and deck your own brows of
loveliness with the wreaths of conquest and of glory. March to the halls
of legislation; demand from statesmen there assembled the concession of
'woman's rights,' and desert them not till that 'vantage ground' is well
secured. Then, ladies, will you be enabled to cast aside with disdain the
bonds of domestic confinement, which insure merely your peace and
happiness; to mingle your shrill cries with the tumult of contending
armies, confounding confusion itself with your loud clamors! You may the