ed an intellectual ability very far beyond that of
the average of men and very far beyond that of most men who have
shown very great political capacity. But let the comparison be
made in regard to the very thing with which we have to deal. Of
men who have swayed chief executive power, a very considerable
proportion have attained it by usurpation or by election,
processes which imply extraordinary capacity on their part as
compared with other men. The women who have held such power have
come to it as sovereigns by inheritance, or as regents by the
accident of bearing a particular relation to the lawful sovereign
when he was under some incapacity. Yet it is an undisputed fact
that the number of able and successful female sovereigns bears a
vastly greater proportion to the whole number of such sovereigns,
than does the number of able and successful male sovereigns to
the whole number of men who have reigned. An able, energetic,
virtuous king or emperor is the exception and not the rule in the
history of modern Europe. With hardly an exception the female
sovereigns or regents have been wise and popular. Mr. Mill, who
makes this point, says:

We know how small a number of reigning queens history
presents in comparison with that of kings. Of this small
number a far larger proportion have shown talents for rule,
though many of them have occupied the throne in difficult
periods. When to queens and empresses we add regents and
viceroys of provinces, the list of women who have been
eminent rulers of mankind swells to a great length....
Especially is this true if we take into consideration Asia
as well as Europe. If a Hindoo principality is strongly,
vigilantly and economically governed; if order is preserved
without oppression; if cultivation is extending and the
people prosperous, in three cases out of four that
principality is under a woman's rule. This fact, to me an
entirely unexpected one, I have collected from a long
official knowledge of Hindoo governments.

Certainly history gives no warning that should deter the American
people from carrying out the principles upon which their
government rests to this most just and legitimate conclusion.
Those persons who think th