enforced, then it is neither
appropriate nor wise, nor right, for a woman to petition for the relief
of oppressed females.

The case of Queen Esther is one often appealed to as a precedent. When a
woman is placed in similar circumstances, where death to herself and all
her nation is one alternative, and there is nothing worse to fear, but
something to hope as the other alternative, then she may safely follow
such an example. But when a woman is asked to join an Abolition Society,
or to put her name to a petition to congress, for the purpose of
contributing her measure of influence to keep up agitation in congress,
to promote the excitement of the North against the iniquities of the
South, to coerce the South by fear, shame, anger, and a sense of odium
to do what she has determined not to do, the case of Queen Esther is not
at all to be regarded as a suitable example for imitation.

In this country, petitions to congress, in reference to the official
duties of legislators, seem, IN ALL CASES, to fall entirely without the
sphere of female duty. Men are the proper persons to make appeals to
the rulers whom they appoint, and if their female friends, by arguments
and persuasions, can induce them to petition, all the good that can be
done by such measures will be secured. But if females cannot influence
their nearest friends, to urge forward a public measure in this way,
they surely are out of their place, in attempting to do it themselves.

There are some other considerations, which should make the American
females peculiarly sensitive in reference to any measure, which should
even _seem_ to draw them from their appropriate relations in society.

It is allowed by all reflecting minds, that the safety and happiness of
this nation depends upon having the _children_ educated, and not only
intellectually, but morally and religiously. There are now nearly two
millions of children and adults in this country who cannot read, and who
have no schools of any kind. To give only a small supply of teachers to
these destitute children, who are generally where the population is
sparse, will demand _thirty thousand teachers_; and _six thousand_ more
will be needed every year, barely to meet the increase of juvenile
population. But if we allow that we need not reach this point, in order
to save ourselves from that destruction which awaits a people, when
governed by an ignorant and unprincipled democracy; if we can weather
the storms of de