to weigh what I have advanced reſpecting the rights of woman, and national education—and I call with the firm tone of humanity. For my arguments, Sir, are dictated by a diſintereſted ſpirit—I plead for my ſex—not for myſelf. Independence I have long conſidered as the grand bleſſing of life, the baſis of every virtue—and independence I will ever ſecure by contracting my wants, though I were to live on a barren heath.
It is then an affection for the whole human race that makes my pen dart rapidly along to ſupport what I believe to be the cauſe of virtue: and the ſame motive leads me earneſtly to wiſh to ſee woman placed in a ſtation in which ſhe would advance, inſtead of retarding, the progreſs of thoſe glorious principles that give a ſubſtance to morality. My opinion, indeed, reſpecting the rights and duties of woman, ſeems to flow ſo naturally from theſe ſimple principles, that I think it ſcarcely poſſible, but that ſome of the enlarged minds who formed your admirable conſtitution, will coincide with me.
In France there is undoubtedly a more general diffuſion of knowledge than in any part of the European world, and I attribute it, in a great meaſure, to the ſocial intercourſe which has long ſubſiſted between the ſexes. It is true, I utter my ſentiments with freedom, that in France the
