Page:The rights of women and the sexual relations.djvu/399

sex, in blind egotism, insists on the same thousand-year-old, historical wrong, for the senseless and wicked allegation of which we have always reproach feudalists and princes? The thorough destruction of this egotism, the complete renunciation of every privilege, and the free union of the sovereign woman with the sovereign man that will result from it, will usher in a new, a nobler, more beautiful and happier life for humanity. It is not difficult to show that the degradation of woman is not only the chief symptom, but also the chief cause, of the social and moral corruption of society. Her elevation, however, will be its salvation and will ennoble the race in general. And, however we may meditate upon and construct a picture of a future humanity, its most beautiful adorment, and highest happiness, will consist in the nobler relationship between the two sexes, resulting from an equality of rights. Already Goethe declared woman to be the bearer of the ideal, which he missed in the masculine world, and minds who have been unable to perceive this have always shown themselves unable to reconcile human existence with the course of the world. Let me call attention to two notable personages of most modern times. The philosopher Schopenhauer was a woman-hater. An apostle of his, von Hartmann, a blase Berlinian, and son of a general, is a despiser of woman, who would grant man the privilege of ending his so-called love with the satisfaction of his sensual desire, to which the