The Rights of Women and the Sexual Relations/Part 1/19. Preface to Part II
PREFACE TO PART II.
At last I am in the position to fulfill my promise stated at the conclusion of my preface to the first edition of "The Rights of Women," namely: "to continue the publication in English translation of the immortal treasures of Heinzen's thoughts and thus make them accessible to the American reading public." Seven years have elapsed since, and I feel in duty bound to say that adverse circumstances of a peculiar nature, which I do not care to enlarge upon here, were responsible for the long delay in publishing the enlarged volume, the manuscript whereof had been ready for the press a long time ago. However, I desire to say this much: Said delay was not due to an insufficient or a tardy sale of the book, which, on the contrary, sold so well that the 2,500 copies of the first edition were disposed of within a month after publication, and a second edition had to be printed. I cherish the hope that the present work will fare as well, for its excellent contents certainly merit it, the same being fully of the high standard of its predecessor, mirroring the brilliant genius of the author on every page. Its tendency concerns mainly the emancipation of women as to the political and social aspect of the question, while the first part almost exclusively treats upon the sexual relations.
It is hardly necessary to state for the information of the reader that the "Convention of German women in Frauenstadt" is a fiction, but it may not be amiss to remark that the report of the same appeared for the first time in 1869 in the form of an editorial correspondence in "Der Pionier," a weekly paper edited and published by Heinzen in Boston for more than a quarter of a century until 1870, when a serious illness of Heinzen, caused by an apoplectic stroke, imperiously demanded the cessation of his literary work, and in consequence thereof the discontinuance of the publication ‘of "Der Pionier." This fearless weekly during its existence gladdened the hearts and fired the courage of its readers by the presentation in its columns of the most thorough-going investigations and elucidations in every department of useful knowledge — literary, political, economical and ethical treatises being the topics of every issue. Its appearance was an ever occurring holiday to the educated, cultured and progressive minds of honest truth-seekers, from the first number to the last; it is safe to say that at no time and among no nation there ever was published a paper that breathed a like independent, bold and humane spirit. Heinzen was among the first intrepid champions of the emancipation of woman, incessantly vindicating the rights of the fair sex to liberate the better half of mankind from the despotism of the "lord and master," and the drudgery of a degrading thraldom.
Regarding his controversy with Arnold Ruge, the renowned German philosopher, who lived at that time in exile at Brighton, England, about the emancipation and rights of women, which appeared also in "Der Pionier" in the year 1855, it may be necessary to explain that the same was carried on by him under the nom de plume of Luise Meyen. It created not a small sensation in the German literary world; the wonderful logic, boldness and poetical beauty that characterize the. utterances of the intrepid Luise were without comparison, and considering the fact that they were uttered by a woman on a subject at that time yet so foreign even to the advanced mind, the readers were puzzled as to the genuineness of the authoress' name. A large number of curious inquiries rained upon the editor in reference to the real existence and whereabouts of Luise Meyen. Similar occurrences repeated themselves in regard to Julie vom Berg and other pseudonyms which Heinzen, for the sake of animation and diversion, occasionally assumed.
The detested cause of the emancipation of woman was espoused by Heinzen at a time when it required more than ordinary moral courage to do so, but in spite of the scorn and ostracism of his fellow-citizens there was with him only one divinity, Reason; only one worship, the cultivation of Truth; only one Right, the right to life and liberty; only one Duty, the duty of assisting mankind to happiness.
I desire yet to state that "Der Pionier" had a world-wide reputation and circulation, wherever the German tongue reigned; in Europe and America it had its readers among the most advanced and cultured minds, and when the report of the fictitious convention first appeared therein in such a masterful style and imitation it created an unusual sensation here and abroad.
The collected works of Heinzen as far as published constitute eleven volumes, the translation-of "which into English and their publication in that language is a task gradually to be accomplished. The time advances and heretofore unpopular radical ideas lose their horror and become more and more the property of the masses.
In conclusion I take the liberty of announcing to the reader that the next volume I expect to publish will contain a series of Heinzen's immortal philosophical, political and ethical essays, treatises and lectures, namely, "Six Letters to a Pious Man;" "Man's Relation to Nature," "Happiness and Unhappiness;" "Has the World a Purpose?" "The Germans and the Americans;" "Truth;" "Mankind the Criminal;" "The Future;" "What Is Humanity?" "The True Character of Humboldt" (an oration): "What Is Real Democracy?" "(Communism and Socialism;" "Bad Virtues and Good Vices."
Detroit, Mich., October, 1898.