Page:Vindication Women's Rights (Wollstonecraft).djvu/15

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DEDICATION.
ix

embelliſh it with the grand traces of mental beauty, or the intereſting ſimplicity of affection.

Conſider, Sir, diſpaſſionately, theſe obſervations—for a glimpſe of this truth ſeemed to open before you when you obſerved, 'that to ſee one half of the human race excluded by the other from all participation of government, was a political phænomenon that, according to abſtract principles, it was impoſſible to explain.' If ſo, on what does your conſtitution reſt? If the abſtract rights of man will bear diſcuſſion and explanation, thoſe of woman, by a parity of reaſoning, will not ſhrink from the ſame teſt: though a different opinion prevails in this country, built on the very arguments which you uſe to juſtify the oppreſſion of woman—preſcription.

Conſider, I addreſs you as a legiſlator, whether, when men contend for their freedom, and to be allowed to judge for themſelves reſpecting their own happineſs, it be not inconſiſtent and unjuſt to ſubjugate women, even though you firmly believe that you are acting in the manner beſt calculated to promote their happineſs? Who made man the excluſive judge, if woman partake with him the gift of reaſon?

In this ſtyle, argue tyrants of every denomination, from the weak king to the weak father

of