The Rights of Women and the Sexual Relations/Preview
| PREFACE. |
The following treatise comes from the pen of one of the most enlightened and humanitarian spirits of our time, whose libertarian and reformatory labors were not limited to his German fatherland and this republic, his adopted home, but extended to the entire civilized world by their unique and masterful many-sidedness. The author, who, after he had broken his fetters in despotic Europe, lived in this country during the larger and most fertile period of his life and brought to light his ripest spiritual treasures here, unfortunately remained unknown to the great majority of his American fellow-citizens. He counted as his friends only the most enlightened men of his time who could appreciate his quiet greatness. This remarkable fact, I believe, may be explained by the observations which the life-long friend of Karl Heinzen, Dr. Marie E. Zakrzewska of Boston, embodied in her autobiography,[1] dedicated to the well-known American poetess, Mary L. Booth: "The German mind, so much honored in Europe for its scientific capacity, for its consistency regarding principles, and its correct criticism, is not dead here; but it has to struggle against difficulties too numerous to be detailed here; and therefore it is that the Americans don't know of its existence, and the chief obstacle is their different languages. A Humboldt must remain unknown here, unless he chooses to Americanize himself in every respect: and could he do this without ceasing to be Humboldt, the cosmopolitan genius?"
Among the friends of Heinzen referred to, Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, and Charles Sumner are especially to be mentioned. At the memorial gathering held on February 22, 1881 (Heinzen died November 12, 1880), Wendell Phillips said concerning him:"I never met him on the streets without a feeling of the highest respect, and this respect I paid the rare, almost unexampled courage of the man. Mr. Heinzen in this respect stands almost alone among the immigrants to these shores. His idea of human right had no limitation. His respect for the rights of a human being as such was not to be shaken. The temptation to use his talent to gain reputation, money, power, at a time when, a poor emigrant, he lacked all these and was certain of acquiring them, was great; yet all these he laid calmly aside for the sake of the eternal principle of right, of freedom. He espoused the detested slave cause at a time when to do so meant poverty, desertion of fellow-countrymen, scorn, persecution even. Thus he acted in every cause. What seemed to him right, after the most unsparing search for truth, he upheld no matter at what cost. During the war, feeling that through ignorance or timidity on the part of Lincoln's government precious lives and treasures were being wasted, he was foremost among a few leading men who proposed the nomination of Fremont for the presidency. We had many private meetings and much correspondence with leading men in New York. I shall never forget some of these conversations with Mr. Heinzen. He was so far-seeing and sagacious; he was so ingenious and contriving; his judgment so penetrating.
"One other characteristic he had, belonging only to truly great men. There was a kind of serenity and dignity about him, as one sure of the right in the course which he took, in the principles which he stated. He was far in advance of other minds; but he was sure in his trust in human nature that all others would come, must come to the same point with himself. He could wait. Few possessing equal mental ability are able also to do this. The greatest courage is to dare to be wholly consistent. This courage Heinzen showed when a little yielding, so little as would have been readily pardoned on the ground of common-sense, would have gained him popularity, fame, money, power. He remained true to himself.
"Prominent men gained much from him, but never acknowledged their obligations. He shaped many minds that led and created public opinion. His indeed was a life of trial, gladly borne without murmur of complaint, and his reward must be in the future.
"When I think of that lofty life there come always to my mind those words of Tocqueville which Sumner loved to quote: ‘Remember life is neither pain nor pleasure; it is serious business, to be entered upon with courage, with the spirit of self-sacrifice.' Surely if any life ever exemplified that ideal, it is the one we meet to remember and, as far as we can, to imitate — that of Karl Heinzen."
As a German-American writer has said of him, Heinzen was what Goethe called eine Natur; that is, a character of singularly original development, a man of one mould, who remained true to himself-in all conditions of life, and who valued this fidelity to self higher than all external positions and all the favors of the world. He knew of no loftier ambition than obedience to his own teachings: "Learn to' endure everything, only not slavery; learn to dispense with everything, only not with your self-respect; learn to lose everything, only not yourself. All! else in life is worthless, delusive, and fickle. Man's only sure support is in himself, in his individuality, resting in its own power and sovereignty." Besides he was a writer who knew how to wield his pen as almost none of his contemporaries, certainly not one of
the writers of the German tongue in this country; who as none else knew how to express his thoughts in the most pregnant, incisive, and energetic form — a master of pure classical style.
That a spirit who could proclaim such principles was bound to throw his entire revolutionary energy on the side of the liberation of woman from the fetters of social and political slavery is a matter of course.
The treatise here submitted, which appeared for the first time in the German ‘language in 1852 and later in an expanded form in 1875, is translated into English by an American lady of German descent, Mrs. Emma Heller Schumm, of Boston;[2] and it is the intention of the publisher, in case the demand for this treatise should give him any encouragement, to continue the publication in English translation of the immortal treasures of Heinzen's thought and thus make them accessible to the American reading public.
In this treatise the cause of the emancipation of woman finds its most brilliant championship, as it has hardly ever before been discussed with less reserve and greater freedom. I cherish the hope that its circulation will largely contribute towards enlightening the public on this most important question, in order thereby to hasten its speedy solution. The translator as well as the publisher would in that "case feel themselves amply rewarded for their unselfish labor, while the lofty intentions of the author would meet with their full realization.
- ↑ Practical Illustration of Woman's Right to Labor; or, A Letter from Marie E. Zakrzewska, M.D. Edited by Caroline H. Dall, author of "Historical Pictures Retouched," etc., etc. Boston: Walker, Wise & Co. 1860. A book that ought to be read by everybody who is interested in the solution of the woman's question.
- ↑ Perhaps this is the proper place to state that, greatly as I admire and esteem the character and genius of Karl Heinzen, I cannot entirely agree with all the views laid down in the following treatise. From some of the positions taken therein I emphatically dissent. Not where he is most radical and thoroughgoing in his advocacy of liberty in the sexual relations and of the independence of woman, for I am with him there; but where he seems to forget his radicalism, and to lose his grand confidence in the power of liberty to rejuvenate, to regulate, and to moderate, and falls back upon the State for that readjustment and guidance of human affairs which one day will be accomplished only in liberty and by liberty, — it is there where I radically dissent; and I make this statement for the sake of setting myself right with those who happen to be acquainted with my views on these points.
Goethe says somewhere: "Die Menschen werden durch Meinungen getrennt, durch Gesinnungen vereinigt" — Men are separated by their opinions, but united by the spirit that governs them. Thus, notwithstanding our disagreement as regards the manner of attaining a desirable end, I am proud to call myself a follower of Karl Heinzen as regards the spirit with which he approached all questions of human concern. This spirit, as well as the fundamental ideas underlying the following treatise, cannot, as I take it, be better epitomized than by the following quotation from the pen of one of the contributors to "Liberty" of Boston:
"Woman's emancipation means freedom, liberty. It means liberty pure and simple; failing of which, it is, according to its degree, oppression, suppression, tyranny. It means liberty to enter any and all fields of labor, — trade, profession, science, literature, and art, — and liberty to compete for the highest positions in the land. Liberty to choose her companion, and equal liberty to change. Liberty to embrace motherhood in her own way, time, and place, and freedom from the unjustly critical verdict and action of society concerning her movements. She will no longer recognize society's right to condemn in her practices condoned in man. No more a slave, she will be a true comrade; independent of man, as he is independent of her; dependent on him, as he is dependent on her. And the sex question will be settled. All this, and more, when woman shall be free, and enjoy an equality of liberty with man."
And in this view my task in getting out the treatise now for the first time submitted to the English-reading public has been a source of great delight to me, and I can only join with Mr. Schmemann in the hope that women will give it the welcome it deserves, and that it may point out the way to liberty to many an oppressed sister. — Translator.