Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-02-28
UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE.
woman. nns,... ana Negroes, Rights.

From the St Louis Republican,
To be faultless is the privilege only Q
gods, and not OF men or women. Thougl
In comparing American women with tn
fairer half of other nations, perhaps no
absolutely everything is found in fave
of our own females, it is nevertheless
pretty generally admitted that, as il
many other respects, they, in delicaey 0
taste and sentiment, exceed all thei
sisters in the whole world. This is ;
tbig thing.H II implies very elevated
degree Of culture, exquisite diseriminat
ing faculties, and the very highest stage
of mental susceptibility. Delicacy o.
sentiments is the aptitude and the habit
of the soul TO distinguish the fines
shades Of good and evil, and of what is
beautiful and decent. 1t insures in prac-
| tice, whenever q conflict Of duties arises,
the ready choice OF that which is moi
only the least Objectionable to honesty,
but which at the same time is the most
adequate to a refined sense of elegance
and beauty. That with such essential
characteristics of the nature of our
women, the purpose of grSnting political
rights to the most debased race on earth
could possibly give new and impetuous
bldTI blAC WOtudn AiSulo lnONcLlGnl ~
the United States, must therefore appear
as q most curious anomaly. What is the
natural inference from the simultaneous
appearance of the claim of women and
negro suRfage2 It is that neither the
recognition OF the intrinsic average value
of womanhood ID America, nor of its
nigh stage of- ceiture and mental capa-
city has stimulated woman's zeal for
suffrage, but that B mere comparison of
her merits with an acknowledged iffe-
rior race is at least a welcome pretext for
renewing the agitation of that question.
If the result of this comparison gives
claim of perfect emancipation to Amer
lean women, then they certainly may in
future abstain from balancing their
qualities with those of any other class
Of women on earth, for even the
very lowest among their sisterhood in
any country of the civilized world are
still so far above the moral and mental
standard of cOlored females, that the
nicer determinations lose all their
Significance. And yet it seems to be an
axiom with some American women,
that Just for the reason of their own su-
periOrity, our country should make the
first step in that new direction. And
what is the measure, the standard of this
superiority? It's the very same qualifi-
cation which undeniably they have IN
common with the women of the whole
civilized v ord, viz: their equal ability
with the cOlOred race to exercise political
rights; to own property and to choose
their own occupations in life.
We explicitly disclaim that this view
OF the matter has anything TO do
with the final solution Of the womenis
rights question in itself. The elements
of It lie in different sphere. What we
find to be in contradiction to the ac-
delicacy of feeling Of our
American women, Is the circumstance
that the advocates of this movement
have coupled their own claims with
those Of a race which, in the distinctive
traits of AmencaR womanhoOd, is their /.
very opposite To us it seems that the /
allCsiOu 10 the similarity 4
Of the conditions and aspirations
Of the colOred race and those Of /
American women should have been I
most carefully avoided. That women /
are not emancipatedU even ia those /
where centuries ago the last I
vestige Of human slavery disappeared, |
might have shown 10 them the dissimi I
Iarity of the elements of both questions. I
The future development of both Will /
show that the division of labor between /
males and females, and between human I
beings of different races, will, perhaps, /
undergo 3 thorough examination and /
result in marked changes but that in /
this reconstruction scheme of society /
negro emancipation is anything but /
analogous to the prospective improve !
ment of the condition OF American /
women. That the delicate mind of
American women should ever have for !
gotten itself so far as to take advantage |
Of a political partisan necessity, by 1
which certain, Fights are to se granted to (
the most degraded race on earth, which |
rights are yet denied to them, will ap- /
pear as one Of the various reasons why, |
In our times, the woman's rights move /
ment was by far less universal than a
nation OF such divided initiative spirit !
rs ours might have been disposed to
treatit. The wrong statement of ques-
til n always implies the failure of its So
luton, and it is undeniably false to bring
the two questions under one and the
sanie general rsss. Woe to our women
# the result OF their own aspirations
were to be the same as the resulted PagrO
suffrage win be to that poor, wTetuhed
race!