The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-11-13

IhS 9e1'
The advocates of what are called womens
rights have been considerably nettled by an
ingenious and novel argument upon the
subject from the pen Of Professor Rlehl' OF
Stuttgart. This distinguished writer has
constructed an elaborate rejoinder to the
plea by which female equality is sought to
be established. His fundamental idea is
that sex is differentiated by culture, and that
the attempt to equalize the sexes is simply
a return to barbarism. He holds that so
cial inequality is a law Of Nature which
becomes more and more distinct and exact
ing with the progress of civilization. To
the support OF his position Riehl summons
revelation, history, art, ethnology and pa
thology. We are indebted to The Nation
for sketch OF that part OF his ''Natural
History of the Family which embraces the
discussion.
Our author holds lin common with many
disciples of Hegel,) that the fall humanlzed
man, that it awoke his slumbering self-con-
sciousness and developed his domestic and
social instincts He calls attention to the
fact that this event-a calamity which in
volved q blessing produced the subordina-
ton of the female. The first stage OF civili-
zation was the distinguishing of the qualities
and the relations of seX-the assignment oi
the woman to the direction and tba loving
guardianship OF the man. Amor semi
civilized people, like the poorer ~peas..l try,
this relation is obscured. Both sexes dress
alike, in hats and boots and bloomers. They
engage, as in the Tyrol, the Landes, the
Alps, in the same employments, where it is
| a matter of indifference whether it is the
master or mistress Of the farm who knits or
ploughs. They resemble each other in size,
strength, coarseness of feature, and to some
extent in the tone of voice. They live to-
gether rather as friends than as lovers. But
among barbarous people the distinction. is
well-nigh obliterated, as in Dahomey, where
the women are esteemed as having more
courage than the men, and are selected as
the royal body guard because they make
better soldiers. An American eyewitness
informed us that in the disastrous charge
| upon Abbeokuta, the women warriors OF Da-
honey approved themselves as the bravest
of the assailants. The classical student will
remember similar accounts of the gallantry
of German, Spanish and British women,
given by the Roman historians.
Professor Riehl also notices the testimony
given by the arts to the continuous differen-
tiation of the sexes. Portraits show that
the women, few centuries ago, were what
we would now call masculine. Nowadays
Mary, Queen Of Scots, would lose her celeb
rity. The old Madonnas are no longer what
they were intended to be-the types OF vir-
gin loveliness. Another striking proof ap-
pears in the change that has taken place in
music. The simple melodies Of antiquity
have been DISPLACED not haraurn- tho fAaiI-
ion of singing has changed, but because the
tones OF human speech have altered-the
male tenor sinking more and more into the
bass and the female alto rising into the So
prano. 1t is divergence in the tones OF
the sexes that has revolutionized music,
developed the chant into the oratOrio, the
srecitative of the ballad into the fugue OF
'the serenata, the solo into the symphony
"and rendered the grand opera with its
''wealth of vocal and orchestral combine
nations possible" The continental man.
ayers are now obliged to repair to Hungary,
and other outlying semi-civilized sections
in order to obtain clear high altos. And
finally, attention is called to the fact that,
what are called 'female' diseases" do not
exist below a certain grade OF social devel-
opment The barbarian amazon has no
morbid idiosyncracies.
There is a good deal in Rhiers arguments
which may be urged successfully against
those who would make woman mans rival
and competitor. When these people say
that woman is delicate, domestic and depen-
dent simply through the force Of adverse
circumstances, and not by q necessity OF
Nature, they forget that these circumstances
are precisely what make up our modern
civilization. Tt is the woman of antiquity
it is Brunehild and Boadicea, and not the
cultivated, accomplished and beautiful wo-
man of the nineteenth century, whose cause
Miss Anthony and her colleagues are advo-
eating, and whom they, often in person, rep
resent.
The sagacious advocate of woman's en-
franchisement will recognize what is dis
tinctive in her character and powers. In
stead Of undoing the work of centuries Of
Christian civilization, and endeavoring to
make her mannish, he will seek to secure
for her protection, liberty and just support,
in the sphere to which she actually belongs.
THE Chester Reporter says that Wimbush,
the negro senator from Chester County, has
induced the removal from Office of Magis-
trates Eli Cornwell, H. c. Bawley T. NJ.
Boulware and Daniel G. Stinson. These
magistrates were appointed by Governor