Year: 1876

The woman question is not solely Nortn


| ern issue. It exists as political 1orce II


Southern politics, all the more importan


because concealed. 1t is not confined t.


the white race. It embraces equally tn


social life, and political destiny OF tn


emancipated race.


In q recent letter upon the Massachusetts


negro and the Massachusetts monarchlst


was stated that the color line, as txee


social fact, was as clearly drawn here as IL


the Confederate South or the British Wes


Indies. The statement is now repeated


with the superadded assertion that the


white women of New England, OF the arIs


tocratic class, in their social sympathies foi


the Confederate arist0cracy OF the South


have much to do with that reaction at the
| North, which is now leading the nation


along this same color line to white man G
government. 1t is this fact, and the study
Of its origin, philosophy and tendencies


which has led to the formation OF the
| opinions which propose to embody in this
letter. These convictions are thus incor-
porated into the correspondence Of the RE
| PUBLICAN, not only because they reflect an
| important phase Of American life, but be-
| cause they relate to the question Of recon
| etructicn, and to the immediate political
| future of the permanent interests of the in
| digent races now occupying the late slave
States of the Union.


The relation of woman as woman to man
Aa
and we'll being is functional fact" which
sceince has long since recognized. The
relation of woman as wife to man adds
the spiritual influence to the others. The
relation of WON an as mother to man raises
her still higher in the plane Of existence
As the mother Of the race che is in one
since the author of life. As the mother of
immortal life woman has, in her spiritual
mission. been by many tervent minds


connected with the Holy Spirit. Indeed


there is a growing school of religious


thought which announces that the Holy


Spirit is the maternal nature of God. This


school of believers in divine motherhood


is not confined to the Catholic Church. 1t


has it representatives inside of all


creeds and independ IDENTIFY of all creeds. In


one sense it reflects the spirit of that re-


ligion of humanity which is fast transform
ing the old schools OF thought and bringing
the heart and reason OF man more and more
into union with nature and the God Of ma


ture. Who under these circumstances can


be binder than the man who shuts his
eyes to the facts as in this won an question
in an age Of intelligence such as the one in
which We live, and in a country like ours
with its free thought, free press, and free
speech'


The family, then, is the one divine, pri
meval institution ante dating all forms of
human government and human civiliza-
tions. As it existed before political govern
ment, 60 it will outlast every government
which violates its spirit and its heaven-de-
creed rights. From the family springs the
State. Woman's throne is placed beside
the cradle and the family altar. As wife
and mother, and daughter and sister, and
"of loving kindred, the sweetest link of all,
gentle, refined wOmanly woman sways the
world, Just as the single one human hand
which holds the lever of power, determines
the percentage of power and the rapidity of
action of the thousand horse power engine;
Just as the one man in the engine room of
the mighty ocean steamer Yields supreme
control over the terrible agency OF force
which impels the sea monster, with it's cargo
and living freight, through the mountain |
like waves and mighty currents Of the At
lantic.


So God has ordered. Being 80 ordered
by the Divine will and wisdom vain are all
the attempts of man to alter this founda-
tional condition Of human progress and
social civilization. The only process, there |
fore, by which the family can be over
thrown is by resolving society itself into its |
original barbaric condition of pure savage
~, as the extreme Communists of France
propose to do, and as the society of Free
Lovers in this country have actually done.


From this view we take a step forward. |
This advance" shows US that the feminine |
instinct is essentially aristocratic. So |
marked is this characteristic that doubt if |
any one has ever met woman who was not |
1t heart an aristocrat. This element in
character is intensified by the |
relation. The one all-absorbing
affection of the mother is for her offspring |
If the mother 10 OF obscure birth this ma
:ernal instinct is displayed in desire to |
her children in life-''to improve
heir social position" is the phrase employed |
to express this maternal ambition. If the |
mother is already "placed" in society, the !
struggle then is to hold the position thus |
Here then, deep down under |
society, under governments, under religious |
,reeds, under the family itself, is force
which must control the world finally and /
bring all things in subsection to it's infu-
,nce.


But this woman question does not culmi
late in the artist ocratic maternal instinct 1
Is this instinct bears on American society J
and politics as white mans republic. 1t i
involves also the race problem and bears
lpon the complex questions which most
leeply interest Southern society. Holding |
his two-fold relation Ito American repub-
and to Southern reconstruction) it |
nav be stated in brief as q summary of 1
he whole subject that the woman question
8 leading the nation on the one hand SLOW
y but surely toward political aristocracy, |
IND that it is on the other the potential
element in keeping drawn distinctly and