Absolute right being recognized, the practice of it remains. In practice, I see two kinds of rights: woman is ripe for the exercise of one of them; but I acknowledge that the practice of the second would be at present dangerous, by reason of the education that the majority of them have received. You comprehend me, without making it necessary for me to explain myself more clearly in a Review in which social and political subjects are interdicted.
The directors of the Revue having informed me that my adversary refused to continue the discussion, I made the following recapitulation of his creed, concerning the rights and nature of woman.
To the editors of the Revue Philosophique et Religieuse:
You inform me that M. Proudhon will not reply to the questions that I have put to him; I have neither the means nor the wish to constrain him to do so. I shall not inquire into the motives of his determination; my business now is only to make an exposition of his creed, which may be summed up in this wise:
"I believe that between man and woman, there is a separation of the same nature as that which the difference of race places between animals;
"I believe that, by nature and by destination, woman is neither associate, nor functionary, nor citizen;
"I believe that, in the social workshop, she is, until her marriage, only apprentice, at most under-superintendent;
"I believe that she is a minor in the family, art, science, manufactures, and philosophy, and that she is nothing in the commonwealth;
"I believe that she can only be housewife or courtesan;
"I believe that she is incapable of understanding and of governing herself;