We should thank him for his prudence: he has brought over many men to our cause, and has prepared them to hear the voice of woman, speaking loudly and firmly by her right as a wife and a human being, as a worker and a member of the social body.
By the side of Legouvé, outside the social schools, are a phalanx of just and generous men who have written in our favor. We thank them all for their good words.
CHAPTER V.
DE GIRARDIN.
On page 42 of his pamphlet, "Liberty in Marriage," De Girardin says, with great reason: "Man is born of woman. Everything, therefore, that benefits woman will benefit man."
"To fight and conquer for her is to fight and conquer for himself."
Inspired by these excellent sentiments, the celebrated publicist has investigated the causes of the slavery and degradation of woman, and the means of paralyzing them.
Every child has for its father the husband of its mother: this, according to M. de Girardin, is the principle of two great wrongs: the servitude of the married woman; the inequality of children before the law, which classes them as legitimate and illegitimate.
That children may become equal, that woman may be affranchised from the yoke of man, it is necessary, says the author, to substitute the system of maternity for that of paternity; to modify Marriage, and to render woman independent through the institution and universalizing of the dower.
We will let M. de Girardin expound the rest of his doctrine himself. "We must choose," says he, "between these two systems: