LITERARY PAPERS 
382 
attention to our “democratic institutions” resting avowedly 
on the “inherent right of every one to have a voice in the gov¬ 
ernment.” He points to the* statement with which our De¬ 
claration of Independence commences, “that all men are 
created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with 
certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, 
and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, gov¬ 
ernments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers 
from the consent of the governed.” And he does not imagine 
that any “American democrat will evade the force of these 
expressions by the dishonest or ignorant subterfuge that men, 
in the memorable document, does not stand for human beings, 
but for one sex only — and that The governed’ whose con¬ 
sent is affirmed to be the only source of just power is meant 
for that half of mankind only, who in relation to the others, 
have hitherto assumed the character of governors.” 
It is unnecessary to go into the arguments for and against 
woman’s intellectual equality here. They have been discussed 
during past years threadbare. I will quote only a few words 
more from Mill on this theme; he has been speaking of the 
deleterious effects of forcing women into careers which are 
devoted to trivial details, to the exclusion of combining with 
them other activities or professions; he adds: — 
“Not to be misunderstood, it is necessary that we should 
distinctly disclaim the belief that women are even now in¬ 
ferior in intellect to men. There are women who are the 
equals in intellect of any men who ever lived; and, compar¬ 
ing ordinary women with ordinary men, the varied though 
petty details which compose the occupation of women call 
forth probably as much of mental ability as the uniform rou¬ 
tine of the pursuits which are the habitual occupations of a 
large majority of men.” 
Whitman’s words, to which I referred in this connection, are 
these (he is speaking of democracy and its ideals of women): — 
“The idea of the women of America (extricated from this 
daze, this fossil and unhealthy air which hangs about the word 
lady), develop’d, raised to become the robust equals, workers 
and it may be even practical and political deciders with the 
