can lead them to such mistakes, or to prevent their correction when
made. On the contrary, the world has never seen an aristocracy, whether
composed of few or many, powerful enough to control a government, who
did not honestly believe that their interest was identical with the
public interest, and who did not act persistently in accordance with
such belief; and, unfortunately, an aristocracy of sex has not proved an
exception to the rule. The only method yet discovered of overcoming this
tendency to the selfish use of power, whether consciously or
unconsciously, by those possessing it, is the distribution of the power
among all who are its subjects. Short of this the name free government
is a misnomer.

This principle, after long strife, not yet entirely ended has been,
practically at least, very generally recognized on this side of the
Atlantic, as far as relates to men; but when the attempt is made to
extend it to women, political philosophers and practical politicians,
those "inside of politics," two classes not often found acting in
concert, join in denouncing it. It remains to be determined whether the
reasons which have produced the extension of the franchise to all adult
men, do not equally demand its extension to all adult women. If it be
necessary for men that each should have a share in the administration of
government for his security, and to exclude partiality, as alleged by
Godwin, it would seem to be equally, if not more, necessary for women,
on account of their inferior physical power: and if, as is persistently
alleged by those who sneer at their claims, they are also inferior in
mental power, that fact only gives additional weight to the argument in
their behalf, as one of the primary objects of government, as
acknowledged on all hands, is the protection of the weak against the
power of the strong.