3. That without authority from them, you will neither go to law, nor undertake anything, nor sell anything, nor receive anything, nor give anything away; 4. That, so long as they shall live, you renounce all authority over your children; that they can, if they please, take them from you, banish you from them, have them reared by whoever they choose, even by their mistress, finally, give them in marriage contrary to your will; 5. That you recognise their right to carry elsewhere their love, their attentions, their fortune and your own; provided that this does not happen under your roof; 6. That, lastly, you grant their right, if, abandoned by them, you attach yourself to another, to drag you before the bar, to dishonor you, to imprison you with thieves and prostitutes; that even in such case you declare them excusable in killing you. Yes, ladies, you might stipulate all this, for M. de Girardin disputes no one the rights of lacking dignity and being imbecile; of what then do you complain? You reproach M. de Girardin with wishing to make a speculation of love! Be good enough to tell me what you call the greater part of the marriages of the present time, in which men have the heartlessness to speculate even on death!--in which they ask how much a young girl has, what are her expectations, and _how old are her parents_. Answer, women: Is it true that the great majority of seduced women are incapacitated, through shame and poverty, from rearing their children? That what you call a first fault, drives the greater part of them to make a traffic of their charms? That the great majority of men forget, after satisfying their passion, both the woman whom they have led astray, and the innocent creature that owes its life to them? Is it true that the horrible and cruel selfishness of men and the insane confidence of women produces annually a fearful number of so called illegitimate children, the greater part of which people the prisons, the galleys, and the public brothels? Is it true, lastly, that this same selfishness and this same confidence are the cause of thousands of human lives being criminally sacrificed? And if all this shame, all these griefs, all these crimes are true? If there are so many women seduced and heartbroken; If there are so many children abandoned; If there are so many infanticides; If the law does not protect the woman deceived and made a mother; If this law does not compel the seducer to any reparation; If public opinion leaves to the victim all the shame; Why do you reproach a man for reminding a young girl that from love may proceed maternity? For telling her that she ought to provide in advance for the child that may be born, in order that it may not be cast upon public charity, and that she herself may not risk falling into those sinks of impurity that are the shame and degradation of our sex?