Women -- Suffrage -- History; Women -- Suffrage -- United States -- History; Women's rights -- History; Women's rights -- United States -- History
At the age of sixteen she had the misfortune to lose her mother. A
year afterward her father married again, and through misdirected
kindness involved her in a lawsuit, in which she plead her own case
and won it; but she left the property with her father, declaring that
she cared nothing for it, but only for justice, and that her
inheritance might not fall into mercenary hands. She subsequently
traveled in Poland, Russia, the Germanic States, Holland, Belgium,
France, and England; during which time she witnessed and took part in
some interesting and important affairs. While in Berlin she had an
interview with the King of Prussia concerning the right of Polish Jews
to remain in that city. The Jews of Russian Poland were not permitted
to continue in Prussia, unless they could bring forward as security
Prussian citizens who were holders of real estate. But even then they
could get a permit to tarry only on a visit, and not to transact any
business for themselves. Mlle. Potoski, being from Poland and a
Jewess, was subject to this disability. Though she could have obtained
the requisite security by applying for it, she preferred to stand upon
her natural rights as a human being. She remonstrated against the
gross injustice of the law, and obtained the right to remain as long
as she wished, and to do what she pleased.
In Hague, she became acquainted with a very distressing case of a poor
sailor, the father of four children, whose wife had been imprisoned
for an alleged crime of which he insisted she was innocent. Inquiring
into the case, Mlle. Potoski drew up a petition which she personally
presented to the King of Holland, and had the satisfaction of seeing
the poor woman restored to her family. She was in Paris during the
Revolution of July, 1830, and witnessed most of its exciting scenes.
On seeing Louis Phillipe presented by Lafayette to the people of Paris
from the balcony of the Tuilleries, she remarked to a friend, "That
man, as well as Charles X., will one day have good reason to wish
himself safely off the throne of France."
In England she became acquainted with Lord Grosvenor and family, with
Frances Farrar, sister of Oliver Farrar, M.P., the Miss Leeds, and
others of the nobility; also with many prominent members of the
Society of Friends, among them Joseph Gurney and his sister Elizabeth
Fry, the eminent philanthropist, in whose company she visited Newgate
Prison. In 1832 she made the acquaintance of Robert Owen, and warmly
espoused his principles. In 1834 she presided at the formation of a
society called "The Association of all Classes of all Nations,
without distinction of sect, sex, party condition, or color." While in
England she married William E. Rose, and in the spring of 1836, came
to the United States, and resided in the city of New York. Soon after
her arrival she commenced lecturing on the evils of the existing
social system, the formation of human character, slavery, the rights
of woman, and other reform questions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account