The Complete Works of Brann, the Iconoclast — Volume 01Brann, William Cowper
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The Complete Works of Brann, the Iconoclast — Volume 01
Brann, William Cowper
Brann, William Cowper, 1855-1898; Essays; Reformers
Is it possible that the dear creature has, for some
thousands of years, been robbed of her birthright and
relegated to an inferior position in matters mundane simply
because her biceps are not so large as those of her
big brother, and she has no warlike whiskers?
As her attorneys in the suit to try title to this world's
wardship clamor for truth without trimmings, and rest their
case upon "principles of justice" untainted by prescription
or praemunire, suppose we grant their prayer and
proceed to the consideration of their cause unhandicapped
by chivalric sentiment.
That the greater intelligence should control the lesser must
be conceded. To deny it would be to deny man's right to
the life and labor of inferior animals, to question God's
authority to govern man or beast. If the experience of
several thousand years may be admitted in evidence the
subserviency of the minor to the major intelligence is an
immutable law of nature. Only equal minds can be
accorded equal authority without doing violence to this law.
Is woman man's intellectual peer, entitled to share equally
with him the wardship of this world? The simple fact that
for thousands of years man has been able to hold her in
that "state of subjection" of which her attorneys so bitterly
complain, is sufficient answer to this question,--is proof
positive that he is as much her superior mentally as
physically. This sounds unchivalrous, but she will please
remember that her attorneys insist that this cause be tried
solely upon its merits. Brute force does not rule the world.
If it did the lion or the elephant would be creation's lord,
and the Ethiop and the red Indian drive the Caucasian into
the waste places of the earth or reduce him to slavery.
Knowledge is power; brain not brawn is master throughout
the world. Had all Eve's fair daughters been blessed with
more than masculine strength their position would have
been practically the same. They would have sung lullabies
to the little ones, adorned themselves, and dreamed of
love and love's conquests while their brothers founded
empires, subdued the forces of nature and measured the
stars.
And both sexes would have been well content, as they
have ever been, despite the protests of self-constituted
"reformers" of the order established by the Infinite. Man is
creation's lord de facto and de jure. The immutable
laws of nature make his sovereignty both a privilege and a
duty. The voice of prophecy proclaims him king; he wears
his crown by Divine ordination and right of conquest.
Woman was created to be "an help-meet unto man," not
his co-ruler. It matters not whether Genesis be fact or
fiction; that such was her destiny she has proven by
fulfilling it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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