Shall I conclude, and rest in hope of general sympathy? No; although it has magnificently proved itself.
History gives some thousand facts to shew that man is led to good by woman; deprived of her gentle guidance towards that good, he usually sinks to evil. Unchecked by the example of her patience, gentleness, and faith, he often revels in thoughtless wantonness,--while, resting under the beaming influence of her love and sympathy, he melts and is moulded into a form approaching her own. Happily for Great Britain, this peaceful, blissful influence sheds its beams over almost all men's destinies, hence its public virtues, its private happiness; and hence the cause of my present appeal _to the Ladies of Great Britain_!
Pardon me, fair Ladies! if I approach you on that which may be deemed "a matter of business;" but I am not of those who consider woman's mind unfitted for the toils and difficulties of life and only made for its pleasures--far the reverse. Nor shall I yet approach you under the sweet incense of flattery, said to be a _cloud_ which gives to you a grateful odour--I believe it not. Nor shall I, to tell you of the prowess of man in his deeds of arms; nor of his glories midst the slain or dying; for, thanks to God! the heart of an Englishwoman shudders at the thought. Man shall not be my theme. I come to tell you of the ills and sufferings of unhappy _Women_!--beings like to yourselves, in gentle and good feelings, though poor--like to yourselves in love and affection, though wretched--Woman, in truth, kind, affectionate, and good; blessings to their own--Woman in all things, but in that which is her due and right in Great Britain--_care and respect for her sex and virtues_. Those whose cause I plead are blessed with as pure and spotless bosoms as your own--though one may be cased in russet or in rags, the other enshrouded in lace--and they die, not through the horrors of war, or of plague, but of starvation and of cold.
In my description of the cottage of the general peasantry, you will have seen, and I doubt not recollect the fact, that upon some 2,000,000 of your sex in Ireland is entailed the degradation of passing the hours of her rest with the family, all in one resting-place, and getting warmth by being forced "to herd with the beast of the field." Think of this indignity and say shall it longer exist?