1 MARCH 1856, Page 16

20th February 1856. Sin—Although I am not a great reader

of newspapers, yet I take con- siderable interest in the Spectator, because the articles contained in it are more philosophically treated than the articles of a newspaper generally are ; and I read the Spectator'rather as an instructive book than as a journal of mere news. I Shill be glad if you will allow me to make some observa- tions suggested by the article in your paper of the 16th instant, "Woman's Wrongs IA the Civil Service." I agree with your remark that women would not be elevated by attempting to usurp the places which are best fitted for men to fill; nor do I think that women were intended to occupy posts either in the civil or military service, or to engage in agricultural labours, or in any employment which is unsuited to their physical constitution or legiti- mate position as women (the Sovereign alone excepted, for the reasons you assign). I also agree with your remarks concerning the occupation of the sempstresses ; and, no doubt, machinery will in time become applied to those parts of the work which are now done by "the slow process, of sewing." But I am much surprised at the way in which you account for the poor re- muneration of woman's labour as an educator.' I infer from your obser- vations, that you do not consider women are capable of teaching so well as men can teach, and that the subjects which they teach are not of equal importance nith the subjects which men teach. You say, "There never will be a demand for a =clime which produces little in proportion to the cost, and which is decidedly inferior to some other machine competing with it " ; and, "excepting in the very humblest branches of education, women are infe- rior at the work to men, and the consequence is that men command a better price, and that, speaking very broadly, the best miceTor women at this work is determined by the lowest price for men," &c. I scarcely know how to un- derstand the words "the very humblest branches of education," because I do not know what branches of education can be called very humble if they are properly taught and understood. It is not the simplicity of a thing, I conceive, Which entitles it to be called humble. Do the words apply to the moral or intellectual part of education ? If they apply to the moral, which ought and does generally form the most prominent part of a woman's teach- ing, I reply, no moral precept can be called humble, however simple of mean- hit or easy to be comprehended ; for in the very first command to a child, "Do not do that," is involved a principle of the highest importance ; and it cannot be called humble, when the Creator of the universe thought proper to impose upon the beings of his new creation the duty of obedience, and upon the . test of that obedience the whole human rice was to stand or be con- demned; nor can any of the precepts of morality be called humble, inas- much as all are of equal iniportancel and upon the fulfilment or non-fulfil- ment of them, the actions of individuals, of society, of the legislature of the civilized world, are pronounced to be good or bed. The moral code of laws contains the principles which ought to govern all civilized Christian- ized states, and it condemns the practices of all uncivilized unchristian- ized states. The calamity of war and the blessing of peace are not acci- dental circumstances, but are the consequences of the violation or ob- servance of moral laws, which supersede or rather ought to form the basis of all laws, because there is no higher standard of right and wrong than the moral law (summed up in the Christian law) which emanated from infinite wisdom, and is infallible as a governing principle, and if acted upon would produce peace and happiness throughout the world. I cannot suppose that moral instruction can be called very humble, when it is clear that moral teaching is the highest teaching which any human being can teach: and it has this advantage over every other branch of education, that it carries truth along mith it, and cannot be set aside by the cavils of disputants nor by the specious arguments of op cuts. No woman need be ashamed to teach moral truth : she is teac g the grandest thing which can be taught; and there can be no inferiority in such teaching. Moral truth is the same whether enunciated by a man or a woman. The mind of woman is quite as capable of apprehending moral truth as the mind of man can be' there is no superiority nor inferiority in such powers of apprehen- sion, else one part of the human race would be exempt from responsibility. But to show that society does not recognize such distinctions, a woman is punished by the magistrate or sentenced by the judge whenever she offends against the laws of her country, because the assumption is that such laws, in a Christian state, are in conformity with the laws of God ; and it can be proved, on still higher ground, that a woman's responsibility is equal to a man's responsibility. There was no allowance made for infe- riority of mental apprehension when the original sentence passed upon woman for transgression was as great as the sentence passed upon man for transgression. It is, then, fair to presume that men and women are equally capable of understanding moral principles, and of imparting those principles to others. I will now suppose that you mean intellectual teaching, when you use the words "very humblest branches of education." Spelling, reading, and grammar, arc usually the subjects of introductory education; and I thin.k that not one of these branches can be called very humble, either as regards the knowledge itself or the effect which such knowledge has upon the individual and society. Persons who have been well taught the fundamental parts of education possess power which cannot be arrested and to which no human being can fix limits ; but the want of accuracy in such branches of know- ledge, even in persons of high position, of supposed education, of clas- sical and mathematical attainments, is deplorable. Why is a thorough acquaintance with our own language to be 'undervalued, why neglected for the cultivation of other parts of education not so essential ? The English language is of more importance to English people than any other language, as they can by their own tongue the more readily express their ideas and convey their meaning to others; and it will be a great advantage to society when men and women are well acquainted with their own language. In most of the leading branches of English education, women are Cif well educated) better fitted to impart knowledge to the young (especially of their own sex) than men are, as they have greater patience in teaching, and are better qualified by nature to be the instructors of children, as they have more sympathy with the juvenile mind than men have; and if women do not appear to teach so well as men teach, the fault does not proceed from in- feriority of intellect, but from inferiority of education. Education has (with some exceptions) been hitherto chiefly confined to men, and therefore women have not yet had a fair opportunity of showing what they can do, because they have not been properly educated. It is an evil that women are compelled to undertake the office of educators merely to provide a living for themselves. Most women are governesses from necessity and not from choice: if adverse circumstances befall a family, the daughters are immediately sent out to teach, when, perhaps, they have never been really taught themselves, and have to learn by teaching. Society will, no doubt, in time find a re- medy for this evil. The poor pay of governesses is not so much the result of "the supply being greater than the demand," but of the fact that the sup- ply is not of a kind to increase the demand ; nor is the demand for a superior kind of supply likely to increase until the principles of education are better understood both by men and women. I will not trespass longer upon your patience : I only wish to remark, that in the broad walks of literature many fair names are found, too numerous to mention, and are in proportion to the advantages enjoyed by the sex, as the works of men are in proportion to the greater advantages enjoyed by their sex. In music, which is not generally studied by women either as a pro- fession or a science, there are names which will be long associated with sweet melody. In painting, one name must be mentioned, namely, Rosa Bonheur; for I believe her celebrated picture of "The Horse Fair' stands unrivalled even by the opposite sex.

lam, Sir, with great respect,

ONE WHO DOES NOT ASPIRE TO A POST IN THE STATE PA.YER OFFICE.

[We have a right to make two complaints of our fair correspondent; first, that she has not observed strictly enough the rule that commu- nications to our journal at this season ought to be severely compressed ; and seconfdly, that much of what she has written here proves that she could answer some portions of it as well as we could. She knows, that in to h.ng of education we meant tuition—school tuition ; and al- though she brings one example of a painter, alludes vaguely to names as- sociated with melody, and justly to fair names in the broad walks of litera- ture, the general truth remains as we stated it. The "advantages" enjoyed by the male sex have been created by the particular powers of t.liasex. Woman is born to enjoy other advantages ; and she loses, not gains; 444- changing those which are proper to herself for those which are proper to man.

"A Constant Reader and not One of the Unfair Sex" has sent us another letter, too long and too late for insertion this week. We cannot talk of closings 'discussion which has been reopened on solid ground by the Law Amendment Society ; but we would invite correspondents who desire admis- sion for their letters not only to keep close to the subject, but to write rather for the purpose of unfolding just views which may be practically useful, thaii of settling the very unimportant question who is "in the right" in some past stage of the discussion.—ED.]