Page:The rights of women and the sexual relations.djvu/360

344 accession of women, the weakest part of society, incapable of using force, to the common rights of men and citizens, will form the keystone of the edifice of the humane state.

With this confidence in a beautiful future, I close the transactions of our convention, which, it is to be hoped, will not remain without influence upon the thought, and the aspirations, of the German women of this country.

When the members of the convention were on the point of separating, a committee of the German radicals of Frauenstadt appeared upon the scene, with an invitation to a farewell reception and ball for the evening.

The President accepted the invitation with the following words:

"I do not fear to meet with any opposition if I accept this cordial invitation of our male sympathizers, in the name of the entire assembly; but with the following condition: Among the privileges which men have hitherto possessed and asserted was that of entertaining the ladies at parties and balls and of asking them to dance. The gentlemen who have now tendered us this invitation are no usurpers of power, but as members of the male sex they are accustomed to the above privilege like all the rest. In any case, it can do no harm to let them feel, for once, how it is to be disqualified. Therefore, we want to make this condition, that the roles be changed this evening, and that the ladies entertain