male leaders are in the liveliest effervescence… No. …You citizens are too good to watch with insensitivity the painful crisis that wears down your country, & too jealous of your own glory, not to compete with the wise men of the Nation in order to find a remedy for its sorrows.

You know, Mesdames, that there exists an injurious prejudice against our sex: let us work to dismantle it, & let us take advantage of this happy circumstance to make the assembled Nation see what our sex is capable of: let us prove to these men, proud of their knowledge, that we can set our minds to things other than frivolous ones; & that the women they fail to take into account, with regard to political affairs, can elaborate on them just as well as they can. Nature is uncharitable only to us, would she deny us the precious gift of good sense & intelligence… The works of several famous women, of which men are still jealous, attest to the contrary. When placed on the Throne, have women not governed wisely? &

without looking back at the annals of history, our century alone is it not witness to the glorious reigns of MARIE THÉRÈSE, & of CATHERINE II?

Convinced by the excellence of your wits, & animated by patriotic zeal, you are thus assembled, Mesdames, to work on bringing peace back to the State of which you are members, & to deliberate over the ways to promptly rid it of its debts. I do not doubt that you have thought long & hard about this affair’s importance, which will keep us busy, & that you bring to this assembly a selflessness which knows no boundaries. Yes…. let us forget (it is necessary to do so) any private interest: may the public’s well-being be our sole objective! filled with these generous sentiments, I already see you making the costliest sacrifice, the sacrifice of your right to wear bobbles & trinkets, accepting with your joyous consent that it be subjected to a tax. This is, I believe, one of the first measures that we should propose to the Estates General in order to help them fulfill the State’s

engagements. Let us also propose to make these men pay who, too jealous of their liberty, flee marriage’s obligations, & bear, by this inappropriate love for independence, a considerable prejudice against the country, & the Sovereign, by depriving them of useful Citizens & Subjects.

Finally, let us propose that we punish these same men who, not sufficiently happy with their shameful celibate lives, also do not cease to slander the women whom they were unable to seduce. Who among you, Mesdames, has not oftentimes been offended by the indecent remarks made by these men, of so-called good fortune, who allow themselves to hold them against us? Let us therefore complain fiercely about our detractors, & express with regard to this, our sad grievances to the Estates General. Our complaints are much too just not to be heard by this noble Assembly, & let us all await, my cherished Compatriots, for the justice & equity that must preside over it.

LIST OF GRIEVANCES.

ARTICLE ONE.There is no other surer measure to increase the State’s revenue and also to impede the depravation of morals, than establishing a strong tax on the unmarried. An Office shall therefore be established in each City to collect the money generated from the Tax, which will then be distributed between the State & poor unmarried Girls older than forty years of age, so long as they prove their strong desire to have been married.
 ART. II. We ask, with insistence, that

a law be passed that punishes unfaithful husbands, just as there is one that punishes women convicted of infidelity.
 ART. III. It is of the highest ridicule that the Third Estate establish one heir per family, to the detriment of the other children, & above all, the daughters. We ask the Estates General to rectify this abuse, which in the eyes of reason, is unjust & barbarous.
 ART. IV. It will be required of all fathers to provide the same education to all their children, sons & daughters. By means of this wise ordonnance, women of the future generation will be knowledgeable enough to engage in all sorts of affairs; &, without meaning to boast, things will go much better.

ART. V.Reason & good sense require that, in a well-civilized State, fathers & mothers not be required to establish a dowry for their daughters; on the contrary, the man wishing to marry, will be obligated to come up with the money for the dowry of the wife he will take.
 ART. VI. Married women with no children will give each year a sum of money that will be put towards a fund established for the care & education of poor & orphaned children.
 ART. VII. We do not propose to establish a sumptuary law; it is more beneficial to the State to put into place a tax on all luxury goods.

ART. VIII.It would be useful & wise to forbid fathers & mothers from making their daughters wear corsets; this barbarous usage oftentimes results in adverse incidents.
 END.

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