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270 OUR FRENCH CORRESPONDENT.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Ladies, Paris, November 20, 1861.
to render you . an orphan and me a _widow sooner than it was good for either of us . There are not words kin any language sufficientl
strong to paint the crushing troubles of a young woman suddenly y de _| _3 rived of the shelter of her father ' s roof , who is ignorant of the
affairs of life or the business of the world , * and still more pitiable is the fate of one plunged into misery with a child dependent ' on
her by widowhood—that greatest of earthly desolations ! These touching lines are true no ¥ as they were then . Made drunk by our
homage in their youth , in the reverses brought on "by old age or loss of fortunewomen are lamentably and insufficiently protected
whether by oj > inion , or by law , both of which have rather the tendency , to oppress them . But it is thenalsothat disinterested respect is
most due to them ; and I am , _hapjoy , to say that the traditions of the French bar teach its members that their proudest title is
to be called the defender of the widow or the orphan . That the esprit malin of the nation has converted it into a text for
epigrammatic sallies is not surprising ; but puns and laughter should never stand in the path of right or duty : and what is more noble
than defenceless to be outraged called , be ?' it even in mockery , the defender of the
Last spring M . Favre , wlio certainly merits a vote of thanks from his countrywomendid some of the oppressed married ones a good
, service . Like the English legislation on , married and even unmarried femalesthe French is founded upon the barbarous customs
, and ideas of a barbarous age , and the Code Napoleon receives its inspiration from the code framed by the Emperor Justinian when
Home was in its loathsome decline . In accordance with the models handed down by antiquitythere is one set of laws and a very loose
kind of morality governing , the husband , and very stringent rules laid down for the wife ' s conduct , who is nothing when privileges are
in question , but punishable in a sufficient proportion for both when the criminal code contradicts the rest of the statute book and insists
on regarding her in an individual , independent , and therefore a responsible capacity , even though it turns round and says that , should
she grow discontented with the conjugal domicile , she can be forcibly brought back to itmanu militarion account of not having an
individual existence . , As tlie lawyer , s say , a case in point took place last March . Monsieur did a great many things to Madaine ' s
knowledge and to tlie knowledge of the whole neighborhood , that caused him to be put out of respectable society ; but as he did nothing
which could Ibe considered by a juge de paix to be a breach of the code and justify as such a legal separation , there remained no
means for the wife , who was highly respected by all who knew her , . of ridding herself of her hopeful sx _> ousebut to leave the conjugal
domicile for the paternal , whence ( as she , had a dot that went when at home in common expenses ) she was forciblywith circumstances
that excited for her general sympathy , brought , back by Monsieur ,
' . who in the course of a fortnight , to the disappointment of the
270 Our French Correspondent.
270 OUR _FRENCH CORRESPONDENT .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1861, page 270, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121861/page/54/
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