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    For instance, there are no less than fiv...

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    Outrages On Women The Society For Tho Pr...

    support has woman left to her , that she cannot maintain her own rights even within the letter of the law . As compared , with t | ie mass of cruelty daily perpetrated in London alone , and nightly , seldom does the voice of suffering make itself heard ; but when it does , the accents of pain are terrible . Never has the voice burst its restraint _wfih a more terrible _truthfulness than in the following letter to the Times . •—" _Birmingliaiu , Aug . 21 .

    " Sib , —Permit me to return you my sincere thanks in behalf of myself and others of my sex , for the very ahle manner you advocated the cause of the drunkard _' s wife , on Friday , the 20 th inst ., and to assure you that if half our sufferings from hrutality and starvation were brought before the public it would harrow up the indignation of thousands to the highest degree of endurance ; and , as you justly observed , the cure sought

    for our sufferings only serves to aggravate instead of redressing the grievance ; for if any of our ill-used housewives . apply to the magistrate , in nine cases out of ten fine or imprisonment is the consequence . Then our bed is sometimes sold from unde r us to prevent imprisonment , or our few garments sent to the pledgeshop , whence they never return . Thus we who are cursed with a drunken brutal companion , had rather suffer the evil than seek for redress .

    " Laws have been made for the protection of horses , dogs , and asses from violence—emancipation has been sought for and obtained for the poor slaves—but we are left to the last ; hut , thank God , we are not forgotten . And I hope , Sir , that means will he provided upon such easy terms as that it may be in the power of the sufferer to ohtain justice ; as it now is , we are obliged to pay 2 s . 6 d . for a warrant ; and alas ! where is the drunkard ' s wife who has 2 s . 6 d . to spare ? Not one in a thousand of the poor . " I am cordially yours , " A Victim . "

    Yefc worse than this might be told , and in hundreds of instances , thousands , perhaps we might say tens of thousands , many of which would scarcely be redeemed by the other shocking fact , that the woman is lost to the consciousness of all the wrong that is done her . For how often does it happen with women , that to escape the intolerable pressure of wrong , they share it ; flying from the consciousness of shame into the

    intoxication or the squalor which affrights them ! The spirit ot toleration goes to a yet worse , because a more open and shameless , extent . " G . W . " relates in the Times how , in Paddington , one night , he saw a man strike a womana passing stranger , who had not offended himand how , of the men collected round , none would aid the writer to prevent the brute from making off with an accomplice , but all looked on in mere amusement . " C . E . W . " tells another tale : — -

    " About a month ago I was at breakfast with my family at Kensal-green ,-when I perceived a number of persons passing through the field adjoining my house . I endeavoured to ' ascertain the cause . With much difficulty I did so . Tho stream of men and women had conic from _Puddington to a prize-fight between twono , not men—women . ' One of my family , being incredulous , contrived to look across the fields , and there saw tho combatant ! ., stripped to the waist , and fighting .

    Men took them there , men backed them , men were the bottle-holders and time-keepers . Thoy fought for about half-an-hour , some say for 5 a \ , somo say for a sovereign , and some say they will do it again . I saw tho winner led hack in triumph by men . After the above , I think your correspondent will cease to wonder at tho indifference of a Puddington mob . " You , Sir , have already drawn the moral from such things . Perhaps you will _jiermit me to add my matured conviction that some _vicen and somo crimes arc

    too disgraceful for the mere punishment of a clean , well-ordered , and well-fed prison . Lot un have the whipping-post _again , and at the Hogging let the crime of * unmanly brutes' be written over their heads . " The whipping-post might not bo a bad institution ; but we should bring to it moro than the one ruffian—all the recreants that can stand by , all those who can pass on and say , " It is no business of mine ; " for tho moan hardness of heart which animates tho ruffian is in them , only

    in its more passive form . Tho correspondent who relates tho outrage lit Pad ding ton , complains that he could not find a , policeman : the more serious complaint is , that ho could not find an Fnglishman . For the man that we used to call by that name seems to have disappeared in thoso p iping days of Pence , and of Societies to Prevent , or Protect , fee ,. In the United States , indeed , whores the mode of life is rougher , whero an army of nearly two millions of militia or volunteers still

    Outrages On Women The Society For Tho Pr...

    laughs at " Peace , " a woman may travel from Maine to Florida , and meet no wrong . But in England we are so civilized . Probably some better attention might be paid to these piatters if the civil rights of women W _^ more distinctl y recognised . At present , _^ man is little more tuan an adjunct to tiie ci _^ en , possessing only ancillary rights . And _^ women are numerically in excess , _> vhile " _^ _ontniercial principles" are the true _goverotag principles of the country , she finds hers elf forced " to sell" herself " in the cheapest market , " and is not appreciated . Without the market value that she possesses in

    Australia , —without the personal value that she possesses by virtue of some surviving chivalry in America , —without the civil rights that she ought to attain by any complete civilization , she cannot command sufficient attention in this country . Hence , she is much at the mercy of any blackguard whom her unsuspecting nature or unprotected condition may permit to approach her . It is only when her sufferings become intense , an outrage to the commonest humanity or to decency , that she finds herself on an equality with tne animals protected by Act of Parliament .

    Ar01404

    For Instance, There Are No Less Than Fiv...

    For instance , there are no less than five members of the great commercial house of the name of Paring in the present Parliament . In the Lords , William Baring , Lord Ashburton , brotherin-law of the Earl of Sandwich , who married a daughter of the Marquis of Anglesey . In the Commons , Sir Francis Baring , member for Portsmouth , cousin of Lord Ashburton , and

    brother-FAMILY INFLUENCE IN THE PRESENT PARLIAMENT . A GEEA . T truth is annually laid before the world in the pages' of Mr . Dod ' s Parliamentary Companion , and if public men would put that truth to another , they would do more to " save society " from impending changes detrimental to aristocratic influences than by all their intrigues . The truth that we find annually illustrated by Mr . Dod is the existence of powerful family combinations and influence in Parliament ; the families being those of great capitalists as well as the great landlords of older lineage .

    in-law of Sir George Grey and of the Earl of Gainsborough . Thomas Baring , member for Huntingdon , a brother of Sir Francis . Henry B . Baring , member for Marlborough , nephew of the first Lord Ashburton , first cousin of Sir Francis and Thomas Baring , and brother-in-law of the Earl of Cardigan . The Honourable Francis Baring , member for Thetford , brother of Lord Ashburton .

    The great baronial house of _PcrJccley furnishes six members . In the Lords , Earl Fitzharding . In tho Commons , his brothers , F . H . Fitzharding Berkeley , member for Bristol ; Maurice F . Fitzharding Berkeley , member for Gloucester , brother-in-law of tbe Duko of Richmond and of the Earl of Ducie ; his cousin , General Sir Georgo _Berkeley , member for Dcvonport , and Charles L . G . Berkeley , member for Evesham , brother of Sir George , and brother-in-law of Lord Leigh . The once royal house of Bruce is represented

    by five members . In the Lords , the Marquis of Ailesbury , uncle of Lord Berwick , father of Earl Bruce , who married the daughter of tho Earl of Pembroke , and cousin of the Earl of Elgin , K . T ., who married for his second wife tho sister of tho Earl of Durham . In tho Commons , Lord Ernest Bruce , member for Marlborough , son of the Marquis of Ailesbury , and brother-in-law of Lord Docies ; and Charles L . Gumming Bruce , member for Elgin , whose only child married the daughter of tho Earl of Elgin .

    The Duncombes , formerly merchants and bankers in London , and now ennobled under tho title of _Feversham , furnish live members . In tho Lords , Baron Eevorsham , brother-in-law of tho Earl oi" Galloway , and grandson of the I Sari of Dartmouth . In the Commons , the Honourable Arthur Duncombe , member for East _Yorkshire , brother of Lord Fevershani ; the Honourable ( ) ctavins Duncombe , member for North Yorkshire ,

    son-in-law of the Earl of Cawdor ; the Honourable W . E . Duncombe , member for East . Hotford , _nojihew of the Members for East and Nort } i Yorkshire , and son of Lord Eevorshnm ; and Thomas Slingsby Ihineoinbo , member for Finsbury , and nephew of the first Lord Fevershani . Tho ducal house of Manners furnishes six members . Vn tho Lords , ( ho Duke of Holland , brother-in-law of the _JSarl of Carlisle , upcle of Lord _Forester , and father-jn-J _« _MY pf Earl Jenny n ( mem-

    For Instance, There Are No Less Than Fiv...

    ber for P « _ry St . Edmunds ) ; Viscount Canter bury .- aad Baron _Mapnerg . In the Commons _tf _^ Marquis of Granby , member fot- North Lei ' cestershire , son of _theThilfe of _Rutland ; and hia brothers , Lord Geqrge Manners , _T _^ ep _^ e _* for Cam bridgeshire _, and Lord John Manners , _memho _* for Colchester . The house of _Sbward , the head of the peerage in England , furnishes no less than five members of the House of Peers , and three of the Commons . In the Lords , the Duke of Norfolk , brother-in-law of the Duke of Sutherland : _theEirl "

    of Suffolk , brother-in-law of Lord Sherborne the Earl of Carlisle , grandson of the Duke of Devonshire , brother-in-law of the Duke of Sutherland , and cousin of Lord Cawdor , of the Duke of Richmond , of Philip Howard of Carly Castle late M . P ., and of Edward Hamlin Adams , late M . P . for Carmarthenshire ; the Earl of Wicklow son-in-law of the Marquis pf Abercorn ; and the Earl Effingham , grandson of the Earl of Rosebery , and brother-in-law of Sir Francis Baring ,

    M . P . In the Commons , Lord Edward Howard , son of the Duke of Norfolk , member for Arun ' del , married to the niece of the seventeenth Earl of Shrewsbury ; the Honourable Charles Howard , member for East Cumberland ; and his brother , ' the Honourable Edward Howard , member for Morpeth , sons of the late Earl of Carlisle . Lord Alfred Paget , member for Lichfield , is son of the Marquis of Anglesey , brother of Lord Uxbridge and of Lord George Paget , _member for Beaumaris .

    Colonel Jonathan Peel , member for Huntingdon , is son-in-law of the Marquis of Ailsa , uncle of Sir Robert Peel , member for Taraworth , and of Mr . Frederick Peel , member for Bury . The Ltussells have been stronger in previous Parliaments . In the Lords there is the Duke of Bedford . In the Commons , Charles Francis Hastings Russell , member for Bedfordshire , nephew of the Duke ; and Lord John Russell , member for London , the late Premier , cousin to Viscount Torrington , stepfather to the Earl of Ribblesdale , son-m-law to the Earl of Minto , and brother-in-law to the Honourable John Edmund Elliot , member for Roxburghshire .

    The Stanleys have two branches represented in each House . In the Lords there are the Earl of Derby , the present Premier , son-in-law of Lord Skelmersdale ; and Lord Stanley of Alderley , brother-in-law of Viscount Dillon , in the Irish Peerage , and a member of the late Government . In the Commons there are Lord Derby ' s son , Lord Stanley , Secretary of State for the Colonies ; and William Owen Stanley , twinbrother of Lord Stanley of . Alderley .

    The other truth is , that this _in fluence exists m Parliament by favour of private and local associations , rather than by public services or great actions . It extends itself more by personal considerations than by any legitimate appeal to tho national feelings . Thus far it partakes of tho nature of a cabal , formed for tho benefit of tho members , rather than of the nature of a true politi cal partybound ba common princile , and

    , y p holding by the tenure of public service . In short , this family influence is a sort of tacit conspiracy against the public ; at large . As such it is moro compact , and its influence for its own behoof is , more conveniently wielded than that of a true public order ; but , for exactl y tho same reasons , tho _deration of . its tenure is moro precarious . Times havo altored since tiio house of Berkeley

    or of Stanley could serve the State by bringing its own contingent to tho national armies , or since a Howard could win popularity in London by tho magnificence of his entertainments ; b _^ there still are services to be performed , il ihe " aristocracy" could only see its public duty _» i > its real interest . For example , thero is a bigoted _absoluteness of devotion _f <> trading objects , both in legislation t whom

    and administration , and thoro is no class <> the working people of this country should moro naturally look for independent protection than to the hoirs of the old families whoso names are associated with the history of their country , »* glory , and its chivalrous traditions . Even J » nov / _or families , that claim to bo taken mto tno patrician order , might bo expected to _ba-v adopted some of tho higher spirit , to bo hl _^ above trade , and to look to tho welfare ol _tlicn countrymen and the dignity of their nation , P less than to the profits of tradesmen . But what is tho fact H Tiio aristocracy _^ such matters to tho commercial philosop hers f

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 4, 1852, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04091852/page/14/