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Leader (1850-1860), 14th February 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 10, IMPRISONMENT FOB DEBT. {To the Editor of...

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      The Laws Relating To The Pboperty Of Mar...

      but increase d respect , provided that they be doing their work in a bon & jide spirit . The Lady of Erin ' s Isle can walk about in her jewels , " rings on her fingers and rings on her toes , " as she chooses , without any poet , therefore , thinking it necessary to put her into a ballad ; and though the Bard of Seven Dials sings , a prcpos of Mass Nightingale , that "Women was born for the comfort of man , man certainly has at last secured a very large amount of personal comfort and freedom to women , and in so far has altered somewhat the condition , or rather the level , of his relations to them . The wood and water , the coarser elements of safety and bodily well-beinsy having been secured to the sex , we find

      ourselves raised , to the consideration of deeper and more delicate relations , which formerly had no play because they had no existence . The woman is no longer sold , actually or virtually , by her father to her husband . She makes her own choice at an age when she is supposed competent to exercise a choice , and society , whatever its practice , is extremely shocked at any other theory of married life . Nowcome into the question various shades of feeli « g , various complications of interest between father , mother , and children ; the mother , feeling directly and individually responsible to God for the moral well-being of boys and girls , desires to exercise some practical influence over their destinies , and it is

      universally conceded that slie has a joint right to do so , even during the life of the father , while the case of Alicia Hace has lately proved that Protestant prejudice itself declines to interfere with the rights of a widowed mother , the Catholic guardian to the children of a Protestant father , who died " defending his country . " Hard a . s the individual religious question appeared in this ease , we yet greatly rejoiced that the law ga . ve to the surviving parent those parental rights -which , by the death of the other , naturalW fell to tlie decision of her conscience .

      Thus it is , we think , amply proved , that even iecause men have secured so much legal justice and personal safety .-to women , questions are now rising on all hands having thear root in this new and noble foundation Of our social life ; and that , since the woman no longer has to buy protection by the unconditional surrender of person and property , the manifold evils occasioned by the present Jaw , whereby the property and earnings of the wife are thrown into the absolute power of the husband , become daily more apparent .

      The same clause goes on to state " that the sufferings thereupon ensuing extend over all classes of society . That it might once have been deemed for the niiddle and upper classes a comparatively theoretical question , but it is so no longer , since married women of erluoation aro enterln g on every side the fields of literature and art , in order to increase the family income by such exertions . " No sign of the times is more singular than the diffusion of the habit of working for money among married women . We do not mean to say that money is always the motive of the work—which it « an never primarily be in the case of true artists—bat that the labourer is worthy

      of his hire . While many women really do a great amount of hard literary hack-work , such as translating and compiling , for the sake of earning an honourable livelihood for those dear to them , and are paid in the same way , if not always at the same rate as professional literaiy men , editors , et id genus omne , female geniuses receive no less a golden equivalent for their talents ; Mary Barton bears a price , as well as Vanity Fair , Aurora Leigh will prove that the apple of the tree of knowledge bears some affinity to tho golden apples of the garden of the Hesperides , and will run through as many bound and gilded editions as the Poet Laureate ' s In Memoriam

      And comparing tho literary women of the present day with , those of the early part of the century , it is curious to remark h-ovv many more of the highest class of in tellect are married , and living happily in domestic life . Maria Edgeworth , Jane Austin , Mary Mitford , all these lived and died unmarried . Mrs . Iiemrtns , the poetess par excellence of our mothers and aunts , was separated from her husband . L . E . JD . had but a siiort and fatal experience of matrimony , over which hangs an Impenetrable mystery . At the present day our two most popular female novelists , Mrs . Btowe and Mrs . Gaskill , are both married and tho mothers of many children ; Elizabeth Barrett is a / ife

      v , and m other to a " young Florentine , " who finished , we suppose , tho original of that most unsurpassed buby in Awora Lciyh . Our only strictly scientific female writer is also married—Mary SoniervJle ; Cuircr Bell married , and , had she lived , would have continued , « 8 Mrs . Kichol , tho noble eerics which Charlotte Bronte' hud begun ; while the popular writers whose works circulate in all our watormg . pluees Mrs . Gore , Mrs . Marsh , and Mrs . Trollono , are equally within the ' holy estate . Tho woman wUobo naiHo i 8 known all over England in connexion with the improvement of literature ibr the people ix Mrs . HowUt ; but wo might go on ibr ever with the list . And among tlioso women who , unmarried , occupy a prominent , p ] aco in literature , it is choice , or Uio ^ ccicJeuts of lift , and no dread of ' baa bleu'

      the part of the other sex , which has kept them so . Among artists are Mrs . Oliver and Mrs . Carpenter ; among philanthropists we may reckon Mrs . Fry , who has been dead but little more than ten years ; and what she did for love and zeal , other women can do for benevolence and necessary pay . Mrs . Chisholm works as hard as a Foreign Secretary ; and Madame Xuce , in Algiers , is the paid directress of the Mussulman school , which she was the first to organize and force upon the attention of Government . It is the same in . all countries , from Mrs . Johnstone , of Edinburgh , who was for years the real editor of the v ? idely-circulating Inverness Courier , which -was put out under her husband ' s name , to

      Mrs . S . C . Hall , Mrs . Newton Crossland , and so on ad irvfimtum . Mrs . Everett Green collates state papers , and " truly the labourer is worthy of his hire . " Then among teachers of arts and . of languages , from theEllistons , who inherit the genius and grace of both father and mother , to the exiles , Madame Kinkel and Madame Piilsky , everywhere we see the same thing—married women of ability and reputation helping their husbands in the struggles of life . And it 13 no use to set up a sentimental theory that they ought not to do this , when the claims of their own genius , or the economical necessities of the country , are increasing every day the number of female labourers . As well . try to dam out the flowing of

      a mighty river , as to stop women from working when once they have seen the need , felt the power , and tasted the profits of exertion . And the laws which once operated with sufficient justice in a society where every wife was supported by her husband , and took out that support in active , practical household work ;—weaving of linen and knitting of hose—no longer apply to a condition of tilings in which , these operations being necessarily confided to Manchester and Nottingham , and the cooking to a maid of all work , women of ability find it to be far more profitable to spend their time in earning

      pounds , than in saving pennies . In a succeeding letter we hope to prove , that , so soon as the wife really contributes actively her share to the family income , its uncontrolled disposal by the husband is an injustice productive of many moral evils , while , on the other hand , we need not fear , although the love of money is defined by Jeremy Taylor to be " a vertiginous pool , sucking all into it to destroy , " that English mothers will be drowned by reason of its depth- Bessie Rayner Pahkes . Algiers , February 1 , 1857 .

      ' W 1 T54 Leaped ¦ .Pso. 360, Sjlfrtrr W

      ' W 1 t 54 LEAPED ¦ . pSo . 360 , SjLfrtrR W

      Imprisonment Fob Debt. {To The Editor Of...

      IMPRISONMENT FOB DEBT . { To the Editor of the Leader . ') Sir , —An article which appeared in your paper some months since , and whicli Bpokein favour of an alteration in the present laws , makes me take the liberty of troubling you with this letter . Some daj's since I met with a letter in the Times , headed " Imprisonment for Debt in France , " and its contents go startled me , that I at once despatched a letter to Paris , and the result was a reply of which I will give you some extracts .

      home time since , a Mr . Morney , whom my correspondent stuteswas a gentleman of amiable manners and disposition , having just parted from a friend who visited him in his cellule before breakfast , walked down a passage , and looking out of a window , was shot by a sentinel ; the ball severing the carotid artery , his death was instantaneous . The murderer ' s excuse for his act was , that the deceased had mocked him ; that he had Bix times called out " Iletirez-vous J" and that ho was attempting to escape-Now , my correspondent says that this gentleman was not the 6 ort of person to moch any one . He perfectly understood , and could speak the language , and had just settled a process which entitled him to receive 150 , 000 f . ( 0000 / . ); and as to his attempt to escape , that he died with his hands in liispocJcets !

      The writer of this letter implores mo to use my pen in the cause of the distressed "English" dtitcnue in a foreign land . Ho states that their stiflerings in these prisons are very dreadful , and as no notice has ever been gi ven that the net of looking out of a window may be punished by death , fears that occurrences of the kind may be freqvient . If half the miseries indicted upon prisoners lor debt in the United Kingdom ( and which imprisonment I term " punishment for misfortune" ) , were known to exist among tho natives

      of Tinibuctoo , or some of tho wilds of Central Africa , the saints of Exeter Hall avouM , long ere this , have placarded nil London , and have met in solemn conclave . But in addition to the continuance of 11 barbarous law , and tho keeping up of bastilles and till their machinery as oiiges for tho victims of tlic black sheep of the legal profession , we aro now to hear of our countrymen being confined in a foreign land , nmlshot at like dogs if they attempt to catch a lew niouHifuls of the polluted air whicli is wafted around ( heir dungeons .

      1 coukl tnl 08 untold respecting our own prisons which would fully show tho necessity of tho roi >< . a . l of tho present law , but will not nowiurthcr occupy

      Sn ^ Eiaon ^ * & ^ * ° ° P inion of tVlate " The law of imprisonment for debt is a p erMi « sion to commit a greater oppression and cruelty ¦&»« is to be met within slavery itself ; to tear the fat w from his weeping children , the husband from Ms distracted wife , to satiate the demoniac veno-pa ^ of some worthless creditor » —Lord Eldon's Smet-h ^ Hie Slave Trade . s ^ P ^ ctitn I am , sir , your obedient servant , ClVICtTS .

      G0z.D. (To Ifve Editor Of Hie Leader.') ...

      G 0 Z . D . ( To ifve Editor of Hie Leader . ') Bin , —For the sake of one of the most important principles connected with modern ehemical scienop I beg to call your attention , and that of your leaders to an extract admitted into the Leader of JarnT ary 3 from an article on Occult Philosophy in " Fraser's Magazine of the current month . The passage referred to , after instancing the extent and variety of application of a few of what are considered to be elementary bodies , expresses a doubt that Nature after clothing a man from head to foot with carbon ' hydrogen , and nitrogen , should be so extravagant as to devote element to the

      a single manufacture of a watch , or a coin . No doubt , there is here a logical paradox ; but when it is remembered that KTafcure has no hand in selecting man ' s costume , and that it would be indifferent to the Universal law if he were to garb himself entirely in gold , the attribution of such anomalous conduct to our great mother , is , I think simply impertinent . It has never been proved that gold does not combine with other elements , ' aad form new substances of an organic nature , even supposing that we do not discover its presence in animal and vegetable substances . Other elements have been found to exist in conditions in which they were insensitive to ordinary tests . Are the usual tests foe gold infallible ? Gold was once thought to be

      incapable of vaporisation . Gay Lussac caused it to evaporate under a powerful burning-glass . Might it not , in such a state , find a fitting partner amongst the other elements to constitute some new body valuable to man , and interesting to the philosopher ? Let it be shown fully that gold and its combinations are nofc primarity essential members of tlie grand system of physical nature , before their restricted applications to the arts of life ( arguing only man ' a incapacity ) be assumed good ground for "upsetting a scientific dogma that has sustained all the proof that human ingenuity has been enabled to apply . I am * sir , your obedient servaavfc , F . & . Thompson . 17 , Great Canterbm ^ T > l >» np , 5 **« jbp . tij , r ^ Aa-

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      ^ ustempt

      Leader Office, Saturday, February 14. La...

      Leader Office , Saturday , February 14 . LAST EIGHTS PARLIAMENT . HOUSE OF LORDS . Ik this House , the Earl of Derby gave notice of his intention to make a motion on tho subject of t 3 ie Chinese war ; and discussions took place -with regard to the state of the Encumbered Estates Court in Ireland , and the Rights of Married Women , the latter being originated by Lord Brougham , who , however , introduced no measure on the subject . Their Lordehips adjourned at nine o'clock .

      HOUSE OF COMMONS . CATHEDRAL REVOKM . In answer to Mr . Sidney Herbert , Lord Palmeuston said that the Government had no present intention of bringing in a bill on the subject of Cathedral Kefortn .

      PERSIA . In answer to Mr . Lay . ari > , Lord' Palmerston said that a debate on the Persian question would havo a detrimental effect on the negotiations now going on with the Shall—especially as tho negotiatioaa Avero proceeding in a promising manner . —In answer to Mr . H . J . Baili ^ ik , Lord Palmeuston said he could not at present lay on the table tho ultimatum which was sent to Persia before the declaration of war . —Mr . Koisihjcx said the circumstances of tho Persian war , and of the negotiations that were going on , showed that the boasted supervision of Parliament over public affairs was a mere farce ; as they could not a . slc a question either before , during , or after a war , and get an answer . of uiVaus

      —Lord John Kusski . i , said , that tho position in relation to this matter was peculiar , and one that required the forbearance of the House ; ami he deprecated any discussion on tho subject . —Mr , Gladstone said it would bo difficult for the House at present to cuter into u discussion on this subject ; but still there wan this peculiarity , that a war had been begun by the Government on their own responsibility , and without tlic sanction of Parliament ; but , as the papers whicli had boon promised professed to clear up that point , he coulil not at picHcnt i ' oni ) any judgment na to tho nec-o ^ ily ol opening a debute . —Mr . . Dinuakm wiid Unit > t ^ necessni-y that tho llousu should know that tho negotiations which were fj ; ohi { £ on were such iifl held out fl sound prospect of their ending in a peace ; because it

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 14, 1857, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14021857/page/10/