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. spn . 'OT . -the sgmre who has purchase-d -the privilege off ^ rpes&ang wtfch Bivroe-authority . This is , of course , nobody ' s fault ; ' laymen say HAey cazmot Tespect the Church , and the parsons tsomplam ^ hafc their flock vrill not 'hear them . In lieu of iJhe old law of < Gk > d , ¦ we have noy * a law' made up "bit by bib by a set of Parliamentary gentlemen who do not lead the lives of saints . But in the intervals of
the Jaw mating , we had declamation religious and moral enough to . prove the House a conclave of . anchorites . We thought-. of CffAK&ES OLamb , who affeer listening to similar praises of purity and morality from a circle of literary men after dinner , stocked the company by stuttering out , " It is all very well ; but there is xiot one man 'here who will * not flirt with the first ^ pretty-girl he -meets going home . " In default , however , of an authoritative CJhurcli , we must take our laws from the new temple of the law—where we find publicans and sinners abrogating old and addin g new commandments .
The great change an the law is . that ifc enaables a wife to obtain divorce for ' adultery of the husband , ' coupled with cruelty or ' desertion for-two years . ' If the law be acted on , same present separations -will be- made legal , and in some unhappy households separation may he added . to adultery to facilitate
divorGe . We -cannot believe , however , that there rwill be- any divorces of couples now living in ; haxmony . Laws ^ re not as powerful as lawyers- . and legislators fondly dream More influential than any laws . are the habits of the . English . people . It would be curious to note how little either permissive or preventive Jaws have iaffected our manners and
. customs . The husband ' s right in old times to beat hifi wife with a stick no bigger than his thumb Tyas no more generally acted upon than the privilege of-beating wives now , when six months- ' ikaprisonment with hard labour is ewardefl to deter the offenders . The ecclesiastical courts up to the last session Jhad a . right to impose on , a man or woman , who by . their conduct or conversation gave parish scandal , the penance of public confession in ohurch clad in a white sheet , yet the legal right ihas fallen into desuetude beyond the memory of the present generation . English wives will not jjush for relief to the new
anxious to separate , obtain divorce by committing that sin in their own house , that condition would not deter them . By extend ing in . this or in any other way the grounds of adultery to the sins of the husband , you open a door to divorce really desired for mere incompatibility of temper . If it seem good to our law-makers abo make that a cause of divorce , let it be done ; but let not an urihappy unmatched couple "be compelled
into sin to give them a cause of action ; let the poor people come into court with a clean conscience , and let them ; keep the whiteness of their souls although they cannot keep their tempers . But , in our opinion , ' adultery by tbe husband' is an improper phrase , and not founded in truth . The ' adultery' denounced from Sinai was merely 'infidelity on the part of the wife , 'for the Jews then and afterwards were allowed concubines . The
meaning of the word should have guarded us against attributing the offence to the husband . An unfaithful wife * adulterates the family , introduces spurious children into the home . An unfaithful husband simply ikeeps a concubine , and is guilty of fornication—an offence against his wife , against society , against morality , against religion , but still not adultery .. The man . who commits adultery is the mail who , married or not , destroys the chastity of another man ' s wife : he is the adulterer against whom the wholesome terrors of any new law should have been directed .
On this point we regret that adultery was not made a misdemeanour . The House seemed to shrink from punishing too hardly the silken sinners who , without violence , commit the worst offence against honour and against society that , next to murder , can be committed . Xet , attlie present day , a married
man , who , by a second marriage , ' seduces' a -woman , is liable to transportation for bigamy because he has profaned the ceremoiiy of marriage ; but let him profane marriage itself — -let him steal away a wife from her husband —wronging a woman and a man in character and in feeling , and the law simply makes liim liable for the costs of the divorce . We
have no fear that under a law making adultery a misdemeanour , either the adulterer or the sinful wife would be too hastily punished . Juries of men would be merciful enough to fellow-sinners ; but the stignaa of the law would he on the offence , and collusion to commit the punishable sin would be put out of the question .
law mare than they , » qw resort to the practical divoree of quitting their homes . 1 The . common talk o » f aooiety indicate a the virtual law — "Why does she not leave him ? " ia the invariable query dnthe middle classes when the story of an outraged wife is told . Many who say this would be surprised to hear -that by ¦ law a . huaband ^ ean force back his wife to his bed and board ; & > vtb even when aware of this law ( every woman you speak to will maintain
that any outraged wife * can' leave her husband . La the cases where wives , ^ outraged beyond patience , jdo > leave ffoheir homes , how seldom » do we Ihear of husbimds exercising -their legal right of recovery >? The " world ' s dread ilavigV the wamfof « ociety , is ^ mighbier than Sarliameot-tnade law , because the world ^ and society , in their collective < iapaoity , instinctively acknowledge tho highor law , that marriage is a bond of love .
In their amendments on tho'bill the Lords struck . out , as -a 'ground ( for divorce obtained l > y fche wife , ' rthe adultery of the ( husband in tfche conjugal residence . ' The Lords were right . We-must guard against tho possibility of husbands or wives unmatched in temperaments-agreeing to commit sin that they may be enabled to separate . In very few caaee would a woman consent to a witnessed sin
eveu toiobtain -divorce from a detested husband : itho worst wives may have modesty . But with a man . it is different . Men , unhappily , aro not very ashamed of infidelity ; and if they coul < L with the conaejufc of a vritb
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cases , . certificates are not required at all XTnaoubtedl y , . particular individuals disappear from particular departments ; but wateh the game for a few moments , and they . ^ ul again become visible in the corners . 1 + is found impossible to force Sir Chabmss Wood a second time into the Board of Control ; he is deputed to the Admiralty where his energies are dis played in fitting out royal yachts , or laying xm line-ofbattle ships . Having drawn the revenues
of ; the Post Office , and performed ( by deputy ) its mild duties , Lord Canning is presented with India , which it is thought may be a convenience to him foi a few years , and he , or some one whose responsibility is centred in him , sets fire to it . Twenty millions sterling , and , perhaps , thousands of lives , will be sacrificed to quench the conflagration ; but we pay and "bleed without
stint , and nothing is said that : inight pain the courtly profceetors of the noble lord . So lately , a feeble 'Government was dragged into a Russian war which . might have been prevented ; our blood fLowed , our treasures were strained through fcheOExchequer sieves ; we were not weary of well-doing , and never inquired whether it would be possible to spare ourselves these unprolific labours . ~ No doubb a cry was raised , and a few shafts struck the
aristocracy ; but it is well known that what we say in the hour of danger we do not repeat in the hour of security . Xike parents paying the debts of spendthrift children , we vow to be severe ; we declare it is for the last time ; but when , by oar own exertions , and not l ) y those of our governors , the crisis is past , we embrace the hoary prodigals , and they start off onoe naope with a swing to run full tilt into an Afghan massacre , a Crime an famine , or a Bengal mutiny . We have very
little doubt that , setting aside the interest of the national debt , a third of the public income is wasted in redeeming inexcusable errors of administration . Can any one say that the East India Company , Lord Cannin g , Mr . Vernon Smith , and a a Lord Palme rstoit , are not guilty of having neglected the most solemn warnings from India ? Can it be said that if they had acted with common intelligence upon those warnings , many of the recent disasters would
MISGOVERNMENT AND NO-GOVERNMENT . We are now , as usual , ( engaged in extnicating our governing classes out of a difficulty . They have led us into an abyss , and we have to jaiee ourselves and them , out of it . That is the English principle . Our adminisbrators are perpetually blundering into calamity , and we , good , easy people , are as continually fighting and paying to relieve them of the consequences . Premiers , Secretaries of Stateand
, members of Parliament , among us , are only nominally responsible . A short retirement from public lite ia the worat that ever ihappens to wa . individual of that order . If he breaks down we advise him to lay tup awhile while we put ono of his friends in the place , taking all the burden upon oar own shoulders . It is itrue that a similar practice , if applied to ordinary
affairs , would spoodily reduce us to a community of bankrupts and cripples .. But wo do not -find that reckless engine-drivers , chemists' assistants convicted of selling poison without precaution , negligent night-watchmen , or inebriated sea captains , aro precisely the people who enjoy the permanent confidence of the public . With statesmen , however , all cortificatea aro ibr life , while , in moBfc
not probably have been averted ? If not , why exhaust all our iudignation against the rebels , whose plots were whispered to "the Gr © "v ; ernmen $ t at home , but whose proceedings were uninterrupted ? Not a step "was taken . The alarm was actually suppressed . Our high officials live upon confidence , and it was the false . confidence inspired by their fraudulent attitude that lulled hundreds of women to remain in the upper country with their children , to . be massacred . We are not
declaiming . Declamation on such a subject would > be levity . The facts , the dates , tlie writings are before us . Then , is public apathy , leading to public calamity , a venial offence ? According to the national custom , it is . We give Mr . Version Smith tho option of resigning or holding his place . Wo are about to employ eighty thousand British troopa in reconqueriug Hindostan for li . DMangles and Co . We recognize no such principle aa responsibility . Vliere nre tliroo broak
stages in tho history of every national - down . First , the period of omens ; you point out the . danger , aud for your p ains you aro called an alarmist . Then comes tho crash , and fche struggle to oxtricate ourselves . While that is going on you must bo silent and strengthen tho hands of the executive . Lastly , after fifty thousand men aro in their graves , and fifty millions lost to tho public treasury , bygones aro bygones , and agitation ends in a bonfire . That ia to say , _ wo pay luill-a-crown . for a alulUng ' n worth of strong
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878 TIE liEADtlR . pSfe . 390 , 'Sia ^ MKER 1 V 1 S 57
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 12, 1857, page 878, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2209/page/14/
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