On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Untitled Article
support has woman left to her , that she cannot maintain her own rights even within the letter of the law . As compared with the 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 with a more terrible truthfulness than in the following letter to the Times : — " Birmingham , Aug . 21 .
" Sir , —Permit me to return you my sincere thanks in behalf of myself and others of my sex , for the very able 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 brutality 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 often fine or imprisonment is the consequence . Then onr bed is sometimes sold from under 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 ; but , thank God , > ve are not forgotten . And I hope , Sir , that means will be provided upon such easy terms as that it may be in the power of the sufferer to obtain justice ; as it now is , we are obliged to pay 2 s . Gd . for a warrant ; and alas ! where is the drunkards wife who has 2 s . 6 d . to spare ? Not one in a thousand of the poor . " I am cordially yours , "A Victim . "
Yet worse than this might be told , and . in hundreds of instances , thousands , perhaps we might say tons 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 of 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 1 was at breakfkst with my family at Kensal-green , when I perceived a number of ] H 3 rsoiiH passing through the field adjoining my house . I endeavoured to ascertain the cause . With much difficulty I "did so . The stream of men and women had come from l ' addington to a prize-fight between twono , not men—women . ' One of iny family , being incredulous , contrived to look across the fields , and there saw the combatants , stripped to the waist , and fighting .
Men took them there , men bucked them , men were the bottle-holders and time-keepers . They fought for about hnlf-an-hour , some say for f > . v ., some say for si sovereign , and some say they will do it again . 1 saw the winner lt : < l back in triumph by men . " * After the above , 1 think your correspondent will cease to wonder at the inditlereiM-e of a 1 ' suhlington mob . " You , Sir , have already drawn tins moral from such things . Perhaps you will j > ermit ni ) i to add my matured conviction that some- vices and some- crimes- are
too disgraceful for the mere punishment of a clean , well-ordered , mid well-fed prison . Let us have the whipping-post again , and at the Hogging let i he crime of ' unmanly brutes' be written over their heads . " The whi ]) j > iiig-po » t might not l ) o a bad institution ; but we should bring to it more than the one ruflian all the recreants that can Htaml by , all those who can pass on and Hay , " It is no business of mine ; " for the mean hardncHH of heart which animates the ruflian is in them , only
in its more passive form . The correspondent who relates the outrage at Paddington , complains that ho could not find a , policeman : the more serious complaint in , that ho could not find an . Knylishonan . For the man that we used to call by that name booths to have disappeared in these piping days of Peace , and of Societies to Prevent , or Protect , & , o . In the United States , indeed , whom tho mode of lifo is rougher , where an army oi nearly two millions of militia or volunteers etill
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 the animals protected by Act of Parliament .
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 matters if the civil rights of women were more distinctly recognised . At present , woman is little more than an adjunct to the citizen , possessing only ancillary rights . And as women are numerically in excess , while " commercial principles" are the true governing principles oi the country , she finds herself forced " to sell" herself " in the cheapest market , " and is not appreciated .
Untitled Article
FAMILY INFLUENCE IN THE PRESENT PARLIAMENT . A great 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 . For instance , there are no less than five members of the great commercial house of the name of Baring 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
brotherin-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 Berkeley furnishes six members . In the Lords , Earl Fitzharding . In the Commons , his brothers , F . H . Fitzharding Berkeley , member for Bristol ; Maurice F . Fitzharding Berkeley , member for Gloucester , brother-in-law of the Duke of Richmond and of the Earl of Ducie ; his cousin , General Sir George Berkeley , member for Devonport , and Charles L . G . Berkeley , member for Evesham , brother of Sir George , and brother-in-law of Lord Leigh . The once royal house of B ruce 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 the Earl of Pembroke , and cousin of the Earl of Elgin , K . T ., who married for his second wife the sister of the Earl of Durham . In the Commons , Lord Ernest Bruce , member for M arlborough , son of the Marquis of AilcHbury , and brother-in-law of Lord Deeies ; and Charles L . dimming Bruce , member for Elgin , whose only child married the daughter of the Earl of Elgin .
The Duncombes , formerly merchants and bankers in London , and now ennobled under the title of Keversham , furnish live members , in the Lords , Baron Fovershain , brother-in-law of the Earl of ( Jalloway , and grandson of the Earl of Dartmouth . In the Commons , the Honourable Arthur Dunoombo , member for EaHt Yorkshire , brother of Lord Feverslmm ; the Honourable () ctaviiiH Duneoinbe , member for North Yorkshire , son-in-law of the Earl of Cawdor ; the Honourable W . K . Duncombo , member for Kasfc Rotford , nephew of the Members for East and North York shire , and son of Lord Foversham ; and Thomas Slingsby Dunooinbe , member for Finsbury , and nephew of the first Lord Feversham .
The ducal house of Manners furnishes six members . In the Lords , the Duke of Rutland , brother-in-law of the Marl of Carlisle , uncle of Lord Forester , and father-in-law of Earl Jormyn (
momof Suffolk , brother-in-law of Lord Sherborne the Earl of Carlisle , grandson of the Duke of Devonshire , brother-in-law of the Dujke of Sutherland , and cousin of Lord Cawdor , of the Duke of Richmond , of Philip Howard of Carly Castle , late M . P ., and of Edward Hamlinj Adams , late M . P . for Carmarthenshire ; the Earl of Wicklow , son-in-law of the Marquis of Abercorn ; and the Earl Effingham , grandson of the Earl of Bosebery , 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
ber for Bury St . Edmunds ); Viscount Canterbury ; and Baron Manners . In the Commons the Marquis of Granby , member for North Lei ^ cestershire , son of the Duke of Rutland ; and his brothers , Lord George Manners , member for Cambridgeshire , and Lord John Manners , member for Colchester . The house of Howard , 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 ; the Earl
del , married to the niece of the seventeenth Earl of Shrewsbury ; the Honourable Charles Howard , member for East Cumberland ; and his brother , the Honourable E dward 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 or 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 Tamworth , and of Mr . Frederick Peel , member for Bury .
The Bussells 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-in-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 Alderloy , Tan-other-in-law of Viseatmt 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 influence exists in 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 the benefit of the members , rather than of tho nature of a true pohtiand
cal party , bound by a common princip le , 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 more compact , and its influence for its own behoof ia more conveniently wielded than that of a true public order ; but , for exactly the same reasons , the duration of its tenure is more precarious .
Times have altered since the house of Berkeley or of Stanley could serve the State by bringing its own contingent to tho national armies , or Hineo n Howard could win popularity in London by the magnificence of his entertainments ; imi there still are services to be performed , it !¦»<¦ " aristocracy" could only see its . publio duly » nu its real interest . ol
For example , thorc is a bigoted absoluteness devotion to trading objects , both in . legislation and administration , and " there ifl no class to w" ° * tho working people of this country should nw «« naturally look for independent protection than w the heirs of the old families whoso names are ns-Hociated with the history of " their <« " » " Vi 1 « glory , and its chivalrous traditions . . Kyen i - familiesthat claito be tal « m into uw
newer , m patrician order , might bo oxpocted to adopted some of the higher spirit , to »>« , " ' ; . above trade , and to look to the welfare ol tm countrymen and the dignity of th «» r nation , u Iohh than to the profits of tradesmen . But what is the fact P The aristocraey oaves such matters to tho commercial p hilosopnoi w f
Untitled Article
850 THE LEADER . [ Sa *^ ay ,
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 4, 1852, page 850, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1950/page/14/
-