Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-02-09

INhu uocc nOb ulIti uIu livery eptClta v lHuuciNJ'
or even of levity on her part; inGicts no less dis
grace upon him than upon her-disgrace which
the received code Of honor requires him 10 revenge
upon the male delinquent not only in defiance of
{ the law which forbids all breaches Of the peace,
but even at the risk Of his own lie.
: The law and public opinion having anciontly
imposed all these heavy obligations on the hus'
band, very logically and reasonably proceeds to
r invest him with corresponding powers and author
= Iity. Standing to tho wife, AS he was made to
stand, in the relation of father and master, the
law very reasonably invested him with ala the
| rights and authority of u father and n MASTER
Y How, indeed, was he to exercise the authority and
! TO fulfill the obligations which the law and public
, opinion imposed upon him, Of regulating the CON
duct of his wife, unless invested ut the same time
with means both of awe and coercionI Accord
: ingly, the law and usage of England authorized
: Tue husband to chastiso his wife-in a moderate
mnnner-employing for that purpose n rod not
thicker than his finger. The husband was also en-
Z titled to the personal custody of his wile, and was
: authorized in proper cases-if, for instance, she
/ seemed disposed to run off with another man-to
, lock her up, and if need were,t keep her ON brepd
= and water
Now these, it must be confessed, were extensive
} powers-karsh and barbarous powers,ll you please
though the laws always contemplated that, in
his exercise of them, the husband would be check.
ed by the same tenderness towards the wife of his
bosom which tempers the exercise by the father OF
! a similar authority over his children. Bat howcv-
ler extensive, however harsh or 6arbarous the pow
E ers of the husband may be, we appeal even to our
female readers-if, indeed, a single female has had
patience and temper to follow us thus far-we ap-
peal even to that sin gle female Tor married one as
the case may be), to say Low, in the name Of COM
mon sense, is the husband to keep the wife in or
der, to the extent which the law and public opin-
ion demands of him, except by the exercise OF
these powers, or at least by the awe which the
knewn possession and possible exercise of them
is fitted to inspire? If the fractions child is Meth
er to be spanked nor shut up in the closet, how is
domestic discipline to be preserved What more
etfectual sedative to an excited and ungovernable
temper, which might provoke both suits for as
sault and actions for Islander, than, retirement in
ones closet with the door locked and a glass of
cold water to cool ones burning tongue?
And so Of a%other great topic Of complaint on
the part of the advocates of woman's rights-the
power which the husband has by the common law
over the wife's property. He being responsible
for her debts and her acts, and being bound to pro
vide for the suppors of the children, has, as Il cor
allary thereto, the custody and disposition of the
wife's property, if she chances to inherit or to ac-
quire ~any-which, unfortunately, in the middle
ranks of life, where these notions of wouan's
rights most extensively prevail, is, we are sorry to
I say, but too seldom the case.
S Suck are the relative rights and duties of the
husband under the old English common law. I'm
der this law a husband is not a mere chimera, a
lsurd and impossible quantity. There is n Logical
Iconsi tency about him. lie is, as Horace says OF
the stole philosopher, teres ct r~otunduS, round and
whole, armed at all points, provided with powers
adequate to the duties expected of him.
e In America we have no such husbands. Long
before the cry Of woman's rights was openly rails
. ed, the powers and prerogatives of the American
Y husband had been gradually undermined. Usage
/ superseded law, and trampled it under foot. Sen
e timent put logical consistency at defiance, and the
n American husband has thus become Il lega. mon
t ster, a logical impossibility, required to fly with
4 out wings, and to run without feet.
G Won en- care nothing for logic, but they have 6
!. sense of justice and tender hearts, and to theii
sense of Justice we confidently appeal, Who cal
pe wonder that the men are so shy in taking upor
At them the responsibilities of the married state ?
Those responsibilities all remain exactly as in ole
- times, while the means of adequately meeting
! them are either entirely taken away, or are in
H. fair way to be so. By the law as it now is, we be
re lieve in every State of the Union, the husband
,e cannot lay his finger on his wife in the way of chas
tisement except at the risk of being complained 0
IF for assault and battery and, perhaps, sued for
le divorce, and (Which is worse than ether of beint
Sc pronounced by his neighbors a brutal fellow. Tn,
lie nominal custody of the person of the wife, which
the law still, i'll some of the States, affects to be
/ stow upon the husband, ia a mere illusion. If h
attempts to ! ok her up, she can sue out her hdbea
n corpus, and oblige him to pay the expenses OF il
n and if she quits her husbands house, and go else
IS where, he has no means of compelling her to re
v turn. He may sue those with whom she take
l. refuge, for harboring her, but if no obtain dana
ges at all, they will be only nominal. In many O
= he States, laws have been enacted and soon vii
h be in all of them, giving the wife the exclusive con
N troll of her own property, acquired before or afte
v marriage, by gift, inheritance, or her own indu;
try.
While the wife is thus rendered to q great e1
.e tent independent of her husband, he, by a strang
inconsistency, is still held, both by law and publ
opinion. Just as responsible for her as before. Th
old and reasonable maxim, that he who dance
W must pay the piper, does not apply to wives-the
dance, and the husband pays. To such an exter
IS this carried, that if the wife beats her husband
and he, having no authority to punish her in kline
applies to the criminal courts for redress, she wi
% be fined for assault and battery. which fine h
must pay, even though she has plenty Of none
of her own, or in default of paying, go to Jail !
Such cases are by no means of unprecedent occur
a renee in our criminal courts.
Now, what sense or reason is there in maxim
the husband responsible for the licences of th
wife's tongue, after he has lost all power to COZ
. troll it? If the wife is to hold her property sepa
~ rately, ought she not to be sued separately, bot
w. for debts and damages? If her property ougt
y not to 90 to pay the husbands debts, why out hi
Is TO go to pay hers? If the husband has lost tn
is power to control the goings in and trimmings out
mr. the wife, why ought public opinion TO hold hir
any longer responsible therefor
SO We have no objection to an amendment of tn
IT, law in relation to husband and wife. Public opir
On ion demands it. The progress Of society require
OF it. But the new wine ought not to be put into oil
to bottles, nor the old garments to be patched wit
new pieces, lest, as tho proverb says, the rent b
"a made worse than before.
do But there is yet another recent innovation i
On the law, liable to still more serious objections. Nc
content with placing the unfortunate husband j
of an absurd and anomalous condition, not conter
Is with still demanding of him certain duties and Oh
mt legations, at the same time that he is deprived
II. the powers and the rights essential to their fulfil
it ment, reducing him in fact to a position hardl
EN- less ridiculous, and not at all less embarrassin,
We than that of a short-tail bnll in fy.time-the la
H. las if conscious that, before entering into such a
he unequal alliance, the men would grow pretty crit
a cal as to the personal qualities of the women i
re whose power they were about so completely
by place themselyes) seeks to entrap US into matr
lg mony against our inclinations, by holding, as
does, that any man who elbows signs of havin
I'd been impressed by a woman, becomes, if she
DIS single, her lawful prize, and is bound to marry be
if she insists upon it, or else-stand a suit fC