New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-05-04
xARRIAGE-DIvORCE-HJ


-.,.,..;,u. Inclination which am sure none oil
-. ,e.asr. will expect me further TO NOTICES
,..Ilv this Won yourself have no dislike to purely
.,~n,sted or prudential commerce Of the sexes, and
-. determined to regard the demand of any
A;cAer intercourse urged IN the interest
IF A. marriage. but Of lust. So far as you, in
3,x;au,Ilv. are concerned, then, the case becomes
s.aantl, plain. On cannot help feeling at once the
..t co,dia indifference to your opinions upon every
,,h;eet above tie range Of politics and the crops
Ons msv 90 TO- BE TRIBUNE stil to inquire OF Gov.
s.vayds prcpects in $780, or get posted up in some
.,,,sordnsy yield Of potatoes, and also hope to be
.la.rsa ~ increasing signs of public interest IN
,.Hexir. the poor, and improving the condition Of
A., u,erpaid working people: but upon all questions
a ,oreIy humantary scope, you confess yourself
,ndly nsolvent by ignoring the spiritual nature OF
San The idea Of discussing The interests of marriage
apart from its "social and theologc" bearings
these considerations excluded, what is left t.;
the discussion but empty personal buster, and thsj
parade Of prudsh morality
Bat there are very msoy intelligent readers Of your
ysn-r Who are shocked by this frank disclosure Of
rtter spirtual desttution and disability or your part,
and vet do not know why they nstncttvely shrink
som IL These per.cns would no doubt he glad TO see
nv thought upon the general subject more fully euci-
dated. and for their sakes willingly expose myself
again 70 the inks q provoking your declamatoy vr-
toe.
Mr. JONI STUART MILL has recently pub she'd an
interesting Essay Liberty, in which he md" takes
N proye that "the only freedomwOrth tb name is
sthat Of pursuing our own good in our OWL way, 80
sslong ar we do not attempt 10 deprive others OF
~their, or impede their efforts TO obtain it." Each
Of M he says, "is the proper guardian OF his own
Sbsaltb whether bodily or mental or spiritual" In
the course of this Essay, he frequently cites, with
treat appreciation, an Essay Of Baron WILLIAM Vos
HUMBOLDT on the Sphere and Duties Of Govern
Sent Among his other references to this Essay isthe
following: Baron Wilhelm Won Humboldt, in the
excellent essay from which have already quoted,
Estates il as his conviction that engagements which
involve personal relations services should never
abe legally binding beyond limited duration OF time
" and that the most important Of these engagement,
"MARRIAGE, HAVING . THE REGULARITY THAT ITS
"oBJEcTs ARE FRUSTRATED UNLESS THE FEELINGS
cor Roth THE PARTIES ARE IN HARMONY WITH 1T,
should require nothing 6uthe declared wW Of either
party to dissolre IT," Mr.. Mill would himself limit
divorce mainly to in which no damage would
thereby ensue to innocent third parties, namely chill
dren 70 whom the married parties have previously
contracted obligations. He then proceeds: But 1t
doesnot follow nor can admit that these obligations
extend 70 requiring the fufllment Of the contract
at all costs to the happiness Of the reluctant party
"but they a necessary element in the question:
" and even it, Humboldt maintains, they ought to
make difference in the legal freedom of parties
" to release themselves from the engagement land
alec hold that they ought not to make much differ
"encel, they necessarily make great difference in
I" the moral freedom. have made these obvious
"marks for the better illustration of the general
q Of bartv NJ hao thay ~ all
I" needed on the particular question: which, on the
"contrary is usually discussed if the interest of
"children was everything and that of grown persons
"nothing" Pages 1876, 1877.
adduce these quotations for two reasons: l. You
make, throughout your letter, sort of perpetual
inammaory appeal to the most besotted preiudces of
the community, in order to dsparage my views of
marriage: these prejudces constitute the veritable
" Buncombe TO whose favor, no doubt quite unwit-
tngly, your article aspires. Now, wish to cut off
yosr wonted retreat here by proving to your estma
bic Buncombe, that ct least two persons in whom the
sstmable Buncombe himself most devoutly cOnfdes,
because they happen TO be distinguished by the
worlds applause, partake my ideas the subject in
controversy. And wish, secondly, to show all those
persons who are interested in the publication of
social condition, not on any base material grounds
merely, but chiefly because Of its gross unftness to
serve the needs Of man as a spiritual being, as a
creature of really infinite Goodness that increasing
number of men, who make a conscience of their opin-
ions, and never ask before they think whether all the
world thinks with them, whether only "one in
twenty" does, are daily ranging themselves on the
side Of the question which have the honor to sup
port. l am sure your readers do not need the con-
6rmation which such evidence yields to my integrity
in the premises but it will help them when they
themselves persecuted for righteousness sake, to
Feet that they suffer at least in good company.
have always been thankful for THE TRIBUNE's
advocacy Of certain social reforms. have always
been glad to find powerful journal ready to de-
nounce the more glazing and obvious wrongs of our
industrial organization and to say manful word,
ever and anon, upon the crying denominations of
negro-slavery. But have seen very clearly what l
presume nearly ell of your readers have somehow M
that If your criticism of social machinery was
valid at ALL il was by virtue of certain principles
which You yourself failed TO recognize, but which it
deeply behooved society TO acknowledge before We
could expect any intelligent conscientious e1plora
ton on lite part of its pressing evils. In word
clearly perceived that social machinery func-
toned badly it did so only because it fell short of the
requirements Of its own anmating spirit. l under
took accordingly, in the columns of TIKI TRIBrNR
and elsewhere to bring this unrecognired spirit into
relief and 10 show that its due organization in prac
tice constituted the vertabe fulfmen of the Chris
tian's hope on earth and in heaven. You vera, of
course, at liberty to dissent from my views at |
any length and with any accumulation of fcebeness:
but il is wholly unauthorized suggestion of your
sef-ove, that ever aimed to attract your or any
other mans personal appreciation or disapprobs'i,n