Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1868-11-27
From the N. Y. TrIbunes
The COnspircy Against Marriage.

Ihe Consplrcy Against marriage.
/ We attach little importance to ran
dom rumoFs. but we must be very in
eredulous indeed if all we have heard
and read did not make us suspect thai
IN our modern society causes were al
work hostile both in form and sub
| stance to the institution of Marriage
We call it conspiracy, for it is a con
spiraey of influences, if not Of persons
not conscious and purpOsed, perhaps
! but none the less settled and active. II
/ appears under various forms-some-
/ times as reluctance on the part of
/ yolng men to assume marriage bonds,
because the girdles, bracelets neck
| laees, and rings which represent it, and
the social circle it implies, are much
too costly for men beginning life with
moderate means TO afford. 1t is the
| complaint in England, and it is the
complaint here, too, that matrimony is
a luxury which none but the prosper
Gus and rich can indulge 10.
In the State of Massachusetts. dur
| ing the year 1847, a year of remaFka-
BILE prosperity. one couple were mar
ried to every ninety-eight of the pop
ulstion. The city of Boston, in 1864,
another year when money was plenty,
through the stimulus afforded by the
war, had a marriage rate of 1871 to
each thousand Of its inhabitants, or
three thousand and sixtytWo to a
hundred thousand. But from 1862 to
1868 the average rate Of marrying in
Massachusetts was but one in a hum
drad and aiuhkzz In h a hifa MS X
We know not how 1t may be IN
own country, there has been remarked
a very significant and alarming dimin-
ution In the size of families.
1t is here, in this diminishing size of
families. that we seem 10 detect a con-
spiraey against the institution of mar
rage for ne can ACCOUNT for such q
phenomenon only by supposing an un-
willingness 80 rear offspring and as
the end of marriage is the rearing of
offspring, an unWillingness to do
it supposes to certain ex-
tent the resort to means that
reduce the number of births and
what is this but deliberate conspira-
cy against the Institution of marriage
This is a point Of exceeding delicacy
but If is a point of so much importance
that to pass it by lightly would be un-
pardonable. A Newspaper cores
pondent writing from Paris mentions
a prejudice as obtaining in fashionable
quarters kind of aristocratic super
stition in favor of ''an only son" as
heir of the family wealth and name
This may be the fancy of the cores
pondent, who was drawing on his wits
for a reason, but that is not likely
The notion is one that would catch
and fascinate in an aristocratic com
munity, and excite for time and in
localities a most pernicious influence.
For clearly it could not be acted on
without resorting to artificial means of
checking the increase of progeny and
nothing more demoraliZing than that
can be conceived of. In our society,
of course, no such foolish idea as that
could prevail, but other ideas not less
demoralizing might prevail, and they |
would be sure to involve the same con-
The last mentioned sign of conspir- |
acy is accompanied closely by another !
sign of appalling magnitude and prom
inenee, the significance of which can
not be concealed or mistaken and |
that is the enormous number of chill |
dren born out of Wedlock, In every |
modern community. The figures here |
are terrible-too terrible to put down. |
Every child so born affronts the insti- |
tuition of marriage. The tens of thous- |
ands that are so-bOFn annually In ev- |
cry CIVILIZED country, IN sumo places /
outnumbering the legitimate births, are
an evidence that, for some reason or |
other, marriage is not held in honor |
as it should be. This fearful phe /
nomenon means unlawful qualification I
of passion passion unTegulated BY |
reason or principle, unsanctiOned by |
morality or religion, vicious and de-
1t means waste of masculine
vigor and feminine beauty, the decay
Of productiYeness, and the weak keniUg
Of social bonds It means neglect of I
who are thrown uncared for
upon the world to supply the ranks of
the perishiDg and the dangerous class
ss. It means suffering, pauperism,
and crime. It means the practice of
abortion by vile persons who make it
their internal business to kill offspring
IN the womb by practices deadly not
0nly to the embryo life, but to the
that eDgenders it. 1t
means houses like that to which pub
lie attention has been lately called in
this city, where babies are sent to be
taken care of until they die. 1t
means infanticide-the slaughter of in
Eants for whom no one chooses to be-
come responsible. Ii means the sys-
.ematic drying up of the sources of
life, physical aud social. There is an
army large appointed, organized, com
,wagIng. .ceaseless war against
the marriage institution.
To this army-the vicious, the fool
sh. the criminal, so miscellaneous. SO
1iversely ccountered-belong no small
number of the people who find mar
rage an expensive luxury and a great
many of the people who consider it
TO rear a large family.
The married do as much to bring mar
rage into dishonor and reduce. it to
nefdclency as the unmarried. It is a
hard saying. but we are persuaded it is
true one: The worst enemies if the |
institution, which more than any 9TH
sF merits being called divine, are those
who have taken on its VOWS. Perhaps
his is no worse now than it has been
IN former times-perhaps it is no
worse here than it is elsewhere, but it
IS bad enough to cause uneasiness and
alarm. The present age ought to excel
past ages In virtue; If it does not, its
immortality is of deeper dye. We
ought to surpass in virtue our foreign
If we do not, we fall
behind them In tn use we make of
our noble opportunities. We have
few institutions left that command
reverence. tits our tendency to set
Institutions aside; but to set aside
this institution Of marriage would be
to destroy the foundations Of social
life.