The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-05-11
A NEW THEORY or MARRIAGE.
From the Nation. |

What our reformers plead for here, and what
a good many Of them practice, is simply easy
divorce; in other words, the dissolution OF the
marriage contract by judicial tribunal when
ever either Of tho parties alleges that he or
she has had enough OF it. To deny person
this, they soy, is to cut him off from the ''pur-
suit Of happiness" which is we'll known to be
must be admitted, tolorably advanced ground,
or,, .hev have greatly enjoyed standing on it,
but but thes will be panied TO hear tss;a.. ts;.. r,us..
sister has got aneau 0, taem and now leads
the march on that line; apd she is ;iot one Of
the ignorant declaimers, or faaatics OF the
s'Redoute." but an exceedingly acute thinker
and powerful writer, of whom very large pro-
portion Of our woman'.s rights champions here
might probably take lessons in logic and rhet.
ORC. We mean Madame Clemence Roger, OF
whose able argument against the right or COM
bination amongst the working classes in the
December number OF the journal des Eoono-
mistes, we spoke some time ago. Her remedy
for the evils of the workingman's condltlon
we waited tor with some curiosity, and she has
| produced it in O long article In the March num-
| ber OF the same per1Odical.
Her remedies are, first, the revival Of the old
trade corporations of the middle ages, but on q
different basis. master and workman to be in.
| cluded in them; secondly, the 'mobollZatlon OF
the workingman, that is, the supply OF every
possible facility for his moving from place to
| place in search OF work; and under this head
| she condemns In strong 'erms all movements
which encourage him to become an owner OF a
| house or real estate, as this mode OF investing
| his savings naturally ties him down to one
place. But then the workingman cannot be
mobiized very much under the best OF clrcum-
stances, unless you also mobilize his family,
and the s'mobilization" Of wife and children
reading her statement of it's difficulties, we
felt that she was face to face with an insur-
mountable obstacle. but we are mistaken;
leaves Ben Butler, Ben Wade, and the whole
fraternity Of our social explorers literally, in
the language Of the turf, nowhere Her mode
of mobilizlng the family is to abolish the
| family. Woman, she says, needs and must
| always have a permanent abode. She cannot
rove, as man can and must do; therefore let
her not be tied to any man in particular, or any
man to her.
family, destroy it's ind,ssolubiiity. This is the
only way of saving it from shipwreck;it is only
in reforming courageously that we can prevent
it's falling into complete desnltude." So she
proposes that the marriage contract should be
dissolved on the simple request OF either ol
the parties, and that there should be instituted
kind of marriage corresponding to the con
farreatao of The Romans, sufficient to legiti
mlze the woman's position and the birth OF hel
children, but not binding on her or her hus-
band longer than he or she pleases The wo
dame Roger proposes that she. and moi
the father, should give her nome tc
tho children and be the legal head O
the family, the father being relegated to 8
| S0COuuATy pO5lGlOu duu CONSTITUTING III OOmoS
tic lite o kind Of shadowy auxiliary, of no mora
influence or weight, and not necessarily know1
to his children; and the mother taking as many
husbands in succession as her fancy or circum
stances suggested; the result being, we nee6
hardly say, perfect happiness, purity and free
dom for all concerned, and an end, total ant
complete. to the quarrelngs, falsehoods ant
oppression of the present system. The scheme
is worked out with much ability, and lts bear
ings on property and other social arrangement
are fairly considered.
The editor Of the journal half apologies To-
inserting this portion of the article, which he
styles 'pdssGbleneat esroentriqae;'' but he justi
fies himself on the ground chat his readers are
"philosophers.' to whom 'the most delcat.
combinatlons'' may be submitted with safety
We commend. it to the careful consideration o
our American reformers. Many of them viii
naturally peruse it with notification for there
is no denying that Madame Roger is. at pres
ant, for in advance osthem all. The most fear
less OF them has never proposed to make th,
mother the head Of the family, giving her nam
to the children, and consigning the father t.
Q nomad existence, in which his domestic rela
iiations would bear the closest possible resem
ma9te nla99tHe to those Of domestic anims!ao, m
whole human race ssdsGi MoIia have made one ate, M
} toward the freedom'and exemption from de
grading conventional bonds and restriction,
now enjoyed by the brute creation.