Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1870-11-04

upon the members of the legislature to Sc
cure the passage ofehe State police bill.
No public meeting is to be held rs was an
nounced a few days since, but n personal
appeal is to be made to each member to
give his vote for this reformatory measure.
This bold and novel method of securing
legislation will be effective and each indi-
vidual put upon the record. The enact
mont of State Constabulary Police force
will make great revolution in vermont,
and the people will look with anxiety at its
workings and developments. Great divs-
ion of opinion exists as to the practical
workings of the law. Some predict an en-
tire suppression of the liquor traffic under |
such law, and others say mobs, riots, ETC., |
will result from its enforcement. But we |
must await with patience the result.
The condition of our schools is another
subject of general and especial interest
which is now before the Legislature, i'm
periously demanding the gravest consider
alton. Whether there is intelligence, sa-
gacity and experience enough among our
senators and representatives, and time
enough to devote to the subject, to effect
any IdllOnul lhulNtl NhhhSo III Nho hihh-
agement of our public schools, which shall
make them what they should be, what the
times demand, and what Christian civil
ization requires, we have our doubts and
fears, but will hope for the best. We are
sure that while one half of our adult pop
ulation are denied any legal share in the
conducting of our schools, nothing of real
value can or will be done by the Legsla-
ture to improve their character and condi-
ton. Mothers as well as fathers, women
as well US men, must have a voice and legal
authority in the ordering and management
of the institutions where their children are
taught and disciplined, before they will be
creditable to the State or efiectual TO accom-
plish the desired end We hope that the
petitions sent to the General Assembly ask
ing that women have the same legal au
thority as men in the management of our
public schools, will meet with that deli ber-
ate consideration their Importance demands
and will be lavorably responded to.
Mr.. Kellogg, representative from Ben
son offered the following petition which
was referred to the committee on judicia-
ry:
~ luO llOhOldDlc thc VI thc
State of Vermont The undersigned cler-
gymen and laymen, citizens of Vermont,
deeply moved by the continued and grow
ing looseness of morals throughout the
State, as to the permanence and durability
of the marriage bond and sacred unity of
the family, do herewith respectfully me-
me raliZe and petition the Honorable Leg
islature of the Safe of Vermont:
In view Qst) of the alarming frequency
and increase of libels of divorce sought for
and granted in the State of Vermont, dur
ing the past five years, as shown by the re-
cent reports of the Registrar of the State,
by which the number of divorces is to the
number of marriages as one to nineteen
and by which it appears that TO every thir-
| ty-eight persons married, two persons are
concerned in n divorce and by which it
appears that there has been granted at the
IA te OF one divorce TO every two hundred
and siXty-six narriageable persons.
In view end of the fact that the Statute
Law lays down, on the one hand, before
marriage, only list of the forbidden de-
grees, the age which the parties must have
| re ached, the titles of those qualified to so
flying the parties by license; and, on the
other hand, after marriage, provides full
facilities for dissolving the tie upon vari-
Gus pleas, allowing re-marriage in every
case:
In view sd Of the opportunity offered
by the Law of Divorce, and the practice
under it, to successive polygaIny by which
man may have succession of wives, and
woman may have a succession of hus-
bands, withou limit of number, and all at
the same time living in the community.
In view 9th, Of the Christian Law, laid
down in the Holy Gospels, (St. Mark, X,
8, II; st, Luke, xvi, Is; st. Matthew, V,
81, 32,) by which the tic Of marriage is pro-
nounced to be indissoluble except for one
cause only; and by which except for this
cause, to put away II wife and marry an
other, or to put away a husband and marry
another, or for third party TO marry the
one put away, is distinctly condemned rs a
breach of the Seventh Commandment.
In view (jth) of the monstrous and ire
parable injury and injustice done to inno-
cent children, who, for no fault Of theirs,
but for the selfishness and impotence of
OtncrS are stDltHttu " ~ VI
pha mage, and deprived Of their natural
and inaliena BILE birth-rght-t right, first
of all, to nurture, protection, government,
and an uusulied name, in the very family
into which they are born, and at the hands
of those very parents whose offspring they
are.
In view 9th OF the imminent danger
W hich threatens the domestic morals of the
whole community, whenever the sanctity
of the family is invaded, and the durabili-
ty of the marriage bond impaired; danger
that marriage he held in low esteem as an
affair Of convenience, no longer binding
| than the selfish or caprcous will of either
party may direct danger of moral evil
scandal, domestic strife, immodesty and de-
bauchery; danger that the springs of vir-
tue, in the people, be poisoned, and that
premature decay and corruption sap the
foundations of the State
In view, finally, Of all these consdera-
tions, we respectfully pray your honorable
body to take such measures, as, in your
wisdom, may seem best lst.-To reiterate
the law of divorce, upon such basis as to
distinguish between temporary legal sepa-
ration in necessary cases on the one hand,
and absolute divorce on the other hand;
and to grant absolute divorce with liberty
to marry again, only in cases Of well PROV
ed infideity. 2d.-To increase the penal
ties for the crime Of adultery, so that it
may not be deliberately employed as an
instrument foT procuring divorce. 3D.
To invest the law of marriage with such
precautions and protective formalities as to
dignity and ennoble it in the sight of the
people, without obstructing the marriage
of any honest citizen, whatever his station;
and at the same time to protect the commu-
nifty, so far AZ practicable, against the mis-
fortune of ill-judged, hasty, clandestine
and criminal marriages.
With profound sense Of the Importance
Of this subject, and believing that it in
wolves, through the family, tho best and
| truest interests of the State, your petition