Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1870-10-26
SocIal Drift.

|NfffON, the organ OF tuV N'" i"'" jun" "
!, the Female Suffrage movement, Of which
Theodore Tilton is President, thinks that the
! suffrage movement is very subordinate
affair and is working for the general cmanoi-
p patton of women, that is, the practical aboli'
! ton of marriage. Mrs Stanton openly pro-
, claims this to be her end a social state in
{. which marriage shall be at the pleasure OF
/. the parties, It's formation aud termination to
9 be at the will aud convenience Of those enter
ing into the relation
e The Freeman quotes this statement and
says in reply
s When the writer of the above says that the
u EXPRESSION the general emancipation Of woman
means the practical abolition Of marriage, he
says what he ought 20 know is not true. Neither
= Mr. Ttlton nor Mrs Stanton have ever said one
y word in favor of the abolition Of marriage Both
are married and live nir and spotess lives in
that relation rs the writer of the articles IN the
y Journal, aud whom that driit-wood is piled
g up are no more likely TO be found among 10 than
{ eminent opponents OF the emancipation ct w0-
man.
We have repeatedly quoted Mr.. Tlton's
! famous declaration on this subject and il is
, too familiar to our readers to need another
q repetition Mrs Stanton, in a reported
: speech before the Union Woman Suffrage
Q Society in Now York, last summer, made a
Z statement Of her principles, and among others
She affirmed that divorce ought to be at the
{ will Of the parties" In the Revolution Of
Sept. %, she says, in enumerating woman's
wants, that one Of them is freedom to mar
e ny and {, be mistress Of herself after marriage
Il freedom to freely sunder yoke which she
A, has freely bound" The IVomans Journal
of Oct. -, commenting on this statement
d says IL this language means anything, it
means that woman shall be as free to sunder
the ties Of marriage as to form them-shal
be as free to divorce herself from marriage as
20 marry If this be the meaning Of the
Rcro'atioa, and we can understand no other,
s. we dissent from such demand for woman,
ia foio We believe in marriage for life, and
deproca;e all this loose, pestiicrous talk in
favor of easy divorce. Let it be observed
that this plea for free dirorce comes from the
u organ Of the Union Woman Suffrage Society"
l. Mr.. Tilton is President Of this association.
IF We trust these quotations from the Rero-
st haioa and the Womaas Journal, will satisfy
Do the Freeman that we did not say what we
is ought to know !. not true, and that we did
he not deflne the advocates Of the movement
II for the emancipation Of woman, misrepreseui
.e its principles aud impute to it motives which
be never actuatci IT, We did not state that
d Mrs S or Tilton practically illustrated their
be theories or did not lead "spotess lives we
b, know moth ing about their private characters,
- and deal only with their public opinions
ct The UomaHs JmtrRal is the only paper
ln devoted exclusively to the emancipation OF
III the sex, which does not sympaihize with the
be advanced tendencies aud objects Of the move
ment as announced by the Rcrolatioa. H'o.
ne mars Adrocate and MoieyA Thinker. 50
y far. it remains true to the purpose Of enlarg.
+ ing the bounds Of womans ability, and not Of
e. her will. Emancipation Of the spirit and not
is Of the flesh, is the goal for which it strives.
q We think its ideas mistaken aud its methods
" questionable. We do not see how it can
ar ever keep out Of the vortex Of the circling
p maelstrom on whose outer edges it is moving.
sc But with this exception, the advocates Of this
or womans movement mean something else by
in emancipation than the freedom Of the ballot
I'd When they talk Of domestic slavery, they
g mean that it shall be abolished, and that mar.
az riage is its formal institution, and must 20 down
30 with it. Their philosophy is the old thread.
OF bare philosophy of the yoluptuary. 1t is
s- says a woman, "a proclamation Of all thai
they should strive to conceal, if not for the
sake Of morality, yet for the sake Of immor.
L tai beauty and harmony" 1t has branded
e. the phrase 90 emancipation Of woman with
is eternal disgrace The women who advocate
I'm it after Mrs. Stantou's style may be mere the
re orists and be practically true to their owl
he marriage relations, but by the declarations
nd Of their theories they show how little the,
81 understand Of their own true dignity
ld They may be exemplary wives and mothers
We because the customs Of social life are stronger
of than their specuations; but what shall prevent
nd their ideas from fruitage bye and bye2 VIVA
will hinder this wind from issuing in whir
IN wind which they cannot control We Dc
ne indeed most heartily commend the genera
Of spirit and tone Of the Womdn's Journal
a. 1t is true to the fundamental social idea. Ii
r. protests warmly against the direction in which
Sc the older leaders of the movement are going
at But we believe it will yet more and more
Sc see how widely different are its paths and
&, interests from the course which the advanced
i. sufiragists are taking and will be forced from
ID a companionship which it now reluctantly
N accepts, and will shrink back from the logical
J.. results Of its own moderate ideas We leave
IA the Rer0'ution and Mrs Stanton and Mr..
Il Titon in the hands Of their defenders. Ii
/. their cause is destined to triumph it will tri.
n umph only in the ruin of humanity. They
o are impoled by the fanatcism of error.
n and their philosophy would drag all innocence
q and beauty and virtue down into the abyss.
3. It is wr9tched aud melancholy that so many
o women Of ability should waste their glorious
gifts in the attempted overthrow of all that
. which has given them their high place in
4 the reverence and respect.of man.
~ CHINEsE MAssAcRE--As was expected and
hoped the Chinese government has been
r prompt to punish the mscreants who lately
u assassinated the French officials aud residents
n I.nn I..I al L.. L.. II :. l--.c