Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-06-12
rREE nrvoRCE.


the ablest of the f'shreking sisterhood,'
declared that in Connecticut there was
one applicant for divorce to every four
for marriage, aud that sixteen thousand
divorces were granted in Massachusetts,
last year Even the safe of Indiana, a
State that has acquired an unenyiable no.
ioriety in connection with divorces, can.
not carry the principle of free divorce to
much greater extent than this; and, if
the statistics from ''the land of steady
habits" and the old Bay State furnish a
fair criterion for other portions of New
England, matrimony in that section is
rapidly becoming a mere temporary insti-
tuition, liable to be dissolved at the pleas
ure OF. either party, with or without good
reasons. And there is reason to fear that
this New Englandism is spreading to and
taking hold in other portions of the, coua-
try. The idea that men and women when
they are married. at all are married for
life, is practically regarded by the fast
people of this progressive age, who inn
bibe New England ideas as piece of old
fogyism, and the case with which matri-
monial contracts can be broken, is in turn
acting as an incentive TO hasty and incon-
siderate matches, which create o new crop
of divorce suits every year. In the midst
of this tendency sonic of the agitators
for woman's rights desire that new facil-
ities for dissolving matrimonial ties shall
be granted. One instance will suffice.
Miss Ellen Storge sends communication
to the Womal's advocate, published at
Dayton, Ohio, in which she proposes the
following social PLATFORM:
81. Let the marriage contract be lin
tied to from one to three years at the
option of the contracting parties.
"2. Discard the erroneous idea that this
contract is divine; admit that this is but a
human transaction, intended to perpetuate
the species and produce human happiness.
''3. Make both parties equal; do not
exact special promises or terms from one
sex to its disadvantage and the advantage
of the other Exact pledges of mutual
fidelity and cooperation during continu-
ance of the marital contract; but let love
alone. Love is q sensitive, spontaneous
outgrowth of the heart, subject to the
control of treatment and circumstances
rather than formal promises it is too ten
der, too sacred, for the public gaze.
'4. Let the marriage contract en-
brace the contingency of issue, with full
and unequivocal provision therefor. If
one child, let IFS custody devolve by
written ana recorded agreement, void
during coveture; if two or more children,
the same, or division by such agreement,
provided that the party refusing to renew
the expired contract at the instance of
the other party, or the offender in case of
premature annulment, shall be compelled
to maintain the offspring and be the Gus
todian thereof, at the option of the oppo-
site party.
"5. Enact just such laws for the deter
mination of all such contingencies as
might arise under this new order of
things; make them applicable only to
those now unmarried; let there be no ex
post facto faint about the matter. During
coverture, as also in the event of nom
renewal of the contract, let each party
control its own finances; of that they
shall have together amassed, let there be
an equal division.
This new system may suit women who
court notoriety and desire to display them
selves on the rostrum, admirably, but its
general establishment would be one of the
greatest misfortunes tina. could befall their
more modest and amiable sisters. One of
their very greatest necessities is the estab-
lishment of the sanctity, permanency, and
inyiolability of the marriage relation, and
everything in law or custom that weakens
this bond helps to heap misery upon
their heads and to demoralize society.
The Mormons grayely contend that
polygamy is the true remedy for many
of the evils of the day; but monstrous as
their proposition is, it is not worse than
the theory that marriage should be con-
verted into such transient and limited
partnership that trifing quarrel could
destroy it. Anglo-Saxon civilization is
founded upon attachment of the race to
their individual homes, and nothing will
destroy it more speedily than the general
adoption of the idea that permanent homes
or permanent family organizations are
to be regarded as relics of antiquity. In
some cases, for obvious reasons, divorces
should be granted; but the worst enemy
of this nation cannot devise a better
method to ensure its, downfall than q
universal application of the advanced
free-dlvorce doctrines. They would carry
US back to barbarie immortality and conse-
quent distraction by the shortest and
quickest route.