Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-08-16
mr. Greeley on the Woman Question,


YOU will be quite willing to have its slight
inaccuracies corrected in your columns. |
do not assume that my views on the Woman
Question are OF much consequence to others
but, in so far Us they may possess interest,
it is well that they be clearly understood.
Let me, then, indicate your misapprehen-
sions without further preface.
/. You say Z" hold that there ought to
be no divorce at all-nOt for any crime, even
the worst So far as l can recollect,
your only authority for this statement is
remark that, had not the Master spoken
otherwise, | would not have deemed adultery
a sufficient reason for dissolving marriage
As you seem to have given these words undue
weight, allow me to explain my view more
fully.
That persistent, fagatious adultery in hus-
band or wife affords good cause for divorce |
have not meant to deny. But there have
/ been cases Of transient infdelity TO marriage
VOWS, under the influence of passions infam-
Ell by wine and other unnatural excitements,
which, being followed by prompt and pro
. found contritIon, 1 would not Judge ad-
equate reason for divorce You and L both
know that wives have often pardoned such
i lapses IN husbands ; you and | agree that
husbands have no riEhtlul immunity IN such
matters winch ought not also 70 lie accorded
+ to wives. And | profoundly honor and rev
ercnce the husband who can say To his err
ring wife, - Though / know you have b. en-
+ false 10 God and 10 me, yet, because OF the
/ love | have borne you, OF the vow which
pledged me TO 1--we and cherish you till
death, and for the sake Of the dear children
which God has given us, [, believing you
truly pcnitent, Will forgive and try almost
/ to forget your crime, and thus shield our
little ores from uudeservei shame / re-
gard the husband WHO thus SPEAKS and acts
a better Christian, u truer man. than Is
he who exposes. dlscards and outlaws the
wife of his youth Tor a fragrant trausgression,
now sincerely and bitterly rePented ] sug-
gest, therefore, that you hcucclorth repre-
sent me as holding that adultery may, but
does not always, justify an Application for
divorce,
You say hold that .' it man marrier
and his wIie dies, there should be no second
marriage. Tins, also, is too sweeping
Some OF my best and most esteemed friends
are remarrIod-harpily. am sure wisely
and molly l judge. Nay can imagine
a case O. winch the poor, hard-workng,
widowed father of young children whom he
cannot take with hun To his daily labor,
should feel constrained for their sake to re
/ place his lost Wiie BIZ another ia whose per
+ iect acceptance and discharge ot il mother
duties toward those chi dren hc could Inn
+ iliClllN trust ttIl1h llit. ENI ! ttiu quite
confident that the causal remark ou which
you based your broad assertion referred To
re-marriage following separation by divorce,
not death.
LIT ne state my own c.aecptiln ID rel
/ marriages ms compucRJug marital relations
ln the other world.
| go not dispute tle doctrine ID Jcsps that
In heaven there is neither marrying nor
given in marriage # you have quoted HIS
words exactly. And Yet feel tbat there are
couples SD completely and happily united IN
tbls world that they Will be nearer and dearcr
q each other in the next. than they would
or could have been. had they Jailed to meet
IN this life and think these are happier in
either world than though one or both oi them
mad remlrrIcd. DO not hold that either
would have been culpable IN remarryinE If
widowed ON TINS planet; | only insist that
they Will both rcfuiCc and with reae1u-in
their higher lite, that neither in t.ss lite was
married second time
4. You entirely, cmiuently right, Mr.
Editor, IN asserting that my conviction OF th,
proper indissolublIyy OF marriage is the
handspring of my hostility 20 Woman Suf-
traEe, and TO the social philosophy from which
many yainly seek To separate the Woman
movement. Though | btve written or die
tated very little ol what has, during tac last
ten years, been printed MS editorial IA the
Tribune on this subject, 1t is nevertheless
true that my conception oi the nature and
scope OF the marriage relation renders my
conversion 10 Woman Sutirdge moral i'm
possibility.
1 have but two left OF seven children. and
these are both daughters. | would gladly
ft them for lives OF usefulness and honor, as
beloved and loving wives of virtuous, up
right, noble men. and mothers. it il shall
please God, Of good, healthy, happy children. .
1t it be decreed that they are u b., not such
women as those | have most admired and
rcverenced, but men with Il female physique
powerful in ward caucuscs and nominating
conventions, vehement in sena to and on the
tie stump. and effective before Juries IN the /
trial Of actions for crUH. con- pray that
my career on this globe shall close before
theirs is fairly begun. When and where
they shall thus shine, it Will not be pleasant
for me TO stay.
Mr. Editor, believe our countrymen are
indebted to you for having discovered (per-
haps should say inyented) me possible .
enough most imprObabie) candidate tor the :
Presidency. Allow me, then, To thank you
for your early and frank demonstration that I
can in no contingency be counted on or
hoped for as a Woman Suffrage candidate. /
As you torcibly and justly say, there is not
even a remote possibility of my ultimately
adapting myself to this end. Ny difference
with your crowd is too vital, too radical, TO /
permit the most saUguine dIelner 10 hope
Tor my conversion am growing old j, my
Jpiniuns are tolerably firm; and the Ad- /
vanced Female of tue Laura FAIR type, who !
kills the paramount OF whom she CLAIMS TO be
the righttul afhaity, aud gives the lie in open
court 10 the wife she has doubly widowed, is
my pet aversion.
But why should any man be the candidate
for. President of the Woman SuffragIsts
Logically and consistently. feel that their
candidate should be woman. She ought,
moreover. to be one thoroughly emancipated
from the ''absurdity and folly the mar
rowness,' and the ''baleful conservatism, -
which am now too old to outgrOw. Could
you not find one who illustrates in her own
person and history, what you 50 felicItously
term ''the liberal thought Of an enlightened
age p Let her be one who has TWO husbands
alter a sort, and lives in the same house with
them both, sharing the couch of one, but
bearing the name of the other Ito indicate
her impartidhty perhaps ami cause and
candidate will be 50 fully united that there
will be no occasion, even under the most
liberal, progressive, enlightened regime, to
sue tor their divorce. Could not one OF this
class be persuaded 10 overbcar her shrinking
modesty and nominate herself?
10 a spirit Of hearty hatred Tor Free Love
and all it's Internal decisions,
IremaIn, yours, HORACE GREELEY.
Tribune Office, Aug. !, 1871.
NEwEs ENGLAND FAIR.-Col. George W.