The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1874-09-09
From the Woman's Journal.

The SuhjectiOn of Wives.
The only compensation which socie-
ty can derive from the shocking scan
dal which has afflicted us during the
past month, is an intelligent apprecia-
ton of its causes. And the principal
cause, by the admission of all parties
to this unhappy controversy, without
which the scandal could not have ia
ken place, was the subsection, or VIC
/ might say the utter subjugation, Of an
unhappy wife to the despotic will of an
unprincipled husband
Few men realize, because few take
the trouble to consider, the degree of
actual dependence which is the lot of
many married women who are not the
owners Of Independent property. By
the same law OF nature which inspires
the male robin to carry food to his
mate while she is setting on the nest,
the husband and father is impelled to
provide sustenance for his wife and
children. This is not anact Of gener-
osity on his part, but simply the full
! fillment OF duty. In the nature of
! things woman cannot at the same
{ time, earn money and give birth and
nourishment to children. In justice
, to herself and to others she ought not
| to do So
Nor does this fact imply any inc,
quality of rights between the parents.
1t does not give the husband "a right
to domineer, nor does it impose upon
the wife the obligation to obey 1t is
simply division OF labor indicated by
Nature in the marriage partnership,
! whereby the wife becomes the joint
proprietor of the proceeds Of her hus-
bands labor ,and the husband becomes
the joint proprietor of the home, and
acquires an equal interest in the chill
dren. But when, as in the case of Mrs.
Tilton, young inexperienced woman,
without pecuniary means, becomes the
wife of husband who is also without
property, and devotes herself to her
domestic duties and the care Of her
young children, she is of all adult hu-
man beings the most incapable of sep
arate and independent self-assertion.
And when, as in the present case, she
is also timid, confding morbidly SEN
sitive and conscientious, living almost
wholly in her affections and emotions,
her power of personal expression and
action, outside other family,is redu ced
to a minimum. Alas, for such a wo-
man, if in the critical emergencies of
life her husband fails her; if instead of
protector he becomes her accuser;
| if instead of her inspiration he becomes
her tempter; if instead of awakening
pride and joy he degrades and crushes
4 her 1t were better for such a woman
it she had never been born She should
not be harshly judged nor lightly con-
demned when she has been bullicd,
wheedlcd and coerced into condition
of temporary lunacy, and in this con.
dition has compromised herself and
others, almost without being aware o1
what she was doing.
| Fortunately for the world, and to the
honor of human nature, be it said that
this very helplessness becomes in
most cases its own protection. Every
true man, by chivalrous instinct
recognizes and respects the mute ap-
peal OF a woman who, for his sake, has
placed herself in SO defenseless posi-
tion. Yet in this case, as in every 9th
er, self-help cannot be safely laid
aside. ITO be weak is to be miserable!
Many men abuse the trust. Very few
men fully respond to it.
The old English common-law, with
all its barbarity towards Women, did
at least recognize this fact. The allie
ged letters of Mrs. Tilton. eliminating
Mr.. Beecher, written as they were a
the dictation Of her husband would b,
regarded by the common law as hi
letters, not hers. No such enforced
confessions would be entertained for
moment as evidence againsA Mr.
Beecher or against her And her sub
sequent explicit retraction, free from
the presence and compulsion Of he
husband" would not only be regarde,
as sufficient, but would throw upol
Mr.. Tilton very grave suspicious. Fo
what can be said in defense of hus
band who will urge his wife to crimi
nate herself? who will publish he
own confidential disclosures to he
ruin? What can be said ofa man VIII
will spread before the public the mos
secret expressions of his wife's conju
| gal affection? The English languag
has no words adequate to express tn
enormity of such villainy. The wretc
who beats and kicks his wife, is mer
ciful compared with the man who pub
fishes his wife's love letters in tn
Chicago Tribune.
The infamy OF this last gratuitou
outrage is not limited to Mr.. Tiltor
1t attaches also to the lawyer who au
thorized the publication, and to til
newspaper which made it. The court
have long since decided that letter
are the property of the writer and nc
, of the recipient. In the present cas-
they were peculiarly such, becaus
they were the confidential expression
of an intimacy into which the worl
,, has no right to intrude.
So far as law, and custom. and puE
lie sentiment can give support an
succor to married women situated liI
, Mrs. Tilton, they should clearly do 81
But instead of this, the law regards
: wife as person whose service and |;
Dor belong to the husband, and +,
E CARDS the husband as her superie
and the sole bead of the family. Gu.
tom makes him the guardian of hs
honor and the custodian of her perso
in sense and to a degree differel
from her interest in him.
, Public sentiment does not sufficien
|, ly encourage wife in asserting he
own womanly individuality, not eve
; when her highest interests and thos
, ofher family demand that she shou]
/, do so.
. One lesson, therefore, of this sad
, fair, is the danger of making woma
, a clinging vine and helpless depend
, ent. We must educate our daughter
to think and act, under all circumstal
!, ces, as responsible moral agents, al
|, countable not to their husbands b,
to their own highest conceptions
duty, to society and to God
: HI. B. 3.