Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1880-05-28
NEW
Divorce, Decentralization, InRdeI-
ity ana Debauchery ia
the Land OfGOOd
Habits.

A ANAcoulB IobNsl
The New England people have such
a persistent and aggressive faculty of
sounding their own praises, and hold
ing themselves up to the rest of the
union as models, in morals, religion
and politics, as well as the continental
center of intellectual activity and
progress, that the claim by u~nceasing
ding-donging has come to be very
generally recognized and accepted,
and hosts of people speak with rev.
erence and bated breath of the pre-.
eminence ofthese states. We do not
and never have believed in this non
sense. There is undoubtedly a sort
Of mental, moral and religious unrest
in that section that breaks out in all
sorts Of eccentric assaults on the ex-
listing order Of things, and this is
called progress. In religion it attacks
revelation and substitutes material
ism, the fashionable infdelity Of the
day, In morals it assaults the mar
riage relation, encourages divorce, and
breaks up the family. In politics,
New England progress merely covers
the meddlesome purpose of ~interfer-
ing in the concerns of others, and a
crusade that all people shall square
their principles and acts according to
the gospel Of Yankee notions.
In the North American Review for
June, DR.. Nathan Allen applies the
merciless scalpel Of facts and figures
to an important phase Of New Eng
lands social progress" in the legal
lied warfare tnat obtains there against
the marriage relation, among the ma
tive born population" Much has
been written Of late years, ola warn
ing character on this subject, but DIR.
Aliens presentation Of the subject is
positively alarming, and shows a
greater need of Christian missionary
work down east than in far off India
and benighted Africa. Among no
people at the present day." says DR..
Allen in the North American. "do
we find divorces sought and OBJ.
tanned to such an extent as
in New England, and in only
three instances in the history Of ma.
tons can find such a breaking up OF
the family by this means. The first
indications Of decline in Greece and
Rome were disturbances ofthe family.
Divorces multiplied, which with other
evils brought on the downfall of those
nations once so renowned. In 1890
when the hood-gates Of the French
revolution were opened, the ffequence
Of divorces became alarming. With
in a year and a half more than twenty
thousand divorces were granted, but
even these in proportion to the whole
population OF France at that time, are
not equal to the ratio of divorces tc
the marriages as now found in Rhode
Island and Connecticut"
We have not space for the valuable
statistics derived from official sources
and which rather undertake than mag.
nifty the evil, by which DIR. Allen sus.
tains such general conclusions as the
one we have quoted, but some of his
facts arrest attention.
The whole course of legislation in
the New England states for thirty
years, has been to open the door
wider and wider for divorces by mul.
tlplying causes and removing r%estric.
lions, and this has been followed by Q
general and uniform increase of di.
vorces since 1860. Within twenty
years more han twenty thousand
divorces have been granted in the
four states Of Massachusetts,, Connect.
lcut, Rhode Island and Vermont. In
lo6Othe number in these states did
not average seven hundred, but il
now averages every year almost twice
that number. Estimating Maine anC
New Hampshire, from which Their,
are no official reports, DR.. Aller
shows there are two thousand families
broken up every year in New England
and four thousand persons divorced
The number is increasing, and tn,
important fact should be kept II
mind that this destruction of til,
family does not apply to tho foreign
population, but is confined IN AZ,
strictly native New Englanders."
peducting the Catholic marriages
lDrkAllen shows that tho ratio 20 a;