The herald., 1894-02-18
PRESENT PERILS TO POSTERITY
l Consideration Of Crime and
Some Of Its Remedies.
Iarriage Should Be Permitted Only
by Physical FITNESS.
/ Plea for tho Principles of Btirpl-
culture with Consid alton
of Preventing DegensrRtive
Conventional lties.

snenee punisnRDle DV law, but there
may be crimes of which the law has no
sognizance. Laws are of many kinds.
natural, political. civil, domestic. and
10 on. As Montesquieu Gays: "The
sublmity OF human reason consists in
perfectly knowing to which of those
Drdsrs the things that are to be deter
mined ought to have q principal rela-
lion, and not to throw into confu sion
those principles which should govern
mankind. For instance. we ought not
10 decide by divine laws what should be
decided by human laws, nor determine
by human what should be determined
by divine laws. These two sorts OF laws
differ in their origin. in their object and
Ia their nature"
All laws should be protective, even
when punitive, and all just law has one
Of two designs-the protection of the
community or the protection Of the in
dividual. Yet these form but one ulti-
mate object--the protection of all. So
that it would be q paralogism to assert
that the good of the individual ought to
give way to that of the public, for "the
public good consists in every one having
that property which was given him by
the civil laws, invariably preserved"
Also the duty to oneself is stronger
than the duty to the community. And
as the law of nature is superior to all
human laws, so ''self-defense is duty
superior to every precept." II we were
to pursue the subject, we should find that
laws have been sometimes more criminal
than the offenses against which they
were directed that they have been FREE
10 60 ck,.~ ~, -.
those who have neither injured the in
dividual nor the community; that even
benefcent actions have been treated as
public offenses; and that public offenses
and private injuries of the gravest char
scter have been completely overlooked.
The field, however, is so wide that we
can only glance at ii as we pass on.
Imaginary Offenses, as sorcery and
witchcraft, have been treated as crimes !;
scientific discoveries and mechanical
arts have met with the same fate; the
opinions OF the minority have always
been heterodox, and heterodoxy has in
variably been punished in some form or
another. Men and women were burned
alive for their harmless theological be-
liefs, when thieves and murderers were
only branded. So that we cannot always
Judge of the good or evil of thing, or
even of its magnitude. by calling it crime
or no crime. 1t is true that we do not
burn a man now for his belief. We only
ostracise him. If the process should
ruin him, 30 much the worse for the
man. but why could he not learn to be-
lieve like ourselves?
In the limited space of this paper my
conduct that consti!as a crime against fia
society and against individuals, although
it is not to be found in our statutes.
II to poison one person be an infamous
crime-and no one questions it-what
shall be said OF him who poisons a
multitude, who entails untold sufferines
upon innocent and defenceless genera
tions; who for his own wanton gratifica-
ton gives life to another whom he
knows will be cursed with hereditary
disease and premature death? II we
were not so blinded as we are by GUS
toms and Eelfishness, we should regard
such an one as "a monster of
depravity. Daily we see those in whose
blood some horrible disease turks.
marry and multiply with light hearts
and easy condolences. Friends and re-
lations look on approvingly. Reverends
and right reverends give their benedic.
tions. demonstrate, and they answer,
they leave it all to Providence, as
though blasphemy could excuse preme.
ditated guilt. Do they expect to gather
grapes from thorns and figs from
thistles? Were society wise, it would
minimize crime of this nature.
For what peril to pcsterity can be
greater than to thus poison the river of
life at ita source? What other crime
can equal this wholesale dissemination
Of well-nigh inersdicable disease among
the countless sufferers who follow after.
to whom the gift OF life comes as q curse
lowered with evil2 Minds and bodies
that should have been radiant with ioy
and beauty are befouled, deformed,
blasted, dragged down to unutterable
depths OF misery and agony, Exist
ence, which comes to each but once. for
these had better never come at all. We
picture them. like one of old, loathsome,
liberated without and within, sitting in
the sahes of all their spiritual asrira-
tions and human hopes. and we, too.
are almost tempted to exclsim, sit ia
better to curse God and de-"
In the presence of such q crime. eo
common and widespread, how can we be
silentP The laws are silent. Onr
moral and religious teachers ara IA
dumb dogs" Society, with its cant
and hypocrisy, turns up its eyes in pious
terror at the mere mention of the sub
ject; as though it could be indicate to
diagnose any form of disease. or one |
more than another, or az il no deprayity |
should be remediRlly discussed If it hap I
pen to be sexual. But if we remember |
that the sect of the Pharisees is not |
extinct, we also bear In mind that in ali |
ages there have been fearless teachers |
whe refused to hide the truth, and |
humbly following in their steps we
have dared to ''cry aloud and spare not"
An excellent writer long ago said. |
Truth is. in everything, not only the |
shortest, but the only road to excellence
the only foundation ON which every |
thing permanent can everbe raised, and
all ways of evading. sighting or oppos-
ing It are. in fact. only losa OF time and
hindrsnce OF business iR the sffairs OF
men,"
The marriages of the physically unfit
form only part of the welded evil.
Loveless marriages are answerable for
much. 1t Ia with US now as it was in
France before the revelation. Persons
oil the rank OF mobiles were found vile
enough to accept in marriage, and to
bestow thu name of wife on those whose
conduct, ss well as birth, would other.
wise have denied them sn en-
trance into society. Sometimes
the Game disxrsceful bargain waa