Show A STEP IN ADVANCE anything which manifests a growing ab abhorrence irence frence iri iii the world of criminal L Z sexual is noteworthy because it is so rare ther e is more than enough of maudlin sentimentality on the subject emanating from those who weep hypocritical tears over the wickedness of their fellow beings and are exceedingly cee righteous in theory but who pander to the passions and the lascivious lac ivious ldes desires of the basest and anil are participants ides in many cases eases in the evils they denounce there is plenty of theoretical virtue in the tho world and a sufficiently loud loua el clamor amor in places against licentiousness to satisfy anyone any one who would be satisfied with the name of virtue but corruption grows for its enormity is not realized by the in ass and of those who are loudest in denouncing lewdness many aie ale are among tile the most lewd of men glossing I 1 big nog ovo over I 1 wickedness with polished phrase phrases and ind covering 0 corruption in fine clothing some of the most influential of english 1 1 1 papers lately spoke freely on the subject of adultery being moved to do so by the details of a divorce case that were elicited before beford sir james wilde s i inife e divorce court I 1 in london the impurity revealed in the case we have boide sire to relate A man seduced the wife wine of his friend and that frien friend tiff so sought the only remedy which the law of that country allows a divorce from the guilty wife and damages the jury found for the petitioner and i gave him for the injury he had haq sustained ined for the parties were aristocratic and the seducer had an income of oooo a year these are the pertinent facts as they appear and while the judge of the divorce court in his summing up took occa occasion eion elon to defend the principle by which damages are inflicted some of the papers the morn ig star and daily nem new especially contended that such infliction is inadequate punishment fon foe the enormity of the crime extracts froin from the two papers will be interesting showing their reasoning on the matter the star tar says A man has wantonly treacherously i heartlessly destroyed for ever the happiness of his friends home he has driven his friend to misery he has brought his friends wife to shame and ruin th the tho 0 suffering he has caused is absolutely irreparable never on this side of the grave can that evil be by any ios SOs possible possible sible sibie combination of chances reme remedied ed atoned for or even mitigated few murders ever committed could bring about more misery and ruin for this enormous guilt the law provides a punishment hallows it allows the court to declare that a rich offender shall pay over a sum of money which in no divor divorce ce case we eve ever r heard of was large enough seriously to abridge the comforts or even the luxuries of his ordinary life and what is absolutely disgusting it hands over this money as compensation to the injured husband for the loss of his seduced wife it assesses her value as a companion atso at so much and says to the tho seducer I 1 come coveyou Co you have taken the wrab n and you are bound to pay for her give her husband a lump sum so much nuch that we think is about her market value this pictures the crime in plain and truthful language languid ua ut t goes further it specifies a penalty not satisfied with a fine however great it would make biake penal and br brand and the adulterer as a felon condemning him to imprisonment and aud hard labor it says she the woman is driven forth as a moral leper cut oft off from all kindly intercourse ter course forbidden in the world harsh cobe code code even the last refuge of the penitent renitent deni Seni tent the hope of being pardoned d but bub the man pays paya hib his money and is free his name is no soun lof reproach his prospects agrenot blighted in soma some bome of tip the le purest circles he hlay heay may indeed find himself shunned but he will probably think it a full equivalent that in other circles that are still called respectable he b bears ears a spec species les ies of tacit distinction equal justice would obviously supplement and correct the social inequality it would impose on the man a brand of infamy such as should make inake it a shame to him to have his deed recalled and such a brand would be found not in a fine but in a sentence of imprisonment agaard and hard labor nothing less will take from the offense offence its air of false and pestilent romance nothing else will re really al deter a wealthy profligate from a meditated but this would in many cases be successful there is many a man who would risk every moral reprobation but who would not risk being pointed at for the rest of his life as a felon who had spent some months or years in picking oakum and as the punishment was degrading so would by y degrees the offense offence come to be regarded also probably at first it would only be fie in extreme cases thata that a jury would exercise its power and only in very heinous cases would would a severe penalty be imposed but infinite advantage would follow from the mere change in name and theory we should then call an infamous thing by an infamous appellation and disgrace would attach to tile the perpetrator whether he escaped actual punishment or not this latter writer in part of the article not given would give the judge and the jury powers by which dimm diff different erent degrees of culpability would be awarded punishment proportionate to the heinousness of the crime these extracts show that while the world is rapidly treading the downward path tb there ere are those who stand as beacon holders that desire to see their steps turned into ways less filthy and miry than they are traveling in but it is very questionable if even this demand for right and virtue incomplete though it be will meet with favor in that or any other christ christian lan ian nation men in authority beast ot 0 f their successes over those whom they should protect i from wrong and alad over whose virtue they should stand guardians god appointed as of some great achievement and the sacred name of wife whether borne by one or more who have voluntarily entered into holy covenant with a husband t is a sound lacking force and failing to claim that respect which rightly belongs to it with too many of this generation still we are pleased to know that even one pen is wielded where the arguments advanced can be read by the leading men of one of the great powers of christendom in advocacy of calling an infamous thing by an infamous appellation and of making the man who enters into his neighbors family to seduce the virtue of a wife amenable for the act branding him with the ineffaceable stigma of felon that punishment is not adequate to the terrible enormity of a crime which under the law of god cont contained alVed in the bible merited death but it is much in advance of the views at present generally advocated throughout christendom and if adopted and enforced would con eon consign I 1 agn many who now carry it loftily among men to the felons garb and the convicts labor cow LOST please PI ease read ad and andret return nm or gave gre information |