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diff --git a/78588-0.txt b/78588-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..93ed986 --- /dev/null +++ b/78588-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8484 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78588 *** + + + + + Personal Reminiscences of a Great Crusade + + + By JOSEPHINE E. BUTLER + + _NEW EDITION_ + + DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF + SIR JAMES STANSFELD + + + LONDON + HORACE MARSHALL & SON + 1910 + + + BUTLER & TANNER + THE SELWOOD PRINTING WORKS + FROME AND LONDON + + + + + Introduction + + +Our long years of labour and conflict on behalf of this just cause, +ought not to be forgotten. A knowledge of, and a reverence for, the +principles for which we have striven ought to be kept alive, for these +principles are very far from being yet so clearly recognised as that our +children and our children’s children may not be called upon to rise +again and again in their defence. + + +SECOND EDITION, 1898. + + +The system that Mrs. Butler and her coadjutors so successfully combated +in England, still exists in various parts of the British Empire and of +the Continent of Europe, and in Japan and South America. Enactments +similar in principle also threaten from time to time this country and +the United States of America. + + +NEW EDITION, 1910. + + + + + Prefatory Biographical Note + + +A very charming _Autobiographical Memoir_ of Mrs. Butler has been edited +by George W. and Lucy A. Johnson, and may be obtained for 6_s._ through +any bookseller, or from the publishers, Arrowsmiths of Bristol, or +Simpkin Marshall of London. This memoir consists mainly of extracts from +Mrs. Butler’s published works. We are indebted to it for the following +facts:— + + +In an introduction to the Memoir in question, the Rt. Hon. James Stuart, +her warm personal friend, and fellow-worker for many years, thus +describes her personality: “She was at home in every class of society. +She was very beautiful, and of a very gracious presence, and the +impression made by first seeing her and hearing her voice has, I expect, +been forgotten by none who ever met her. She was of a very artistic +temperament. She was a good painter, an extremely good musician. She was +a bold rider, and active, though always of a somewhat weak health. Her +industry and application were unbounded. She was very full of humour, +and, while deeply in earnest, had the faculty of being at times +charmingly gay. She dressed with great taste and simplicity. She, above +all things, loved her home and her husband, and that love was wholly +returned. She was extremely cosmopolitan. At the same time she was a +great lover of her own country, and particularly of the borderland +between England and Scotland, where she was born, and where she now lies +buried in the churchyard of Kirknewton, where many of her ancestors lie. +For she came of an old Border family; and bravery, and the alertness of +battle, and the power of self-sacrifice, and the indignation against +wrong which characterized her, came to her, perhaps, partly through her +descent. She was a great reader of the Bible, and a humble suppliant +before the throne of God. But, while her own beliefs were clear and +definite, she had no narrowness in her views, and the very names of +those who have been her foremost supporters show how wide her sympathies +were, and how acceptable she was to people of all creeds, as well as of +all politics and all climes.” + + +Josephine Elizabeth Grey was born at Milfield Hill, in the county of +Northumberland, on April 13, 1828. She was the fourth daughter of John +Grey, and of his wife Hannah Annett. John Grey’s ancestors were wardens +of the East Marches, and Governors of Norham, Morpeth, Wark, and Berwick +Castles in the old Border days, from whom are also descended the +Tankervilles and the Greys in the House of Lords. + +John Grey was appointed to the charge of the great Greenwich Hospital +Estates in Northumberland in 1833, and as a pioneer in the scientific +improvement of waste lands, turned it into a very valuable property. +Mrs. Butler says of this period, “Our home at Dilston was a very +beautiful one. Its romantic historical associations, the wild informal +beauty all round its doors, the bright, large family circle, and the +kind and hospitable character of its master and mistress, made it an +attractive place to many friends and guests. Among our pleasantest +visitors there were Swedes, Russians, and French, who came to England on +missions of agricultural or other enquiry, and who sometimes spent weeks +with us. It was a house the door of which stood wide open, as if to +welcome all comers, through the livelong summer day. It was a place +where one could glide out of a lower window and be hidden in a moment, +plunging straight amongst wild wood paths and beds of fern, or find +one’s self quickly in some cool concealment, beneath slender birch +trees, or by the dry bed of a mountain stream. It was a place where the +sweet hushing sound of waterfalls, and clear streams murmuring over +shallows, were heard all day and night, though winter storms turned +those sweet sounds into an angry roar.” + +John Grey was a man of wide and deep sympathies, and besides being a +great influence for good in his own immediate neighbourhood, was a +personal friend and fellow-worker of Clarkson in the Abolition of the +Slave Trade. His daughter speaks of “his large benevolence, his tender +compassionateness, and his respect for the lights and liberties of the +individual man. His life,” she says, “was a sustained effort for the +good of others, flowing from these affections. He had no grudge against +rank or wealth, no restless desire for change for its own sake, still +less any rude love of demolition; but he could not endure to see +oppression or wrong of any kind inflicted on man, woman, or child. ‘You +cannot treat men and women exactly as you do one-pound notes, to be used +or rejected as you think proper,’ he said in a letter to _The Times_, +when that paper was advocating some ill-considered changes, beneficial +to one class, but leaving out of account a residue of humble folk upon +whom they would entail great suffering. In the cause of any maltreated +or neglected creature he was uncompromising to the last, and when +brought into opposition with the perpetrators of any social injustice he +became an enemy to be feared.” + +Mrs. Butler’s mother was also a fine character, and warmly seconded the +efforts of her husband for the general good. She was descended from a +Huguenot family. + +As Mrs. Butler grew into young womanhood the sad and tragical recitals +which came to the family from first sources of the wrongs inflicted by +slavery on negro men and women “broke,” she says, “her young heart,” and +keenly awakened her feelings, especially “concerning the injustice to +women through this conspiracy of greed and gold, and lust of the flesh, +a conspiracy which has its counterpart in the white slave-owning in +Europe.” + +“For one long year of darkness,” she says, “the trouble of heart and +brain urged me to lay all this at the door of the God, whose name I had +learned was Love. I dreaded Him, I fled from Him, until grace was given +me to arise and wrestle, as Jacob did, with the mysterious Presence, who +must either slay or pronounce deliverance. And then the great +questioning again went up from earth to heaven, ‘God! Who art Thou? +Where art Thou? Why is it thus with the creatures of Thy hand?’ I fought +the battle alone, in deep recesses of the beautiful woods and pine +forests around our home, or on some lonely hill-side, among wild thyme +and heather, a silent temple where the only sounds were the plaintive +cry of the curlew, or the hum of a summer bee, or the distant bleating +of sheep. For hours and days and weeks in these retreats I sought the +answer to my soul’s trouble and the solution of its dark questionings. +Looking back, it seems to me the end must have been defeat and death had +not the Saviour imparted to the child-wrestler something of the virtue +of His own midnight agony, when in Gethsemane His sweat fell like great +drops of blood to the ground.” + +The next stage in the preparation of Mrs. Butler for her great +world-wide work was her marriage in 1852 to a man of singularly noble +character, George Butler, son of the Dean of Peterborough. It was in +this year that the portrait was taken which appears on the cover of this +work. The first five years of their married life were spent at Oxford, +where Mr. Butler did important work in the University, as tutor, +examiner and lecturer. Here they met many leading people, and Mrs. +Butler says, “In the frequent social gatherings in our drawing-room in +the evenings there was much talk, sometimes serious and weighty, +sometimes light, interesting, critical, witty, and brilliant, ranging +over many subjects. It was then that I sat silent, the only woman in the +company, and listened, sometimes with a sore heart, for these men would +speak of things which I had already revolved deeply in my own mind, +things of which I was convinced, which I knew, though I had no +dialectics at command with which to defend their truth. + +“Every instinct of womanhood within me was already in revolt against +certain accepted theories in society, and I suffered as only God and the +faithful companion of my life could ever know. Incidents occurred which +brought their contribution to the lessons then sinking into our hearts. +A young mother was in Newgate for the murder of her infant, whose +father, under cover of the deathlike silence prescribed by Oxford +philosophers, a silence which is in fact a permanent endorsement of +injustice, had perjured himself to her, had forsaken and forgotten her, +and fallen back, with no accusing conscience, on his easy social life, +and possibly his academic honours. I wished to go and speak to her in +the prison of the God who saw the injustice done, and who cared for her. +My husband suggested that we should write to the chaplain of Newgate, +and ask him to send her to us when her sentence had expired. We wanted a +servant, and he thought that she might be able to fill that place. She +came to us. I think she was the first of the world of unhappy women of a +humble class whom he welcomed to his own home. She was not the last.” + +In 1857 Mr. Butler accepted the post of Vice-Principal of Cheltenham +College. Here Mrs. Butler met with a terrible trial in the sudden death +by accident, of her only little daughter Evangeline, in the year 1864. +This was followed by a long period of darkness and intense depression of +spirits, which was only dispelled by visiting amongst the four thousand +poor women in the jails and workhouses of Liverpool, where she sat +amongst them and picked oakum, until she gained their confidence. Her +husband had previously taken the Principalship of Liverpool College, +following the celebrated Dr. Howson, who vacated it to take the position +of Dean of Chester. The result of her work here was, she says, “to draw +down upon my head an avalanche of miserable, but grateful womanhood.” +She first of all filled the basement and attics of her house with “as +many as possible of the most friendless girls who were anxious to make a +fresh start.” This becoming inconvenient, a “House of Rest” was started, +which continued for many years, and was finally taken over by the town +as a municipal institution. + +1864 was the date of the commencement of the last stage of the +preparation of Mrs. Butler for her great life-work of attacking and +undermining the world-wide evil of State regulated vice. 1864 was +likewise the date of the introduction of State regulated vice into +England, which was the last of the countries of Europe to adopt it, as +it was also the first, in 1886, to abolish it. Mrs. Butler’s part in the +great Abolitionist Struggle is detailed in the following pages in her +own words. + +Mrs. Butler lived the last few years of her life at Wooler, near +Milfield, the place of her birth. There she died peacefully in her +sleep, on December 30, 1906, and was buried in the churchyard at +Kirknewton, where many of her ancestors had been buried. + +The editors of her biography conclude, “Surely we may say of her, but +very slightly altering the words of Bunyan: As she drew nigh unto the +beautiful gate of the City, she asked, ‘What must I do in the Holy +Place?’ and the shining ones answered, ‘Thou must there receive the +comfort of all thy toil, and have joy for all thy sorrow; thou must reap +what thou hast sown, even the fruit of all thy prayers and tears, and +suffering for the King by the way. There also thou shalt serve Him +continually, whom thou desiredst to serve in the world, though with much +difficulty because of the infirmity of thy flesh. There thine eyes shall +be delighted with seeing, and thine ears with hearing, the pleasant +voice of the Mighty One. There thou shalt enjoy thy friends again, that +are gone thither before thee; and there thou shalt with joy receive even +every one that follows into the Holy Place after thee.’ As she entered +in at the gate, then I heard in my dream that all the bells in the City +rang again for joy, and that it was said unto her, ‘Enter thou into the +joy of thy Lord.’” + + + + + CHAPTER I + ORIGIN OF THE SYSTEM OF STATE REGULATION OF VICE + + “Our fathers to their graves have gone, + Their strife is past—their triumph won; + But sterner trials wait the race + Which rises in their honoured place— + A moral warfare with the crime + And folly of an evil time.” + + “So let it be. In God’s own might + We gird us for the coming fight, + And, strong in Him whose cause is ours, + In conflict with unholy powers, + We grasp the weapons He has given— + The light, and truth, and love of Heaven.” + + +The late Professor Emile de Laveleye, at our International Conference at +the Hague, in September, 1883, gave some account of the inauguration of +this system, which took its rise in France under the auspices of +Napoleon I. The system was first suggested by Aulas in 1762, and by +Restif de la Bretonne in 1790. It was brought into full operation on the +eve of the establishment of the French Empire in 1802. “It could only +have had its birth,” said Professor de Laveleye, “at a period of +disturbance, when the rights of human dignity and individual liberty +were forgotten or misunderstood. History, in recounting the saturnalia +of vice in Asia Minor, in Greece, and especially in Imperial Rome, +narrates horrors which cause us to shudder. But never, either in Rome, +or in Athens, or even in Corinth, was the spectacle witnessed of public +abodes of shame kept open by the State. Juvenal paints Messalina gliding +thither under cover of night. But even Heliogabalus never constituted +himself their patron as nowadays do the Municipal and State authorities +of our Christian communities in the full sunshine of the 19th century.” + +Then the same accomplished speaker, in a very forcible address, showed +what the legalising of vice has been and has produced in all those +nations which, following the example of France, have adopted it. “It has +been the source of profound disorders, both moral and physical: of moral +disorders, by destroying the aversion which vice should inspire, and +thereby strengthening its power; of physical disorders, by exciting +incontinence, and all its concurrent evils, with proffered facilities +and promises of immunity.” + +I shall have occasion later to draw attention to the different dates and +methods in which this system was introduced into the several countries +of Europe. England was the last country in which it found a foothold. +When, in 1872, I was summoned to give evidence before a Royal Commission +to inquire into this question, I stated on the authority of Mrs. Harriet +Martineau and other venerable writers and politicians, a fact which has +never been contradicted in any way, _i.e._, than an attempt was made +during the Melbourne Ministry to introduce this Parisian system into +England. It was deemed impossible, however, to place such an Act of +Parliament in the hands of a young virgin Queen for signature, and the +attempt was dropped. There was a renewed endeavour during the life of +the Prince Consort, but this was also abandoned, from the knowledge that +was obtained of the Prince’s distinct disapproval of this Continental +system. Prince Albert died, and it was during the first year of Queen +Victoria’s widowhood, when she was presumably absorbed in her private +grief, that the promoters of this system in England succeeded in pushing +an Act through Parliament, and obtaining for it the Royal signature. + +There were four Acts; the first, tentative, in 1864. This was repealed +when the Act of 1866 was passed, and this, after verbal amendment in +1868, was still further extended by the Act of 1869. This last Act was +not allowed much peace, for it was in the autumn of the same year that +the opposition arose; in fact, a powerful protest had been raised +shortly before the passing of this complete Act. Mrs. Harriet Martineau, +with all the shrewdness and enlightenment of a true woman and an able +politician, had seen the tendency of a certain busy medical and military +clique in this direction. The then editor of the _Daily News_, who was +favourable to our views, asked Mrs. Martineau to write a series of +letters in his paper. This she did, and her letters are extremely +weighty, and wonderful to read at this day, when we have an immense +accumulation of evidence to support her and our views, which she, of +course, did not possess. Her advice on this matter concerning our army +is admirable. Speaking of our poor soldiers, she says:—“But while +favouring the element of brutality in him (the soldier), we had not need +go further and assume in practice that his animalism is a necessity +which must be provided for. This is the fatal step which it is now hoped +that the English Parliament and the English people may be induced to +take. If the soldier is more immoral than his contemporaries of the +working class, it must be because the standard of morality is lower in +the army than out of it. Shall we then raise it to what we clearly see +it might be, or degrade it further by a practical avowal that vice is in +the soldier’s case a necessity to be provided for, like his need of food +and clothing? This admission of the necessity of vice is the point on +which the whole argument turns, and on which irretrievable consequences +depend. Once admitted, the necessity of a long series of fearful evils +follows of course. There can be no resistance to seduction, procuration, +disease, regulation, _when once the original necessity is granted_. +Further, the admission involves civil as well as military society, and +starts them together on the road which leads down to what moralists of +all ages and nations have called the lowest hell.... It is a national +disgrace that our people should have even been asked to regard and treat +their soldiers and sailors as pre-destined fornicators.” And in another +of her letters to the _Daily News_ Mrs. Martineau, writing of her +experience of Continental cities, said: “There is evidence accessible to +all that the Regulation System creates horrors worse than those which it +is supposed to restrain. Vice once stimulated by such a system imagines +and dares all unutterable things. And such things perplex with misery +the lives of parents of missing children in Continental cities, and +daunt the courage of rulers, and madden the moral sense, and gnaw the +conscience of whole orders of sinners and sufferers, of whom we can form +no conception here. We shall have entered upon our national decline +whenever we agree to the introduction of such a system.” + +We, the women of England, were not the first to arise in opposition to +this iniquity. For at least fifteen years before our call to the work, +warning lights had been held out from time to time by persons or +societies who thoroughly knew the system, and dreaded the disastrous +effects for our country of its establishment in our midst. + +A group of Baptist and other Nonconformist Ministers, in which my +relative, the late Charles Birrell, took a leading part, early went to +the Government, conveying an earnest warning and protest on the subject. +I cannot fix the exact date of this event; but I have a vivid +recollection of the account of it given to me by Mr. Birrell. I believe +it was during the Administration of Lord John Russell. + +In 1860 a Committee of the House of Lords sat to consider the question +of introducing the Acts for the regulation of vice into India, or +establishing a more complete form of Acts already existing there. The +majority of the witnesses examined by that Committee were wholly opposed +to the system. Miss Florence Nightingale was one of those witnesses. Her +recorded evidence and expression of opinion are lengthy, and exactly +what we might expect from a true-hearted and an experienced woman. Lord +Frederick FitzClarence, Commander-in-Chief of the forces in India, said +that “after giving the whole subject his best attention, he concurred +with his predecessors in command of the army in believing that police +measures of the kind in question could not be carried on without +involving the certain degradation and oppression of many innocent women, +and occasioning other evils which, in his opinion, would be very much +greater than that which it was their object to remedy.” Dr. Grierson (of +the Indian Army) said that when the natives of India saw the authorities +making such careful provision for the protection of immoral persons, and +at the same time doing little for the good of the other classes, they +were “sorely perplexed.” General Jacob said: “The proper and only wise +method of dealing with this question is to improve the condition and +moral well-being of the army. Coercion of any kind always increases the +evil. Moral forces alone are of any value.” + +A third strong protest was that of the officers of the Rescue Society in +London. They made a series of very strong efforts against the threatened +introduction of the regulation system. + +The late Mr. Daniel Cooper, the well-known and respected Secretary of +the Rescue Society, wrote to me in 1870: “You ask me to tell you what +the Rescue Society did to bring this infamous legislation under public +notice. In 1868 we published a pamphlet and waited on the Home +Secretary. With the pamphlet we presented a copy of a ‘Memorandum of +Objections’ to this legislation. This Memorandum was circulated by +thousands. We placed it in the hands of every member of both Houses of +Parliament; we forwarded it to all the principal clergy of the +Metropolis and other important towns in England, and also to the leading +Nonconformist ministers. We spent more than £100 in the circulation of +our papers, and with what result? I am ashamed to say that very little +effect was produced. The utmost apathy prevailed; people would not +believe our words and would not stir. The infamous Act of 1869 was +passed in spite of all our efforts. + +“At this crisis we learned that the _Women_ of England were taking this +question in hand. We were rejoiced beyond measure when we saw the +announcement of your Ladies’ National Association. + +“I tell you candidly I had felt an almost utter despair in seeing that, +after putting forth our pamphlet, and writing thousands of letters, +imploring our legislators, clergy, principal public men and +philanthropists to look into the question, such a stoical indifference +remained. We felt, on hearing of your Association, that Providence had +well chosen the means for the defeat of these wicked Acts. The ladies of +England will save the country from this fearful curse; for I fully +believe that through them it has even now had its death blow. The men +who charge the ladies foremost in the struggle with indelicacy are not +worthy the name of men. As to our Members of Parliament, pray do not +excuse their ignorance; do not try to palliate their error by saying the +Act was passed at the fag end of the session. The papers placed in their +hands by ourselves, the letters of warning we addressed to them, leave +them no excuse. Knowing, as none but ourselves can know, what was done +to arouse them, I cannot but conclude that, with a few honourable +exceptions, our Members of Parliament cared nothing about the matter +until public opinion forced them to look into it. But for the Ladies’ +National Association we should have had no discussion, and the Acts +would by this date have probably been extended throughout the country. I +say this solemnly, and from an intimate knowledge of all the plans of +the Association formed to extend these Acts. Go on; give the country no +rest till this law is abolished.—Yours truly, DANIEL COOPER.” + +The names of Dr. Charles Bell Taylor and Dr. Worth, of Nottingham, must +be gratefully remembered, for it was to those gentlemen that we, the +women of England, owed our first clear information of the nature and the +passing of the Act of 1869. I had been on the Continent with my family +in that year, and had been learning much there concerning the disastrous +effects of this system. On the journey home I found a telegram awaiting +me at Dover, begging an interview, and this was followed by a somewhat +mysterious appeal from these alert friends at Nottingham to “haste to +the rescue.” In a few days the whole state of the case was put before me +and a small group of friends. No organised action, however, was taken by +us until the close of December of that year. In fact, there was much +preparation of heart, nerve, and mind necessary for such a task as was +now opening out before us. It was not a thing to be taken up hastily. + +Meanwhile, in September of this same year (1869), some other watchful +friends had taken occasion of the Social Science Congress meeting at +Bristol to introduce again a strong warning note, or rather now a +protest, against the legislation in question. The Rev. Dr. Hooppell, of +Northumberland, Mr. George Charleton, of the Society of Friends, and Mr. +Banks, afterwards for so many years the able and indefatigable secretary +of the National Association, proved themselves on this occasion already +well-armed and staunch advocates of the abolition movement, of which +they themselves were amongst the earliest initiators. They formed there +a local association, which was afterwards merged into the National +Association, which had its office in London. + +I have already, in the “Recollections of George Butler,” recorded +sufficiently my own and my husband’s first call to this great work, the +inward preparation for which had been going on for many years +previously. I have spoken there of the horror, the dismay we felt on the +first full knowledge that this iniquity had been established by law in +England, of the weeks of self-questioning and hesitation which followed +for myself, of the tardy but firm resolution at last formed to imitate, +if I may use the simile, the example of Quintus Curtius of old Roman +fame, and to leap into this yawning gulf in order that the nation’s +wound might close again. But this Roman hero, I had read, met his fate +fully equipped, armed from head to foot, fearless, and in the perfection +of self-renunciation. I felt that, for such an enterprise, I should +require nothing less than “the whole armour of God.” I have recorded +also in that hook the noble and unselfish part which my husband took +from the beginning in this warfare; and to some extent I there also +indicated the sacrifices he made, and the anxieties he silently endured +for many years, after he had spoken to me that momentous word (to me a +consecration for the work), “Go, and the Lord be with you.” + +This word was spoken after we had conferred fully together on the action +we should adopt, and after our conclusion that we must make an immediate +appeal to the great public. + +Many persons, honestly judging the matter from the outside, have +mistakenly imagined that the persecution which had to be endured, the +ridicule by which we were constantly assailed in the Press, the social +ostracism, the coldness of many who had before been friends and +companions, the obloquy, false accusations, abuse and violence, +continued for years, must have been the greatest of the trials incident +to the part we were called to take in so dreadful an enterprise. So far +as my own experience bears witness, those who judge so are mistaken. +These things were for me light and easy to bear in comparison with the +deep and silent sorrow, the bitterness of soul of the years which +preceded. I recall those years of painful thinking, and of questionings +which seemed to receive no answer and to be susceptible of no solution; +those years in which I saw this great social iniquity (based on the +shameful inequality of judgment concerning sexual sin in man and woman) +devastating the world, contentedly acquiesced in, no great revolt +proclaimed against it, a dead silence reigning concerning it, a voice +feebly raised perhaps now and again, but quickly rebuked and silenced. +The call to action, the field of battle entered, with all its perils and +trials clearly set out before us, were a joyful relief, a place of free +breathing, compared with the oppression and the heart-woe which went +before. + +Those alone who have trod the silent and secret “way of Calvary” will +fully understand me. Those who have not may well think the discipline of +being traduced, slandered, threatened, and “spitefully entreated” a very +hard discipline. But one who has endured the deeper and keener spiritual +discipline, when there seemed no escape, no ray of hope, must regard the +outward persecution and violence only as a welcome sign that the battle +is set in array, and that the enemy is roused to bitterest hatred +because his claims are disputed and his sovereignty is about to be +overthrown. The inward sorrow I believe to have been necessary for the +vitalising of righteous action, and the insuring of depth, reality and +constancy. + +On the 1st January, 1870, was published the famous Women’s Protest, as +follows: + +“We, the undersigned, enter our solemn protest against these Acts. + +“1st.—Because, involving as they do such a momentous change in the legal +safeguards hitherto enjoyed by women in common with men, they have been +passed, not only without the knowledge of the country, but unknown, in a +great measure, to Parliament itself; and we hold that neither the +Representatives of the People, nor the Press, fulfil the duties which +are expected of them, when they allow such legislation to take place +without the fullest discussion. + +“2nd.—Because, so far as women are concerned, they remove every +guarantee of personal security which the law has established and held +sacred, and put their reputation, their freedom, and their persons +absolutely in the power of the police. + +“3rd.—Because the law is bound, in any country professing to give civil +liberty to its subjects, to define clearly an offence which it punishes. + +“4th.—Because it is unjust to punish the sex who are the victims of a +vice, and leave unpunished the sex who are the main cause, both of the +vice and its dreaded consequences; and we consider that liability to +arrest, forced medical treatment, and (where this is resisted) +imprisonment with hard labour, to which these Acts subject women, are +punishments of the most degrading kind. + +“5th.—Because, by such a system, the path of evil is made more easy to +our sons, and to the whole of the youth of England; inasmuch as a moral +restraint is withdrawn the moment the State recognises, and provides +convenience for, the practice of a vice which it thereby declares to be +necessary and venial. + +“6th.—Because these measures are cruel to the women who come under their +action—violating the feelings of those whose sense of shame is not +wholly lost, and further brutalising even the most abandoned. + +“7th.—Because the disease which these Acts seek to remove has never been +removed by any such legislation. The advocates of the system have +utterly failed to show, by statistics or otherwise, that these +regulations have in any case, after several years’ trial, and when +applied to one sex only, diminished disease, reclaimed the fallen, or +improved the general morality of the country. We have, on the contrary, +the strongest evidence to show that in Paris and other Continental +cities where women have long been outraged by this system, the public +health and morals are worse than at home. + +“8th.—Because the conditions of this disease, in the first instance, are +moral, not physical. The moral evil through which the disease makes its +way separates the case entirely from that of the plague, or other +scourges, which have been placed under police control or sanitary care. +We hold that we are bound, before rushing into experiments of legalising +a revolting vice, to try to deal with the _causes_ of the evil, and we +dare to believe that with wiser teaching and more capable legislation, +those causes would not be beyond control.” + +This Protest was published in the _Daily News_, and the fact of its +appearance was flashed by telegram to the remotest parts of the Kingdom. +The local press largely reproduced it. Among the two thousand signatures +which it obtained in a short time there were those of Florence +Nightingale, Harriet Martineau, Mary Carpenter, the sisters and other +relatives of the late Mr. John Bright, all the leading ladies of the +Society of Friends, and many well-known in the literary and +philanthropic world. + +A pause ensued, a silence on the part of our opponents and undecided or +critical lookers on, induced by the first shock of this unexpected and +powerful manifesto. A member of Parliament, fully sympathetic with us, +said to me: “Your manifesto has shaken us very badly in the House of +Commons; a leading man in the House remarked to me, ‘We know how to +manage any other opposition in the House or in the country, but this is +very awkward for us—this revolt of the women. It is quite a new thing; +what are we to do with such an opposition as this?’” + +But this temporary pause was succeeded by signs of much agitation and +business among our opponents in preparation for an organised stand +against our attitude and claims; and simultaneously was inaugurated the +great “Conspiracy of Silence” in the press, which continued unbroken +until the autumn of 1874, when a well-known Ex-Cabinet Minister spoke +powerfully at a public meeting on our behalf. After this one occasion, +however, the press, as if by common consent, fell back into its old +attitude of silence. This silence could not be in most cases attributed +to a regard for the feelings of readers, for statements in favour of the +Acts were continually admitted. We had, however, great encouragement +from many and often unexpected parts of the world. + +Many persons on the Continent, working for social reforms, were even +then rejoicing in the trumpet-blast which had been sounded from England, +in open opposition to this vicious system. We had inaugurated a line of +action to the continuance of which we were pledged by sacred duty in +regard to the hopes which it had awakened throughout Europe. + +Amongst the reforms which, it was hoped, would be aided by the present +agitation was one connected with the army, in the substitution of some +better system of national defence than that of a military army of +celibates, kept as a distinct class, and demoralized by unnatural +provisions, supposed to be needful for their exceptional existence. + +The purification of the medical profession was also hoped for, and the +exposure and defeat of those deadly materialist doctrines respecting the +necessity of unchastity, which had been secretly and widely promulgated, +and which, together with the dogmatism and despotism of certain doctors, +had begun to exercise so fatal an influence over our legislative +counsels. The condition of the womanhood of our country for some time +past we often compared with that of the afflicted woman of whom we read +in the Gospels, of whom it was said, “She had endured many things of +many physicians,” and that she grew no better, but rather worse. The +afflicted woman alluded to, approaching the person of the great +Spiritual Physician, was healed by the touch of faith. A similar faith +was coming to the succour of the womanhood of the present day. Their +hearts were lifted up to God, with whom are the issues of life and +death, and they were taught to scorn the perversions of physicians who, +in the supposed interests of the body, trampled under foot the claims of +decency and the inalienable rights of every woman, chaste or unchaste, +over her own person. God would henceforth, we trusted, place His gifts +of healing in holy hands, and say to the poor afflicted womanhood of +this day, “Daughter, be of good cheer.” + +The purification we hoped for was already indicated by the fact that, +among the men who gradually rallied around us in this cause, from all +ranks and all professions, pure-hearted physicians were among the +foremost, both in action and in indignant denunciation of the theories +and practices which we abhorred. + +Not many weeks after the publication of our Protest, Mr. Gladstone, then +Prime Minister, received a Memorial from women of Geneva on the subject; +a beautiful and distinct echo from afar of our own cry for justice. + +Even earlier than this, more than one sympathetic voice reached us from +Paris itself, the birthplace of the evil thing against which we were +allied. + + +Victor Hugo wrote:— + + + “PARIS, _March 20, 1870_. + +“I am with you, madame and ladies. I am with you to the fullest extent +of my power. In reading your eloquent letter, I have felt a burning +sympathy rise in me for the feeble, and a corresponding indignation +against the oppressor. France is apparently about to borrow from England +an evil institution, that of chamber executions—legal murders done +behind closed doors; and, in her turn, England prepares to adopt from +France a detestable system, that, namely, of a police dealing with women +as outlaws. Protest! resist! show your indignation! All noble hearts and +all lofty spirits will be on your side. The slavery of black women is +abolished in America, but the slavery of white women continues in +Europe; and laws are still made by men in order to tyrannise over women. +Nothing more hateful could be seen than the sight to-day—France copying +the feudalism of England, and England reproducing the medical tyranny of +Paris. It is a rivalry of retrogression—a miserable spectacle. It +disgraces justice in France, and the Executive power in England. Publish +this letter if you think fit, and be assured of my earnest sympathy and +respect. + + “VICTOR HUGO.” + + +From Mazzini, to a member of our Ladies’ Association:— + + + “ITALY, _February, 1870_. + + “MY DEAR FRIEND,— + +“Can you doubt me? Can you doubt how eagerly I watch from afar, and how +heartily I bless the efforts of the brave, earnest British women who are +striving for the extension of the suffrage to their sex and for the +repeal of the vice-protecting Acts, which last question is but an +incident in the great general question of justice to women? + +“Is your question less sacred than that of the abolition of slavery in +America, or of serfdom elsewhere? Ought it not to be even more sacred to +us—in reverence for our mothers,—and if we remember that the most +important period of human life—the first—is entrusted to women? + +“Are not all questions of equality mere baseless rebellion, unless they +are derived from an all-embracing religious principle? and is not that +principle—(the oneness of the human family)—the soul of your country’s +religion? + +“Have the men who deny the righteousness of your claims abjured that +religion, or forgotten the holy words of Jesus and of Paul:— + +“‘Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe +on Me through the Word.’ + +“‘That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, +that they also may be one in us.’—John xvii. 20, 21. + +“‘For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.’ + +“‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there +is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.’—Epistle +Galatians iii. 26, 28. + +“Do they tell you these words apply to heaven? Ask them Who has taught +them to pray that _God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven_? + +“No question such as yours ought to be solved without asking _how far +does the proposed solution minister to the moral education of society_? +The sense of self-dignity, the deep conviction that each of us has a +task to fulfil on earth, for our own improvement and that of our +fellow-creatures, is the first step in all education. We are bound to +start by teaching all whom we seek to educate the words you quoted; _you +are a human being: nothing that concerns mankind is alien to you_. If +you crush in man his innate sense of self-respect, you decree the helot. +If you sanction moral inequality to any extent, you either create +rebellion, with all its evils, or indifference, hypocrisy and +corruption. If you punish the accomplice, leaving the sinner untouched, +you destroy, by arousing the sense of injustice, every beneficial result +of punishment. If you assume the right to legislate for any class, +without allowing that class voice or share in the work, you destroy the +sacredness of law, and awaken hatred or contempt in the heart of the +excluded class. + +“In these simple obvious principles lies the justice of your claims. + +“In this legislation lies—forget it not—the germ of a moral disease far +more terrible than the physical evil they thus brutally and impotently +endeavour to ‘stamp out’; this first step backwards, taken in selfish +fear, will, if not speedily retraced, be followed by others, until the +moral sore neglected will become a cancer infecting the very life-blood +of your nation. + +“In the moral principles I have stated you will conquer. Your cause is a +religious one. Do not narrow it down to what is called a right or an +interest. Let duty be your ground, both in protecting your unhappy +sisters and in urging your political claims. You are children of God. +You have the same duty to perform on earth—the progressive discovery and +the progressive fulfilment of His law. You cannot renounce that task +without sinning against the God who appointed it, and gave to you, as to +us, faculties and powers for its accomplishment. + +“You cannot fulfil your task without _liberty_, which is the source of +responsibility. You cannot fulfil it without _equality_, which is +liberty for each and all. + +“Your claim to the suffrage is identical with that of the working men. +Like them, you seek to bring a new element of progress to the common +work; you feel that you, too, have something to say, not merely +indirectly, but legally and officially, with regard to the great +problems which stir and torture the soul of mankind. + +“As for the special cause of which you write, the repeal of these +hideous Acts, you will succeed. You have in your House of Commons men +whom surely no giant despair of physical disease can turn aside from the +straight path of principle and justice; but even if these should fail +you, which I do not believe, you have your people. Your working men have +shown us, during the Lancashire famine, how _they_ can feel for the +down-trodden and oppressed. Appeal to them. I have lived long enough in +England to know what their answer would be. + + “_I am, Dear Friend, Yours_, + “GIUSEPPE MAZZINI.” + + + + + CHAPTER II + “λαμπάδια ἔχοντες, διαδώσονσιυ ἀλλήλοις.” + + “They, bearing torches, will pass them on from hand to hand.” + PLATO, _Repub._, 328. + + +Our appeal, we decided, must be made to the Nation. Letters had +previously been written by us during the autumn of 1869 to every member +of both Houses of Parliament, and to many leading men, lay and +ecclesiastical. To all these letters we received only some half-dozen +responses which were at all sympathetic. We received others which +contained only a strong denunciation of my own and other women’s action +in the matter. These latter came in some cases from highly esteemed +dignitaries in Church and State, several of whom, I am grateful to +acknowledge, wrote to me some years afterwards in a wholly different +tone. + +Having received so little encouragement from the persons whom we had +vainly imagined would have taken an interest in the question, we turned +to the working populations of the Kingdom. Here our reception was wholly +different. I am well aware that the working classes have their faults, +and that neither they nor any other class of men are wholly free from +the taint of egotism ; but of one thing I am profoundly convinced, and +that is, that when an appeal is made to the people in the name of +justice, they will in general respond in the truest and most loyal +manner. Though I had always had confidence in the good sense of the +working classes, I was, nevertheless, often surprised to find how +readily they were carried up to the highest standard in judging of a +moral question, and how almost universally they acknowledged the +authority of the ethical truths which we endeavoured to put before them. +At times I recollect purposely placing the question on so high a level +that I doubted whether the mass of humble people before me would fully +apprehend and respond to an appeal based upon motives so lofty. +Sometimes a few moments of profound silence would follow such an appeal, +and then there would arise that grateful and inspiring sound of the +voice of the multitude, deliberately, intelligently and enthusiastically +accepting and endorsing the thought which had been presented to them. + +Starting from Liverpool with my husband’s benediction sounding in my +ears, I went first to Crewe, and addressed a meeting prepared in advance +by our friend Professor Stuart, of Cambridge, consisting of railway +workmen, engine-makers and boiler-fitters. They perfectly understood the +message, and acted upon it with intelligence. From there I went +(January, 1870) to Leeds, Newcastle, Sunderland, Darlington, and other +places, and shortly afterwards a series of visits was paid to Birmingham +and other towns of the Midland district. Everywhere the working men +themselves organised meetings, writing or telegraphing in advance to +friends and acquaintances in other localities to be prepared to give +their verdict upon a very urgent question. The meetings were followed by +prompt organisation for action, headed in most cases by leading working +men. In Leeds, the Trades Union and other leaders worked valiantly with +Mr. Algernon Challis at their head, whose ardour and self-sacrifice in +this cause deserve to be specially mentioned; and in Newcastle, Lord +Armstrong’s and Mr. Hawthorne’s men, engaged in the engineering works on +Tyneside, supported us strongly. In Birmingham a very complete working +men’s organization was at once formed, an example followed some time +after by Sheffield, Liverpool, and other towns. Petitions were poured in +upon Parliament, and at bye-elections the candidates were severely +questioned by the working men electors. Such was the effect produced by +this movement in the Northern and Midland counties, followed by the +lessons of the Colchester Election, that the Government felt obliged to +move in the matter. It moved in the direction in which Governments +generally move when a question is raised by the people on which the +members of the Government themselves have little knowledge and less +conviction—they appointed a Commission to consider it. We did not accept +the proposal of a Commission at all gratefully, for we felt that +although Royal Commissions and Parliamentary Committees are useful, or +necessary, in regard to some subjects, the cause we had in hand could +not be served, or usefully treated, by a Commission. Great principles +cannot be modified by any assembly, even of the wisest men, sitting to +consider them. The people had very largely already pronounced their +verdict on the principles of Justice, Equality, and Morality involved in +our question. + +The Abolitionist associations, in presenting a united protest to +Government against the appointment of a Commission gave as one of their +motives the following:— + +“Because we maintain that the great principles which have hitherto +protected the freedom, the honour, and the bodily safety of +Englishwomen, as well as Englishmen, from the tyrannical control of the +Executive, ought not to be referred for discussion to any irresponsible +and delegated body: least of all to a Royal Commission. They must be +vindicated as axioms, not debated as doubtful questions, and on the +floor of Parliament itself, where every word may be heard by the +nation.” + +There was no unanimous conclusion arrived at by the Commission. They +produced a Majority Report, which pronounced itself hostile to us, at +the same time that it condemned the compulsory treatment of the persons +of women, which is the centre and core of the whole system of State +Regulation of vice. There was a Minority Report, in our favour; while +several of the members of the Commission personally recorded their +opinion, apart from, or in addition to either of the Reports.[1] + +Generally speaking, the evidence given by our opponents served our cause +in after years as well as, or better than, anything said by our friends. + +It may not be uninteresting to recall the varied character of some of +the meetings which were constantly held throughout the country during +the first two or three years of our movement. The denial to us of +publicity in the press made it of urgent necessity that we should +continually address the public in other ways. I will mention briefly one +or two of the meetings of those first years which stand out most +prominently in my memory. After several large gatherings in Leeds, +promoted by the energy and enthusiasm of the working people there, +strongly aided by members of the Society of Friends, a larger assembly +than any yet held was organised in that town. The Town Hall being found +inadequate for the occasion, Mr. Challis and his friends managed to +place seats in a considerable portion of the immense Corn Exchange, +which in the evening was filled to overflowing, many hundreds standing +during the whole time. On the platform we had an encouraging array of +M.P.’s, the most prominent as a speaker being Mr. Jacob Bright, who, +with his talented wife, was from the first one of the foremost in our +cause. + +The most interesting speech of the evening was, however, made by the +well-known anti-slavery leader, George Thomson. He was then growing old, +and was in failing health. His zeal for our cause led him to stand upon +our platform, but with no idea of speaking. As the evening went on, +however, the fire of the old anti-slavery apostolate was re-kindled in +his heart, and he could not hold his peace. I recollect his tall and +fragile figure as he rose. He supported himself against a pillar, +leaning heavily. He began to speak in a low, husky voice, in the midst +of hushed attention; for the audience looked upon him as little less +than an oracle on any subject connected with the sacredness of the human +person and of individual liberty. Before he had spoken many minutes he +became perfectly audible, and his voice continued to rise until it +sounded forth with the old bell-like, or rather trumpet-like, clearness +and power which had so often stirred the heart of multitudes in the +United States. That remarkable utterance was one of the last delivered +by him; I well recollect the profound emotion which was produced by it. + +As a rule we had weighty meetings, and found an excellent spirit, in +Scotland; but there was one occasion on which we were for the moment +baffled. This was in the great City Hall in Glasgow. The medical +students of that town, incited (it was said) by some of their own +Professors, came in a body to the hall, determined that we should not +have a hearing. There were Town Councillors—or, as they are called in +Scotland, Baillies—on the platform. Notwithstanding this, the noise, +violence and rudeness of the students continued for about an hour, until +the patient chairman made up his mind quietly to call in the police, +although we never liked resorting to this measure. The police of Glasgow +were a powerful body of men, physically speaking. It was with some +amusement, mingled, perhaps, with a little compassion for the misguided +boys, that we watched from the platform, where we had been unable to +speak a single word, these huge officers entering quietly from the +gallery behind, taking the students one by one by the collar, and +dropping them over the edge of the galleries as lightly as if they had +been kittens. The fall was not a great one, and no one was hurt. The +meeting was then continued in peace, though much curtailed. I asked one +of the venerable Baillies on the following day to define for me the +exact offence for which some of these students, we were told, had been +locked up for the night, or fined. His reply was in broad Scotch, more +racy, perhaps, than clearly judicial. “They were punished,” he said, +“for the offences of barking like dogs, mewing like cats, crowing like +cocks, whistling and rattling with their sticks.” + +From letters written to my husband at home, I take a sketch of some +meetings held in my own border county to illustrate the honesty of +judgment which we generally found in the North. + +“At Berwick-on-Tweed I stayed at the house of the Mayor, Mr. Purvis, a +pleasant old gentleman of the old school. There was a great threatening +of opposition, which continued even till we drove up to the door of the +Town Hall. We were told that the doctors were all ready to fight. The +United Presbyterians and other Scottish ministers were my best friends +here. The Rev. Dr. Cairns was timid about holding a meeting, although he +was wholly in sympathy with us, and he did not at first like the +advocacy of ladies. He is a man of much influence in the Scotch Church, +and is said to be one of Sir William Hamilton’s most distinguished +pupils. On reaching the platform he offered up a fervent prayer. It was +a full and excellent meeting, and, towards the close, unanimous. The joy +of the ministers and kind ladies afterwards was very great. I had heard +so much of the approaching opposition that I had prepared my arguments +with great care. I quoted the weighty evidence of Lord Frederick +FitzClarence against the regulation system in India. You know that he +lived at Etal. His name is remembered here in the North, and the +audience seemed struck by his verdict, based upon his experience as +Commander-in-Chief of the forces in India. Dr. C——, of Berwick, had been +put up to oppose us. He came to curse, and lo! he blessed us altogether; +that is to say, he came on the platform and applauded as heartily as any +one. This so often threatened opposition, which is so often over-ruled, +shows, I think, how slight is the knowledge most people in England have +of the subject, and how ready they are to take up the cry initiated by a +few experts or great personages in favour of this regulation system. It +shows, too, that we need only to appeal to their better judgment and +sense of justice. Of course, there are everywhere some bad people as +well as good; but I imagine there are few of the ruffianly class of men +in Northumberland who troubled us so much in South Wales. I shall go +back to my home with a deeply grateful feeling to my own county. + +“I had not thought of visiting other towns in Northumberland, but poor +little Alnwick gave me the most pressing invitation which I have had +from any town. A leading man there wrote, ‘You surely will not leave +your own county without visiting us. We should feel much hurt.’ I did +not expect opposition at Alnwick. I thought the only difficulty might be +to keep my audience awake! When I arrived I found the Town Hall already +crowded to excess. I dare say the meeting was an exciting event in the +dull old town. A brave doctor took the chair for me. He read a carefully +prepared speech which he had written, in which he expressed the fullest +sympathy with our cause. He had come into the room with splashed riding +boots, as if from a visit to a distant patient, and with a +weather-beaten face. I have a great respect for these hard-working +country doctors; they are very unlike some insolent State physicians +whom we know, who seem to desire to rule us all on their own +materialistic and despotic principles. A strong resolution was passed +unanimously at Alnwick. At the end of the meeting I observed a number of +pleasant brown faces at the edge of the platform, looking up in the +attitude of the cherubs in Raphael’s ‘Madonna di San Sisto.’ They seemed +to have some communication for me, and when I came forward they smiled, +and one said, ‘We all knew your father well—old Mr. Grey.’ This was all +their communication, but I was pleased with the sympathy expressed in +it. + +“I then went on to Morpeth. The meeting there had not been much +prepared, for the time was short. We had no Chairman. I met the Hon. and +Rev. Vicar walking down the street, and asked him to take the Chair, but +he said, with many assurances of respect for you and me, that he had +signed a petition in favour of the vice-regulating Acts, and that, +therefore, it would not be consistent for him to take the chair. In the +ante-room of the hall I saw a very superior working man, a man who bears +so high a character, I was told, that although of humble rank, no one, +they said, would more recommend the movement in Morpeth by leading it. I +asked him to preside. He seemed startled, thought for a moment, and then +said, ‘Well, if ye’ll just wait till I run in and put on my best coat.’ +He soon returned with his best coat, his face shining with soap, and his +hair stiffly brushed. The hall was quite crowded with a very respectable +audience—all the tradespeople, many pleasant ladies, ministers, working +men, and a few gentlemen. I think I never spoke to so agreeable an +audience. Their grave, sensible faces were so intent and full of +inquiry. Many of the men stood up and leaned forward, and if the meeting +expressed approval of any sentiment there was immediately a sound of +‘hush’ through the hall, lest they should lose a single word spoken. The +attention did not flag for one moment. An allusion I made to my father, +speaking of myself as a Northumbrian, was most affectionately responded +to. I felt supremely comfortable, for it was a thoroughly Northumbrian +atmosphere. The audience was grave and shrewd, not noisily enthusiastic, +but just and fair, and very warm-hearted; and also of superior +intelligence; they quickly took up the constitutional and political +aspect of the question. + +“After the meeting the Chairman took me into his bright kitchen, as +there was still an hour to wait for the night mail. I sat by the fire, +and a circle sat round—his handsome, comely wife and daughter, and his +son, who had all been to the meeting. His wife is a grand, clever woman. +What a difference there is between the intellect of such working women +and some Society ladies whom I have met! I could make a companion of +this woman at any time. T had a lovely walk to the station, and as the +train was not due for half an hour I wandered a little way into the +fields. It was a perfectly beautiful moonlight night—the air calm, +crisp, and not too cold. A light hoar-frost lay like a coating of silver +on the fields in the moonlight. The silence, the calm, the pure air, and +the beauty around me, with the memory of the kind reception I had had, +filled my heart with gratitude. I sent many loving thoughts to you all +at home. At last the express broke upon the stillness, bowling along +with its red eyes in front, and brought me to Newcastle in little more +than half an hour, where I found my kind Quaker friends waiting for me.” + +Besides influencing electors throughout the country, we felt it our duty +to fling ourselves into the midst of contested Parliamentary elections +now and again. At this time the question of our army was much before the +Government, and there was a strong desire for a more capable +administration of military matters, both at home and abroad. An able +military man was wanted in the Government. Sir Henry Storks was a man of +world-wide experience, and of great reputation as an administrator. He +had been Governor of Malta, and had there administered the Regulation +system with so strong a hand that he boasted of having practically +stamped out in that colony the diseases incident to vice. The Government +had a special interest in securing this man for one of the new offices +which had been created in the War Department. To this end it was +necessary that a seat in the House of Commons should be found for him. +His first essay in that direction was at Newark. There he was strongly +opposed, even by persons of his own political party, and chiefly by our +excellent medical friends Dr. Bell Taylor and Mr. Worth, and a group who +followed them. He was signally defeated in his attempt to secure the +seat there. Colchester was next regarded as a place which would be +easily won for this purpose. It is a military depôt; the system we +opposed was in full operation there, and a Liberal candidate had been +called for. I must give some prominence to this hotly-contested election +at Colchester, as it proved to be somewhat of a turning-point in the +history of our crusade. + +_The Shield_, commenting on the result, wrote as follows:—“Sir Henry +Storks’ name is prominently identified with legislation which is +abhorrent to the moral sense of right-thinking people. Our opponents may +laugh at the formation of a _new party_ on this question, just as their +prototypes in America were filled with derision when a ‘nigger party’ +was first organized in that country. This new party here is to the cause +of insulted and down-trodden woman what the American Abolitionists were +to the despised negro. Our opponents are welcome to their hilarity. All +the coarse satire, all the virulent abuse, all the disgraceful rowdyism +in the world, will not prevent votes and seats being lost by the party +which has employed these ignoble tactics. Mobs were freely employed at +Colchester. There was a saturnalia of rioting which those who are so +sensitive about the antics of mobs in Paris and New York would do well +to take to heart.” + +The Committee of the National Association in London undertook the +formidable business of organizing opposition to the Government +candidate. Their tactics and measures were excellent, and ultimately +successful. Dr. Baxter Langley very unselfishly consented to be put up +as a third candidate in order to divide the votes. The battle was a +severe one, for those were the days of hustings harangues, and open +voting. The former I have always considered a very useful and healthy +outlet for the free expression of opinion and the judgment of the people +concerning their candidates and the principles proclaimed by them. + +My own personal recollections are chiefly of the numerous meetings which +we Abolitionists held for consultation day after day in a modest hotel, +the master of which was favourable to our views. + +A great public meeting had been arranged for in the theatre. I was with +our friends previous to this meeting in a room in this hotel. Already we +heard signs of the mob gathering to oppose us. The dangerous portion of +this mob was headed and led on by a band of keepers of houses of +prostitution in Colchester, who had sworn that we should be defeated and +driven from the town. On this occasion the gentlemen who were preparing +to go to the meeting left with me all their valuables, watches, etc. I +remained alone during the evening. The mob were by this time collected +in force in the streets. Their deep-throated yells and oaths, and the +horrible words spoken by them, sounded sadly in my ears. I felt more +than anything pity for these misguided people. It must be observed that +these were not of the class of honest working people, but chiefly a +number of hired roughs, and persons directly interested in the +maintenance of the vilest of human institutions. The master of the hotel +came in, and said in a whisper, “I must turn down the lights; and will +you, Madam, consent to go to an attic which I have, a little apart from +the house, and remain there until the mob is quieter, in order that I +may tell them truly that you are not in the house?” I consented to this +for his sake. His words were emphasised at the moment by the crashing in +of the window near which I sat, and the noise of heavy stones hurled +along the floor, the blows from which I managed to evade. Our friends +returned in about an hour, very pitiful objects, covered with mud, +flour, and other more unpleasant things, their clothes torn, but their +courage not in the least diminished. Professor Stuart, who had come +purposely during the intervals of his duties at Cambridge to lend his +aid in the conflict, had been roughly handled. Chairs and benches had +been flung at him and Dr. Baxter Langley; and a good deal of lint and +bandages was quickly in requisition; but the wounds were not severe. + +I should have prefaced my recollections of this Election Conflict by +saying that on our first arrival in Colchester we went, as was our wont, +straight to the house of a Quaker family. Mrs. Marriage, a well-known +member of the Society of Friends, received us with the utmost cordiality +and self-possession. At her suggestion we began our campaign with a +series of devotional meetings, gathering together chiefly women, in +groups, to ask of God that the approaching events might be over-ruled +for good, and might open the eyes of our Government to the vital nature +of the cause for which we were incurring so much obloquy. Among the +women who helped us most bravely were Mrs. King and Mrs. Hampson; there +were also many others. + +I may be excused, perhaps, for mentioning an amusing incident of the +election. I was walking down a bye-street one evening after we had held +several meetings with the wives of electors, when I met an immense +workman, a stalwart man, trudging along to his home after work hours. By +his side trotted his wife—a fragile woman, but with a fierce +determination on her small thin face. At that moment she was shaking her +little fist in her husband’s face, and I heard her say, “Now you know +all about it; if you vote for that man Storks, Tom, _I’ll kill ye_.” Tom +seemed to think that there was some danger of her threat being put in +execution. This incident did not represent exactly the kind of influence +which we had entreated the working women to use with their husbands who +had votes, but I confess it cheered me not a little. + +The following letter, which I have found among some preserved by my +children, may be interesting. It was written from Colchester to my young +sons at home:— + +“I have tried several Hotels; each one rejects me after another; at last +I came to a respectable Tory Hotel, not giving my name. I had gone to +bed, very tired, and was dropping asleep, when I heard some excitement +in the street and a rap at my door. It was the master of the hotel; he +said, ‘I am sorry, madam; I have a very unpleasant announcement to +make.’ ‘Say on,’ I replied. He said, ‘I find you are Mrs. Josephine +Butler, and the mob outside have found out that you are here and have +threatened to set fire to the house unless I send you out at once.’ I +said, ‘I will go immediately; but how is it that you get rid of me when +you know that though I am a Liberal, I am practically working into the +hands of Colonel Learmont, the Conservative candidate?’ He replied: ‘I +would most gladly keep you, madam; undoubtedly your cause is a good one; +but there is a party so much incensed against you that my house is not +safe while you are in it.’ He saw that I was very tired, and I think his +heart was touched. He said, ‘I will get you quietly out under another +name, and will find some little lodging for you.’ I packed up my things, +and he sent a servant with me down a little bye-street, to a small +private house of a working man and his wife. Next day I went to the C—— +Inn, the headquarters of our party. It was filled with gentlemen in an +atmosphere of stormy canvassing. The master of the inn whispered to me, +‘Do not let your friends call you by your name in the streets.’ A +hurried consultation was held as to whether our party should attempt to +hold other public meetings or not. It seemed uncertain whether we should +get a hearing, and it was doubtful if I personally would be allowed by +the mob to reach the hall where we had planned to hold a women’s +meeting. Some of the older men said, ‘Do not attempt it, Mrs. Butler; it +is a grave risk.’ For a moment a cowardly feeling came over me as I +thought of you all at home; then it suddenly came to me that now was +just the time to trust in God and claim His loving care; and I want to +tell you, my darlings, how He helped me, and what the message was which +He sent to me at that moment. I should like you never to forget it, for +it is in such times of trial that we feel Him to be in the midst of us—a +living Presence—and that we prove the truth of His promises. As I prayed +to Him in my heart, these words came pouring into my soul as if spoken +by some heavenly voice: ‘I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my +fortress: my God; in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee from +the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover +thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust; His truth +shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror +by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence +that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at +noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy +right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Because thou hast made the +Lord, which is my refuge, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall +thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For He shall give +His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.’[2] Are they +not beautiful words? I felt no more fear, and, strong in the strength of +these words, I went out into the dark street with our friends. + +“The London Committee had commissioned the two Mr. Mallesons to come +down to help us. I like them much; they are so quiet and firm. Someone +had also sent us from London twenty-four strong men of the sandwich +class, as a body guard! I did not care much about this ‘arm of flesh.’ +It was thought better that these men should not keep together or be +seen, so they were posted about in the crowd near the door of the Hall. +Apparently they were yelling with the Regulationist party, but ready to +come forward for us at a given signal. The two Mr. Mallesons managed +cleverly, just as we arrived, to mislead the crowd into fancying that +one of themselves was Dr. Baxter Langley, thus directing all their +violence of language and gestures against themselves. Meanwhile Mrs. +Hampson and I slipped into the Hall in the guise of some of the humbler +women going to the meeting. I had no bonnet or gloves—only an old shawl +over my head—and looked quite a poor woman. We passed safely through +crowded lines of scoundrel faces and clenched fists, and were +unrecognised. It was a solemn meeting. The women listened most +attentively while we spoke to them. Every now and then a movement of +horror went through the room when the threats and groans outside became +very bad. At the close of the meeting some friend said to me, in a low +voice, ‘Your best plan is to go quietly out by a back window which is +not high from the ground, while the mob is waiting for you at the +front.’ The Mallesons and two friendly constables managed admirably. +They made the mob believe I was always coming, though I never came. Mrs. +Hampson and I then walked off at a deliberate pace from the back of the +Hall, down a narrow, quiet, star-lit street: about thirty or forty kind, +sympathising women followed us, but had the tact to disperse quickly, +leaving us alone. Neither of us knew the town, and we emerged again upon +a main street, where the angry cries of the mob seemed again very near. +I could not walk any further, being very tired, and asked Mrs. Hampson +to leave me and try to find a cab. She pushed me into a dark, unused +warehouse, filled with empty soda-water bottles and broken glass, and +closed the gates of it. I stood there in the darkness and alone, hearing +some of the violent men tramping past, never guessing that I was so +near. Presently one of the gates opened slightly, and I could just see +in the dim light the poorly clad, slight figure of a forlorn woman of +the city. She pushed her way in, and said in a low voice, ‘Are you the +lady the mob are after? Oh, what a shame to treat a lady so! I was not +at the meeting, but I heard of you and have been watching you.’ The +kindness of this poor miserable woman cheered me, and was a striking +contrast to the conduct of the roughs. Mrs. Hampson returned, saying, +‘There is not a cab to be seen in the streets;’ so we walked on again. +We took refuge at last in a cheerfully lighted grocer’s shop, where a +very kind, stout grocer, whose name we knew, a Methodist, welcomed us, +and seemed ready to give his life for me! He installed me amongst his +bacon, soap, and candles, having sent for a cab; and rubbing his hands, +he said, ‘Well, this is a capital thing, here you are, safe and sound!’ +We overheard women going past in groups, who had been at the meeting, +and their conversation was mostly of the following description:—‘Ah, +she’s right; depend upon it she’s right. Well, what a thing! Well, to be +sure! I’m sure I’ll vote for her whenever I have a vote!’ + +“I always expected when it came to an election contest on this question +that men’s passions would be greatly roused, and that the poorest among +women would gather to us; and so it was. + +“I went in the cab to the Priory, where all our friends were assembled, +looking rather anxious and awed. Mr. Heritage said, ‘I prayed for you +all the time.’ I have now got to my lodgings in the working man’s house, +which are very small, but clean. I hope to be with you on Saturday. What +a blessed Sunday it will be in my quiet home!” + +To my husband:—“Dr. Baxter Langley, I hear, has had a letter from Mr. +Glyn, on behalf of the Government, entreating him to retire and let Sir +Henry Storks get in. Mr. Glyn says the Government are ‘quite aware of +the vast importance of the question’ we are contending about. They have +never been aware of its importance till now!! Dr. Langley answers that +he will _not_ retire, and is ready to be stoned out of the town if it +will advance our cause. It is cheering to see the consternation of Sir +Henry Storks’ party. The Government will have learnt a useful lesson by +the dogged and gallant opposition made. Dr. Langley has quite recovered +from the effect of the rough handling he has had. And now, do not fear +for me, dear husband. My part is over here, so far as public action +goes. God bless you all. If I telegraph to you it will be in the name of +Grey; you will understand.” + +On such occasions as these, my husband’s calmness of faith was called +into full exercise. His duties as Principal of a great school made it +impossible for him always to accompany me to such scenes of labour and +difficulty. But his faith was in proportion to his unfailing affection +and kindness. On one occasion I was returning home from a distant town +in the depth of a very severe winter. The train was delayed by the +weather, extra engines having to be obtained to drag it through deep +snowdrifts. Due in Liverpool (our home at that time) at seven o’clock, +it did not arrive till some time after midnight. He met me at our door, +and on my remarking that I feared he must have been very anxious about +me (as many accidents had occurred) he replied, with an expression of +countenance which was a revelation to me of his implicit trust in God: +“No, I was not anxious (though I feared you would feel the cold), for I +believe that no evil will happen to you, so long as you are engaged in +this mission. God will keep you alive and strengthen you, until you have +finished the work to which He has called you.” + +The day after the Colchester Election I was seated at dinner with my +family when the following brief telegram arrived, containing only two +words, “Shot dead.” We understood that this implied the defeat of Sir +Henry Storks. He was defeated by a large majority. Six hundred voters, +it was said, who were Liberals, and would have voted for him had they +not been enlightened on the subject of his views on our question, left +the town on the polling day, or stayed in their houses and abstained +altogether from voting.[3] + +The moral of this election was not lost on the Government. They learned +that this question was not one which they could trifle with or ignore. +Some time after, Sir Henry Storks succeeded in getting into Parliament +by becoming a candidate for what was then known as “a pocket-borough”; +but his advocacy of the unjust and cruel laws in Parliament was reduced +to a simple vote. He also had learned his lesson. + +On a later occasion Mr. Lewis, of Devonport, a very strong advocate and +practical supporter of the system we opposed, was defeated three times +at three different places in his attempt to get into Parliament. I think +his last defeat was at Oxford. I was not myself present at that +election, but the battle was bravely and skilfully fought by Mr. Henry +J. Wilson, now M.P., and members of the National Association. These were +severe and very needful lessons for our opponents. + +Shortly after the Colchester triumph an immense mass meeting was held in +the Free Trade Hall, Manchester. Mr. William Fowler, M.P., who was then +our leader in Parliament, and had brought in a Bill for the repeal of +the vice-regulating Acts, was among those on the platform, and with him +were Mr. Jacob Bright, M.P., Rev. Nassau Molesworth, Mr. Thomasson, our +true and staunch friend from the first, Professor Sheldon Amos, Rev. +Canon Butler, and others. Mr. Bright spoke forcibly on that occasion. +The crowded state of that great hall was an indication that the mass of +the people were fully awake to the wickedness and danger of the +legislation we opposed. We felt more and more that publicity was one of +the necessary conditions of success for us. The stratagems of our +opponents only raised deeper indignation because they were covert and +secret. About 6,000 people attended that meeting, and yet, except in a +local and partial manner, it was unnoticed by the Press. A marked +feature in the demonstration was the wonderful silence of the assembly +between the outbursts of applause which rang now and again through the +vast building. Their attention seemed more than usually absorbed, and +the temper of the audience was impatient of any interruption, lest a +single word or sentence should be lost. There was a resolute earnestness +and a sense of conscious power such as could only be manifested by a +great audience of more than average intelligence and moral feeling. + +My husband was called several times to bear almost alone the brunt of +the opposition which arose occasionally at public meetings in which I +took no part, or only a subordinate one. The chief of these was the +Church Congress, held at Nottingham in October, 1871. It was a very +crowded meeting, presided over by the Bishop of Lincoln, Dr. Wordsworth. +My husband had prepared very carefully a paper on “The Duty of the +Church of England in matters of Morality,” in which he introduced, in +the most refined and unobjectionable manner, the question of the +regulation of vice. Such was the animus against our crusade at that time +amongst the upper and more educated classes, that the moment his +allusion was understood such a loud and continuous expression of +disapprobation arose from that great assembly that he could not proceed. +The majority of the clergy present had been carefully trained by evil +advisers to consider this legislation an excellent thing, while there +was a minority present who were better instructed, and who, the +following day, came to tender to us their expressions of sympathy and +offers of support. We had many times before heard rough and defiant +cries, and noisy opposition at meetings, but never so deep and angry a +howl as now arose from the throats of a portion of the clergy of the +National Church. I watched my husband’s attitude during the prolonged +tumult. He continued to stand upright, his paper in his hand, with an +expression of combined firmness and gentleness in his face. The +President, Dr. Wordsworth, though wishing to do justice to a favourite +old pupil of his own and to the subject, was forced to bow to the +tempestuous will of the assembly, and to ask my husband to withdraw his +paper and to sit down. William Lloyd Garrison once said in the midst of +his great anti-slavery conflict, “A shower of brickbats is an excellent +tonic.” Brickbats are not so much in use in polite and clerical society, +but hard words, groans and hisses supply their place to some extent as a +tonic to the person at whom they are hurled. I do not think my husband +required any such tonic; and as a matter of fact his keen sense of +humour led him to recognise a somewhat comic element in this otherwise +pitiful outburst of misguided indignation. He afterwards printed his +paper in pamphlet form, and continued to labour, during such rare +intervals of leisure as his arduous school work afforded him, to win +personally the clergy of the Church of England to our cause. In this he +was aided by other excellent clergymen, notably Mr. Collingwood, of +Sunderland. + +Professor Sheldon Amos afterwards said of this meeting: “Mr. Butler +alluded to an objection frequently made, that it is not the business of +the Church to meddle with politics, or to make the people discontented +with the laws by keeping up such an agitation as ours. In other words, +it is the business of the Church to encourage political indifferentism, +to resist any progressive movement which involves changes in law, and to +dissociate herself and her influence from all the most ennobling and +invigorating parts of the true citizen’s duty. On the contrary, it is a +part of the Church’s work to refine the critical sagacity of her +children. The single-eye for moral purity is hard enough to retain +amongst the distorting and blinding colours of earthly interests; it is +for the Church and her ministers to be ever calling her children to the +acceptation of an absolutely equal standard of purity and goodness.” + + +In 1872, shortly after the Royal Commission had reported, Mr. Bruce, +then Home Secretary, gave notice of his intention to bring in a measure +as a substitute for the existing Acts. This Bill was printed on March 1, +1872. Its appearance marked an era in the crusade, for the controversy +upon it, which arose in our own ranks, resulted in a great sifting of +adherents, many of whom were not sufficiently clear-sighted to see its +dangers. In fact, it was so cleverly drawn, the good being so mixed with +the evil elements, that it required acuteness and careful study in order +fully to comprehend its real tendency. It was finally rejected. + + + + + CHAPTER III + + “Nor dream, nor rest, nor pause + Remains for him who round him draws + The battered mail of Freedom’s cause.” + + +It may surprise some of my readers to learn that the first great +uprising against legalised vice had much less of the character of the +“revolt of a sex” than has been often supposed. We have heard much of +late years, and more than we did when our abolitionist movement began, +of the great “Woman Question” in all its various phases and +developments. I never myself viewed this question as fundamentally any +more a woman’s question than it is a man’s. The legislation we opposed +secured the enslavement of women and the increased immorality of men; +and history and experience alike teach us that these two results are +never separated. Slavery and License lead to degradation, political +ruin, and intellectual decay, and therefore it was that we held that +this legislation and the opposition to it were questions for the whole +nation at large. + +We arose—we women as well as men—in defence of the grand old principles +which happily have prevailed and constantly been revived in the +Constitution and Government of our country since very early times until +recently. It is to those principles, and to the successive noble +struggles for their preservation, that England owes, in a large measure, +her greatness; if indeed we may venture to use that word. Those +principles, I have ever believed, and continue to believe, have their +foundation in the Ethics of Christ; and therefore it is that they have +endured so long, and prevailed against repeated and violent attacks. But +they are being lost to us now. Slowly, gradually, they have ceased to be +respected. They do not readily flow on alongside of all the Democratic +tendencies of our times. All political parties alike, it seems to me, +now more or less regard those principles as out of date, old-fashioned, +impossible as a basis of action. My heart is sorrowful as I record this +conviction. I recall the past of our country’s history, with its loyalty +and love for those great constitutional principles for which patriots +have suffered and died, and for which we, in our struggle, were also +ready to suffer and die. I contrast that loyalty and that love with the +present prevailing loose notions concerning the worth of the individual, +the sacredness of the human person, and of liberty. As I do so it seems +to me that I am standing by the side of a bier, and looking on the _face +of a dead friend_. If one writes a word concerning those principles now, +there is scarcely a reader who does not turn over to another page, +finding the subject dry and uninteresting. + +It may be that, when present tendencies have developed into something +like the fetichism of Socialistic State-Worship, with its attendant +tyrannies and sufferings, there will be a reaction, and that men will be +driven, in self-defence, to look back and remember the great moral and +political truths, the sound and tried principles which have been lost +sight of, and that by reviving respect for these, they will be able to +plant them firmly once more even in the very heart of the Democracy of +the future. But that time is not yet. + +A very old-fashioned statesman, who lived more than a century ago, when +urging his countrymen to retrace a false step, spoke the following words +in Parliament: “If I had a doubt upon this matter, I would follow the +example set us by the Reverend Bishops, with whom I believe it is a +maxim, when any doubt in point of faith arises, to appeal at once to the +great source and evidence of our religion—I mean the Bible. The English +Constitution has its political Bible also, by which, if it be fairly +consulted, every political question may and ought to be determined. +Magna Charta, the Bill of Rights, and the Petition of Rights, form the +Code which I call the Bible of the English Constitution.” And so, in +1869 and the following years, seeing, as we did, a direct violation of +the principles of just law in the enactments which enslaved the poorest +and weakest in the supposed interests of a stronger and a less worthy +portion of society, and fearing for the future of our country in +consequence, we were driven to search the annals of our past history, to +inquire into past crises of danger, and into the motives and character +of the champions who fought the battles of Liberty. This we did with the +keenness of search and singleness of purpose, with which, in an agony of +spiritual danger, a well-nigh shipwrecked soul may search the Scriptures +and the teachings of Christ, believing that in His Word he has Eternal +Life. + +It is recorded in Whitelock’s “Memorials” that in the reign of James I. +Sir George Crooke obstinately opposed himself to certain corruptions in +the Government, while others, though noble men also, wavered. The +historian attributes this steadfastness to the influence of Crooke’s +wife, Lady Crooke, who continually urged him on, and bade him not fear +to do right; and the following words are added by the historian:—“It +were well for the country if our daughters as well as our sons were +taught and confirmed in the truth, _that public virtue is to the full as +important as private morality_, for then we should add a mighty strength +to the buttresses of our integrity.” + +So far as I have been able to study history, I have never found that +there was a strong, virtuous and free nation in which the women of that +nation were not something more than mere appendages to men in domestic +life. They were also strong for public duty, unwavering in principle, +and courageous (in crises of danger) for the national defence. In +contemplating the present and future of our nation, the dangers ahead, +and its resources and means for regeneration, it is impossible not to +reckon among the latter the development in the last quarter of a century +of a multitude of truly patriotic women, none the less devoted wives and +mothers, and an adornment to their homes, because yearning over their +country, and far-sighted, not only for _her_ vital interests, but for +those of the other nations of the world. + +The danger which threatened us, and the tyranny which had invaded us at +the time of which I am writing, were of a twofold nature; a moral as +well as a very grave political danger. The former, most good men and +women instinctively acknowledged. To fully appreciate the latter +required probably more instruction in the laws and constitution of our +country than most women then possessed; and we were driven continually +to urge our fellow-workers to strengthen themselves for the warfare in +which we were engaged by trying to master this part of the subject by +grave reading and thought. I read again, at that time, attentively, the +accounts of the great struggles of our forefathers on behalf of the +freedom and purity of our English Commonwealth, and was, more than ever, +deeply impressed with the fact that in striving for freedom they ever +strove for virtue also, and consciously so, for they knew the vital +character of the work they had in hand, and were, for the most part, men +who feared God and maintained the purity of private and domestic life, +while they defended even unto death, in many cases, the great principles +of justice upon which our Constitution was based. And their women stood +up side by side with them. Without pausing to wrangle, as has been too +much the case in modern times, over the idle controversy concerning +woman’s “sphere,” they simply came forward at the call of duty, armed +with some knowledge of law and history, as well as of Christian truth, +and were able calmly and clearly to meet and confute all who endeavoured +to violate the liberty of the subject in his person or his conscience. + +There seemed to have been a retrogression in the public spirit of women +since that time. But, happily, in God’s Providence, in the early years +of our Crusade, the introduction of a great public tyranny again forced +upon women equally with men the solemn question, “Where ought human +legislation to terminate? At what point are we called on to decide, +shall we obey God or man?” + +It was clear to us from the first that the character and conduct of our +opposition to the immorality and illegality of the vice-regulating laws +must be decided by the depth and sincerity of the moral and religious +convictions of the mass of our people. It was granted us, in response to +the deep desire of our hearts, to perceive already at that time an +approaching revival of moral faith and spiritual energy, simultaneously +with the rapid advance of a materialism culminating in this frightful +expression of medical domination and legislative tyranny. The opposing +principles were about to meet in a great encounter; it seemed as if +God’s voice was calling us to gird on our armour, to watch and be sober. +His eye was upon us. We became aware that from the first His hand had +been guiding our action in connection with all this movement, and +controlling the adverse elements; and we were about to learn more +clearly than ever before the force of a spiritual and moral revival as +an agency for political reform. + +Our struggle, however, though bearing many points of resemblance to +former struggles in defence of freedom and virtue, stood almost alone in +one striking characteristic, viz., that in our case we had to combat +distinctly a double violation of principles. Formerly, encroachments on +our liberties did not always involve a direct outrage on public morality +and the sanctities of family life. Tyrannical aggressions in former days +were indeed ever the fruit of evil principles or passions in one form or +another, of the lust of power or of conquest, the greed of gain, or +personal indulgence or revenge; but the effect of such aggressions was +not so directly to demoralise the people. The immorality was, more or +less, confined to the tyrant and his immediate agents. But the +legislation which we had risen up to oppose sowed broadcast the seeds of +an immoral principle. It was a legislation which not only proceeded from +an evil source, but forced evil upon the people. + +By the expression of the above thoughts I am anxious to make my readers +clearly understand that our early conflict in this cause was—at least +for myself and the considerable group of firm and enlightened women with +whom I had the happiness to work—much less of a simple woman’s war +against man’s injustice, than it is often supposed to have been. It was +wider than that. It was as a citizen of a free country first, and as a +woman secondly, that I felt impelled to come forward in defence of the +right. At the same time, the fact that this new legislation _directly_ +and shamefully attacked the dignity and liberties of women, became a +powerful means in God’s Providence of awakening a deeper sympathy +amongst favoured women for their poorer and less fortunate sisters than +had probably ever been felt before. It consolidated the women of our +country, and gradually of the world, by the infliction on them of a +double wrong, an outrage on free citizenship, and an outrage on the +sacred rights of womanhood. It helped to conjure up also a great army of +good and honourable men through the length and breadth of the land, who, +in taking up the cause of the deeply injured class, soon became aware +that they were fighting also for themselves, their own liberties, and +their own honour. + +Thus the peculiar horror and audacity of this legislative movement for +the creation of a slave class of women for the supposed benefit of +licentious men forced women into a new position. Many, who were formerly +timid or bound by conventional ideas to a prescribed sphere of action, +faced right round upon the men whose materialism had been embodied in +such a ghastly form, and upon the Government which had set its seal upon +that iniquity; and so, long before we had approached near to attaining +to any political equality with men, a new light was brought by the force +of our righteous wrath and aroused sense of justice into the judgment of +Society and the Councils of Nations, which encouraged us to hope that we +should be able to hand down to our successors a regenerated public +spirit concerning the most vital questions of human life, upon which +alone, and not upon any expert or opportunist handling of them, the +hopes of the future must rest. + +My cousin, Charles Birrel, wrote to me at that time as follows:—“You and +your companion women have struck a note for which the ages have been +waiting, and which even the Church itself, in its organised forms, has +never yet intoned.” + +The year 1873 was not marked by any great event bearing upon our Cause +in Parliament or in the country. But, on the other hand, it was marked +by an accelerated movement generally on behalf of our principles in +every part of the United Kingdom. The seed was abundantly sown during +this year which was destined to bear a rich harvest later. At the end of +this year there existed some dozen different societies in the United +Kingdom working in accord towards the one object, and having committees +and correspondents in more than six hundred towns. + +First, there was the National Association, which moved its central +offices, about this time, nearer to the House of Commons, and which +continued to carry on the most active propaganda throughout the Kingdom, +and at the same time to bring strong pressure to bear upon Parliament, +and to watch every move of our opponents. Secondly, there was the +Ladies’ National Association, followed by the Northern Counties League, +the Midland Counties Electoral Union, the North Eastern Association, the +Scottish National Association, the Edinburgh and Glasgow Ladies’ +Committees, the Dublin Branch of the National Association, the Cork +Branch and Belfast Branch of the same, and of the Ladies’ National +Association; and, lastly, but not less important than any of the others, +was the Friends’ Association, consisting of a number of the leading +members of the Society of Friends throughout the Kingdom, with the late +Mr. Edward Backhouse as President. I recall some of the most prominent +and honoured names in this Association, which gave to our cause from the +first the weight of those qualities which seem almost peculiar to that +body of Christians—great determination and calmness combined; all the +fighting qualities in the highest degree, together with a gentleness of +manner and procedure which wins opponents and softens the asperities of +conflict. Besides Mr. Edward Backhouse, we had the help and inspiration +for many years of the late Mr. George Gillett and Mr. Frederic Wheeler. +Many ladies, in fact I may say all the prominent ladies of the Society +of Friends, came forward in our work, and those who were less prominent +joined heartily and usefully in the rank and file. + +This year was also marked by the fact that several other movements were +inaugurated which resulted in very important reforms. These movements +were begun and carried through by groups of the very same persons who +had risen up against the Regulation of vice. The vitality of our Crusade +appeared—if I may say so—to cause it to break through the boundaries of +its own particular channel, and to create and fructify many movements +and reforms of a collateral character. We felt that it was necessary, +while combating the State Regulation of vice, and forcing our Government +to retrace the false step it had taken, also to work against all those +disabilities and injustices which affect the interests of women. Thus a +Society was formed, of whom the great mover and promoter was Mrs. +Wolstenholme Elmy, for obtaining for the poorer class of married women +the right to the possession of wages earned by themselves, and which +developed into the Married Women’s Property Act. Another reform, which +we aimed at and attained, and in which Mrs. Elmy also took a prominent +part, was the reform of the Mutiny Act. This Act released soldiers, both +married and single, from all responsibility in regard to their children, +legitimate or illegitimate. This we felt to be a grave injustice, and it +was confessed on all sides to be fruitful of much mischief and misery. + +Perhaps the most important of the Societies formed at this time was the +Association for the Defence of Personal Rights, which embraced a number +of points bearing directly upon the interests of women, and aimed at the +destruction of many abuses which tended directly or indirectly to foster +the great evil of prostitution. + +I do not here mention the Women’s Suffrage Movement, which took its rise +before our Abolitionist Crusade began, and has continued to pursue its +own distinct and separate aim unceasingly throughout the years which +followed up to the present time, receiving an additional impulse, +however, from the enactment of the injustice which the Abolitionists +were banded together to overthrow, and from every other enactment which +attacked or ignored the interests of one-half of the human race. + +I cannot, without departing from the immediate subject of my +Reminiscences, enter into the details of these or other movements which +were carried on simultaneously with our central one, and only mention +them in passing. + +In this year an immense number of petitions were sent to Parliament, and +also Memorials to individual members of the Government and the House. +The working population of the country began to increase their +activities, which resulted somewhat later in the formation of the +Working Men’s League for Repeal, beginning with a list of names of +50,000 working men, who enrolled themselves as members in a very brief +time, and of which Mr. Edmond Jones, a working man of Liverpool, was the +indefatigable and able President for a number of years. + +In the autumn of 1872 an opportunity again arose, through an election at +Pontefract, of reminding the Government once more that the claims of the +Abolitionists could not safely be ignored. The Right Hon. H. Childers +was obliged, by certain changes in the Ministry, to seek re-election. He +had been first Lord of the Admiralty, and in that office it had fallen +to his lot to administer the obnoxious regulations in connection with +our Naval Stations. Several orders had been issued from the Admiralty +during his term of office concerning the administration of the system at +Plymouth and Portsmouth—orders which had shocked the moral sense of many +persons who had not previously been able to see clearly through the +conventional wording of the Law itself, the iniquity of the principles +on which it was based. + +Personally, however, Mr. Childers never seemed to me a very devoted +adherent of the evil system. His advocacy of it appeared rather to +express a confused comprehension of the matter than perverse moral +obliquity. His official responsibility, however, made it impossible for +our party to allow him to be re-elected without question or opposition. +We did not hope to secure his rejection as a Parliamentary candidate. +All we aimed at was the arousing again of the attention of the +Government to a sense of the importance of our demands. A certain number +of us, therefore, went to Pontefract. + +On the first day of his canvass, Mr. Childers having engaged the Town +Hall at Knottingley, to address the electors there at nine o’clock on +the evening of the 13th August, the Abolitionists, wishing to have the +first word, secured the same Hall for seven o’clock, agreeing to move +out in time to leave the building clear for their opponents. Then Mr. +Childers’ party attempted to checkmate them by announcing that he would +address the electors at a much earlier hour, and from the windows of the +Buck Inn instead of the Town Hall. This enabled us to be present, and to +hear what Mr. Childers had to say. He made the customary excuses +concerning the delicacy of the subject, and asked those who desired it +to be dropped to hold up their hands. Mr. H. J. Wilson here enquired +whether he, as a non-elector (for Pontefract), might ask a question, and +the reply from the window was, “No! you are not an elector, you are not +wanted.” Groans followed this answer, and a hubbub ensued. Mr. Wilson +would have been roughly handled had not a body of working men placed +themselves on each side of him, saying, “Stand still; don’t move an +inch; you shall be heard; ask your questions; we want to hear the +answers.” During this time Mr. Childers’ chairman, carried away with +passion, was trying to reach Mr. Wilson’s head in order to castigate him +with his umbrella. The crowd swayed backwards and forwards, and Mr. +Wilson stood firm, with a smile upon his face. Some questions were asked +from the crowd, and not at all satisfactorily answered by Mr. Childers. + +Suddenly a voice shouted, “To the Town Hall!” (for our meeting). The cry +was taken up, and the crowd started in that direction. With some other +ladies I had been watching the scene from a window, when several +gentlemen came up to us, and proposed to escort us to the Town Hall by +way of a quiet back street. Thereupon some of the working men cried out, +“No; never go down by a back way. Come along through the middle of the +crowd, and before their windows; we will protect you.” Our progress to +the Town Hall was thus converted into a sort of triumphal procession, +Mr. Wilson walking first, with the Blue Book of the Royal Commission +under his arm, attended by Mr. Edmondson and others, and loudly cheered +by the crowd of men and women in whose midst they moved; while Mr. +Childers and his friends looked with perplexed faces from the windows of +the Buck Inn upon their retreating audience, which had gone wholly over +to the opposition. It was not an encouraging scene for a Parliamentary +candidate. + +One of Mr. Childers’ friends had, however, hurried to the Town Hall, +and, reaching the platform before we arrived, offered himself as +chairman. Mr. Wilson proposed another chairman, and a new disturbance +arose, which lasted for about half an hour. Eventually, however, Mr. +Wilson and others were heard with much attention and applause. + +Mr. Childers’ party retorted by attacking and dispersing a meeting of +women the following day. We had arranged to hold this meeting of women +in the afternoon, when Mr. Childers was again to address a large +concourse from the window of a house. We had decided to hold our meeting +at the same hour, thinking we should be unmolested. We had been obliged +to go all over the town before we found anyone bold enough to grant us a +place to meet in. At last we found a large hay-loft over an empty room +on the outskirts of the town. We could only ascend to it by means of a +kind of ladder, leading through a trap-door in the floor. However, the +place was large enough to hold a good meeting, and was soon filled. Mr. +Stuart had run on in advance and paid for the room in his own name, and +had again looked in to see that all was right. He found the floor strewn +with cayenne pepper in order to make it impossible for us to speak, and +there were some bundles of straw in the empty room below. He got a poor +woman to help him, and with bucket of water they managed to drench the +floor and sweep together the cayenne pepper. Still, when we arrived, it +was very unpleasant for eyes and throat. We began our meeting with +prayer, and the women were listening to our words with increasing +determination never to forsake the good cause, when a smell of burning +was perceived, smoke began to curl up through the floor, and a +threatening noise was heard below at the door. The bundles of straw +beneath had been set on fire, and the smoke much annoyed us. Then, to +our horror, looking down the room to the trap-door entrance, we saw +appearing head after head of men with countenances full of fury; man +after man came in, until they crowded the place. There was no possible +exit for us, the windows being too high above the ground, and we women +were gathered into one end of the room like a flock of sheep surrounded +by wolves. Few of these men, we learned, were Yorkshire people; they +were led on by two persons whose _dress_ was that of gentlemen. + +It is difficult to describe in words what followed. It was a time which +required strong faith and calm courage. Mrs. Wilson and I stood in front +of the company of women, side by side. She whispered in my ear, “Now is +the time to trust in God; do not let us fear”; and a comforting sense of +the Divine presence came to us both. It was not personal violence that +we feared so much as the mental pain inflicted by the rage, profanity +and obscenity of the men, of their words and their threats. Their +language was hideous. They shook their fists in our faces, with volleys +of oaths. This continued for some time, and we had no defence or means +of escape. Their chief rage was directed against Mrs. Wilson and me. We +understood by their language that certain among them had a personal and +vested interest in the evil thing we were opposing. It was clear that +they understood that “their craft was in danger.” The new teaching and +revolt of women had stirred up the very depths of hell. We said nothing, +for our voices could not have been heard. We simply stood shoulder to +shoulder—Mrs. Wilson and I—and waited and endured; and it seemed all the +time as if some strong angel were present; for when these men’s hands +were literally upon us, they were held back by an unseen power. There +was among our audience a young Yorkshire woman, strong and stalwart, +with bare muscular arms, and a shawl over her head. She dashed forward, +fought her way through the crowd of men, and, running as fast as she +could, she found Mr. Stuart on the outskirts of Mr. Childers’ meeting, +and cried to him, “Come! Run! They are killing the ladies.” He did run, +and came up the ladder stairs into the midst of the crowd. As soon, +however, as they perceived that he was our defender, they turned upon +him. A strong man seized him in his arms; another opened the window; and +they were apparently about to throw him headlong out. Some of us ran +forward between him and the window, thus just giving him time to slip +from between the man’s arms on to the floor, and glide away to the side +where we were. He then asked to be allowed to say a few words to them, +and, with good temper and coolness, he argued that he had taken the +room, that it was his, and if they would kindly let the ladies go he +would hear what they had to say. A fierce argument ensued. Meanwhile +stones were thrown into the window, and broken glass flew across the +room. While all this was going on (it seemed to us like hours of +horrible endurance), hope came at last, in the shape of two or three +helmeted policemen, whose heads appeared one by one through the +trap-door. “Now,” we thought, “we are safe!” _But no!_ These were +Metropolitans who had come from London for the occasion of the election; +they simply looked at the scene with a cynical smile, and left the place +without an attempt to defend us. My heart grew sick as I saw them +disappear. Our case seemed now to become desperate. Mrs. Wilson and I +whispered to each other in the midst of the din, “Let us ask God to help +us, and then make a rush for the entrance.” Two or three working women +placed themselves in front of us, and we pushed our way, I scarcely know +how, to the stairs. It was only myself and one or two other ladies that +the men really cared to insult and terrify, so if we could get away we +felt sure the rest would be safe. I made a dash forward, and took one +leap from the trap-door to the ground-floor below. Being light, I came +down safely. I found Mrs. Wilson with me very soon in the street. Once +in the open street, these cowards did not dare to offer us violence. We +went straight to our own hotel, and there we had a magnificent women’s +meeting. Such a revulsion of feeling came over the inhabitants of +Pontefract when they heard of this disgraceful scene that they flocked +to hear us, many of the women weeping. We were advised to turn the +lights low, and close the windows, on account of the mob; but the hotel +was literally crowded with women, and we scarcely needed to speak; +events had spoken for us, and all honest hearts were won. + +On the day before the voting day we held a serious consultation of +friends in our hotel, and agreed to work all that day and night, and +leave the town early in the morning, before the polling began; as after +that we could be of no further use. We drew up a last appeal to the +electors of Pontefract, and had it printed quickly. The appeal was +short, and printed in large type. When night came, the gentlemen, about +half a dozen in number, obtained a plan of the town, and mapped out +their operations, each taking a certain district with the intention of +going to every house, and pushing this appeal under the doors, so that +it might catch the eye of every householder first thing in the morning. +It was already too late to secure its delivery in time by the post. The +appeal was as follows:— + + +“ELECTORS OF PONTEFRACT. + +“Pause, before you exercise your solemn trust, to consider whether the +man can be worthy of your support who, for eight years, has been deeply +implicated in the immoral, cruel, and treacherous policy embodied in the +Acts we oppose, and in the Government Bill of 1872, which proposed to +extend the principle of these Acts to the whole country. + +“If you vote for Mr. Childers you endorse the sentiment that a holy life +is impossible for unmarried men, and that women must be provided for +them by the State, and sacrificed, both body and soul, to their lust—a +sentiment which blasphemes God, insults manhood, and destroys both men +and women, body and soul. + +“As you will have to answer at God’s judgment bar, will you uphold the +man and the Government who would thus demoralise and ruin the nation? + +“If you are Liberals, save your party by forcing the present Cabinet +from their suicidal policy.” + + +The night was fine and calm, and the moon shone down upon the quiet +streets. The citizens seemed all to have retired early to rest after the +heat and excitement of the day. I was sitting at my open window in the +silence, and watched one after another of our scouts pass out of the +hotel door and quietly glide away each to his respective district, +carrying packets of our appeal to slip under the doors of the houses. +When they had all disappeared, a solitary figure passed beneath my +window, and a man paused, looking up. It was a member of the Town’s +Police. In a low but distinct voice he begged my pardon for addressing +me, and then went on to express his sympathy and that of his fellow +policemen in regard to the treatment we had received from the mob of +assailants at our women’s meeting and from the members of the +Metropolitan Police. He spoke indignantly of the latter, and begged me +to believe that had the Pontefract Police known of our situation they +would have acted very differently towards us women, even if our cause +had not been so just and good a cause. I felt grateful for these furtive +words of kindness spoken in the silent night. + +After several hours, and towards dawn, our friends began to return and +quietly re-enter the hotel. Mr. Stuart had had some adventures. His +district of action included an old Church and graveyard. The moon had +set, and he, missing his way, wandered into this dark cemetery. After +stumbling about for some time over the crowded graves, with difficulty +he found an exit and regained the street. + +We left the town betimes the next morning. The result of the voting was +such as to prove to the Government that we Abolitionists were on the +alert and determined, and the incidents of the Election contributed to +open the eyes of Mr. Childers himself to the true nature of the question +at issue, for he became later a convert to our principles. + +The following letter was written to me after the Election by a working +man of Leeds. He had gone over to Pontefract from Leeds after his day’s +work was done, solely for the pleasure of aiding our efforts by the +distribution of papers and leaflets, though well aware that, in order to +accomplish his purpose without failing in his duties on the following +day, he would be obliged to perform the journey home (a distance of +nearly twenty miles) on foot. + +I say nothing of the self-sacrifice required to undertake such fatigue +after the labours of the day. We were well used to such proofs of +devotion on the part of our working-class supporters, and we knew that +it brought with it its own reward:— + + +“MADAM,—I venture to give you a short outline of my proceedings. When +passing down Bridge Street, Pontefract, with the bundles under my arm of +papers which I got from Mr. Edmondson, they were noticed by people in +the streets, and more than one called after me, saying that if I went to +Knottingley with them I should be thrown into the river. An incident +occurred whereby I was on the brink of being torn to pieces. In +distributing papers I spared neither distance nor persons—men or +women—and after going the rounds of Ferrybridge and Knottingley, I +called at an Inn. I got permission from the landlord to distribute in +his house. I went round the room with the _white_ papers first, and so +far all was well; but I no sooner commenced with the red bills (Mr. +Childers’ colours) than the whole company rose up and surrounded me for +the purpose of demolishing me and the few bills I had left. The uproar +brought to my rescue the landlord and landlady, who remonstrated with +their customers, saying, ‘Fair play amongst Englishmen! one dog, one +bone!’ etc., during which I mounted upon a stool, and at the top of my +voice shouted out that, with their permission, I would be glad to tell +who and what I was, and would be happy to answer any question anyone +liked to put to me at the close of my observations. + +“In addition to this uproarious meeting, I held two open-air meetings, +and have promised to send books and papers, etc., to certain addresses +which I took down. My thoughts were now directed towards home. To say I +was _tired_, to start with, is to give but a faint idea of my condition; +it was a case of _must be_; therefore I cheerfully accepted the task, +and, walking on through the night, I arrived home at 4.30 a.m., +suffering more from want of food than the distance, for I could not get +anything before I left, as everything was locked up. The road to Leeds I +knew not; so, to get over the difficulty, when I came to finger-posts, I +lighted matches and paper to read them by. The silence of my journey was +only broken occasionally by the fluttering of game birds, or the sudden +dart of a hare across my path. For a part of the time it was extremely +foggy and dewy, so much so as to completely saturate my clothes, as +though I had really been dipped in the river at Knottingley. I was a +little drowsy during the forenoon, took a good sharp four-mile walk in +the evening, and am now glad to say that I never was better in my life; +and, if necessary, I am fully prepared to accept the same amount of +pleasure again in endeavouring to rid my country of these Satanic Acts.” + + +In the winter of this year the annual meeting of the Trades Union +Congress was held in Leeds. A Conference and a Public Meeting of our +Associations were arranged to take place simultaneously. Prominent +members of the Northern Counties League (Abolitionist) attended. My +husband and I were there. We met in friendly conference, and by +arrangement, the leaders of the working men, who were present in +considerable numbers. There were Joseph Arch, Henry Broadhurst, George +Howell, Mr. Pickard of Wigan, Mr. Banks of Newark, etc.; several of +these afterwards were elected members of Parliament, and their names are +held in honour for their services rendered to the cause of labour. It is +needless to say that their sympathies were wholly with us. At the public +meeting in the evening the speeches made by some of these men were +weighty and pathetic. I was most struck by that of Joseph Arch; he was +followed by my husband, who expressed his own and my deep sympathy with +the daughters of the working classes and the poor, from whose ranks so +many of the victims of the social evil are drawn. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + “More than we hoped, in that dark time, + When, faint with watching, few, and worn, + We saw no welcome day-star climb + The cold, grey pathway of the morn. + + “O weary hours! O night of years! + What storms our darkling pathway swept, + Where, beating back our thronging fears, + By faith alone our march we kept.” + + +The year 1874 was a period of great depression and discouragement for +our cause, while in that same year were recorded, more openly than ever +before, the bold and vast designs of our opponents, the Regulationists, +throughout Europe. For them it was the year of the greatest hope, and of +the apparent approaching triumph of all their schemes. + +Mr. Gladstone’s sudden resignation of office in the early part of the +year, and the dissolution of Parliament, took the country by surprise +and confused the reckonings of our Abolitionist party, who had for some +years laboured, and with considerable success, to win the personal +adhesion, one by one, of the members of the Parliament now dissolved. +Our faithful Parliamentary leader, Mr. W. Fowler, lost his seat in the +General Election which followed. Several of our best friends in the +House also failed to secure their return to Parliament. But still more +unfavourable for us was the excitement which prevailed during the spring +and summer concerning several other political questions important for +the people at large, causing our movement to take only a secondary place +for the time, even in the minds of many who were truly convinced and in +earnest about it. Our principles, indeed, seemed to be scarcely +represented in the General Election. Those among us who understood the +vital and far-reaching nature of those principles, and who had learned +wherein our true strength lay, now held many grave and rather sorrowful +consultations. It was at this time that one of our most solemn +agreements was formed for united waiting upon God. An invitation was +sent to our friends and allies throughout the United Kingdom to join, on +a certain day, in groups in their own towns or neighbourhoods, in order +definitely once more to place this sacred cause, and everything +connected with it, in the hands of the Omnipotent Ruler of all. + +It will be necessary to go back in order to trace the growth of the +Regulation system in Europe, and the increasing audacity of the +pretensions of certain medical and administrative cliques, culminating +in a vast design, of which I am about to speak. This sketch shall be +brief, for it is not my intention in these Reminiscences to enter into +any of the medical and police details, which we were forced for many +years to look into and judge. The aspects of the question on which these +bear are set forth in other works, which are obtainable in England and +on the Continent; for at the time of which I am now writing, a vast +literature from the pens of the Regulationists had already been +produced. I may mention the most important of the works on that side, +namely: a ponderous volume by Dr. Jeannel, of Lyons; a large and, from +the literary point of view, meritorious work by Dr. Mireur, of +Marseilles; two books by M. Lecour, Prefect of the Morals’ Police in +Paris, and others in German and other languages. + +Up to the times of the First Empire in France, all regulations and laws +directed against the social vice in the different countries of Europe +were simply repressive, sometimes ferociously repressive, and in general +taking effect upon the physically weaker sex only. Vicious men or women, +who were hopelessly smitten by the greatest physical evil resulting from +vice, were generally expelled or forcibly isolated. In some towns of +France at one period such were hanged! + +I have already indicated that it was during the profound disorganisation +and misery produced by the wars of the First Empire that the system of +the Police des Mœurs was first discussed, and in some cases established +throughout the different countries of the European Continent. Gradually +the contagion in favour of this oppressive and delusive scheme spread, +until a complete network of regulations was formed, the meshes of which +were drawn more tightly year by year. At first, in some countries, +respect for individual liberty and for the private life of the humbler +citizens, opposed a feeble barrier against the wholesale adoption of +this system; but ultimately the hygienic question (considered solely +from the materialistic point of view) dominated all others, and medical +cliques sprang up in every country, claiming to be the sole repositories +of wisdom concerning this great question which involves principles of +justice, good government, economy, liberty, and virtue. This new-born +medical tyranny, once having found its feet, never paused in its onward +march, and it was generally acknowledged that the professional dictum of +the doctors on this subject must become of absolute and exclusive +authority. _Salis populi suprema lex_ was their boasted motto, applied +in a very limited sense, however, and, because (of necessity) +indissolubly linked with police and Governmental tyranny exercised over +one sex alone, it became a falsehood and a mere cloak for the most +selfish and cynical system ever devised by the materialistic egotist. + +Having now grown bold, the defenders of this system began to feel that +there was only one thing more needed to crown their success, one step +further to be taken in order to complete this vast network. In 1825 the +Belgian Society of Natural and Medical Science had thrown out a feeler +in the direction of extending the system throughout the whole of Europe. +Ten years afterwards, 1835, this question was again discussed in +Brussels by the Medical Congress of Belgium. In 1841 the Council of +Salubrity of Marseilles discussed the question, and resolved on the +desirability of unity of action among all the different European +administrations. In 1843 there again was held a deliberative meeting on +the subject in the Belgian Academy of Medicine. In 1852 the +“International Hygienic Congress” met in Brussels and discussed “the +legislative and administrative measures necessary to impose upon all +Communes the duty of carrying out the Regulations.” Finally, upon the +invitation of the Belgian Government, the Belgian Superior Council of +Hygiene elaborated in 1855 and 1856 a project for this purpose for all +the Communes of their own Kingdom. + +I cannot help remarking here on the fact that, while the public +authorities in Belgium seem to have been the first to adopt, and, I +might almost say, to devour greedily these evil principles first +promulgated under Napoleon I., and while, up to some twelve years ago, +the Belgian regulations were looked upon with profound respect by the +defenders of this system in all countries as being the most perfect, the +ideal form of this system, and the one which it was desirable should be +imitated everywhere, later Belgian _authorities_, on the other hand, +have been the first in Europe to take the initiative in endeavouring to +throw off the yoke of this detestable tyranny. I say the Belgian +authorities. In every other country the authorities have been slowly and +with difficulty moved by the persistent action of different classes of +the people, and the pressure of public opinion continued year after +year. Nowhere except in Belgium has there been witnessed the remarkable +sight of a Prime Minister with the majority of his colleagues in the +Government, men of weight, and of serious character, deciding to +endeavour themselves to bring about this reform which we advocate, and +openly coming forward to announce their agreement with the principles of +the Abolitionists. It is true that these honest men had been previously +influenced—I may say, quietly educated—on the whole question by the +“Belgian Society of Public Morality,” the prime mover in which was M. +Jules Pagny, of Brussels, who afterwards had the powerful support of M. +Emile de Laveleye, a Belgian himself. But till the year 1890, when we +were invited to hold our International Congress in Brussels, and, +indeed, up to the moment in which I am now writing, no Government of any +country except that of Belgium has placed itself at the front of this +movement, mastering the whole subject with an admirable humility and +patience, and studying the best means of combating immorality, beginning +with the abolition of this great public injustice and iniquity, State +Regulation of vice.[4] + +To return. It was the example of Brussels in 1856, probably, which +influenced the doctors of Paris to promote a great demonstration by +inviting the International Medical Congress to meet in that city in +1867. At that Congress the question of a universal application of the +Police des Mœurs was considered. In order to give more _éclat_ to the +measures there proposed, the Congress voted by acclamation, before +beginning to discuss the question, that a Commission should be nominated +at the end of the discussion which should be charged to visit the +Governments of all countries to urge them to adopt a uniform system of +medical police government in order to stamp out throughout the world the +scourge of the physical effects of men’s vices. Among the numerous +papers read on that occasion the most important was that of Dr. Jeannel, +which entered minutely into all the international measures proposed to +be adopted. + +In 1869, the same year in which our organised opposition to the system +arose in England, the question of international action in favour of +regulated vice was discussed at a Conference at St. Petersburg. In the +same year the well-known Dr. Crocq, of Brussels, and Dr. Rollet, of +Lyons, presented at the Congress of Florence a report which they had +been charged to draw up by the Congress at Paris. This report concluded +with a petition from the Commission to the French Foreign Minister, +praying him to further the appointment of an International Commission in +order to “draw up a uniform regulation which should have the force of +law in every country in the world.” + +In 1873 the question was again brought forward in Vienna by the +International Medical Congress held in that city. It had been somewhat +cautiously, in the meanwhile, brought up at a Medical Congress in Rome +in 1871, and again in Bordeaux early in 1873. It was at this Congress of +Vienna, however, that the boldest and most triumphant note was sounded +which had ever been heard from the Regulationist camp. The Congress +demanded the prompt enactment of an international law in order to carry +out their vast designs. A majority of the speakers on this occasion +warmly recommended that the regulations of Brussels should be adopted as +the model, one of them asserting, amidst the approbation of the +listeners, that “_from the moment when prostitution shall become a +regular and recognised institution, admitted and regulated by the State, +its perfect organisation will become possible_.”[5] + +We have strong evidence that the placing upon the English Statute Book +of the law 1866–69 for the regulation of vice had greatly contributed to +raise the hopes of the promoters of the international system which was +aimed at. They looked upon the action of the English Parliament as a +most happy presage; and from the year 1867 they had begun to act, with +increasing determination, to multiply their assaults everywhere, and to +arrogate to themselves the powers of legislators by drawing up endless +Bills (_Projets de loi_) which they believed they would ultimately be +able to impose on every nation. Everything pointed to the fact that they +were about to strike a blow which should bring all the Governments of +the civilised world down upon their knees before the great god of +so-called medical science, and force them to conform to its will. + +At this moment, however, a little cloud began to be visible on the edge +of their vast and brilliant horizon. The Organising Committees of the +Medical Congress of Philadelphia in 1876, and of one which was proposed +for Geneva in 1877, learned with astonishment that certain doctors who +were to be present at these meetings were coming prepared to oppose not +only the great ideal International Project which had been so laboriously +built up, but the principle and essence of the system of the Police des +Mœurs itself. It would not do, they thought, to meet this opposition +unprepared, or in any way to be drawn into a compromise. The Committees +of these two Congresses therefore deemed it prudent simply to cut the +question entirely out of their programmes! + +From that time forward the International Regulation System which had +been so imperiously demanded from the different Governments has been but +rarely and very timidly defended. One may judge of the decline of the +courage of the Regulationists by the ever feebler and fainter echoes of +that demand which have been heard in every succeeding Regulationist +Conference on the question, concluding by the Congress recently held at +Lyons (in 1894), where the system of the Police des Mœurs only found +three defenders. + +On the 25th of June, 1874—the year of discouragement of which I have +spoken—a few friends of the Abolitionist cause met to confer together at +York. Their conference was in many respects a remarkable one. It +consisted of a mere handful of the most steadfast supporters of the +cause, who had come, some of them, from long distances. All were filled +with a profound sense of the solemnity of the purpose which had brought +them together. It was a time, as I have said, of deep depression in the +work. Those who were present fully recognised the powerful array of +organised forces against which they had to contend; they were filled +with a kind of awe in the contemplation of those forces and the +magnitude of the difficulties with which they were called to grapple. At +the same time, every one of that group seemed animated by a deep and +certain conviction that the cause would triumph. The circumstances under +which this conference took place were such as to call strongly for the +exercise of that faith which alone can animate reformers to contend +against a sudden increase of an evil at whose destruction they aim. The +voice of the Abolitionists had for a time been partially stilled by the +clash of parties in the general election. For a time even the most +energetic workers were unable to see what steps for the continuance of +the work could most effectively be taken. Having hitherto felt +themselves engaged in a battle for the abolition of the State sanction +of vice in Great Britain only, they had become aware that a large and +powerful organization on the Continent was seeking to increase the +efficacy of the vice regulations, and for that purpose was appealing +confidently to England to take the lead in organising under all the +Governments of Europe an international scheme for the application of +these regulations to every country, and to every seaport throughout the +world. + +After a period of silence for united prayer, the Rev. C. S. Collingwood, +Rector of Southwick, Sunderland, addressed the little group around him +in words which have never been forgotten by those who passed through the +trial of faith of that year,—words which were assuredly inspired by God, +and were His message to us at that period of anxious suspense. He said:— + +“Our ceasing to be heard in Parliament for a time, or in the Press, or +by public meetings, means necessarily so much clear gain to the other +side. We have a most solemn charge, and cannot even maintain our ground +except on the condition of ceaseless warfare. Much of the hostile +pressure comes from abroad, and we shall do well to consider the +propriety of carrying the war into the enemy’s country by establishing +relations with leading and earnest opponents of the regulation of sin, +say in France, Belgium, Prussia, Italy, etc., and stimulating opposition +in these countries, and perhaps holding our own International Congress. +There can be no doubt that in all the countries subjected to this +degrading system, a few sparks would create a great fire of indignation +and revolt against the immoral system. + +“Observe the world-wide schemes of the enemy—they will not rest till the +whole world is under their regulations; and they have hitherto got all +they wanted, until they touched the sacred soil of England. From the +moment when that desecration was known opposition commenced. North, +South, East, West, the Regulationists have marched without let or +hindrance, and they dream not yet of anything but further conquests. +‘What,’ we may imagine them saying, ‘what are trifling checks at the +Cape of Good Hope, or in the United States, or in Bombay?[6] What is a +temporary delay in England to a party whose plans embrace the whole wide +world? There are plenty of other fields to occupy. Only keep up a steady +fire upon England; she is the centre of the position; carry England and +you are masters of the world.’ + +“We must not suppose that it is only the _Lancet_, or a Mr. Berkley +Hill, or a Mr. Acton that we have to face. Behind them is a sort of +International League of the doctors, supported by the institutions of +Continental Europe. What (they ask) are a few women, a few noisy +agitators, a few hundred thousand petitioners, a few superannuated +prejudices? Yes, what are we,—only a few Christian Englishwomen and +Englishmen—what are we against so-called science, and all the allies it +invokes, against Kings and Prime Ministers, many-voiced over all the +face of the earth? What, with International Medical Congresses, +International Conferences, Governments looking on us with contempt and +anger, newspapers stamping us out, the majority of a most influential +profession smiling scorn on our protests, all kinds of figures arrayed +against us, even the figures of our own insignificant minority, against +the voice of civilised Europe—What are we to think?—to do? Should we not +rest content with the verdict[7] of May, 1873, and leave the field to +the undisputed possession of supervised vice? _No! a thousand times no!_ +We will remember the victory over Amalek, ‘the first of the nations,’ by +a feeble people sustained by prayer; we will think of the stripling +David, how he defeated Goliath with a sling and a stone; we will mark +the vanity of Sennacherib’s ‘great host’ and how it melted away before +the might of God, invoked by the faithful Hezekiah; and time would fail +to multiply encouraging facts which abound in modern as well as ancient +times, and command those who defend God’s cause never to despair. + +“Some of us must remember how hopeless we used to think the abolition of +American slavery. The constitution of the United States, the political +power of the South, the apathy of the North, the attitude of the +religious bodies, all made it seem the wildest of hopes. But we have +seen it abolished, and we will never despair in any struggle where we +are sure God is on our side. It is the blessedness of history, both +sacred and profane, that when all the force is spent, and the noise of +the times is over, it tells us of the power of the pure, the just, the +true, and the impuissance of whatever has arrayed itself against these +angels of God. As ‘principles are rained in blood,’ so they have their +dark hours, which daunt no true man nor woman, but drive them to God’s +footstool, there to receive faith and strength for fresh encounters and +new efforts. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal; we believe, and +therefore we speak and fight; and comparatively few though we may be, we +measure not our prospects of success by numbers, or weight, or metal; we +recall those former Heaven-blessed struggles, in which the King’s +soldiers were as few and as feeble as we, and we know that we shall +succeed if we faint not. + +“When Granville Sharp, in 1772, obtained the famous decision that a +slave is free as soon as he touches English territory, he did not think +it one of the first steps towards the general abolition of the slave +trade and of slavery everywhere; but it was so; and thus, when some +noble ones among us raised a cry of horror and indignation on finding +that supervised vice had presumed to desecrate our English soil, they +little guessed how far their voices would reach, nor what the work was +upon which they unwittingly were entering, nor what the victories which +they were to achieve. But they have already been able to produce great +effects in Africa, Australia, and the United States; and, though still +unsuccessful at home, we and they believe that the opposition which has +commenced in England will obtain its utmost success here, and that a +force of public opinion and true sentiment is being slowly generated +which will cross all lands and seas, and in its progress sweep away +everywhere the monstrous organisation of vice, against which we lift our +voices to-day.” + +These words found an echo in the breasts of all present, and from that +conference all departed feeling that a new era was dawning upon the +whole movement, which could only lead to the final triumph of the cause +of justice and morality, far beyond the limits of our own country. + +This conference at York marked the first step in that great expansion of +the movement which has called forth a protest against legalised vice in +so many countries, resulting in an organised international opposition to +that modern slave system. The meeting at York passed a formal +resolution, not embracing any large scheme, but merely accepting, with +approbation, a proposition to open correspondence with opponents of the +Regulation system abroad, and requesting the Ladies’ National +Association, who had already several foreign correspondents, to commence +operations, with a view to stimulate public opinion in Continental +countries. + +This work of opening correspondence, in accordance with the resolution +above mentioned, was, in its beginning, an apparently feeble, as it was, +indeed, a laborious undertaking, carried on somewhat in the vague and in +the dark. Having obtained a list of addresses of philanthropic workers +in various countries in Europe, I posted a brief appeal to every address +contained in it, in the hope of drawing forth some expression of +sympathy in our objects. + +One little incident may illustrate the manner in which, before and +during that campaign, every effort seemed to be providentially guided. + +In August of that year I picked up, by what we call chance, a little +book containing the names and addresses of persons connected with some +international benevolent organization. I addressed a few letters to some +of these, making an appeal on this question. One of these was addressed +to a Mr. Humbert, of Neuchâtel. It never reached its destination, and, +had it done so, possibly might never have met with a response; but the +Neuchâtel postman made a mistake, as postmen sometimes, though very +seldom, do. In this case it was a happy mistake. He took the letter to +another Mr. Humbert, Mr. Aimé Humbert, who opened it. He was no stranger +to the question. He had for years said to himself, “When I am more free +from other public work, I must turn to this terrible subject.” + +Shortly afterwards I received a letter from Mr. Aimé Humbert, +acknowledging my appeal as providential. I had told him of my projected +visit to the Continent that same winter, and in reference to that he +said:—“You are about to confront not only the snows of winter, but the +ice that binds so many hearts on the Continent. Bring among us, then, +the fire of that faith which can remove mountains. The breath of the +most High can break the icebergs in pieces, and kindle a mighty +conflagration.” + +It was one of the most severe winters of this century (1874–1875), but +the opposition of the elements seemed a little matter in comparison with +that of the prejudice, blindness and passion which threatened at first +to block the way to success in such an enterprise. + +As Mr. Aimé Humbert occupied for so many years a very prominent position +in our International Federation, I may here give a brief account of his +career previous to our becoming acquainted with him. + +He was born in 1819, in the Canton of Neuchâtel, educated at Lausanne +and several of the German Universities, and married, in 1843, Marie +Müller, daughter of the Secretary of the Royal Consistory of Wurtemburg. +At the close of the revolution which severed Neuchâtel from the crown of +Prussia, M. Humbert, who was one of the principal actors in securing the +freedom of his Canton, was called to take a part in its Government, and +filled for ten years the office of Minister of Public Instruction. +Nominated at the same time a Member of the Federal Parliament, he +occupied for one year the Post of President of the “Chambres des Etats +Suisses.” The Federal Council charged him, in 1858, to act with the +Minister Plenipotentiary of Switzerland, M. Kearn, in concluding the +treaty of Paris concerning Neuchâtel. In 1862 he was entrusted by the +Federal Council with a Mission to Japan, as Envoy Extraordinary and +Minister Plenipotentiary, to bring about a treaty of Commerce with +Switzerland. His very excellent work on Japan, which has given him a +status in Europe as a geographer, has been translated into English. + +In his character as a scientific man he was also appointed a Member of +the École Polytechnique of Zurich, Corresponding Member of the +Geographical Society of Geneva, and a member of the Honorary Committee +of the International Geographical Congress of Paris; besides being +appointed President or Member of many other Literary and Scientific +Societies. + +But before I go on to speak of our first essay on the Continent, I must +record an event at home which gave a great impulse to our cause. + +The defeat of the Liberal party in this year (1874), freed Mr. Stansfeld +from the restraints of office as a Minister of the Crown. In July Sir +Harcourt Johnstone invited a number of Members of Parliament to his +house to discuss the position of the Abolitionist question. Mr. +Stansfeld went there with others, and proposed that Sir Harcourt himself +should move in the House for leave to bring in a Bill for Repeal. This +he did. + +On the 15th October a great public meeting was held in the Colston Hall, +Bristol, at which Mr. Stansfeld made his first public appearance as a +champion of our cause. It was a notable occasion. He was surrounded on +the platform by a number of the best and most devoted men and women, who +had worked from the beginning, and who watched his entrance upon this +field of battle with a very deep and solemn interest. It was the first +time that an ex-Minister of the Crown, a distinguished and recognised +leader of one of the great political parties, had appeared upon our +platform. It would be difficult to exaggerate the value of such service +to our cause; but Mr. Stansfeld brought to it not only his widely known +name, but deep convictions, indomitable courage and great eloquence. +This, his first speech for us, attracted the attention of the whole +country, and led to a discussion of the question by the press of the +country, which for a short time abandoned the “conspiracy of silence,” +resuming it again, however, some weeks later. The _Times_ sincerely +regretted “that a statesman of Mr. Stansfeld’s eminence should identify +himself with such an hysterical crusade, in which it is impossible to +take part without herding with prurient and cynical fanatics.” The +_Saturday Review_ said that “Governments with real responsibility upon +them cannot regard life with this primitive straightforwardness, and +must be content to trust that what is required for the health of a +people is also the most in harmony with Christianity.” Which was a +supremely haughty way of saying that if the methods of Governments and +Christianity did not agree, so much the worst for Christianity.[8] + +After an address of extraordinary power, full of lucid argument, Mr. +Stansfeld concluded with the following words:—“Full of a sense of +special responsibility, I have dived down into the very depths of this +question, and have impressed myself with the profound conviction that +this system is immoral and unconstitutional, and calculated to degrade +and debase the manhood and the womanhood of the country. I have watched +the insidious materialism creeping over the country and entangling in +the meshes of its wide-sweeping net many good men and good women +unconscious whither they were going, and deceived by appeals made to +them in the name of benevolence, and for the sake of diminishing +physical suffering. I have seen good men and women, brave men and braver +women master the intense repugnance which a refined and sensitive person +must feel on such a subject; I have seen women with all their exquisite +sensitiveness coming before the public to plead the cause of virtue +against that of legalised vice; and I have marked these women hounded +down, hooted at with unseemly language, gestures, and even threats, and +I know that, were not the spirit of the law of this country too strong, +their lives and persons might have been exposed to danger and to +outrage, as the lives and persons of the Abolitionists of America were +at the hands of the man-stealers and slave-holders of the South. I have +marked these things. I have put my hand to the plough; I have cast in my +lot with those men and women (for ever reverenced be their names!) who +hitherto have led a hope which too long has seemed a forlorn hope; and +never will I desist, and never will they desist, from this sacred +agitation until these degrading laws are blotted out from the statute +book for ever.” + +Mr. Stansfeld made no vain boast on this occasion. He has kept his word. +He has fulfilled his promise. In numberless meetings at home and abroad, +on many important occasions, his powerful advocacy of our cause has been +heard, and up to the present time, in spite of the pressure of other +public duties, and of the encroaching disabilities of age, he has +maintained the same attitude; he has lent his powerful aid to the great +question of Abolition in India, and never fails in his interest and +helpfulness in any part of the work in which we are engaged.[9] + + +I left England for the Continent in December, 1874, and reached Paris, +accompanied by one of my sons, my husband and my other sons joining me +ten days later. + +I was armed with some good introductions, or rather affectionate +recommendations from English friends to all and every one who might +consent to hear my message. One of these was signed by Mr. William Shaen +on behalf of our National Association, of which he was the able +President for a long period of years. Another was from the Friends’ +Abolitionist Society, and was signed by leading men and women among the +Quakers. This body of Christians had gained the hearts of our +Continental neighbours in a remarkable degree by their devotion to the +sufferers (of both nationalities engaged) during and after the +Franco-German War. I found their name a ready passport on several +occasions. Lord Derby, our Foreign Minister at the time, very willingly +gave me a letter, written from the Foreign Office, stating briefly my +aims, and his desire for my safety and success. This last was useful in +Paris. + +It was bitterly cold. The streets of Paris were filled with melting +snow, and a depressing fog hung over the city. After making several +calls on members of the Protestant community, I went to the headquarters +of the monstrous police tyranny in Paris. I gave an account of this +visit, in writing, to one of our leading friends at home. I reproduce +the letter here, as impressions recorded at the time are more vivid than +those which we may try to revive after many years. + + + “_December, 1874._ + +“I spent a part of yesterday at the Prefecture of the Morals’ Police; it +was an exceedingly painful visit to me. I was struck in the first place +with the grandeur of the externals of the Prefect’s office, and the +evidence of the political and social power wielded by that man Lecour. +The office is one of those handsome blocks of buildings on the banks of +the Seine. It has great gateways, within which guards are pacing up and +down; a broad stone staircase, where guards stand at intervals; a number +of official-looking men passing to and fro with papers, or accompanying +people desiring an audience. I reached the top of the stone stairs and +the Prefect’s outer door, over which in large gold letters were printed +the words: ‘_Arrestations, Service des Mœurs_.’ I was faint and out of +breath, and an old guard stared at me with curiosity as I gazed at those +mendacious words, ‘Service of Morals.’ I knew it all before, but here +the fact came upon me, with peculiar and painful vividness, that man had +made woman his degraded slave by a decree which is heralded in letters +of gold, and by a tyranny of procedure which, if it were applied to men, +would soon set all Paris in flames, and not merely a few of its +buildings. That _Service des Mœurs_ seemed a most impudent proclamation +of the father of lies; it so clearly and palpably means the ‘_Service de +Debauche_.’ M. Lecour’s whole conversation showed that it is debauchery +and not morals that he is providing for and serving. + +“I entered, and was kept waiting in an ante-room for half an hour, until +the great man had dismissed certain business. At last a venerable +servant, in livery covered with gold lace, directed me to follow him. He +ushered me into Lecour’s audience chamber, a well-furnished room. His +appointments and surroundings are more imposing than the room of any +Minister of State that I have yet seen in England. There were two men in +the room whose business was not yet concluded; why Lecour admitted me +then I do not know; perhaps he was nervous about seeing me alone. He +might have guessed that I would take stock of all I saw and heard. He +was standing behind an imposing desk, with his visitors in front of him. +He waved his hand majestically, and bade me be seated, telling the +venerable servant to give me a newspaper to read. I pretended to look at +the newspaper, but kept my ears open to every word which was spoken. +What occurred left on my mind the most mournful impression. What a +tragedy there seemed to be implied in the scene which passed! The first +man Lecour asked to state his case was a gentlemanly elderly man, +fatherly-looking, grave and sad; he spoke in a low, hoarse voice, and +appeared to be making a great effort to repress his feelings; his voice +and words were those of a man full of wrath and sorrow. I thought there +was a look of suppressed vengeance about him. He leaned on an umbrella, +clutching the handle tightly with both hands; there was a long +altercation; on Lecour’s side flippancy, sentiment, many words, and an +apparent desire to get rid of the man by a few promises while making out +a case against a woman for whom this man had come to plead. Frequently +the Prefect lowered his voice so that I could not catch his words, +while, in the midst of his gesticulations and talk, the other man +repeated three times in a voice which I can never forget: ‘But you +accused her! you accused her!’ Then I heard Lecour detail in many and +rapid words how the woman (she might have been the daughter of the +elderly man; she was evidently some one dear to him) had at one time +been guilty of ‘levity.’ He hinted something mysteriously about her +antecedents having been questionable. I longed to fling back the charge +and ask the Prefect of his own antecedents, and the present life of the +men for whom he now provides shameful indulgence. Lecour then told of an +interview he himself had had with the woman (this seemed fearfully to +agitate the elderly man), in which he described how she wept and showed +signs of deep distress. ‘I told her,’ said the Prefect, ‘that if I saw +signs of a real repentance persevered in, I should _forgive_ her.’ These +last words were spoken in a tone of conscious power and pride. The man +Lecour appears to me—and I tried to judge without prejudice—very +shallow, vain, talkative; his arguments are of the weakest; he has a +certain dramatic cleverness, and acts all he says with face, arms and +legs. His countenance is to me very repulsive, although his face, which +is in the barber’s block style, might be called handsome as to hair, +eyes, eyelashes, etc. He has a fixed smile, that of the hypocrite, +though certainly he is _not_ exactly a hypocrite. He is simply a shallow +actor, an acrobat, a clever stage-manager. Probably he persuades himself +of what he is constantly saying to others; intoxicated with the sense of +power, chattering and gesticulating like an ape, at the head of an +office which is as powerful as that of the Roman Prefects of the City in +the time of Rome’s corruption. And such is the man who stands in the +position of holding in his hand, so to speak, the keys of heaven and +hell, the power of life and death, for the women of Paris! + +“The elderly man was not in the least consoled by the assurance ‘I would +forgive her,’ and only repeated his sullen ‘but you accused her.’ I +think he was pleading to get her name taken off the register of shame. +That he did not succeed, and turned and left the room in silence with no +salutation to the Prefect, should show to our Englishmen what a tyranny +for _themselves_, as men and fathers, this horrible system may become. +M. Jules Favre tells me that the head of the Government in France can do +nothing without the consent of the Prefects of Police, permanent +officials, stronger than the Government itself, and that MacMahon sends +for these men first thing every morning to take counsel with them. Is it +not a good deal like that wretched time in Rome, when the Pretorian +Guards elected, deposed, or dictated to the Emperor of the time, and +became themselves the most oppressive of tyrants? + +“The second man who had an audience was of a different kind. He was a +young, stout, overfed-looking man, and his conversation with Lecour was +of a friendly character. The Prefect called him near to him behind his +great desk, and much of the conversation was in whispers. It seemed to +be concerning the internal economy of some of the protected houses of +debauchery. The young man asked about the literature allowed in these +houses, and Lecour deprecated certain journals, which were too +republican, and ought not to be read by women. Lecour regulates the +reading in these houses, and he turned to a great bundle of papers to +show the young man those papers which were allowed. Lecour professed +affection and esteem for the young man, and there was a kindness in his +manner which contrasted strongly with his conduct towards the elderly +man. + +“Having dismissed his young protégé, the great man was ready for me. By +this time anger had made me bold. I stood up before him, declining to +sit. I told him who I was, and why I had come to Paris. He said he knew +very well who I was. His manner became rather excited and uneasy. I +continued all the time to look very steadily, but not rudely, at him. I +knew that I, at least, was utterly sincere, and I inwardly invoked the +presence of Him who is the searcher of hearts, that He might be there, a +witness between us two. Instinctively, therefore, I kept my eyes fixed +on the man to see if there was any sincerity in him. He became more and +more talkative, as if to drown me with words; in fact, I could scarcely +get a word spoken. I therefore just put a distinct question or two in +the few pauses allowed, as if desirous of information, and then he +started off volubly with his answers. This was useful to me, for he +surely said much more than was prudent. I asked him the latest +statistical results. He hesitated, but when I pressed for it he opened a +desk and gave me a little book, the last written by himself, which has +some curious matter in it. I asked if vice and disease were diminished +or increased the last five years in Paris. He answered promptly, ‘Oh, +increased, they go always increasing, continually increasing’; these +were his words (in French, he does not speak a word of English). Then I +tried to hold him to a point, and get him to tell me the causes of this +increase. He attributed it solely to two things, which I think will +surprise you, _i.e._, to the temporary ascendency of the Commune, and +the increasing ‘coquetry’ of women. I could not restrain an expression +of contempt at his last remark, which he seemed to think quite a +satisfactory and exhaustive answer. I then made an onslaught, and said +(looking up at a speck of blue sky, which I saw through the window, and +holding on to it, as it were) that I—we—consider the whole system which +he represents as an absurdity, because of its inequality of application; +that men are immoral, and liable to the physical scourge of vice as well +as women, while the system only attacks women; and that any theory of +health, based on injustice and a supposed necessity for vice, must end +in not only ridiculous and total failure, but in increased confusion and +vice. He listened impatiently, still with his fixed smile. I purposely +avoided speaking of morality or religion, and tried to nail him to the +logical view of necessary failure through injustice and one-sidedness of +application. Off he went again, denouncing women and their seductions. I +interrupted him rather abruptly by reminding him that in this crime +which he was denouncing, namely, prostitution, there were two parties +implicated. I asked him if he had been so long at the Prefecture without +its occurring to him that the men for whose health he labours, and for +whom he enslaves women, are guilty in the same sense as women. This +challenge as to the equality of guilt, and, perhaps, a little irony in +my tone, roused him, and he became agitated and excited. He left his +retreat, and came out into the room and paced up and down. He then +acted, in the most disagreeable manner, an imaginary scene between a +poor woman, a temptress, and a young man. He seemed to think that I was +an ignoramus, and that this would convert me. He described in the old, +hackneyed, sentimental manner with which we are familiar, an ‘honourable +young man’ dining out, partaking _un peu généreusement_ of wine; a girl +meets him, marks his unsteady gait—and then he acted how she would place +her arm in his and tempt him. There was no comparison, he said, between +the two: the man was simply careless; the woman was a deliberate, +determined corrupter. ‘With what motive?’ I asked, ‘tell me, is it not +often the case that the woman is poor, for I know that in Paris work is +scarcely to be found just now; or else she is a slave in one of your +permitted houses, and is sent out by her employers on what is their, +rather than her, business?’ He smilingly denied this and said, ‘Oh, no, +no, it was not poverty, it was simply coquetry.’ Then he said in a +pompous and would-be impressive manner, ‘Madame, remember this, that +women continually injure _honest_ men, but no man ever injures an honest +woman.’ Then he stood as one who had cast down a challenge which could +not be taken up. ‘Excuse me,’ I said, ‘you, yourself, have written +otherwise in your book. Here you speak of “wives and honest girls +injured by immoral and depraved men.”’ Then he changed his tone and +replied, ‘Ah, yes, but all that belongs to the region of romance; I am +only speaking of what can be recognised and forbidden by the police. The +police cannot touch the region of romance; nor can the State. You would +not desire that it should, would you?’ I replied that I desired justice, +but that I could not expect justice in this matter at the hands of the +police. Then he suddenly assumed a solemn expression and changed his +line of argument. He said, ‘Madame, écoutez! moi, je suis religieux; I +am as religious as yourself.’ Then he said, as a religious man, he must +admire the punishment of vice (in women only), and that when you could +not punish you must regulate; that among all the plans the world has +ever tried, which is of any avail, and the thing of which I would myself +become eventually the advocate, when I had had more experience, was his +own system, the system of arrests, constant arrests of women. He kept +reiterating that he was as religious as myself, and I said rather +sharply, ‘That may be, sir; I did not come here, however, to speak to +you about religion, but about justice.’ To me they are one. The religion +he spoke of was merely a bit of sentiment unworthy of the name. I +brought him back to the failure, hygienically, of his system, on account +of its injustice. He shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘But who hopes to +see perfect justice established? Who hopes for great hygienic results?’ +‘Those,’ I replied, ‘belong, I suppose, to the region of romance.’ I +thanked him for his information, and asked him to be so good as to give +me a letter which would admit me to the whole of the St. Lazare. (The +St. Lazare was then entirely at the Prefect’s service, an immense +prison, hospital, and general depôt for all the unhappy women of Paris, +both for the vicious and those accused only of _vagabondage_, or who +were seeking work and had no friends.) He summoned a secretary, and in a +commanding way, directed him to write a letter giving me _carte blanche_ +to see everything. When the man brought it back, Lecour sat down and +wrote a postscript, in which he requested ‘that every facility should be +given to the very honourable lady from England.’ Then he signed it +largely and stamped it with the stamp of the Prefect. So now I can go +about under his benign protection. I smiled as he wrote, thinking of the +shadowy fears which some of my friends felt when I was leaving England, +lest I should be seriously annoyed by the police. How wonderfully +Providence turns things upside down! Here was the very head of the +much-hated Morals’ Police himself sanctioning all I might wish to do +with a great flourish, and full of vanity in the performance. + +“I could now enter even any of the dreadful houses which are under his +superintendence; his letter would be all-powerful. At the door, I +suddenly remembered the case of an innocent Swiss girl I had found, whom +his police are tormenting. I stated her case, assuming that he would at +once give orders for her to be let alone. At this his smiling character +suddenly changed for a moment. Almost spitting like a cat, he said, with +sudden irritation, ‘Mais quelles bêtises vous ont-elles dit!’ and a +strange expression came over his face. But he quickly recovered himself. +He evidently was making an effort to produce a good impression, and to +part friends. I felt very sad as I left his place.” + + + + + CHAPTER V + + “The curse which thro’ long years of crime, + Is gathering, drop by drop, its flood.” + + +There was a whole world of misery contained within the walls of the St. +Lazare. As I reached the stone portico leading out of the street to the +large gates of the prison, a huge prison-van rolled in under the arch, +drawn by stout horses with clattering hoofs, and followed by +_gens-d’armes_, also on stout horses, and armed. The van was on high +wheels, and had apparently no window at all; strongly secured, and +dismal to look at, like an immense hearse. People fell back as if awed, +and the great iron gates rolled open; the _cortège_ rattled in, and the +gates rolled back again. I tried to make my way through the gates in the +wake of the prison-van, but there was no time, they closed so quickly +and looked so inexorable when shut. What powerful ruffians, what +dangerous, strong-sinewed criminals were they conveying with all this +show of armed force into the prison? The van contained only a few poor, +weak, helpless _girls_, guilty of the crime of not ministering to +impurity in accordance with official rules. I could not help exclaiming +to myself in my bitterness of soul: O, manly, courageous Frenchmen! ever +athirst for “glory,” how well it looks to see you exercising your brave +military spirit against the womanhood of your own country! You cannot +govern your own passions, but you can at least govern by physical force +the poor women of your streets, and swagger to your hearts’ content in +your hour of triumph, as you proudly enter the prison gates with your +trembling caged linnets. But no! miserable men, you cannot even do this; +you are beaten by your own women. They cannot meet you on stout horses, +with helmets and military swagger and police tyranny, but they beat you +with other and more deadly weapons. + +We speak much of women, under the vicious system we oppose, being the +slaves of men, and we realise all the tyranny and oppression which has +reduced women to so abject a state; but when I went to Paris I began to +see the picture reversed in a strange and awful way, and to understand +how the men who had rivetted the slavery of women for such degrading +ends had become, in a generation or two, themselves the greater slaves; +not only the slaves of their own enfeebled and corrupted natures, but of +the women whom they have maddened, hardened, and stamped under foot. +Bowing down before the unrestrained dictates of their own lusts, they +now bow down also before the tortured and fiendish womanhood which _they +have created_. Till now I had never fully realised Nemesis in this form. +The degenerates of to-day plot and plan and scheme in vain for their own +physical safety. Possessed at times with a sort of stampede of terror, +they rush to International Congresses, and forge together more chains +for the dreaded wild beast they have so carefully trained, and in their +pitiful panic build up fresh barricades between themselves and that +womanhood, the _femme vengeresse_, which they proclaim to be a +“permanent source of sanitary danger.” M. Lecour, in his last book which +he gave me, appeared to regard every woman who is not under the +immediate rule of some man as he would a volcano ready to burst forth +under his feet; his terror had driven him to contrive a scheme by which +all the single women of Paris, the virtuous as well as vicious, shall be +netted by the police and held fast! + +When a man abuses the good gifts of nature to brutalise himself by +excess in wine, that passive agent, in itself unconscious and incapable +of motive for good or evil, becomes to him a fiery scourge, his tyrant, +and he its slave; “in the end it biteth like a serpent.” Much more, and +in a far more awful sense, does abused womanhood become the fiery +scourge, the torment, and the tyrant of the men who systematically +outrage, in her, God’s best gift. Just so far as the soul of a woman is +above all inanimate things which are susceptible of abuse, so far is the +punishment of the man who outrages it increased. It is true he does not +become the slave of the woman, but merely of the _female_. Yet, inasmuch +as she is not a mere inanimate thing, like intoxicating drink, nor a +mere animal, but is endowed with intellect, affections, will, +responsibility, an immortal spirit, and inasmuch as men have turned _all +this to poison_, so is the vengeance suffered by those men in exact +proportion. The men who are guilty of the deliberate and calculating +crime of organising and regulating the ruin of women prepare for +themselves an enslavement, an overmastering terror and tyranny, compared +with which the miseries and enslavements brought about by other vices, +terrible as these are, are but as the foreshadowing of a reality. +Already they cringe, the abject slaves of the tyrant they have created; +they are ruled, cajoled, outwitted, mocked and scourged by her. They +rave at and curse her, as a wretched dipsomaniac curses his intoxicating +drink, madly grasping it all the time, and in the end she slays them. + +A couple of surly-looking guards at the gateway of St. Lazare did not +vouchsafe me any answer when I asked how I was to get in; as I +persisted, however, one said “Vous pouvez battre,” jerking his head over +his shoulder towards a smaller and heavily iron-barred door. Yes! I +could “beat” no doubt, but my hand made no sound or impression at all +against that heavy iron door. I thought it rather typical of our whole +work on the Continent, beating at the outside of a strong Bastille of +misery and horror. Then the words came to me—“I have set before thee an +open door, and no man can shut it.” I went into the street and took up a +stone, and tried beating with that. It succeeded; a solemn old man in +livery opened; I gave him M. Lecour’s letter, desiring that they would +show me the whole place; and after looking at it narrowly, he passed me +on to the care of a nun, the second in charge.... I visited every part +of the building; it took a long time.... In the central court of the +prison, where a few square yards of blue sky are allowed to look down +upon the scene, troops of young girls were taking their hour of +prescribed “recreation,” namely, walking in twos and threes round the +sloppy and gloomy yard, where half-melted snow was turning into mud. It +was a sight to wring the heart of a woman, a mother! Most of them were +very young, and some of them so comely, so frank, so erect and graceful, +in spite of the ugly prison dress. Well might Alexandre Dumas exclaim, +“O besotted nation, to turn all these lovely women, who should be our +companions in life’s work, wives, and mothers, into ministers to vice!” +They were not all Parisian; they were from all the Provinces, and some +from Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and England. I was not allowed to +speak to them. Never in my life did I so much long to speak; and I +fancied _they_ wished it too, for their steps slackened as they came +round, and they paused when they got near me, with looks of kindness, or +gentle curiosity. One knows enough of the heartless, artificial, or +hardened women of Paris, but my memory recalls _these_ who were the raw +material, fresh from nature’s hand, out of which Babylon manufactures +her soulless wild beasts who become a terror to their manufacturers. + +After the other members of my family, with Professor Stuart, had joined +me from England, we accepted several invitations to hold meetings in the +salons of leading persons of the Protestant community of Paris. One of +the first who offered his aid was Pastor de Coppet, who suggested a +Conference at the house of a friendly member of the Chambers, where, he +said, “we shall all speak out what we have kept down in our hearts so +long.” Pastor Lepoids also strongly aided us in our efforts, and soon +after we gained the efficient co-operation of M. de Pressensé, M. +Theodore Monod, the venerable Dr. Monod (a physician), M. George Appia, +of the Church of the Augsburg Confession, M. Frederic Passy, Mme. André +Walther, and others; Madame Jules Simon and M. Victor Schoelcher, +Senator, gave their adhesion and advice. I received letters of sympathy +and approval of our efforts from M. Jules Simon, at that time President +of the Chambers, and from M. Louis Blanc. I had an interview by +appointment with M. Jules Favre, in his own house. My readers of the +present day may not perhaps know the position then held in France by M. +Jules Favre (who died not long after I saw him), nor the high character +of his utterances as an Advocate and politician. His words to me on this +subject were impressive. He spoke sadly and doubtfully of the +probabilities of realising so great a moral reform in his own country, +but yet resolutely as to the necessity of taking immediate steps to +create an improved public opinion on the subject; he expressed full +concurrence in our view of the absolute equality of moral responsibility +for both sexes. He gave me introductions to some Catholic gentlemen, +urging upon me the importance of appealing to all religious +denominations. He admitted that he had no faith in governmental help in +this matter, reminding me that “governments had never looked the +question fairly in the face, but when interfering at all, had almost +invariably done so in order to elevate the social vice into ‘an +institution,’ by which means they had increased and given permanence to +the evil.” He said: “Regard for the public health is their sole excuse. +But even the worst that could befall the public health is nothing to the +corruption of morals and national life engendered, propagated, and +prolonged by the system of official surveillance. It is utterly +inexcusable, and an act of supreme folly, to give a legal sanction to +the licentiousness of one sex and the enslavement of the other.” He +further spoke emphatically of the necessity of women being heard on this +subject. As he was curious to know by what methods the French system had +been introduced into free England, I gave him an account of the tactics +pursued, at which he appeared profoundly astonished. + +Madame Jules Simon invited me to attend the annual meeting of the +committee of management of the Professional Schools established by +Madame Lemonnier. She said to me (though speaking sympathetically) that +my mission would not have any success in France, “because it was too +high and holy to be understood.” She said, and I feared there was truth +in this, that “all men, even the best men, in France had been from their +childhood so accustomed to look upon this shameful evil as a legal +institution that it would require a very long process of patient +educating to get them even to acknowledge that it is not honourable for +governments to create and maintain such an institution.” Madame Simon, +however, having read, ten months later, “A Voice in the Wilderness,” +wrote to me: “You are not under any illusion, for your voice is indeed +at present but a voice in the wilderness; but you have no grounds for +any discouragement; for those who do not understand you to-day _will +understand you to-morrow_.” + +My sister wrote to me from Naples on New Year’s Eve, 1874–75:— + + + “_Midnight._ + +“Beloved of my Soul. I want to spend this solemn hour with you. My heart +is overflowing with gratitude to Him whose cross you bear. This passing +year, which began with so much discouragement, has finished gloriously +with the carrying of the standard of the fiery cross over the sea and +into another land; and you—God surrounds you with His shield. Everyone +out of England to whom I told your mission said you would be insulted +and outraged in Paris, and could not do any good. Even people who +believe in your mission told me of the way in which irreverent Frenchmen +ridicule anything spoken with a foreign accent, spoke of the dangers you +would incur, and the impossibility of your making any impression. When +they talked thus, I smiled and said, ‘Wait and see! this is of God, and +He will justify His handmaid!’ I felt so surely that God gave it you to +do, and whatever the world may think, God knows what He is about. He is +not an idealised Joss who lives in churches. He is present among us. He +can manage even the Paris police! How He laid your enemies under your +feet! + +“Your mission is too high and holy to be understood, they tell you! Is +it not strange how people persevere in thinking it lovelily humble and +sweetly meritorious to go on picking off an evil-smelling leaf here and +there from the upas tree, instead of taking the sword of God and +striking at the root—nipping here and there the results of its growth, +instead of cutting off the source of its life? The long chain of +prejudice, habit, and received opinion twists itself, coil after coil, +around men’s minds. It is the virtuous and religious whom I mean who are +so chained, not by vice, but by faithlessness and timidity. It is not to +all that it is given to break the chains of others, but there seems to +me little excuse for those who do not allow their own chains to be +broken.” + + +We went on to Lyons, Marseilles and Genoa, at each place gathering +individual adherents, men and women of real worth of character. Thence +we went to Rome. + +In Rome we first met one of the most ardent apostles of our cause whom +we have known in any country, Signor Giuseppe Nathan. His mother was a +distinguished Roman lady, and his family were friends of Mazzini. I had +been told of the recent overwhelming sorrow which seemed for a time to +have broken short the promise of Giuseppe Nathan’s noble young life, and +which had had so serious an effect upon his health as to alarm his +family. He had married a young English lady, who died very suddenly, +after a few months of an ideally happy marriage. He was a young man of +great ability and earnestness of soul. It was thought by some of his +friends that if some vital work were to be put before him at this time +he might recognise it as an authoritative call to action, and that it +might be to him a revival of interest in life, and a motive for living, +after all life’s sunshine, for him, was gone. The rapid progress made by +our principles in Italy after this first visit to Rome was almost wholly +due to the untiring energy and apostolic zeal of Giuseppe Nathan. He had +been known before to his countrymen as a friend of Mazzini, and had, in +fact, like most of that group, suffered for his principles. His personal +influence was great for one so young, especially among the working +populations, whom later he succeeded in arousing throughout the length +and breadth of Italy, travelling himself to every place, engaging the +best men and women in the work, and winning the hearts of all to our +cause. I recall my first interview with him. He looked sad and absent, +and was very weak in health. He had the appearance of a man who had had +a shock which might prove to be his death blow; and, in fact, he died +only six years later, the end probably accelerated by his arduous +labours in our cause telling upon a sensitive frame already shaken by +his domestic sorrow. His loss was a very serious one to our cause in +Italy. There was no one of like character who could entirely take his +place, although his brother, Signor Ernesto Nathan, has worked +indefatigably for the cause up to recent times. + +The following quotations from letters which I received from Giuseppe +Nathan after my return from Italy to England will throw some light on +the gentle, chivalrous, and, I might say, almost inspired character of +the man. In addition to his arduous propagandist work, he laboured to +save individual victims of the curse against which he continually +protested, and had planned a work of rescue on simple, kindly and humane +principles. It was in regard to this effort that he wrote to me as +follows:— + +“I wish you were here to teach me how to act in this case. I would ten +thousand times sooner face the mouths of twenty guns than a poor girl +who feels that she has lost all right to respect; though not in _my_ +eyes. No! God is my witness that I judge _no_ woman unworthy of respect; +her womanhood outraged is in itself more than sufficient claim for the +respect of every man. Had not one of _my_ sex robbed her of her peace, +withered in its bloom all happiness, all that made life a blessing to +her, she might now have been happy and making others happy. Her poor +betrayed soul, her robbed innocence, her misery and suffering, call +loudly in God’s name for the respect which all men owe to grief and +suffering. + +“It is impossible for me to tell you how much I long to be of some +slight comfort to these poor fellow-creatures of ours, whom cowardly man +has taught even to despair of the salvation of their souls. Could my +remaining years bring but one of them to hope in God’s everlasting +mercy; could I make but one of them feel that the possibility of +redemption is eternal as the everlasting soul with which God animated +their bodies; could I but awaken in one city the true, deep, fervid +faith, that without purity and morality no nation can possibly advance; +could I teach effectually in even one place the lesson, that because +woman is our _first_ teacher, her lessons can only bear good fruit on +condition that we hold sacred and _do not despise_ our teacher—then I +could understand why God has dealt so sternly with me, and I could +patiently wait till I should be able to prove to my lost angel through +my actions that _together_ she and I have accomplished on earth the task +appointed us.” + +Later he wrote:—“I have received a paper from England relating to the +_Social Purity League_. I not only sympathise with the aim of the +League, but I consider its aim noblest among the noble. To talk of +purity is well, to lead a pure life is better, but it is best of all to +oppose impurity with all the powers of heart and intellect bestowed on +us by God, under whatever form it presents itself to our eyes, and by +whomsoever it may be promoted. Destroy purity, admit the necessity of +prostitution, and materialism and profligacy will have full sway; but +then efface from the English, language the words _Mother_, _Home_, and +_Heaven_.” + +Under Mr. Nathan’s guidance we visited the Italian Parliament, where, as +in London, one may request an audience of any member of the Chambers. +Our guide knew very well upon whom in the Chambers he could depend for +sympathy in this matter, and we had several memorable conversations in +the Lobbies. + +Signor Asproni, an old man, formerly a monk, but who had found it +impossible to continue in that character, had been, when we saw him, for +some years a hard-working Deputy. He was known as a most honest man, +attached to principle rather than party. He expressed great sympathy +with our movement. Several others, men of weight and character, took up +the question; and from these elements Mr. Nathan was enabled soon after +to form a Committee in Rome for active work. + +I must go back a little to describe briefly the introduction of this +system into Italy, and the opposition which it had already met with. + +In 1860 Count Cavour proclaimed the Regulation originally invented and +imposed on the French people by Napoleon I. Cavour seems to have deemed +it an admirable measure. An explanation of its professed benefits was +appended to a subsequent issue of it by the Minister Lanza in 1871. +Public opinion was at once aroused against this regulation, its meaning +having been thus explained. The Liberal party in the Chambers have been +at different times accused of party-spirited motives, in having from the +first protested against the Regulations of Cavour. It is not true that +the Radical party alone revolted against this system. Italian Radicals +assured us that from the first a protest had arisen from every part of +the Chambers. From Dr. Bertani, who sat on the extreme left, to De +Renzis on the left-centre, and Vittorio Giudici on the extreme right, +all took part in the revolt against what the Italian conscience +instinctively felt to be a measure degrading to women and to manhood. +Outside Parliament it was the same; “Men of all parties,” said a +well-known Deputy, “rebelled against the idea of this judicial +oppression of women, which no possible argument was found to justify.” +This awakening of the public conscience continued through all classes of +society until it reached Pope Pius IX. The Venerable Pontiff, shortly +after the Regulations were introduced in Rome, wrote a letter with his +own hand to King Victor Emmanuel, protesting against the iniquity which +had just been perpetrated, and solemnly adjured him to forbid that a +“patented merchandise of human flesh” should be established in the Holy +City. + +So early as 1862 (only two years after Cavour’s publication of the +Regulation) the revolt against it was such that Rattazzi, then Minister +of the Interior, and President of the Council, was driven to appoint a +Commission to modify or alter it. + +But little came of this. Attempted modifications of an essential evil +always fail. + +After the impulse given by the exertions of Giuseppe Nathan, and when he +had successfully convinced and moved some of the most earnest public men +of Italy, the cause in that country went through the usual Parliamentary +course of Reports called for from experts, Commissions of Enquiry, +Parliamentary Debates, partial reforms and attempted substitutes; and up +to the present day it cannot be said to have got much beyond that stage. + +To return. I was counselled to see Senator Musio and his wife. I first +saw her alone. She was in her bedroom surrounded by a number of ladies +who had formed a Committee for aiding the needy families of working men. +I gave her a little Italian paper setting forth the objects of my +mission. She read it slowly and carefully to the very last word, and +then said “Good! Musio must see this.” She had grasped the whole +question simply and clearly at once. She was very aged and +“old-fashioned,” but full of intelligence. She then tapped her snuff-box +and conversed with us in a low and feeble voice, but in a manner that +showed no feebleness of judgment. In the evening we called again, and +were quite as much pleased with her venerable husband as with herself. +He was a very distinguished jurist, and was then working at some +important legal reforms. I must not omit to mention Signor Maurizio +Quadrio, one of the old Mazzinians, a true patriot, who had suffered +much and long for his principles. He encouraged us much in our work. It +is needless to say that I found very hearty sympathy among the +Protestants (Evangelici) then working in Rome, Signor Ribetti, for +example, Mr. Wall, and others. + +Of a very different kind was a visit I paid to the Minister of Justice +and Police, Signor Vigliani. I had been advised to appeal to him +concerning our mission; but when I announced to Mr. Nathan my intention +of doing so, he smiled and remained silent. I said, “Do you not advise +me to go?” He replied, “Oh, yes, go, but——”; and he smiled again. I went +alone. The reception Vigliani gave me was cold and scarcely courteous. +Few things are more chilling than the atmosphere of the audience chamber +of a great Government official, who has no sympathy with your errand. It +was clear to me from the first moment that nothing was to be gained +here; but I remained a little longer, just to get the Minister to +express his own opinions on the subject, which were curious enough, +though not new to me. He seemed immensely amused at the idea of +abolishing legal prostitution; spoke of the enslaved as _not human_ at +all, and of the errors of men as something to be regretted, but +inevitable, and to be taken into account, _i.e._, provided for. He said: +“A woman who has once lost chastity has lost every good quality. She has +from that moment ‘_all the vices_.’” And so pleased did he seem with +this theory that he smiled and repeated it, “Once unchaste, she has +_every vice_.” He asked, “Who have you got to help you in the Italian +Parliament?” and seemed to wait eagerly for the answer, which he did not +get! As I went down the broad marble stairs and through the gateway over +which the beautiful title of his office is inscribed, I thought, “You +are ill-named, Office of Grace and Justice!” + +Then I understood why Giuseppe Nathan smiled. + +From Rome I went on alone for a week to my sister Madame Meuricoffre, at +Naples. We had there one or two quiet meetings. The medical men offered +some opposition at one of them, but, on the other hand, we had then, and +for some years after, the strong adhesion of Dr. Palasciano (who became +publicly an opponent of the Regulations) and of another distinguished +medical man of Naples. The tender sympathy of my sister, Madame +Meuricoffre, and her deep understanding of our motives, I need scarcely +say, were from that time, and have been all along, among my most +constant consolations and sources of strength. I cannot refrain from +giving the substance here of a letter which she wrote to me shortly +after my visit to Naples; for it expresses what comparatively few even +now understand—the hold which this question takes upon some thoughtful +and tender natures, and the reasons why it makes this impression:— + + + NAPLES, _January, 1875_. + +“I told my friends here that when you were sent to us I had asked to +meet you those whom I thought likely to wish to hear you, in order to +see if God would choose any of them to come forward to the rescue of +those most pitiful and most unpitied of Christ’s little ones. He who +looked for some to have pity on Him, but there was no man, neither found +He any to comfort Him, called _us_ to have pity on _these_. But none of +those to whom I refer have been led into _that_ work. Still, I must not +for this reason judge that they are not His servants. I have faith that +they are, and are working in some other way, for in His army there are +many kinds of soldiers,—sappers and miners to open up roads, artillery +to attack forts, troops who have an easy victory, and ‘forlorn hopes’ +who will never see victory, but make a bridge of their dead bodies for +their comrades to march over. There are, I doubt not, many who have been +elected to this work who, when God first took them by the hand, shrank +back. It was the last thing they would have chosen for themselves, but +He kept them to it till they accepted it, and then taught them the +sweetness of the dedication, by letting them feel how close it brought +them to Himself. There is a great deal in ordinary society, even where +there is nothing bad, which imperceptibly hardens, or gradually +establishes in the mind slightly false standards; and I wish to tell you +how strikingly I felt that entering into and interesting oneself in your +work brought one back, every time one touched it, into realising the +Living God, His nearness to us and our dependence on Him, and forced one +to measure all one’s thoughts, acts, and feelings by the standard of His +purity, instead of lowering oneself to the convenient and conventional +standard of the world. A person whose conscience has never been wounded +about this question, whose heart has never burned and bled with pity for +the woes of the helpless, devoted to destruction, might wonder, and ask, +‘Why should _this_ subject, above all others, produce this effect?’ +Well, I cannot quite tell; perhaps because _in it_ culminates the awful +contrast between the results of man’s devices when he forgets God and +the unspeakable tenderness and pity of Christ for the most forsaken and +lost. He stooped to take upon Himself our nature, and to minister to us. +How much less is the interval between the best man or woman and the most +fallen! and how He pitied them, and how awfully solemn are His warnings, +not only not to offend one of the little ones, the weak and young, but +not to pass them by with the cold, worldly doctrine that ‘it must be +so.’ Such doctrine rouses in me a passion of grief and indignation that +some of us should be so honoured, while others, born with like +capabilities for virtue and sweet family life and happiness, should be +sold to men’s lusts, and then held down by a network of laws and +regulations; _held down in hell_. You and your fellow-workers will +understand well what I mean when I speak of a vital interest in this +question becoming a sifting power and a purifying fire in one’s own +soul; I tremble for those who are obliged, or think they are obliged, to +crush it out. Pray for them.” + + +On our return journey we visited Florence. Several persons here told me +that the system of Regulation was, for the moment, practically at an +end. This was, in part, the result of the opposition of the country +people of Tuscany, who resist the registration of their daughters on the +roll of shame. The character of the Tuscan peasant is simple, honest, +home loving. Mr. McDougall, a Scotch clergyman, who had resided many +years in Florence, said to me: “In character they stand as high as the +peasantry of my own Scotland.” Some sad tragedies had occurred. A +peasant girl escaped from one of the Government houses of infamy and +fled to her parents’ cottage. She was followed by the police, who +endeavour to “reclaim,” that is, _bring back to bondage_, every girl who +escapes. The parents barricaded their house; a struggle followed, and +blood was shed. This and other incidents which I might relate, +illustrating the tyranny of the system, had become public; the +Florentine people have hearts; their sympathies had been roused for the +homes and daughters of the poor; the State regulation of vice had become +unpopular, and was then very languidly carried out in Florence. + +In Milan we had again the advantage of the presence and organising +ability of Giuseppe Nathan, who joined us there. We had a large +conference in that city. There were present some ex-Deputies and +well-known doctors. Some of these latter were strongly opposed to us, +especially Dr. Pini, who spoke at some length. He was seconded in his +views by an advocate of Milan, and Signor Brusco Onnis replied to him. +The address of the latter made a great impression on those present. A +useful discussion followed. Dr. Pini made a kind of recantation towards +the close, and a resolution in our favour was passed almost unanimously. +_La Gazetta di Milano_ of January 28, 1875, reported the meeting, and +remarked favourably on our aims. It gave also the resolution, and a +brief address to the group of citizens who had supported us, which was +printed and circulated the next day. + +The address was as follows:— + + +“Gentlemen! the expression of sympathy with the cause which I advocate, +conveyed to me through you from the city of Milan, is deeply gratifying +to me; and in the name of all who co-operate with me in this holy +crusade, I tender you my heartfelt thanks. For pioneers the path is +always arduous and difficult, especially when before building up they +have to destroy an evil which for a long period has been corrupting the +moral sense of the most civilised populations. Such is our own case. I +will not, at the present time, dwell upon the fact of man having gone so +far as to convert that which is in itself supremely a question of +morality into one of opportunity and facility for the satisfaction of +his physical instincts, simply as instincts, and of his having, in order +to attain this end, perpetrated the most flagrant violation of right and +justice by crushing one of two persons equally guilty, in order to +render more easy the commission of sin for the other. + +“The question for us resolves itself entirely into a moral question—a +question of justice. Even if it were the fact, which is not the case, +that statistics seemed to prove that by means of the existing system it +is possible to diminish the maladies attendant on prostitution, our cry +would be precisely what it is to-day—war, war to the death against all +which tends to deaden the moral sense in man, and which, ultimately, +must of necessity enervate the race. We believe that the aim of all +legislation should be the gradual moral progress of the governed, and +that the labours of science should be directed to the furtherance of +that aim. + +“In order to obtain pure laws, and a higher morality, we will lend all +the force of our intellect and will. + +“Will you, gentlemen, give us your aid, and do what you can to form +throughout the whole of Italy, committees which will put themselves in +relation with our associations in England? + + “JOSEPHINE E. BUTLER.” + + +I must not detain my readers too long on this journey through Italy. + +After a brief visit to Turin, we crossed the Alps to Geneva. It was at a +meeting at Geneva on this question at which one of the hardest and +longest portions of our conflict was inaugurated. Up to the present time +Geneva clings to the odious system which was on that occasion—twenty-one +years ago—first publicly arraigned, in spite of reiterated protests from +her best and noblest citizens, and blows aimed from many sides. But the +doom of the system is approaching, in spite of its apparent vitality. + +Everything looked very dark for my first meeting beforehand. The +opposition threatened was of a different kind to that which we generally +met, which had been mainly materialistic. Here, in Geneva, there was a +good deal of sentimentality, much talk about the police being good +Christian men, and about reclamations effected by them. It was requested +by a friend that the legal aspect of the matter should be especially +dealt with. Professor Hornung was with us in sympathy from the first. He +was Professor of Jurisprudence in the University of Geneva, and a very +able and distinguished man. My spirits fell, however, when a note came +in the afternoon to say that the Professor had been taken suddenly ill +and could not come to the meeting. The room was crowded at the hour +announced, and at the last moment Mr. Hornung entered, wrapped in shawls +and looking very pale. He took the presidency. Towards the end, when a +pause was given for objections to be brought forward, behold, there were +no objectors! but one after another stood up and gave in his adhesion to +our cause. Père Hyacinthe spoke very eloquently for us. He also wrote a +kind letter to me the following day, in which he said, “One feels, dear +Madame, that God is with you in your heroic crusade against what you +have so well called ‘the typical crime, the gigantic iniquity’ of our +race. God is with you, Madame; it is necessary that men should be with +you also. I beg that you will count entirely upon my weak but sincere +services.” + +I cannot easily forget the impression of that first visit to Geneva, a +city of glorious traditions, and formerly the stern upholder of liberty +of conscience. + +Geneva! still full of activity and life and educational movements, whose +glory is chiefly of the past, but in whose midst there is still high +profession of religion and spirituality, and at the same time desperate +social evils and Governmental iniquities which many of your best men and +women find too horrible to speak of; what, I asked myself, will be +_your_ judgment at the last? + +Before the meeting many proofs had come to me of sinister influences +exercised to prevent my being heard, and to discourage people from +coming. Some of the professing Christians of Geneva seemed to be the +most deeply in love with the system of legalised vice. At one time the +anxiety was almost greater than I could bear, and I felt the pressure of +the responsibility all the more because at that time my husband had been +compelled to return to his duties at the Liverpool College, leaving me +to complete my immediate mission on the Continent without his comforting +and strengthening presence. My heart was burdened with all the shameful +things I had heard concerning the slave system in Geneva, the buying and +selling of young girls, and the corruption of young men, students, +school boys, and whole families. The good and venerable Pastor Borel had +told me of his experiences, and a tradesman of the town, M. W.——, who +had worked hard to try to save a few victims, called to see me. The +latter was an old, hard-sinewed man, apparently with little +sentimentalism about him; but during his recital he was so moved that he +burst into tears. + +When the hour came, however, for the encounter, pity and sorrow were +stronger than the anger I had felt; and as I spoke I could see that the +people were moved. I happened to stand with my back to the light, which +fell fully upon the audience, and I was much struck by the rows of old, +grey heads and venerable faces. It was like an assembly of Elders, not +only of the Church, but Elders in science and in learning. I thanked God +when I saw that many of the Elders wept! Those tears made me glad. In +some sense no doubt this was a fruitful initiation of our Abolitionist +work; but of results we saw little or nothing for many years, in spite +of Geneva having become, two years later, the seat of our first great +and important International Congress. + +On the morning following this meeting it was that I became first +acquainted with Madame de Gingins, whose name is so well known as one of +our most constant friends on the Continent. She was then emerging from +the shadow of a great sorrow, and felt that the call to this work would +be to her a revival of life and hope. + +From Geneva I went on to Neuchâtel, where the tone was very different. +It was here that I first made the personal acquaintance of our beloved +friends and fellow workers for so many years, M. and Mme. Aimé Humbert, +and their family. M. Humbert speedily called together a Conference, and +it was on this occasion that I first gained a knowledge of his breadth +of view and intellectual grasp. His long experience of political life +and of men had endowed him with a readiness and tact and power of +controlling and guiding an assembly even of the most discordant elements +such as I have scarcely seen in any other man. I must give some extracts +from M. Humbert’s address at this first meeting. + +“What response,” he asked, “shall we make to the appeal which has been +made to us?” + +“We are not, it is true, in the same situation as the associations which +have been mentioned. The reformist agitation in England aims at +effecting the repeal of laws protective of immorality. In the first +place, no _Federal law_ analogous to these exists in Switzerland. +Legislation relating to public morals is within the province of the +several cantons. Then, again, in the canton of Neuchâtel, the criminal +code takes cognisance of vice, and visits it with correctional or +criminal penalties, as the case may be, without consideration of person +or sex. We have, then, a legislation protective of morality, and which +admits neither exception nor reservation. I may add that in general it +is respected, especially in our chief city of Berne, which is, perhaps, +of all Switzerland, the town the most exempt from the scourge of +prostitution. On the other hand, in our principal industrial centre, at +Chaux-de-Fonds, immoral houses were established some years since, as in +Geneva. The fact is public and notorious, and it has already called +forth the remonstrances of the Synod of the National Church of +Neuchâtel, which have been without result. Consequently our situation is +this:—We have, I repeat, a legislation protective of morality, but this +legislation is openly violated in a portion of our territory. Thus, +instead of seeking, as in England, the repeal of a law the enactment of +which constituted an innovation, we have to demand the strict observance +of the existing law. If we do not do this, we sanction by our silence a +state of things worse than in England. There, at least, there is no +longer any _legal hypocrisy_! the law declares openly what it intends to +tolerate. Here, on the contrary, the prohibition of vice is held to be +complete; it is officially proclaimed, and, nevertheless, in one portion +of our territory, all the crimes and misdemeanours which fall under the +ban of the penal code are daily committed with the full knowledge of +every citizen. + +“Without respect for the laws, there is no true Republic. If a good law +becomes a lie, it tends to deaden the national conscience and to deprave +the people, just as much as a bad law could do. Let us, then, have the +courage of our opinions! If our law is good, let us compel its +observance; if, on the contrary, we judge that we ought to substitute +for it the toleration of immorality, let us boldly legalise vice! I am +persuaded that this will not be done. A law of tolerance is an +impossibility in our canton. Neither our present Grand Council, nor any +Grand Council of Neuchâtel, will ever sanction it. Could an institution +exist in our Republic of Neuchâtel which braves the legislative power, +and subsists in spite of public opinion? Such a thing would be the +commencement of the downfall of our Republic. And what description of +institution is it, for which we should have to introduce a _régime_ of +privilege incompatible with our constitutional guarantees? An +institution which is, in itself, a flagrant violation of individual +liberty, and of the equality of all the inhabitants of the country, +whether men or women, before the law. The inauguration of legal +prostitution is nothing else than the triumph of brute force, the +consecration of police despotism over the weaker sex—the protection of a +white slave-trade—in a word, the organisation of female slavery. + +“But hygienic considerations are invoked. We are told that certain +diseases would thus become rarer or less pernicious. Well, let us admit +for an instant—what I consider by no means proved—that this assertion is +incontestable. I will tell you of another disease, which, wherever this +system obtains, becomes ever more deadly and less rare. It does not, +indeed, attack any single organ of the human frame, but it withers all +that is human—mind, body, soul. It strikes our youth at that unhappy +moment when first they cross the threshold of the abodes of State +regulated vice; and when they recross that threshold to the purer air, +oh God! what fatal deed has not been done! For them the spring of life +has no more flowers; the very friendships of their youth are polluted; +they become strangers to all the honourable relations of a pure life; +and thus it is that more and more in these days we see stretching wider +and wider around us the circle of this mocking, faded, worn out, +sceptical youth, without poetry, without love, without enthusiasm, +without faith, and without joy. And yet this is the generation on which +the hopes of our country rest! + +“There is something truly mysterious in the way in which a social +scourge makes its way and propagates itself; but what is still more +astonishing, or rather more admirable, is the means by which Providence +puts an end to it. + +“For some time past have Jules Simon, in his work, _L’Ouvrière_; Victor +Hugo, in _Les Misérables_, John Stuart Mill, Acollas, Hornung, and many +other writers denounced the crime of female slavery, and declared it the +duty of democracy to provide for the extinction of prostitution. Many +applauded; but the thing would have ended there had not the advocates of +legal prostitution in Great Britain themselves solicited and obtained +from Parliament an official sanction of this system of slavery. Then—not +till then—this system was unveiled in the full light of publicity, and +publicity is fatal to it; for on the one hand vice cannot bear the light +in a country where the Press is free, and on the other hand no _law_ of +Parliament can, in the mind of the British nation, over-ride the +_Charter_ of its ancient liberties, it having been one of the first +among the great nations of Europe to formulate the guarantee of personal +rights. The Charter of our little country of Neuchâtel is of still more +ancient date (1213). The first Compact of alliance of our Confederation +belongs to the close of the same century (1291). _Individual Liberty_ +founded alike the greatness of England and the happiness of Switzerland. +We cannot, any more than the English, permit slavery upon our Republican +soil. It may not be allowed an entrance there, whether official or +secret. Let us all mutually unite to protect liberty and justice from +the evil which threatens them in common. Mrs. Butler’s mission will +prove to be for us a providential event, the opportunity which we must +quickly seize, in order to act upon our canton and upon Switzerland, and +to associate ourselves with the great reformatory struggle which is +coming upon Europe, and, sooner or later, upon the whole world.” + +In company with Madame Humbert, I visited the largest industrial town of +the Jura, La Chaux-de-Fonds. There was much moral evil there, but also +many sternly just and good people. I was fully rewarded for the visit +there by the adhesion of persons who have remained constant to our +cause, and whose work was crowned by complete success in 1892 by the +final abolition of the infamous institution in that city, and in the +entire canton of Neuchâtel. + +The town stands high on the Jura. I was warned that the cold would be +many degrees greater than at Neuchâtel; and, indeed, I found it so. Even +the extraordinary beauty of the vast expanses of snow, the black forests +of enormous pine trees, with their weights of heavy clinging snow, the +glimpses of the distant Alps, stretching from Mont Blanc to the +Wetterhorn and Wellhorn, scarcely gave me courage enough to hold out +against the cold as we ascended. Madame Humbert kindly accompanied me. +As we came near the town, however, I found I had not come among cold +hearts. Several venerable men met us a little way from the town, with +fur wrappings about them, and faces full of kindly welcome, and stood +with heads uncovered until the sledge started again for the town. The +deep snow made everything very silent; no rattle of wheels, only the +soft, sweeping sound of the sledges flying swiftly about, and the +musical ringing of the horses’ bells. We had excellent meetings there. + +From Neuchâtel I visited Berne and Lausanne, finding warm friends in +each place. Thence I returned to Paris. It was on this second visit to +Paris that I made the acquaintance of Madame de Morsier, whose name is +endeared to many of us with whom she has worked on the Continent ever +since. M. Humbert joined me in Paris, having determined, after grave +consultation with his wise and gentle wife, to throw himself into the +cause, although it might involve for him some sacrifice from a material +point of view. “_God wills it_,” he said. “This was the cry of the old +Crusaders, and still more do I feel that it is the motto of those who +are being drawn into this great movement.” + +I will not dwell upon the rather bitter experiences of the first part of +this my second visit to Paris, arising from the opposition and cynicism +which we met with. “It is a hard crusade,” exclaimed M. Humbert one day, +as he returned from a long and fruitless controversy with M. Mettetal, +ex-Prefect of the Morals’ Police, the predecessor of Lecour. M. Mettetal +was a Protestant, and esteemed a religious man, but on the subject of +justice, equality and legality, _he was stone blind_. + +It is pleasanter to recollect the kindness, which never failed, of +certain warm friends, and the readiness to accept our message which we +found among the humbler classes of the people. Several interesting +meetings were held, promoted by M. Ed. de Pressensé and other +distinguished men of the Protestant community, and others by leaders +among the working men and women of Paris. At one large meeting, at which +there was a crowd of women present, an advocate opposed us. He proceeded +to say all the untrue and cowardly things which men generally say when +defending the enslavement of women, for they use the same arguments all +over the world. Before he had gone far, however, he seemed rather taken +aback, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the furious burst of +scorn and anger which proceeded from all the women, and almost all the +men, present. He endeavoured to go on, but the women hissed, and moaned, +and protested so energetically that his voice was drowned. It gladdened +my heart to see this furious protest from these poor Frenchwomen. The +advocate became somewhat excited and tried to fling back the scorn of +the women, getting, however, more and more into the mud, and floundering +hopelessly. When he declared that the unhappy women for whose civil and +natural rights we had pleaded, were the vilest of creatures, scarcely +human, and justly expelled from and scorned by society, the women +present sprang to their feet, and almost with one voice demanded, “But +the men! What about the men? Are they not equally guilty, base and +despicable?” I thanked God in my heart for this storm of righteous +indignation. But there was sadness, too, in it. It had a maledictory +sound which reminded me of the deep and deadly wounds which had been +inflicted upon the population of Paris, and spoke of still further +tribulation which might be in store for her. + +Dr. Armand Deprés, a physician of the Lourcine Hospital, a man of great +statistical knowledge on this question, gave me valuable help during +this visit. He attended with me another large meeting, chiefly of the +working class, and addressed them with a wonderful tenderness, giving +also at the same time, clearly and delicately, the results which only a +medical expert like himself could furnish. + +Many proofs of sympathy reached us from other parts of France. One of +the most touching of these was a letter from Mr. Charles de Bourbonne, a +magistrate of Rheims, who had pronounced a severe, just, and eloquent +judgment in a case which had occurred in carrying out the regulations in +his own city. On account of that judgment, which is a masterpiece of +clearly-stated principle _versus_ opportunism, and would well deserve to +be quoted in full, he was degraded from the magistracy. He wrote to me:— + + +“Madam,—Yours is a work of lofty aims and noble purposes. Your voice +will not sound in the desert. You will be able at length to create that +phalanx of workers so much needed, which shall constitute an +indissoluble alliance, an alliance indispensable to the cause which you +defend. England is a privileged country, since liberty of discussion +prevails there. It is not so in France. It is as a martyr in the great +Cause which I dared to defend, that I address you to-night. I have +committed the wrong of being in the right, and, after nineteen years of +arduous labours in the Magistracy, I am degraded for having dared to +oppose abuses which I considered infamous, and am now compelled at an +advanced age to seek some retired business which shall permit me to live +honestly. You ask me to become an honorary member of the International +Congress to take place next year. I accept it with all my heart, and I +am proud to do so. + + “C. DE BOURBONNE, + “_Ex-Justice of the Peace_.” + + +This Magistrate had said, in his published judgment, “I have discovered, +and have proofs, that it is the police itself which is one of the main +causes of the depravity and demoralisation of our great cities. Without +much education, of a morality at least doubtful, and in possession of an +arbitrary power which is beyond any possible control, the agents of the +Morals’ Police are believed upon their simple word, and their reports +obtain credence.” + +The close of this year was marked by a vigorous correspondence in the +French Press on the subject of the Police des Mœurs, which bore much +fruit, bringing many hideous things to light, and arousing slumbering +consciences in the matter. + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + “Thy will was in the builder’s thought; + Thy hand unseen amidst us wrought; + Through mortal motive, scheme and plan, + Thy wise eternal purpose ran.” + + +Before I go further with the recital of the events in connection with +our crusade which stand out most prominently in my memory, I must pause +to speak briefly of some of the persons with whom I was most closely +allied in the early years of our work. + +They rise before me now—those faces and those groups of faces of dear +friends and companions in labour, of all classes and conditions, and of +different lands and races. Many have passed away; but their memory lives +in the hearts of those with whom they were associated for a time in work +and prayer and hope. + +First among the many groups comes that of the earliest and most active +leaders in the Ladies’ National Association. One of these, the Bristol +group, still continues to be full of life and energy. I refer especially +to the sisters Priestman and Margaret Tanner, with Miss Estlin and +others closely associated with them, who have been to me, personally, +through this long struggle, from the first years till now, a kind of +body guard, a _corps d’élite_ on whose prompt aid, singleness of +purpose, prudence, and unwearying industry I could and can rely at all +times, and the knowledge of whose existence and loyalty alone, even when +parted from them for long periods, is a continued source of comfort and +strength. The utter absence in them of any desire for recognition, of +any vestige of egotism in any form, is worthy of remark. In the purity +of their motives they shine out “clear as crystal.” + +The mere mention of their names, and those of a host of others, is but a +cold and poor tribute. Nevertheless, I cannot pass on without a brief +allusion to others. Mrs. Kenway, of Birmingham, was another of my +strongest friends; her house was always my home in passing through and +working in that busy centre, a home in which I was always lovingly +received by herself, her husband, and all her family. I must mention her +sister also, Mrs. Henry Richardson, of York. Other names which crowd +upon me are those of Mrs. Edward Walker, of Leeds, of Mr. and Mrs. +Clark, of Newcastle, Mr. and Mrs. Spence Watson and the Richardson +family, of the same town; of Mrs. Pease Nichol, Miss Wigham, and Mrs. +Bright McLaren, of Edinburgh; of Mrs. Lucas, Mrs. Maclaren and other +ladies of Glasgow, and Miss Isabella Tod, of Belfast, one of the ablest, +and certainly the most eloquent, of our women workers of those times. +Miss Lucy Wilson, whose loss to our cause through death some years ago +was a serious one, might be numbered as one of the legal helpers of our +cause. She had a remarkably keen intelligence and extraordinary capacity +for sifting evidence, unravelling tortuous argument, and dividing the +true from the false. She was often employed by our Parliamentary friends +to examine and pronounce upon doubtful proposals, emanating from the +Government or elsewhere. Her verdict was generally found to be just. Her +character and feelings as a woman, at the same time, were true and +tender. + +There are many more names revered and honourable which I might bring in, +but I do not know how to enumerate them. I am forced, like the Apostle +who gives us the record of the heroes of faith, to sum up with the +words, “And what shall I say more? for the time would fail me to tell” +of this and that standard-bearer of righteousness. Their record is in +heaven; they do not need my poor homage; they never coveted earthly +praise. + +The lofty and perilous position to which the first women workers in this +cause were called, was indicated by Dr. Guthrie, one of the venerable +leaders of the Scottish Free Church, in a letter which was published in +1872, as follows:— + +“There is a picture in the old Dutch town of Leyden which I have looked +on with the deepest emotions. Its object is the brave, and, by God’s +blessing, successful defence of that city when besieged by the forces of +those two fierce persecutors, Philip II. and the Duke of Alva. And what +there most moved my heart was the sight of women, in whom the fear of +outrage from the brutal soldiery had swallowed up the fear of death, +standing beside their fathers, brothers, and husbands on the crests of +the crowded ramparts. No place for women, that, it may be said. But turn +the light of history on the scene; read in Motley’s pages the +unutterable horrors to which both maidens and mothers were exposed, and +you will look through tears of sympathy on the beautiful woman, pale +with loss of blood, whom they are bearing off to die in a quiet chamber, +and on those of her sex who, undaunted by her fall, stand boldly by the +guns and, with hands used to gentler work, point the muzzle and fire on +the assailant. Circumstances, as they say, alter cases. They did so +there; they did so when, in lack of men, Grace Darling hastened to the +rescue, put her own young life in peril, and pulled for the sinking +wreck. They did so in Jerusalem also, when women, casting aside the +ordinary restraints of their age, openly followed our Lord to Calvary, +and, in the face of His raging enemies, bewailed and lamented Him. + +“Such honour as I give to these I give to those ladies who have stepped +out of their ordinary sphere to publicly expose the vice-regulating +laws, and to become leaders of men,—to inspire the hesitating with +firmness and cowards with courage. A good while ago different persons +urged me to take pen in hand and address the mothers of our country, the +guardians of its homes and household virtues, on the jeopardy into which +both were brought by the authors and advocates of these foul laws. Fear +of being thought presumptuous made me, while I acknowledged the honour, +decline—at least delay—the task. But when these ladies, braving in this +crisis the scoffs of profligates, rising above all fear of +misunderstanding and misrepresentation by their public appearance on +such a subject, offered up a sacrifice on the altar of virtue that only +the delicate and pure and high-minded can fully appreciate, I were a +coward to hang back. They have thrown themselves into the breach, and I +cannot but follow.” + +The position which the women took was also well described by our +venerable Christian statesman, the Right Honourable J. W. Henley, when +from his seat in Parliament he uttered these words: “It is objected that +this agitation is the work of women; but it is impossible not to see +that it is women who are above all others affected by this law. We men +do not know what they suffer. These women have set their feet upon the +Rock of Ages, and nothing will drive them from that position. They have +taken up the cross, despising the shame, and they will not shrink or +turn back.” + +These words were uttered in the House of Commons, in which were many +cynics, in the midst of an awed and reverential silence. The character +and age of the speaker himself contributed to this feeling of respect. + +If in the course of my imperfect narrative I have omitted to mention +some of those who are worthy of mention and honour, I ask that I may be +pardoned for that omission. We were many. As the years went on, we +gathered adherents from all parts of the civilised world; we came to be +a host which it would be difficult to number. There were in the front +many distinguished men,—men of European and world-wide reputation, +economists, philosophers, statesmen, writers, patriots, leaders of men; +and at the same time there were countless helpers whose contribution to +the great awakening and onward movement was a hidden one, resembling the +vitalising influence of a stream or fountain flowing underneath the +soil, whose presence is only known by the verdure and freshness of the +pastures around. How many victories have been won for us by the silent +prayers of these, while we were in the midst of the battle, will only be +known when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed. + +Among the men who stood foremost in those early years, I have already +spoken of some. Emeritus Professor Francis Newman, brother of the late +Cardinal Newman, gave us strong help by his powerful pen and unflinching +rebukes of those in authority who had conspired to bring this trouble +upon our country. An anonymous friend won the gratitude of the Ladies’ +National Association in its infancy, when its resources were meagre, by +a gift of £100. This friend proved to be the father of Mr. John +Thomasson, of Bolton. His son, in the same spirit, has never failed to +stand our friend up to the present day; his gentleness of character and +manner, combined with great firmness of principle, has made him to be +beloved by us all. Mr. R. F. Martineau, of Birmingham, was ever a firm +and clear-headed upholder of our principles, and was the inspirer of the +work, during many years, of his own creation,—the Midland Electoral +Union. He had strong supporters in Mr. Morgan, the Rev. J. G. Brown and +others at Birmingham. Mr. Joseph Edmondson, of Halifax, aided us +powerfully by his pen as well as by active labours. The tortuous +methods, arguments and subterfuges of our opponents, when they began to +take refuge from approaching defeat in manifold “substitutes,” were +exposed by him in a masterly manner in his pamphlet “The Regulationists +and their Policy.” + +Mr. Henry J. Wilson was from the first, and is now, one of our strongest +champions. + +I have already mentioned Mr. Edward Backhouse, who supported us +munificently year by year by his generous donations as well as by his +commanding presence on many public occasions. When his death was +announced it was said with truth, “A prince has fallen this day in +Israel.” His name again recalls those of many other pillars of the +Society of Friends, two of Birmingham, Mr. Albright and Mr. J. E. +Wilson, and more especially of those two pure and saintly men George +Gillett and Frederick Wheeler. + +A year or two after our first attack on the vice-regulating laws, there +appeared, equipped for the battle, and powerful, though young, another +member of that Society, Alfred Dyer, whose action and influence in +India, and their important results, are well known to my readers. + +For legal advice and help all through, we were greatly indebted to Mr. +William Shaen and Professor Sheldon Amos. Mr. Shaen held a prominent +position for many years as President of the National Association. I +first became acquainted with him in 1870, and retained his friendship +till his death. He was a man of great firmness of character, who on +first acquaintance appeared cold; yet his nature was one of great +gentleness, and his counsel was always kind. One could go to him for +advice in the most tragic and criminal cases, sure of his sympathy. Some +allusion was once made at a Conference to persons who might be called +the _refuse of society_. Mr. Shaen remarked: “For me, there is no refuse +of society.” Very valuable work was done by him for the British and +Continental Federation. He drew up several weighty documents on the +legal side of our question, which stated clearly the lines upon which +the legislation of the future, connected with the subject of our work, +should be based. + +Of the National Committee which sat at Westminster, and worked +especially with a view to influencing Members of Parliament, the two Mr. +Mallesons were pillars of strength, Mrs. W. Malleson contributing by her +refined and able pen to our literature. Mr. Banks was from first to last +the able and laborious secretary of that Committee. As members of the +same Committee I must not fail to mention Mrs. Venturi, a friend of +Mazzini, and Mrs. Steward. To the latter was assigned an arduous task in +visiting Belgium in aid of the inquiry into the criminal “white slave +trade,” which was carried on between that country and our own. This +mission was promoted by the Abolitionist Committee of the City of +London, headed by our late venerable friend, Mr. Benjamin Scott, for +many years Chamberlain of the City of London. + +Since the year 1880 a host of younger workers has gathered into our +ranks, of whom, while thinking of them with loving regard, I will not +attempt here to give even such an imperfect notice as the above. + +I have named, after all, only a portion of those who deserve all honour +for the sacrifices they made and the good work they did. Our +Parliamentary friends, as well as certain leaders of Churches and +Denominations who were prominent in our work, are noticed in the course +of my narrative. Our principal Continental, American, and other friends +come in the same way into the story itself. + +Most certainly we have had strong consolation and high privileges in the +midst of much obloquy, and some painful experiences. Among the former +advantages stands first the fact that the question we dealt with has +brought forward at all times, and in all countries, the best men and +women of those times and countries, welding them and us into a great +league of solid friendships and common aims. Those who have gathered +round the Abolitionist standard from the first till now have indeed been +of “the salt of the earth.” + +Personally, it has been to me an indescribable blessing and strength to +have been surrounded all along by tenderly loyal adherents and +supporters in the persons of my own family, and of those dearest to me. +Few, perhaps, have been so highly favoured in this respect. My husband’s +character and his position in the work are known. My sons, following in +his steps, always gave me loving sympathy, and, as they advanced to +manhood, practical help, for which I here record my affectionate +acknowledgments. My five sisters were, at different times, more or less +associated in the work, and were always and strongly in sympathy with +it. One of them was for many years an active member of the Executive +Committee of the Ladies’ National Association, and at her death was +succeeded in that position by another sister. Another though frail and +in failing health, laboured closely with me for several years, +especially in promoting petitions and memorials from Churches. + +The year 1875 has few clear recollections for me, personally, in direct +connection with our cause. Six years of work, and more especially the +winter months spent in very difficult work on the Continent, had +over-taxed my strength. My health gave way, and was only restored by +several months of rest, during which I heard only the distant echoes of +the conflict, while I remained at home. + +Some of those echoes were of a mournful nature. The _Gazetta di Milano_ +recorded early in that year several cases of girls who had committed +suicide to avoid the agony of being placed on the Government register of +shame, and of another who had been deliberately and cleverly entrapped +into the “service,” and who had locked herself into her room, and +attempted suicide by breathing the fumes of charcoal. She was found in +the morning, stretched on her bed quite insensible, with a crucifix +clasped in her arms. The immodest pictures, and other objects suggestive +of evil, with which her apartment had been furnished, were found all +broken to pieces by her hands, and lay strewed about the room. Happier +had it been for her if that sleep had been her last; but life was not +extinct, and she was restored to consciousness, to her own bitter grief. + +In the month of March, Mrs. Percy, of Aldershot, a widow, who had for +some years during her husband’s illness maintained her children +honestly, drowned herself in order to escape from police persecution, by +which, if she had yielded, she would have been driven to be registered +on the Government roll of shame. Before taking the fatal resolve she had +written a letter to the _Daily Telegraph_. It was a wild appeal of +terror and indignation, relieved by a faint hope that some heart would +be touched, and her case would be taken up. No answer, however, coming +at once to her cry of anguish, she sought refuge from dishonour in +death. The National Association instituted a strict inquiry into all the +circumstances, which were found to be as Mrs. Percy and her young +daughter had stated. That Association also charged itself with the care +of the little orphan sons of Mrs. Percy, while her daughter was +committed to my husband’s care and mine, and was sent to our home in +Liverpool. Much indignation was aroused in the country; the Government +agent who had hunted this poor woman to death, however, retained his +position, possibly receiving a mild warning from the Secretary for War +to be more careful in future in the selection of his victims. + +An Indignation Meeting was held in St. James’s Hall, London, at which +our Parliamentary leaders spoke out plainly on this matter. My husband +read to that meeting an informal deposition made to him by the young +girl soon after she came under our care. + +“The statement,” he said, “which I am about to read to you was drawn +from little Jane Percy in the confidence of a quiet Sunday chat after +she had been a fortnight in our house, and it was written down +immediately. We asked her to tell us exactly all she could recollect, if +it was not too painful to her. She replied, ‘I will tell you exactly +what I saw and remember’; and then, speaking for the first time of the +bitter trial to which she had been subjected, she said: ‘They called the +police and ordered my mother to go up to the Metropolitan Police Office +and bring me with her. Mamma and I went. We there saw Inspector G——. He +was in his room, and mamma was first called in alone. I cannot, +therefore, tell what passed between mamma and the Inspector, because I +was not there. I can only tell you this, that mamma was never the same +person again after that hour. She told me that she assured Inspector G—— +that she would rather sign her death warrant than the paper he gave her +to sign. I was then called in. I shall never forget the moment when I +stood before Inspector G—— and he accused me. He said, “Do you know, +girl, why you are here?” I replied, “No, sir, I do not.” He said, “You +are here because you are no better than you should be. You know what +that means, I suppose?” I said, “No, sir, I do not.” He laughed in a +horrible way when I said this. I continued to deny that I knew what he +meant; for, indeed, I did not. I knew what a bad character was: there +are plenty in Aldershot; but I could not understand that he meant to +accuse me and my mamma of being bad characters. He asked me if we had a +“pass” into the camp. I answered “Yes, we always had one: for we had +engagements to sing while papa was lying ill.” He then shouted to some +one, “See that these two women have their passes taken away from them; +we will put a stop to all that!” You see, mamma could not earn a living +after this. It hurt me so when he called mamma and me “these two women!” +Mamma said to me when we came out, “Jenny, this will be the death of +me.” She never looked cheerful any more. She was watched by the police +wherever she went. Then she wrote that last letter to the _Daily +Telegraph_. Soon after that we went away to try and get an engagement +elsewhere, but could not succeed. Mamma was always crying, and we began +to feel what a loss father was; for though he was so ill that he was not +able to earn a penny for two years, he was a good friend. We used to +tell him every trouble, and he would talk it over and advise us kindly. +Nobody but myself knows what mamma suffered. She could never rest at +night; for she said Inspector G——’s face was always before her, as she +saw it when he accused her. If she fell asleep, she would wake up +sobbing and in a fright. I consider that man has been the death of my +mamma. He said to her at the end, “I will not let you alone.” Well, a +friend came from Aldershot to ask mamma to go back there. We went back. +Friends used to say to her, “Cheer up! you will be all the more +respected when this is cleared up and the truth is known.” She again +said she would choose death rather than do as Inspector G—— wished her +to do!’ + +“Jenny spoke all this in a low, quiet voice, not at all excitedly. Her +visit to the police station seemed to haunt her even more than her +mother’s death. She is proud of her mother, and this pride helps her to +bear the loss. She said at last: ‘What a law this is! I never could +believe there was such a law. Since this law was made it is not +considered respectable to speak to a soldier, nor have one in your +house; but I can tell you that, though I have lived among soldiers ever +since I was born, I never had a rough word or an insult from one in my +life, and they were always respectful to my mamma. I think you will find +that all those who knew her spoke well of her.’” + +In May of this year a very important series of conferences was held in +London on the occasion of the visit of several well-known Continental +members of the Federation whom we had invited to meet us. Among these +was M. Edmond de Pressensé. This distinguished man has been described as +“one of the most eloquent scholars and scholarly divines of the French +Reformed Church.” He had an intellectual countenance and a rich and +pleasant voice; but his success as a preacher was chiefly secured by the +solidity of his attainments and the depth of his religious convictions. +He published many solid works, among which are “Lectures on Christianity +in its Application to Social Questions,” “A History of the First Three +Centuries of the Christian Era,” and his “Life of Christ,” which was +published in 1866. He was a member of the National Assembly, and was +nominated by it as Chairman of a Committee for investigating the +Penitentiary Laws, and was later the principal actor on a Commission on +the prison of St. Lazare. He was created a Chevalier of the Legion of +Honour for his devotion in relieving the poor during the Franco-German +War, and was finally elected a member of the Senate. + +M. George Appia, an Italian by birth, was well known as an ardent +apostle of the ancient Waldensian Church in Italy. He had been called to +Paris as a Pastor of the Church of the Augsburg Confession; a man of +genius and of a highly spiritual nature. + +Two of our other visitors on this occasion have already been introduced +to the reader, viz., M. Aimé Humbert and M. Giuseppe Nathan. Père +Hyacinthe also was among the invited, but took ill after arriving in +London, and was prevented attending these Conferences. He addressed a +meeting some weeks later in St. James’s Hall on behalf of the +Federation. + +A Conversazione was held in the Westminster Palace Hotel on the evening +before the Conference, when one or two informal addresses were given by +the Continental visitors. M. Humbert, speaking in French, said: “I must +tell you that the work of reform which you have taken up is not entirely +an innovation in our Continental history. As far back as twenty years +ago Pastor Borel undertook single-handed in Geneva the stupendous task +of bringing the question before the public, and of combating for the +abolition of these laws. But he was alone in the work; alone in signing +a petition to the Grand Council. He sent his petition. It was +acknowledged and sent back to be examined by the Council of State, and +no more was heard of it. The following year he made another charge, with +no more success than the first. He continued to labour on, and by great +tact and effort succeeded in securing the escape of several of the +victims from the tolerated houses. The track had been opened, and +pioneers came in. Two years ago the newspapers of Geneva acquainted the +public with the startling fact that an English lady had come for the +special purpose of holding Conferences on the question raised by Pastor +Borel. Every one said, ‘Ah, a very English proceeding, indeed!’ The +matter was treated with more or less of levity until the Genevese learnt +that a British and Continental Federation had been formed to deal with +the matter, and that the seat of the Federation was London. This news +stirred them. A Federation with its headquarters in London must be +something worth notice.... I believe that henceforward both sides of the +Channel will advance hand in hand in this great question of justice.” + +A very large and representative Conference was held the following +afternoon. A crowd of delegates came from all parts of the United +Kingdom. Mr. Stansfeld presided Canon Butler read several letters, one +from Père Hyacinthe regretting his enforced absence, a second from +Professor Emile de Laveleye, whose attention had only recently been +drawn to this question, and who now sent us the expression of his +complete adhesion to our principles and work. Another letter was from +Pastor Theodore Monod, who was prevented joining us by the obligation to +attend a series of Conferences in the South of France. He wrote:— + +“We are with you in spirit; we are providing ourselves with ammunition; +we shall make use of your guns on the battlefield. Surely it is high +time that every Christian should rouse himself to more earnest prayer, +more steadfast trust and more whole-hearted devotion, and, as a +necessary consequence, march forward in the Saviour’s might against +these citadels of iniquity.” + +M. de Pressensé’s speech on this occasion was one of the most remarkable +we had ever heard. Mr. Stansfeld spoke of it as follows: “I knew that M. +de Pressensé was a politician with a great and well-deserved reputation +in his own country. I knew that he was an orator and a well-known +divine; but I did not expect the privilege which was in store for us in +the discourse to which we have just listened, a discourse displaying +merits which are very rarely to be found combined in the speech of one +man. It was the speech of a philosopher who has alike the instinct and +training of a statesman. It contained the clearest statement of +principle, and it was full of the divine sentiment of love which should +fill the hearts of those who preach the Gospel. It was delivered with an +energy and antithesis of eloquence of which, I fear, few Englishmen are +capable.” + +Every word of this speech is worthy of reproduction, but I only give +here an extract or two. + +“I entreat you to observe,” M. de Pressensé said, “that the State can +only defend rights conformably with right, and with respect for +individual liberty. Now in the case we are considering, not only does it +pursue the opposite of right, but the means by which it acts are a +flagrant violation of right. It withdraws the individual liberties of +thousands of human beings from the guardianship of law and of justice, +and delivers them over to the caprice of the administration; by this act +all those laws and rules made to prevent injustice being done, and to +prohibit imprisonment except under formally determined conditions, are +abrogated; they are replaced by the _régime_ of arbitrary will. + +“I will consent, however, to come down to the lower ground of +consequences, of results, although, in advance, I assert I am convinced +that there can be no real conflict between principles and results, and +that evil must always bring forth evil. You, who are the partisans of +these sanitary laws, speak of the public safety. Well, I will confine +myself to this question—Who do you save? We will not speak of the woman; +she is the necessary victim of the system—the living material, which has +to be mangled and torn by the iron teeth and wheels of this pitiless +mechanism. We will speak of her later; for the present I leave her out +of account. I repeat my question, Who do you save? (putting out of +account the woman, doomed to irremediable perdition.) Is it the _man_ +whom you save? I deny it! Placing myself even at your own materialistic +standpoint, I deny it. You speak only of the man’s body; you speak not +of his soul, and you are right. But you do not save his body. This is +certain, even from the documents furnished by the partisans of the +system themselves. A competent writer,[10] who has deeply studied this +subject, has uttered these words (speaking of Paris): ‘Prostitution +engenders prostitution. That which lights a fire at one point propagates +it everywhere.’ So true is this, that this sincere writer records the +fact that prostitution, outside of the sanitary laws, increases from day +to day in a most frightful degree. + +“Statistics are peremptory in their condemnation of these laws. For one +victim who comes under sanitary observation hundreds escape you, and +your measures of protection are useless. How could it be otherwise? You +wish to regulate vice, but it is of the essence of vice to refuse to be +regulated. Vice violates moral law, and you may expect it to transgress +human rules. It is like a torrent which has overflowed its banks; you +cannot say, ‘Thus far shall thou lawfully go, and no further.’ It mocks +all your regulations. You will never succeed in making disorderly +passions universally well ordered in their gratification. + +“You do not save the body! And the soul, the moral nature!—does not the +State contribute towards its perversion in sanctioning the idea that +debauchery at a certain age is a natural law, before which the young man +must bow—a law which the State recognises? And thus the State +facilitates the first steps to immorality, and becomes the tempter of +the young man. In facilitating these first steps, it favours public +immorality; for the patented evil has its recognised place in human +legislation. You speak of the harm which prostitution does to the body. +You would preserve the body, and you begin by poisoning the soul. Ah, +you have forgotten that _trifling thing_, the immortal soul! You have +forgotten the soul of youth, the soul of your country. You have +forgotten that this profligacy which you facilitate contributes to the +corruption of the youth of the nation, and sends it back to the domestic +hearth blighted, corrupted, prematurely aged, when it is not separated +for ever from the domestic hearth, as is the case now in certain +countries, where the complaint is made of the diminution of marriages, +and (as in the decline of the Roman Empire) rewards are held out to +those who will marry and bring up children. You have withered the +purity, the vigour, the moral energy of those young hearts. The Proverbs +of Solomon tell us that the house of debauchery (officially regulated or +not) is an open sepulchre—that it rests upon the tomb; and it is true. +And you wish that the State should hold the key to that chamber of +death—that the State should be the door-keeper to admit to it our +youthful citizens! You will not hinder, by your sanitary laws, the +realisation of the terrible genealogy of sin recorded by St. James: +‘When lust has conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is +finished, bringeth forth death.’ Yes, prostitution kills the soul, even +when it does not kill the body. This is the dialectic of evil, which +follows its own inexorable course. + +“The partisans of this system say to us, however:—‘Society has a right +to defend itself against physical evils which destroy it; it has a right +to resort to any means when it has to deal not only with debauchery, but +with debauchery which is a commerce; and these regulations, after all, +only apply to the infamous creatures who sell themselves, and have put +themselves beyond the pale of the law and of society: they are but the +dirt of the street.’ Now I do not under-rate the abomination of paid +debauchery. Yes, the vice which sells itself is abominable; what, then, +shall we say of those who buy it? But there are distinctions to be made +among those who sell. Let us look a little closer at the situation of +the woman whom Governments have submitted to a regulation which is a +complete and abject slavery. She deserves nothing but contempt you tell +us! She is invariably as morally perverse as you tell us she is! I ask, +how many of these girls are thrust upon the streets by abandonment after +seduction, or dragged down by want into the infamy from which they +cannot escape? What is your part in the matter? You engulf them further; +you thrust them down lower; you throw on them the last shovelful of +earth to hurl them to the abyss; you roll upon them the stone which +cannot be removed except by a supernatural effort. ‘Ah! you have fallen, +unfortunate creature,’ you say; ‘well, we will complete the work, we +will consummate your degradation: that which is already soiled shall be +made still more vile.’ This is logic; but it is the logic of demons! + +“I have supposed the case—so frequently occurring—of the misfortunes +which precipitate into public vice a young girl, a weak being, a mere +child, perhaps, of fifteen or sixteen years, the victim of infamous +seduction. Let us go further, and passing beyond all the various shades +of difference, let us take the worst cases of degradation. I have +admitted, I admit, that the woman who sells herself is a shameful being; +but what, I have asked, and ask again, shall we say of those who buy? Is +the stronger sex, being the purchaser, worthy of greater respect than +the weaker sex which is purchased? You desire that the State shall +sacrifice to the supposed public security thousands of female victims +doomed to perdition, and you forget that the profligate man is equally a +peril to public health with the impure woman. When I look at this +extremity of degradation which is set before us in order to justify +measures so terrible as those we oppose, I remember that I belong to a +religion of divine pity, and that no Christian can dare to say that even +these most degraded beings are beyond hope. I remember that there is a +love which seeks the lost soul, the lost treasure, in the very dust of +the road, and that that love is faithful and powerful and hopeful. A +noble Christian has said: ‘The world will believe in God when it sees +that the disciples of Christ believe in the human soul’; or, rather, +that they believe in that immense charity which descends into the lowest +abyss to seek that which is lost. In the face, then, even of the +profoundest debasement, we have no right to say, ‘All is over! we may +now treat this being as vile matter which may receive the official stamp +at the custom-house of human merchandise.’ + +“Here is a poor sinner who has heard of Jesus of Nazareth; her heart +beats with a new hope; she curses her abominable life; she feels an +impulse to go forward and throw herself weeping at His feet. But the +State policeman steps in and says, ‘Stop! you cannot pass; you must wait +for our authorisation; you must wait till your name is removed from the +register: you belong to us, and we will not give you up until you have +been long tested.’ She turns away and waits, and while she waits her +tears dry up, her heart again hardens, and she returns to infamy. Thus +the poor drowning creature is plunged once more into the waves of +impurity, and when she would seize hold of the plank of salvation it is +dashed away from her trembling hands. Such is your system! and there are +_Christians who approve it_! I know that there was an age when pagan +temples were devoted to the worship of Venus, and where there were +priestesses who were also the victims of horrible vice; but I had +believed that, eighteen centuries ago, Eternal Love had appeared upon +the earth! + +“I do not hide from myself the horror and the peril of the prostitution +which exists where there are not these laws—the horror and danger of +prostitution under every aspect, independently of the moral guilt of +governments which guarantee it. We must enter upon a grand crusade, not +only against legal prostitution, but against profligacy itself; we must +form an indomitable league.... We must pursue vice up to its source; we +must follow it in all its forms and in all its hiding-places; we must +attack the unholy literature, the impure art, and the debased drama +which are connected with it. Above all, we must combat the disastrous +delusion, so fixed in many minds, that vice is an inevitable fatality; +we must hold up before our youth the ideal of purity and of domestic +worth. + +“One word more: contemporary Christianity has done much for the +furtherance of the Christian faith, and we are profoundly moved at the +sight of its noble works. This is the month in which religious societies +hold meetings and record their labours. Nothing better! but let us take +care that, in giving ourselves to these good works, we do not forget the +wrongs which lie at our door; that in the midst of this activity, so +rich, so varied, carried to the very ends of the earth, we do not +overlook the perdition in which are plunged the victims of our +civilisation. Let us take heed, lest the Master say to us, ‘Yes, you +have served Me; you have adorned My sanctuaries to receive Me with +honour; you have shown great zeal in the propagation of your religion; +but the Pharisaism of old did the same; yet I rejected it because it +rejected the poor lost woman. He who truly loves, loves that which is +lost; but you, O Christian who bearest My name, what have you done for +her that is lost? what have you _allowed_ to be done to her? You have +suffered her to be taken and devoted to infamy for the security of your +sons. Therefore I say to you, I cannot endure your solemn feasts.’ May +we be spared this condemnation!” + +During the meeting a letter was received bearing the Paris postmark, and +handed to the Chairman, who pronounced it to be important. It was an +address expressing the fullest sympathy with the aims of the Federation, +and was signed by a long list of divines and laymen, Protestant leaders +throughout France. + +Professor Sheldon Amos made a very weighty speech on this occasion, full +of close reasoning, and supported by legal arguments. He was followed by +Sir Harcourt Johnstone, the Rev. James Martineau, the Right Honourable +G. Shaw Lefevre, and others. + + +In April of this year Mr. Gledstone and Mr. H. J. Wilson started on a +mission to the United States as delegates from the Federation. I asked +Mr. Gledstone to write for me briefly his recollections of the chief +events of that important mission. He consented to do so, and the +following is his account:— + +“It was, I remember, a cold stormy Thursday in April, 1876, when you +persisted in accompanying Mr. Wilson and me to the river, to see us on +board the _Adriatic_. The anti-regulation struggle has seen some +uncommon things; I think so now, as I recall your slender form seeking +shelter from the keen wind that swept through the little tug that +conveyed us to the huge steamer lying in the middle of the Mersey—two +strong men sent out on their mission and cheered to it by one woman! +Snow was on the tops of the Welsh hills as we got into the Channel. The +next day—Good Friday—was spent in Cork; then came a cold enough voyage. + +“Bearing, as we did, letters of introduction to several of the leaders +of the old anti-slavery party, we thought of beginning our mission to +the American people at Boston, and using that as a centre for our +propaganda. Providence had arranged it otherwise; we began at New York +and ended at Boston, thus reversing our plan. + +“First of all we tried, simultaneously with our missionary efforts, to +learn exactly the state of opinion on the system of State regulation of +vice, and what had been done to keep it out of the country. We found +that attempts had been made at many centres, in different ways, to get +the system a footing. Doctors and sanitary specialists were its +apostles. Some of the medical journals had, at odd times, for some years +past, been doing what they could to commend it to the notice and favour +of the profession. Although we never came upon any sign of the existence +of an organised pro-regulation party, we saw abundant evidence of the +existence, all over the States, of men, chiefly doctors, who were +resolutely bent upon having the regulation established in some form or +another. _The Medical Gazette_ of New York had been very zealous in +1870–71 in that direction. + +“In New York, in Chicago, in California, in Baltimore, in the district +of Columbia, in Cincinnati, in Pennsylvania, unsuccessful attempts had +been made to get State or municipal regulation. In California the Bill +which was introduced into the Legislature became known to a quick-witted +woman, the wife of one of the members, who immediately had another Bill +drafted, exactly the same as the first, save one word—for _woman_ she +substituted _man_. She then got several members of the Legislature to +promise that they would bring her Bill forward if any further progress +was made with the other. The mere sight of hers drove the other into +oblivion! She played a bold and risky game, for had her Bill been +accepted along with the other, it would have lain a dead letter, whereas +the police would have worked the other with vigour. She saw, so far, +only the injustice of the proposed Bill, inasmuch as it touched women +and exempted men; but did not see that it was also immoral to apply +regulation even to men and women alike. + +“On three occasions attempts had been made in the district of Columbia, +for the sake, of course, of including Washington. One of them was +defeated by the energy and resolution of Miss Edson. Learning late one +evening that a proposal was to be brought before Congress the next day, +she instantly left her home, and spent almost the whole night in +visiting newspaper offices, interviewing editors, and ringing Congress +men out of their beds to inform them of the character of the Bill, and +to implore them to oppose it. By this means time was gained, and with +the assistance of others she continued an opposition which was +ultimately successful. Her effort cost her her life; she soon fell ill +from over-exertion and died. + +“In every case the women seemed to have been particularly vigilant and +resolute, and from them we got some of our most effective help. The +women doctors, who were just as capable as the men doctors of +understanding the question in its physical bearings, were entirely with +us; at least, I cannot remember one who was not. + +“As an example of the service that may be rendered by one intelligent +and resolute man, I think I ought to name Mr. Francis King, of +Baltimore, a member of the Society of Friends, who, when the Chairman of +the Grand Jury broached the system of regulation, gave it his firm +resistance. Mr. King had studied the subject in Europe. + +“One place, St. Louis, had been afflicted with regulation from 1870 to +1874. It had been introduced with a craft quite worthy of the ‘father of +lies,’ a clause of the City Charter which dealt with the suppression of +houses of ill-repute being modified by the introduction of two words, +‘or regulate’; the Charter was thus altered—‘to suppress _or regulate_ +houses of ill-fame.’ Rev. Dr. Eliot, of Washington University, led the +opposition to it; 4,000 women petitioned for its repeal; and it was +removed by a unanimous vote of the Senate of the State of Missouri. + +“There was evidently work to be done; more than the Federation which had +sent us knew of, much more than the American friends of purity for a +moment suspected. They were mostly living in happy ignorance of this +plotting against the rights of all the women of the States, and against +the morals of the whole Republic. If our mission did nothing else, we +have the satisfaction of knowing that it effectually broke up that +self-confidence. + +“In New York, where we landed on April 24th, we found that preparations +had been made by Mr. Aaron M. Powell and Mrs. Gibbons for the holding of +a conference the next day. This was only a small gathering at Mrs. +Gibbons’ house of some twelve or fifteen ladies and gentlemen, to whom +we explained the object of our coming, and from whom we received +suggestions as to the best course for us to pursue. During the ten weeks +of our stay in America, we held six conferences in New York, each of +them interesting in its own peculiar way; one of them, in the New York +Infirmary, specially so, owing to the number of young women present who +were studying medicine. + +“In Dr. Cuyler, of Brooklyn, we found a warm and influential friend; he +took me with him to the house of Mr. Dodge, where I had the opportunity +of addressing some twenty-five of the most noted Presbyterian, Dutch +Reformed, and Congregational clergymen of the city. The same privilege +was extended to me by the Baptist ministers, of whom a hundred were +present at the meeting. I believe that by means of these ministerial +associations I succeeded in addressing almost the whole of the ministers +in all the great cities of the East. They were, of course, busy in every +case with their own local concerns, and could not find time to discuss +the theme brought before them; but there is ground for believing that +interest was excited and sympathy gained. + +“Among the more striking incidents of our tour was the presentment, +while we were in New York, to the ‘Court of General Sessions of the +Peace for the City and County of New York,’ of its own Grand Jury in +favour of dealing with the social evil by means of regulation. The +presentment closed with a resolution earnestly requesting the +Legislature of the State of New York to adopt some system of laws +calculated to confine houses of ill-fame in large cities to certain +specified localities, and to subject them at all times to the careful +and vigilant supervision of the Boards of Health and Police. This +presentment appeared in the _Evening Post_ of June 2nd (Friday), 1876; +and before we slept that night we had penned a protest against it in the +name of the Federation, taking up each point and answering it in the +light of our English and European experience. The next day we spent in +interviewing editors, and on Monday the _Herald_ published our protest; +three other papers also had articles on the presentment, either +condemning it as immoral, or making light of it as a suggestion made too +late in the day for acceptance. + +“I cannot leave the subject of New York without saying a word about the +kind and devoted friends we met. Mr. and Mrs. Aaron M. Powell gave us a +cordial welcome and unstinted help, and have carried on, ever since our +return, the work of meeting and resisting all attempt to legalise vice. +Mr. Powell had formerly been editor of the _Anti-Slavery Standard_, and, +like all the surviving members of the great anti-slavery movement, +seemed to have an intuitive knowledge of the great moral principles for +which we were contending. Mrs. Gibbons was another of our good friends, +and in the rooms of the Isaac T. Hopper Home (a benevolent home named in +honour of her brave, unselfish father) we had one or more of our +conferences. Mrs. Gay, of Staten Island, another Quaker and +Abolitionist, gave us excellent help, and has continued in the good work +till now. Mrs. Hussey aided us much among medical practitioners. + +“As one result of our visit, a Vigilance Committee was formed, which has +kept a sleepless eye on the movements of the enemy, and has defeated +many insidious plans to introduce regulation through sanitary +arrangements, or municipal laws, or State enactments. It has also +created a literature, modest indeed in size, but appealing to all that +is best and purest in the nation. Ten years ago the _Philanthropist_, a +monthly journal, was started, to be the organ of the purity party, and +has done good service. I cannot but believe that in New York alone our +work was a quiet introduction to the energetic White Cross Crusade, and +to the daring attacks of Dr. Parkhurst upon the corrupt police and +municipal authorities. The friends who had co-operated with us have, for +almost nineteen years, not only kept up a protest against every form of +legalising vice, but have also thrown themselves into every available +form of service for the promotion of a sound public opinion on the +relation of the sexes. + +“By the time we reached Washington a Bill had been framed by the Board +of Health and introduced into the House of Representatives, which, on +its face, looked innocent enough, but which really contained clauses of +a very dangerous character. Professing to be only a sanitary measure, +it, in fact, gave ample powers for working a system of inspection and +license. At one of our conferences we had the presence of the Rev. J. L. +Townsend, Chaplain of the House of Representatives, who, hearing of what +was being proposed, said he should confer with the Chaplain of the +Senate, so that together they might co-operate against the objectionable +measure. Mr. H. J. Wilson also had an interview with Mr. Willard, who +had introduced the Bill into the Legislature, but who frankly declared +that he had no intention to support the regulating system; he said the +phraseology of the Bill, which was evidently open to a bad +interpretation and use, must be altered. + +“One of our best friends in this city was Mrs. Dr. Winslow; she was one +of the first women in America who took a medical degree, and in +consequence she suffered a good deal of domestic and social persecution. +The people who had smelt the fire of trouble for conscientious +convictions seemed to fall to our side by a kind of instinct; they +grasped the moral principles we set forth, and understood their bearing +at once. + +“At Baltimore the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church +was sitting. Dr. Rigg and the Rev. W. B. Pope, who were attending it as +delegates from the Wesleyan Methodist Conference in England, having been +entrusted with an address to it from the Wesleyan Society for the repeal +of the English Acts, the former gentleman carried out this commission. A +special Committee which was appointed to draw up a reply, heard evidence +from Dr. Rigg and myself as to the nature and futility of our English +Acts, and as to the great uprising of opinion on the Continent of Europe +against licensed vice. In their reply they expressed themselves as being +utterly opposed to regulation; and I believe I am right in saying that +both in America and by its missionaries in India this powerful Church +has always and consistently gone against regulation in any form. + +“It is pleasant to recall the kindnesses and aid of single persons and +of groups of persons; Dr. Thomas, a Quaker physician, was the friend who +socially aided us at Baltimore. + +“We had quite a remarkable experience at Philadelphia, both in the way +of assailing our opponents and in making for our cause new and +influential friends all over the States. At the time of our visit the +doctors of Pennsylvania were holding the annual meeting of their +Society, and gave our work aid which was as unexpected as it was +unwilling. They had been told by one of their journals that a ‘vehement +effort’ ought to be made by them to get prostitution legalised; it was +their ‘duty’ to do it. Of any intention to do their ‘duty’ they gave no +sign; but at the last moment, just as we were on the point of leaving +for Boston, two anti-regulation doctors, of whom the city had a goodly +number, informed us that on the following day a determined effort was to +be made to commit the Society to an active regulationist policy. +Thereupon we got Mrs. Franciscus, the President of the Women’s Christian +Association, and Mrs. French, President of the Moral Education Society, +to send a letter to all the doctors known to be opposed to regulation, +asking them to attend every meeting of the Medical Society, and resist +any such attempt. At the meeting of the W.C.A., the hundred women who +were present rose to their feet to signify their approval of the letter; +a feeling of intense indignation was aroused, and a regulationist doctor +would have had determined opposition from the women of the capital city +of the State. How it came to pass we never could learn, but it is +certain that the ‘vehement effort’ never was made. As we came across +many friends in Philadelphia who saw no need for doing anything—the +subject being ‘unpleasant’ ‘not before the public,’ and ‘not fit for +discussion before men and women’—we had the doctors to thank for +effectually scattering all these objections, and sending a shock of much +needed energy into our work. So the way of men was over-ruled by the +higher way of God. + +“Let me recall the friendly faces and names of those who aided us—the +Rev. Andrew Longacre, the Rev. Joseph May, Mr. and Mrs. Enoch Lewis, +Bishop Simpson, Mr. Rowland (of the Y.M.C.A.), Dr. Herman Thomas, Mr. +and Mrs. Ingraham, Mrs. Harriet French, Miss Anthony, and that brave old +lady, Mrs. Lucretia Mott. To some of your readers, dear Mrs. Butler, +these names will mean nothing; but please let them stand on the pages of +your book of reminiscences, for they mean much to others, and deserve a +record. + +“Our good friends Mr. and Mrs. Powell, of New York, were present during +part of the time of our visits to Philadelphia, attending the meetings +of the International Temperance Convention, and they kindly arranged a +meeting of Temperance friends from all parts of the States for us to +address. It was a choice opportunity, of which we made the most. Mrs. +Powell sent you home an account, in which she spoke of the meeting as ‘a +very impressive meeting,’ in which the power of the Spirit of God was +present, and where many of the audience, men and women, were in tears. +Yes; I remember it from a long distance of time as a season of help and +blessing. + +“The city of Boston, which we had at first counted upon as sure to be +the most responsive and most easily worked, proved to be one of the most +difficult, until we obtained the countenance and co-operation of Mr. +William Lloyd Garrison. Even the women, usually the quickest to come to +the aid of our cause, were cautious and doubtful. That Massachusetts +should ever legalise immorality seemed to them to be as remote as the +end of the world. New York was a dissolute city, under the control of +foreigners, and might do anything bad; but Boston had some regard for +the moral law. Our arguments were met with simple incredulity and +indifference. Since then our warnings have only been too abundantly +justified. + +“When Mr. Garrison, to whom we had the best of introductions, heard our +case and the difficulties which had been thrown in our way, he said:— + +“Do not listen to the dissuasions from going on with your work, and +speaking the message you are entrusted with. I do not agree with those +who affirm that it is inexpedient to speak the truth here on this +question. Speak it; it will do good. But do not hold a public meeting. +Get those to hear you who will influence public opinion in the day of +need. My name is at your service for any circular you may issue, calling +such a conference as I have indicated.’ + +“This was the plan of operations we had followed all the way through, +and as soon as the great Abolitionist’s name was put upon our circular, +it was adopted by the leading reformers of the city. Never before had I +seen so great a change wrought by the word of one man; his judgment was +evidently regarded as a final court of appeal. With that splendid +loyalty to his old chief which always distinguished Mr. Wendell +Phillips, the great orator of the Abolition cause, he immediately gave +us his aid, and consented to preside at our Conference. About a hundred +and fifty of the most active of the reformers of the city came together +in the rooms of the Y.M.C.A. (that institution always had an open door +for us), and a most enthusiastic meeting was held. My colleague, Mr. +Wilson, had gallantly offered to do the hardest part of the work, viz., +answering any question that might be asked, but after more than an hour +of severe catechising he was tired out, and I had to come to his aid. +You may know a subject very well, but when you have been tested by the +inquisitiveness of a Boston audience you may feel pretty comfortable +anywhere else. + +“Our meeting was favoured with short speeches by our Chairman, by Mrs. +Livermore, and by Mrs. Stone. + +“I cannot leave Boston without mentioning the inspiration which Mr. +Garrison’s words and influence were to every good work; he started me on +the study of the great Abolition movement, a cause which, indirectly has +done much for our own. Then, again, I remember with a tender heart the +modest kindness of Mr. Wendell Phillips in taking us to see some of the +sights of Boston, and in calling with us on some newspaper editors. I +remember his snug, quaint little house, which might have been taken from +one of the ancient streets of York or Chester; I see now the bust of +John Brown’s magnificent head, just arrived from the sculptor’s, +standing on the sill of the staircase window; and I still hear the soft +tones in which he said, as I parted from him—‘Don’t forget an old man.’ +I can never forget him; his speeches have become to me the noblest +models of Christian moral teaching; I know nothing like them in the +whole range of English oratory, either for substance or for style. + +“One strong desire which we felt at the termination of our work was for +the American people to make common cause with the English and with +Continental friends against legalised immorality; and this they have +done. The American Committee joined the Federation, and have frequently +sent Mr. Powell to attend its meetings; they realise that in this sacred +cause the nations are one. If we were permitted to render any service to +the great Republic, the debt has been more than repaid by the priceless +work of Mrs. Andrew and Dr. Kate Bushnell on behalf of India. Bonds of +love and sympathy have been woven which nothing can break.” + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + “Who serves to-day upon the list + Beside the served shall stand; + Alike the brown and wrinkled fist, + The gloved and dainty hand! + + The rich is level with the poor, + The weak is strong to-day, + And sleekest broadcloth counts no more + Than homespun frock of grey.” + + +I went with my husband to Switzerland in the month of June of 1876 to +see the friends who were then preparing for the Congress of the +following year, and to seek among the mountains the calm of spirit which +we wished to possess, and to be able in a measure to impart in the midst +of the increasing conflict. We first visited Neuchâtel in order to +confer on the arrangements for the Congress with that master organizer, +M. Humbert, who accompanied us to a beautiful rural retreat on the Jura +for a short time of rest. A week or two later other representatives of +the Federation arrived in Switzerland, Giuseppe Nathan from Italy, and +Professor Stuart and one of my sons from England. My sister, Madame +Meuricoffre, and her family also came to their Swiss summer home. A +meeting was held at Berne, in July, for the purpose of forming a working +Committee to arrange for the Congress. The meeting and the Committee +were presided over by a distinguished Swiss gentleman, the Federal +Colonel Othon von Büren, whose memory lives in the hearts of his +countrymen. It was he who, in the disastrous Franco-German War, went to +Strasburg and drew out from that beleaguered city and other parts of +Alsatia a vast host of aged and feebled persons, women, and children, +and led them to Switzerland, to be received and nourished and protected +by that hospitable nation, which added in that year one more page of +heroic and pathetic beauty to the many noble pages of its past history. +Colonel von Büren performed this service with a patience, firmness, +military orderliness, and fatherly tenderness which endeared him to +every one. This service, added to his reputation as a soldier, and the +consistency of his Christian character, has made his name deservedly +renowned. He and two other well-known Swiss soldiers became from this +time staunch adherents of the Federation. Those others were Colonel +Steiger and Colonel de Perrot, the latter a Neuchâtelois. We were joined +later by another officer of high rank and noble character from Eastern +Switzerland, Colonel Kaiser, of Zug, who had, before our acquaintance +with him, written and published some excellent brochures on the work of +the Federation, “Letters to the Athenians,” addressed to the people of +Zurich, which was sometimes called the Modern Athens. + +It was an overpoweringly hot day when we held this meeting at Berne in +the Hall of the Abbaye des Bouchers. It was in the afternoon, and +nothing less than the great interest of the approaching events about +which we were taking counsel together could have sufficed to keep us +awake! M. Humbert made a clear statement of plans and operations, M. +Nathan spoke with deep feeling concerning his own country, and my +husband explained the prominent position taken by women in this cause +with a force and gentleness which deeply impressed the ladies present, +and won many to leave their retirement and join our ranks. Our good +allies, Madame de Gingins, the two young Mesdames de Watteville, and +others, had already become leaders in the movement in their own country. + +Once more my husband was obliged to leave me, being recalled, in the +month of August, by his imperative duties at the Liverpool College. I +went to stay with my sister, Madame Meuricoffre, at her home in the +Canton de Vaud. While there an unexpected invitation was sent to me to +address, the following day, a mass meeting of the working people of +Geneva in the Electoral Hall in that city. I had not yet addressed any +great popular assembly in French, and felt unable to do so at such short +notice. In my first tour in 1874–5 I had spoken in French and Italian, +but always with time for careful preparation. But as the invitation was +urgent I accepted it, on the condition that my sister, who was perfectly +at home in the French language, should accompany me, stand near me, +prompt me, and, if necessary, interpret for me. On the morning of the +day when the meeting was to take place I went to her room to confer with +and be strengthened by her concerning it, when I found to my dismay that +she was completely prostrated by an attack of faintness and severe pain +in the head. It was too late, however, to change my decision, and the +afternoon was a time to me of a good deal of anxiety. + +Towards evening I went to say farewell to her before starting on the +short journey to Geneva. Her room was darkened, her eyes were closed, +and she spoke with difficulty on account of pain. I stooped to kiss her, +and she whispered to me, in a calm tone of conviction, the words, “_they +spake with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance_.” It was a +revelation to me, and I went in the strength of those words to the +dreaded meeting. + +I was met in Geneva by M. Humbert, M. Sautter de Blonay, of the Canton +de Vaud, Professor Stuart, and others. An eye-witness wrote to friends +in England of the meeting as follows: “We arrived punctually at the +hour, and soon perceived what sort of a meeting we were about to have by +the fact that hundreds of people, chiefly working men, were coming away +from the hall saying, ‘no use, not a place to be had, even to stand’; +while not only the hall itself, but a long outside gallery surrounding +it, and open to the air, was crowded. The crowd was so dense that Mrs. +Butler and her friends could with difficulty press in. Even such persons +as the President of the Grand Council of Geneva, and Père Hyacinthe +Loyson, were obliged to stand, not finding a seat unoccupied. It was a +hot and brilliant moonlight night, and from the body of the hall might +be seen outside the doors and windows a sea of faces of persons standing +patiently the whole time to catch what they could of the words spoken, +while groups of men sat on the ledges of the open windows, or hung on +where they could.” + +It was affecting to observe, even in Geneva, where the consciences of +the working population were said to be, in a measure, falsified by the +influence of the system of Regulation, that the sentiments which were +responded to with the most evidence of feeling were those which +expressed pity and sympathy for the fallen, and indignation concerning +the principles of justice and equality outraged by the system we oppose. +M. Sautter de Blonay and M. Humbert spoke eloquently, and I was able, by +God’s grace, to deliver my message with comparative ease to that large +assembly. At one moment there was a movement in the lower part of the +hall, and evidence of some sinister presence and influence; an attempt +to utter coarse words of opposition and insult, which was immediately +quelled by the working men surrounding the person who had risen, and who +was finally carried off bodily by them and placed in the open street. We +found, afterwards, that this was the keeper of one of the notorious +houses of debauchery in the town under the protection of the Government +of Geneva—a person holding an official authorisation, in fact, who felt +he had a right to be heard; a man with a most hideous expression of +countenance resembling a vulture greedily scouring the face of the earth +for prey. + +I had not at this time visited any German town in the interests of our +cause; I therefore accepted a proposal to travel homewards by the Rhine. +I stayed some days in Frankfort-s.M., and was there encouraged, by the +sympathy of several leading citizens, above all by that of Dr. André, a +medical man, and a philosophical writer, whose convictions on this +subject were very deep, and supported by a very considerable experience +as a doctor. M. Gerard, a pastor of Swiss origin, called a meeting in +his own house, in which I was very kindly received. + +I went next to Cologne and Elberfeld. In the latter town I found a very +considerable group of ministers and ladies, who showed an intelligent +sympathy with our motives and work. Returning from Elberfeld, I visited +Liége and Brussels. M. Emile de Laveleye was absent at that time from +Liége, but some little initiatory work was done in that city, through +the kind help and zeal of Pastors Durand and Nicolet. The latter was a +strong and active adherent from that time forward. It was during this +visit to Belgium that I made my first acquaintance with the awful crimes +and cruelties resulting from the system of regulation long established +there, and which were brought fully to light, later, by the action of +the City of London Committee, and the investigations so courageously +undertaken by George Gillett and Alfred Dyer. In Brussels our chief +friends were, in those early days, Pastor Anet and Mr. Cor van der +Maaren, the famous champion of Free Trade principles in Belgium, who in +the early days of his political career was stoned in the streets of +Brussels, and who, after his death, when his principles had triumphed, +was honoured by having a statue erected of him in one of the public +squares. He at once took up our cause, and gave me an introduction to M. +Couvreu, a Member of Parliament. Madame Behrends also helped us, and +became one of our correspondents for some years. + + +In the late autumn of this year a “newspaper war” on this subject broke +out suddenly in France. It was probably kindled by numerous cases of +Police brutality, and frequent arrests both of men and women for +resisting, or even speaking against, the _Police des Mœurs_. But a +deeper source of resistance was the growing force of public opinion +against that immoral system. So systematic did this Press conflict +become that every week the _Droits de l’homme_ had an article summing up +its results, and pronouncing upon the attitude of the different +journals, not only in Paris, but in the provinces. The journals which +demanded the instant and complete abolition of the Regulations were the +_Droits de l’homme_, _La Révolution_ and _La France_. Others which +attacked it, but without demanding its total abolition, were the +_Tribune_, the _Siècle_, the _Rappel_, the _Ralliement_, the _Nation_, +the _Estafette_, and the _Gaulois_. Beside these papers, which wrote on +the question continuously for several weeks, the following had single +articles in favour of abolition:—The _Republicain_, of St. Etienne; the +_Bien public_, Paris; _La Liberté_, Paris; _La Gironde_, Bordeaux; the +_Tribune des Travailleurs_, Lyons; the _Petit Lyonnais_, Lyons; and the +_Critique Philosophique_, Paris. + +A meeting of citizens was held in Paris to draw up a petition to the +Government. It was a weighty and noble petition. Private letters were +poured in upon members of the Senate and the Chambers praying for the +redress of this great wrong so long endured in France. This +extraordinary awakening was compared by M. Aimé Humbert to the bursting +of a mine under our feet. Five or six respectable citizens were sent to +prison for various terms for taking the part of helpless women in the +streets. Many of the highest Municipal authorities ranged themselves on +the side of the Abolitionists. The conflict became more bitter every +week, and we looked on in wonder, almost in awe. A writer in one of the +Paris journals on November 13th said that M. Lecour “deigns not to +answer nor to argue; he only arrests. But his hour is come. It is +written up against him, ‘thou art weighed in the balances, and art found +wanting.’” Literary men, such as Pillon, Assolant, Tacussel, etc., wrote +nobly on the subject. Even the opponents of our movement, represented +chiefly by the Imperialistic journals, gave daily well-attested cases of +honourable women who were arrested by the Morals’ Police. + +The Municipal Council of Paris now began to move with vigour. Two of its +members, M. Yves Guyot and M. Lacroix, brought before the council +towards the close of November a charge against the Police of Morals, and +made at the same time a proposal that the money which the Municipal +Council had always been called upon to provide for the expenses of the +Morals’ Police should be stopped. There followed soon after this a +prosecution by the Prefect of Police of M. Yves Guyot, of which I shall +presently speak. That that prosecution did not take place until after M. +Guyot had brought forward this resolution in the Municipal Council +suggested that it was an act of revenge, an attempt to terrify M. Guyot +into silence. One of the first steps taken by the Council was the +appointment of a special Committee to report on the matter. The report +of that Committee was to this effect:—That it was unendurable that such +an arbitrary power should exist in Paris as that exercised by the +_Police des Mœurs_; and that this same _Police des Mœurs_ had no legal +foundation for its existence. After a long discussion on the subject, M. +Thulié, the President of the Council, rose and said, “I do not think +this matter will be finally settled either by stopping the supplies, as +proposed by M. Lacroix, or by referring the matter to the Chambers. We +must first have a Commission appointed by the Municipal Council to +inquire into the whole question, with the view of having this system +completely abolished.” This proposition being carried, MM. Guyot and +Lacroix withdrew for the time their proposal to stop the supplies. + +We learned later that the prosecution of M. Guyot had been instituted by +M. Voisin, the Prefect of the Correctional Police, at the instigation of +his personal friend the powerful and haughty Prefect of the Morals’ +Police, M. Lecour. The report of the trial was full of interest. The +charge against M. Guyot was that of “Publishing false news,” he having +recorded the assault by the police on a well-known actress of good +character and reputation, Mlle. Rousseil, by an agent of the Morals’ +Police. Mlle. Rousseil, made strong by the force of her just +indignation, had flung the man who attempted to arrest her with such +violence from her that he measured his length on the pavement. A crowd +gathered round, and as the young actress was a popular favourite, the +news of the scene spread rapidly. M. Lecour afterwards asserted that the +man who made this arrest was a private individual who had pretended to +be one of his agents. This was never believed by the public. M. Guyot’s +sole fault, then, was that he had said “an agent of the Morals’ Police,” +instead of “a person calling himself an agent.” For this he was +condemned to six months’ imprisonment and a fine. It was never proved +that the man was not an agent of police. The outcry in the Press had +alarmed M. Lecour, who gave orders to his police to appear at once to be +engaged in an energetic search for the false agent. The man was found +and tried. He came into Court frankly confessing—rather too frankly, +indeed—that he was merely a silly fellow who had done this for +amusement. He accepted a very brief imprisonment without more ado. +Meanwhile the courageous Town Councillor, M. Guyot, accepted his +sentence cheerfully, assuring us in England that it would do good to the +persecuted cause. Three times during these events did M. Lecour stand +before the Municipal Council of Paris and plead passionately and with +tears in favour of the honour and purity of his own motives and those of +his women-hunters (men who were recruited from the very scum of society +in all countries). + +A Commission of Enquiry was appointed by the Municipal Council, the +following being the text of its appointment:— + +“(1) Considering that the Municipal Council cannot avoid being concerned +with the question of the _Police des Mœurs_, which is a question of +great importance to the security of the Parisian population; + +“(2) Considering that it has the right to control the services for which +it pays, and to study the ameliorations which they may require; + +“(3) Considering that the acts of the _Police des Mœurs_ are not +authorised by any laws, and that they lead to the perpetration of crimes +punishable by the penal code; + +“(4) Considering that at present it being difficult to propose to the +Municipal Council to refuse the money required for the _Police des +Mœurs_, a Commission of twelve members be nominated to study the service +of the _Police des Mœurs_, and to propose either its entire suppression +or such reforms as it requires.” + +The Prefect of Police objected that the Municipal Council had no +jurisdiction in the matter of the Police des Mœurs, and signified his +intention to appeal to the Minister of the Interior; and, in effect, at +the next meeting of the Municipal Council, he laid on the table an order +signed by Marshal MacMahon annulling the appointment of the Commission, +because of the direct imputations on the conduct of the police which the +resolutions contained. M. Lecour therefore had “energetically defended +the Police des Mœurs, he had condemned a Municipal Councillor to prison, +and had secured the annulling of the Council’s Decree.” The Municipal +Council, however, were not to be beaten, and three days later they +passed a resolution in place of that annulled, simply providing for the +nomination of a Commission, without giving any reasons for its +nomination, and at once elected twelve of their members to act upon it. +Mr. Herrison, who had become President of the Municipal Council, was +elected President of the Commission. + +That Commission invited a certain number of persons from different +countries, who had studied the question, to give evidence before it. +From Switzerland came M. Sautter de Blonay and M. Humbert; from Italy, +M. Nathan; from Belgium, M. Nicolet; and from England, Messrs. +Stansfeld, Stuart, my husband and myself. The Commission sat day by day +in a large room of the old Palace of the Luxembourg; their labours were +very conscientious and prolonged. When summoned there we were struck by +the old-fashioned stateliness of the ancient royal residence, now used +as Government offices, but still more were we impressed by the kind and +courteous reception which we met with. It was a true pleasure to me to +appear as a witness there, contrasting strongly with the effect produced +on me by the ordeal which I, with others, had passed through in 1871, +when giving evidence before the Royal Commission in our House of Lords. +All the foreign witnesses here sat round a large table, at the upper +part of which were the twelve Commissioners. We felt at once that there +was _here_ (though we were in Paris) no cynicism, no wish to perplex or +entrap the witnesses, no motive, in fact, except the desire to elicit +the truth, and to profit by the experience of other countries, in order +that the Commission might do the best possible for their own country, by +returning, in this matter, to the principles of just law, in place of +the arbitrary and illegal police rule which was, they felt, destroying +the foundations of liberty. The members of the Commission were not +wholly of one mind on all points, and it was rather a severe exercise of +brain and memory to meet and satisfy the various questions of a company +of quick-witted, logical Frenchmen. It was an exercise, however, which +left one feeling stronger and happier, because of the sincerity of +motive which we felt animated the questioners. + +Some days after giving our evidence at the Palais du Luxembourg, a great +meeting was held (on the 21st January) in the Salle des Écoles, Rue +d’Arras. No public meeting could at that time be held in Paris without +the authorisation of the Government, which would not have been granted +for a meeting on the subject of the Police des Mœurs. It was, therefore, +styled a “private meeting,” to attend which several thousands of +invitations were sent out. These were fully responded to, and the hall +was densely crowded. The meeting had been arranged chiefly by M. Yves +Guyot and M. Lacroix. There was a considerable proportion of “blue +blouses,” working men from the St. Antoine and Belleville quarters, +students from the Latin Quarter, and some members of the Chambers and of +the Senate, besides Municipal Councillors. There was also a good +attendance of women. M. Laurent Pichat (_Senateur Inamovible_) presided. +M. Yves Guyot introduced the strangers of different nationalities to the +audience with a few words explaining the object of their visit to Paris +and of this meeting. + +The several addresses given were listened to with extraordinary +attention and interest, and in a quietness which was remarkable, +considering the mercurial and excitable nature of a portion of that +audience. So keen was the sympathy (having its roots deep in bitter +experience) of the poorer part of the audience, especially the working +men, that it was necessary in some degree to restrain all that it might +have been in our hearts to say on the injustice and cruelty of the +system of which the victims were drawn so largely from their own ranks. + +On our return to England we found that a bitter attack had been made in +the _Standard_ and other journals on my husband’s action in accepting +the invitation of the Municipal Council in Paris, and speaking at the +Salle des Écoles. “A clergyman of the Church of England,” the writers +asserted, “had no business to be addressing Republican mobs in Paris.” +My husband’s weighty and dignified reply is given in the Recollections +of him, which I have published.[11] It was our rule not to reply to +attacks of a purely personal nature, but in this case the censures were +directed against him in his character as the Principal of a great +College, and he thought it due to the parents of the boys entrusted to +his charge to place the matter in its true light. We have seen how +varied a gathering it was in Paris, and as to its being a “Republican +mob,” my husband reminded his traducers that “France being a Republic, +it was natural that any audience there should be a Republican audience!” + +Several other meetings were held before we left Paris. One of those was +in the Salle de la Redoute, which was crowded with respectable working +women of Paris. There were also a few ladies of the highest social +position. M. Charles Lemonnier presided. M. Auguste Desmoulins, an +ardent friend of our cause, spoke in a most beautiful manner to the +working people present. A very affecting address was given also by Mlle. +Raoult, a working woman of powerful understanding and a loving heart, +and the chief organiser of a league of working women for their own +protection. I give a few sentences from her address:— + +“It is at the _root_ that we must strike. Is the moment opportune? I +believe so. It is time to act; for our generation, corrupted by many +years of a nameless _régime_, presents deep wounds which must be +healed.” After describing the network of unhappy circumstances which +causes the fall of so many girls into evil, she continued: “But while so +many people make light of their morality, there are to be found in Paris +young girls who are faithful to the lessons learned from their mothers, +and to the memory of their homes, and who work and suffer without +complaining. To be known, they must be seen in their wretched garrets, +fabricating the most beautiful toilettes for the ladies of the high +Society, working from morning till night, and _dying without a murmur, +rather than yield_. These are indeed virtuous! It is an exact +acquaintance with all these sufferings which has constrained me to +depict them to you. No, lady, it is not in the wilderness that your +voice has sounded, but rather in the conscience of every man of feeling +those especially of the working class, who are invaded in their dignity, +and in their most cherished affections, by this horrible plague which we +are endeavouring to combat.” + +Adhémard Le Clerc, a leading working man, confirmed in the most terrible +manner the facts given by Mlle. Raoult. He said: “Society with us has +come to a dead-lock, because of the condition of our women. It is an +accepted axiom in Paris that _a woman can no longer live by the work of +her own hands_. The great social evil lies in the miserable wages +granted to the work of women. This in itself, I say without hesitation, +is debauchery justified, necessary, inevitable. There are some workwomen +in Paris who have a father or husband, in which case the poor woman’s 10 +or 20 sous a day help a little towards the _ménage_; but there are +thousands of single women in Paris who have no creature on earth to look +to for support. Marriage has long been on the decrease. Many of these +poor girls do not know their origin. As Dr. Desprès has said, ‘the +population is bastardised to such an extent that thousands of poor girls +know not of any relationship which they have ever possessed.’ They come +handicapped into the world, bastards, orphans, and outcasts. Their life, +if virtuous, is one terrible struggle from the cradle to the grave; but +by far the greater number of them are drilled from childhood by +exploiters and the police in the public service of debauchery. Ten +thousand women every year go through the prison of St. Lazare. Every one +of these, though she may have been imprisoned only for being homeless +and wandering in the streets, or for begging, leaves the St. Lazare with +the indelible mark upon her of shame and outlawry, which that word—St. +Lazare—conveys to all. Her character is gone; and thus are the ranks of +prostitutes recruited by the high hand of the Administration itself. The +cry now, as formerly, of our women in Paris is for _bread_: they must +have bread; they are ready to work for it, but when work cannot be found +they will sell themselves to have it. Society is responsible for this +misery and sin, for Society is _solidaire_, and must one day pay the +debt it owes to outraged and maddened womanhood. Our ruined monuments +are themselves prophetic of this. It will be again as it has been +before. The handiwork of ruined women is visible in the blasted walls of +the Tuileries. Their history is written in black smoke on the crumbling +walls of our palaces in flames. There is no need of a Daniel here to +decipher the handwriting on the wall. All the world can read, plainly +written there, the words, _La femme déchue_—the ruined woman.” + +With this picture in my mind, and the memory of all I had seen and heard +in Paris of the condition of the honest working woman, hunted from +street to street and from room to room by the police, and looking at the +troubled and earnest faces all turned towards me, I could not refrain +from uttering these words: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the +air have their nests; but the honest workwoman of Paris has not where to +lay her head.” Many burst into tears, or hid their faces in their hands. +In coming out from the meeting several poor girls came to me, their +faces swollen with weeping, and said: “Ah, Madam, how true those words +were about the foxes!” + +The “Union Chrétienne,” a Protestant Society of Paris, invited us to +hold a meeting in their own hall. This meeting was interrupted and +closed by the police. Towards the conclusion of my brief address, during +which were present several police officers of high rank, I alluded to +what had been asserted by one of Lecour’s agents shortly before, _i.e._, +that parents of young girls sometimes came themselves to the Prefecture +and requested to have their daughter’s name placed on the register, and +how, he asked, could the Prefect refuse in such a case? I found it +difficult to believe that this was anything but a very rare occurrence; +but I asserted that in such a case the Prefecture was none the less +morally responsible. “Let us suppose,” I said, “that a father came to +the Prefect and said, ‘Cut my daughter’s throat for me’; if he consented +to do so, would not the Administration by such an act render itself the +accomplice of assassins?” The officials present, it seems, did not like +this; the order was given, the gas was turned out, and in a few moments +every seat was empty. The same officers reported to M. Lecour, that I +had said he was an assassin! The next morning the President of the +Association was summoned to the Prefecture, and a verbatim report of +what I had said was demanded. Three days later several members of the +“Union Chrétienne” were again summoned to the Prefecture and questioned. +Eventually they had to pay a small fine, and their hall was closed for a +time; but they were in no way dejected by this result. The same could +not have been said of the _Police des Mœur_ itself. Several persons who +had been present during M. Lecour’s consultations with his agents +reported to us that he had said “that the actual _régime_” was lost, and +that certain changes or ameliorations of an external kind would have to +be introduced, in order to calm the present agitation. + +A final meeting during this visit to Paris was held in the large +Protestant Chapel in the Rue Roquepine. It was presided over by Dr. +Gustave Monod, and addresses were given by M. de Pressensé and M. +Theodore Monod. The speakers denounced freely the system we opposed; but +the police did not interfere with this meeting, the Protestant community +of Paris being too formidable a body, and too highly respected to have +one of their principal places of worship, and the words spoken in it, +interfered with even by so insolent a tyranny as that of the Prefecture. + +M. Yves Guyot’s sentence of imprisonment was not immediately carried +into practice. He was allowed to postpone its execution for a few weeks. +He employed the interval of freedom by continued assiduous work on the +Commission of the Council, and in other ways, for the exposure and +condemnation of the _Police des Mœurs_. A number of Parisians were +examined on the subject by the Commission—among them Drs. Deprés, +Fournier and Mauriac, whose evidence threw some useful and curious light +on the hygienic inefficacy of the system. Dr. Cléve, head physician of +the Prefecture, was called; but the Prefect forbade him to give any +information to the Commission. “This is a proof,” said one of the +Liberal journals, “that many things take place at the Prefecture which +it is necessary to hide.” Another official of the Prefecture, being +called upon to appear, said furiously to the President, “Ah! if you +think we will give you information, you are mistaken; you shan’t have +any at all.” The Prefecture regards itself as an irresponsible Pashalik, +which, though it has a right to receive money from the Municipal +Council, is not bound to render any account thereof. + +The following is a portion of a letter which I addressed to friends at +home at this time:— + + + “PARIS, _February, 1877_. + +“I think I told you how many poor working men and women appeal to us +after our meetings, some of them very shabby and ill-dressed, but with +much shrewdness and aspiration. Among these is Adhémard le Clerc, a +working man, whose powerful verdict on the state of Paris I will send +you. Among the waifs and strays who always follow us, the outcasts, the +diamonds hidden away among the dust, who come to join in our train, are +several of whom I should like to give you a sketch as an indication of +the varied character of those who gather to this work:— + +“1. A tall medical student, of modest, gentlemanly manner, looking +rather delicate and absent, and not happy. You know, perhaps, what the +medical students of Paris are as a rule; but among them we have many +adherents of a character much raised above the rest. Indeed, many of the +young men of France are rebelling against the odious teaching of their +elders concerning the ‘necessity of vice.’ It seems to me that a deep +melancholy and disgust with life has taken possession of some of these +boys of eighteen or twenty; while together with this there is often a +readiness to grasp at some higher aim if it is set before them. The +student I speak of came shyly to our hotel to ask if we would think him +too bold were he to try to get up a meeting of students and workmen to +hear our message. We encouraged him to gather a meeting of these +students, which was held a little later. + +“2. A poor and elderly woman, very wretchedly dressed, whom the master +of the Hotel where I stayed might have hesitated to admit had I not +counselled him never to turn away poor people, or oddities of any class +whatever. She had the appearance of having suffered years of hunger. Her +large eyes were sunk in their bony sockets, but had in them a look of +self-forgetfulness. To show me what she was she drew from her pocket a +very old, soiled prospectus of her school. She had started, fifteen +years before, a little school for girls in a very poor quarter of Paris, +to teach them small handicrafts which she herself had learned, and to +watch over them and to keep them from temptation. Her labour of love +still lives, in spite of police persecutions, her own poverty, the war, +and the revolution. She is put down as one of the ‘dangerous class.’ She +spoke very little of herself, but I heard of her from others, who said +her life was one long act of self-denial and secret heroism. At one +time, through want of food, her mind had given way, and she was taken +for a short time to an asylum. Some of her friends, seeing her fainting +on her walks through the streets on errands of mercy and helpful love, +would ask her if she had had any food that day. Sometimes she had a dry +crust in her pocket, which had to serve for to-morrow as well as to-day. +To all such I speak, as well as I can, words of courage. Sometimes, like +this woman, they would stand holding my hand silently, with tears +rolling down their poor faces. They seemed to have a vague idea that a +day of deliverance was at hand. + +“We all know something of the wickedness of Paris; we do not yet know +the sorrows of the poor of this city—of those who are the least guilty. +A saying I commonly hear from them is, ‘The people have suffered more +than they can bear.’ + +“3. A Radical leader, Citizen ——, a ‘dangerous man,’ came evening after +evening to see us, alone, sometimes in the dusk before our seven o’clock +meal, sometimes later. His face is fixed in my memory as he sat at one +side of the little table in our receiving parlour, shading his keen +thoughtful eyes from the lamp with both his thin hands, and eagerly +looking, as it were, into one’s soul for an answer to his questions. +Supposed to be an atheist, yet he spoke of God and of Jesus of Nazareth, +not as men talk so often, but as if his life depended on the existence +of a Divine Saviour. He spoke low, almost in a whisper. He is a true +patriot, and his heart is almost broken for his country’s woes. He asked +us what hope we had for his ‘beloved poor France.’ He lingered on, and +said he would come again if we would allow him. There was a deep pathos +in his words and tones. His hair was almost white. He said, ‘I am older +than most of my radical confrères, and perhaps I have fewer prejudices +and illusions; but I think that France will accept your great idea. Yes, +the day will come when she will accept it, and not fear to argue it out. +She will, moreover, put it in the purest formulæ and dress it in the +most beautiful language. She will see it clearly and announce it +clearly. All your people will be indebted to her for this. Yes, I think +my poor France will bring forth this beautiful idea, and in bringing it +forth she will die.’ He uttered these words very slowly and mournfully, +repeating the last words,—‘elle mourira.’ I do not quite know what he +meant. + +“4. Victorine S——, a washerwoman, tall and gaunt, with bright red hair +and a small, shabby, black velvet hat on her red head, with a very old +feather in it, a feather which has a look of misery, as if it had been +plucked from a very indigent bird. I love and revere her. You are +impressed in talking with her by her calm, womanly strength and good +sense. And slowly you see also her profound pity for her unfortunate +fellow women. Though big and bony, she has a remarkably soft and gentle +voice; she does not gesticulate, but holds her arms stiffly and +ungracefully by her side. Her hands, seamed with wash-tub operations, do +not fit well into her poor, brown cotton gloves. She made a speech at a +Working-man’s Congress. It was a masterly speech, filled with statistics +and facts illustrating the misery of Paris workwomen. She will do: one +trusts her. + +“5. The Marquis de B—— came and sat down on a bench beside me in the +Tuileries Gardens. He is young, with yellow hair starting back from a +fair face which wears a very innocent expression. He always has the most +exquisite lavender kid gloves and shining boots, and belongs to an old +aristocratic family. I asked him—‘Where do you live? and with whom?’ + +“‘Alone,’ he replied. + +“‘Have you no father or mother?’ + +“‘No; both dead.’ + +“‘Brothers or sisters, uncles or cousins?’ + +“‘No, not one.’ + +“‘Are you rich?’ + +“‘I have some money.’ + +“‘Have you finished your education?’ + +“‘Oh yes,’ looking rather proud, ‘long ago. I am twenty-eight years of +age.’ + +“‘Ah, that is good,’ I said. ‘Now what do you intend to do?’ + +“‘I wish,’ he replied, blushing a good deal, ‘to be a servant of your +cause. Ah! if I might, I should like to be one of the teachers in it.’ + +“A lady who knew him said to me one day, ‘he is a good youth. Make him +run messages or be useful in any way. He will do whatever you bid him.’ + +“Some time afterwards I was touched to see him addressing a group of +poor men and a few porters and students and odds and ends of humanity. +They were laying their heads together to think what they could do. ‘We +can at least,’ they said, ‘collect a little money from house to house, +and sign petitions, and perhaps we could even save a few of our poor +sisters.’ They spoke together with much humility and deep earnestness of +the small beginnings of what they could do. God will bless them. On this +occasion the young Marquis had taken off his lavender kid gloves and put +them in his pocket, and had become simply Citizen B——. + +“6. A poor actor in a very inferior theatre; a man about thirty-five. +His life had been a failure. His voice was not good, and he had to take +the place of a kind of supernumerary. His life was a continual struggle +for existence, shouting and acting night after night, and returning home +to an attic with a very miserable bed in it. His poor soul took fire +concerning our cause. He did not put himself forward at all, but we +found he had been working really hard for us. He tells us he has now but +one aim in life; he must still sing for a living, but he can give his +days to our work. In conversation with him I could see that that poor +man had been pining for some work of redress, and grieving over the sin +and woe around him. He sees the whole of our objects with a clearness +which not one in a hundred of our English Members of Parliament do, I +fear; and his soul is filled with zeal for justice. He will pass on the +burning torch he carries to other hands, and increase his own fire in +doing so. I often think how sweet must be the sudden sense of +companionship in a good cause to such a solitary being. He does not mind +now the very feeble applause given to his poor singing on the stage, for +he has found an interest and treasure of which the audience know +nothing. + +“I could go on multiplying these pictures, but these are enough to +indicate to you the very varied character of the people who flock to our +standard. My husband’s tender feelings are very much drawn out towards +the working women who call on me.” + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + “The violation of one law may sometimes be the fulfilment of a higher; + and there are laws, which to obey is infamy.”—_Words of Lacordaire + when tried for contempt of the law._ + + +Notwithstanding the apparent diminution of the agitation in favour of +Repeal in England, which somewhat discouraged our supporters during the +early part of the year 1877, a careful retrospect of the progress made +proved that year to have been one of the most auspicious since the +movement began. The year in which the first International Congress took +place upon a question involving neither territorial aggrandisement, +dynastic ambition, nor commercial development, but something higher and +greater than all these—national morality—was a year destined to remain +memorable in the history, not merely of our movement, but of the world. +It will never be forgotten that in the year 1877 the equal rights and +responsibilities of the weaker half of humanity, whose voice had +hitherto been unheard in the councils of nations, were solemnly and +publicly acknowledged in an assembly of over 500 male and female +delegates representing the most advanced minds of Europe and the United +States. “This public recognition of the equal rights of all human souls +was the logical outcome of the grand truth proclaimed by Christianity—of +the worship of God, not as the Deity of a single people or race, but as +the Father of humanity. For the first time since the days of the early +Christians the children of the Heavenly Father stood side by side, +without distinction of sex or race, to preach God’s law of purity, and +many of the women there present, and many of their sisters, who, with +beating hearts, watched their action from afar, recognised that that +Congress was for them the first step towards the realization of the +magnificent promise—‘the Truth shall make you free.’ The first timid, +imperfect recognition by mankind of a portion of the heavenly law +decreed the extinction of the slavery of colour; a fuller, higher +comprehension of its divine justice has decreed the extinction of the +slavery of sex.”[12] + +In the early part of this year, as if to prepare the moral atmosphere of +Switzerland for the great Congress to be held at Geneva, a bitter +conflict arose in the Canton of Neuchâtel between the supporters of the +opposing principles on this question. The story of it is briefly this. +Several infamous houses had been established at la Chaux-de-Fonds, a +great industrial centre in the Jura, and had been authorised, or +licensed, not by the Government of the Canton of Neuchâtel, but in some +irresponsible manner by the Magistrates of the town. M. Humbert and his +friends made an attack upon this system, and a request was formulated by +himself and other persons of weight in the town of Neuchâtel that these +houses should be closed. Thereupon the municipality of Chaux-de-Fonds, +who appear to have been largely in favour of the system, in order to +secure its continued existence, held a meeting with closed doors, in +which they voted by a considerable majority not only to maintain the +houses, but to use their authority to license them after the manner of +Paris. Thus the municipality of Chaux-de-Fonds, in the Canton of +Neuchâtel, took upon themselves the responsibility of more firmly +establishing this evil system in that canton, which had hitherto been +free from any such public recognition of vice. The conflict was made the +more painful to M. Humbert because a number of the members of that +municipality had been his former friends and school and college +companions. M. Humbert wrote to me, “I hope we shall succeed in making +the people understand that we are threatened with a dreadful innovation, +and that unless we resist it with all our power, official profligacy +will become an accomplished fact in the Canton of Neuchâtel. Locle, a +town of between 10,000 and 11,000 inhabitants, distant one league from +La Chaux-de-Fonds, is the most directly interested. I was invited to +hold two meetings there. I held the first of these on the 5th March, at +the German Temple, where I was the sole speaker for over an hour to a +numerous and attentive audience. The second meeting was equally well +attended. I have been told that the people of Locle are very strongly +impressed, and have decided in favour of supporting us. I spent the +morning of Wednesday at La Chaux-de-Fonds, returning in a sledge. There +were two feet of snow, and I was reminded of your campaign of February, +1875, in our watch-making Siberia.” + +The Neuchâtel Committee of the Federation met soon after, and drew up a +full declaration and protest to the municipality of Chaux-de-Fonds. On +the 22nd March, a mass meeting was held at this town. The large Temple +was completely filled; the political atmosphere of the town was very +stormy. “We were assured,” wrote M. Humbert, “that there would be great +excitement at the meetings, and some of us received threatening letters. +The President’s speech was made amid considerable noise. As soon, +however, as M. Sautter de Blonay began to speak there was silence. He +treated the subject in a most masterly manner, and although it is not +the custom to applaud in a church he was loudly applauded at the end of +his speech. Other speakers having followed, it was now nine o’clock, and +there still remained to me the difficult and delicate task of treating +the question in its local character, and of speaking of the vote of the +Municipal Council and the results which were sure to follow.” + +Scarcely had M. Humbert commenced his address, exposing what had taken +place in the Municipality, than a cry arose from a chorus of voices in +the gallery, where a number of upholders of the regulation system were +seated, among whom were three Municipal Councillors. At the moment when +M. Humbert uttered the words “with regard to the Municipal vote,” this +group cried out, “The Municipal Council did well, they did well!” M. +Humbert replied, “You are free to express your opinions; as for me, I +will finish my speech.” He then drew a striking picture of the +difference between the present state of morality in the town and its +ancient state. He himself had been a member of the Council in 1849, when +the first house of ill-fame was secretly established there without any +official recognition at all. He then in his address attacked the +institution itself, giving a number of facts, and demolishing, stroke +after stroke, the arguments of his opponents. + +When M. Humbert had finished his masterly speech and come down from the +tribune, and the President had risen to close the meeting, it seemed as +if a victory had been gained for us, and the crowd was beginning to move +towards the doors, when M. Robert, Municipal Councillor, got up, and in +the midst of great excitement in the meeting, cried out that if this +institution were closed they would be taking the bread out of the mouths +of women! At these words there arose such a tumult of indignant protests +that the President was obliged to beg in a loud voice that they would +allow M. Robert to speak. Nevertheless M. Robert was unable to say +anything more, except that he protested against the morality of the town +being supposed to be worse than it had been. This was in allusion to a +portion of M. Humbert’s speech in which he quoted the beautiful +description which Jean Jacques Rousseau gives of the moral life of the +Neuchâtel mountaineers in his letter to d’Alembert, in connection with +which M. Humbert had recalled many honourable names of mechanicians, +engravers, painters, etc., speaking of them as the moral nobility of the +Jura, whose memory ought to be an inspiration to us in the great work we +have now to accomplish. The partisans of legalized vice had now gone +down from the gallery, and were yelling around M. Robert, while M. +Humbert’s adherents were shouting in their turn. It was thought better +not to prolong the meeting. The Municipal Councillors could not fail to +see that M. Humbert had used the utmost possible delicacy in speaking of +them; indeed, they confessed this, while they saw also that the +impression on the people was most unfavourable to them. One of them said +to M. Humbert, “You ought to have attacked the Council of State, who +have caused us to fall into this wolf-trap.” The majority of the people +of Chaux-de-Fonds were gained, though our adversaries were very bitter. +The women worked well. + +The next event of importance that followed was a very bitter personal +attack made on M. Humbert, who was selected as the scape-goat of the +angry and defeated Municipal Councillors. This attack was printed and +largely circulated before the date fixed for the meeting of the Grand +Council of Neuchâtel. All the journals of the Canton began to be +occupied with the subject, and our opponents, in fact, aided our cause +by themselves obtaining for us the thing they most fear—complete +publicity. + +To this public accusation M. Humbert wrote a most dignified reply. I do +not give it here, as it is lengthy. It is pathetic in its dignity. About +the same time M. Humbert wrote me, “You will only receive this on the +last day of your mission week on behalf of the cause. But you do not +require it as an assurance that our hearts have been with our +fellow-workers in England during that time. The past two or three weeks +number among the most sorrowful and painful of my life. You can +understand what I have gone through. It is necessary to have grappled +face to face with the powers of darkness, in order to learn what there +may be of sadness even in a victory gained, even in the congratulations +one receives.” + +_The Shield_, remarked, “M. Humbert has fought the good fight in so +uncompromising and resolute a manner, that one is apt to forget the +great personal sacrifice involved in a struggle maintained, as his +struggle with the Municipal Council of La Chaux-de-Fonds has been, +against fellow-citizens and former friends. How dearly the moral victory +has been won can only be appreciated by those who have themselves +undergone this species of social martyrdom, and their sympathy, +admiration and gratitude is for ever assured, to M. Humbert.” + +On April 25th I wrote as follows to M. Humbert:— + + + “DEAR FRIEND,— + +“Your letter concerning the storm of feeling raging in your Canton +reached me to-day. My first impulse was to kneel down and give thanks, +so plainly do I see the footsteps of Jehovah in the storm. Did I not +tell you long ago that you in Switzerland would have to go through the +same fires that we went through five and six years ago? This persecution +is the divine seal set upon your mission; let us rejoice and be glad, +for it shows that the battle of the Lord is set in array against those +principalities and powers which are leagued with the spirit of darkness. +You ought not to regret that this struggle in your own country occupies +so much of your time. Your country is to be the scene of our first great +International Congress, and it is well that the country in which that +event is to take place should be well prepared. If it were not so, +Switzerland would not be so fitted to be the central battlefield of our +International conflict. We will do our best to keep up correspondence +with France and other countries, in order to leave you more free. + +“I see in the conflict around you the same features which we have +observed elsewhere—the same secrecy of procedure on the part of our +adversaries, the same tactics when forced to act publicly, the same +weakness in their own camp. If you yourself have to bear the brunt of +the opposition, you will win adherents far more rapidly on account of +this. If those in authority, if the Federal Government itself, were to +pronounce against your principles, and its agents were to calumniate +you, it will not do you any real harm, and will only be temporary. +Wherefore let us ‘stand fast in the Lord.’ We have had already for seven +years the whole authority of our Imperial Government against us, and our +names have been blackened in public and in Parliamentary debate. In some +cases incomes have been lessened and times made very hard for us, but +the cause gains daily in strength and is consecrated by the sufferings +of its advocates. + +“Tell dear Madame Humbert that now is the time for _women_ to be strong: +women have never shrunk from martyrdom; they must not do so now. + +“We have had a week of prayer for our cause, beginning on the 17th. We +were glad to think that you and your family were with us in spirit. I +told the tale of your Swiss conflict and we prayed for you all. The +women who promoted this union for prayer are brave, instructed women who +are not afraid of the reproach of being ‘political women,’ who have, in +fact, made the ‘last sacrifice,’ by giving their names to public scorn +for the Lord’s sake who gave Himself to public scorn for their sakes. I +trust that the dear Swiss ladies will be ready even to become +politicians in order to deliver their sisters from slavery! + +“My only regret concerning that splendid meeting which was held at La +Chaux-de-Fonds is that there was no woman strong enough in the strength +of the Lord to enter that meeting alone and uninvited, and cry aloud to +the men there, the good and the bad alike, ‘You men have no right to +discuss the question, shall you or shall you _not_ maintain female +slavery in the interests of vice; the question is already judged, the +verdict is already given, for I tell you in the name of all women that +you shall not maintain female slavery in the interests of vice; and it +is the voice of God which now declares that you shall not.’ Such a +proclamation, coming from the woman’s side, strikes a kind of terror +into the hearts of our adversaries, such as even the noblest man’s voice +does not inspire. Why? Because it is the voice of the slave herself; and +the oppressor, with the abettor of oppression, fears, saying to himself, +like Herod, ‘It is John the Baptist whom I beheaded; he is risen from +the dead!’ The only thing yet wanting, dear friends, in your noble +campaign is the resurrection of the slave in the person of some devoted +woman or women who will tell the tyrant in the woman’s voice, gently but +terribly, ‘You shall not do this thing.’ Perhaps your ladies will be +moved by the guidance of the Holy Spirit to put forth a united protest +of this kind—gentle, solemn, but firm and powerful. Now is the moment to +do it. It will shake the adversary in his inmost soul and will +strengthen our noble masculine champions.” + + +In quoting these words, written so long ago, I cannot help taking a +brief mental retrospect, and tracing the wonderful and steady progress +of the women of Switzerland in this matter. The fear of “meddling with +politics” oppressed them at first. An important group of them now +interest themselves actively in every social and political question +which bears directly or indirectly on the interests of women; they have +brought strong personal influence to bear on their Cantonal and Federal +Governments, an influence which the late M. Ruchonnet, as President of +the Federal Council, acknowledged to have been of the most salutary +kind. Their labours are taken account of in the new Project for the +Reform and Unification of the Penal Code; and under the skilful guidance +of Professor Louis Bridel, they have already witnessed the achievement +in certain cantons of a reform in the Civil Code, similar to our +“Married Woman’s Property Act,” by which a woman’s earnings and property +are secured to herself. They are proceeding to follow this up by further +reforms. + +On the very day—the 22nd of March—when those men of the two Councils, +the Municipal Council and Council of State, of Chaux-de-Fonds, the +friends of M. Humbert’s youth, furious with him, were recording their +accusation against him of calumniating his native city, the corpses of +two young working women of Chaux-de-Fonds were being dragged out of the +River Doubs at Brenets, on the Jura. One was a young widow of +twenty-three, and the other a girl of eighteen. They had fled from one +of the strongholds of debauchery at Chaux-de-Fonds, had run as far as +Locle, and then to Brenets. Friendless and poor, and fearing to return +to the town or to say whence they had fled, having been enticed only +lately into this slavery, and horrified at their lives therein, they saw +no way of escape, they knew not of any human deliverance, and so they +tied themselves together by an arm of each with their shawls and plunged +into the water together. The corpses were dragged out after three days, +silent witnesses of the justice of M. Humbert’s denunciation of this +vile slave system, for which he was now suffering bitter wounds even in +the house of his friends. + +About the same time another of those incidents occurred in Geneva which +are the natural fruits of a system of organised vice. A young girl +contrived to make her escape from one of the regulated houses there, and +fled through the streets. She was pursued by the keepers of the house. +One of the Police des Mœurs came to the aid, not of the victim, but of +the pursuers, and by the strong hand of an authority which has no legal +existence, the girl was forced back into the den from whence she had +escaped, in spite of her agonised cries in the open streets. A gentleman +of Geneva, a jurist, who had studied this question of modern slavery, +observed, _apropos_ of this event, that “we have, in fact, returned to +the permitted practices of the slave-holders of America, and logically +we might now also set up the practice of keeping bloodhounds to trace +and hunt down the fugitives.” + +The conflict in the Canton of Neuchâtel was successfully concluded in +September, about the time of the Geneva Congress, by a declaration on +the part of the Prefect of La Chaux-de-Fonds that the municipality had +withdrawn its official protection of the houses of evil repute, and that +this withdrawal had been confirmed by the Prefect himself. + + +To return to events in France. During this time fresh fuel was added to +the rising indignation of the people of Paris against the Police of +Morals by the arrest of Mlle. Marie Ligeron, a gentle girl of +irreproachable character, who was insulted and arrested by one of +Lecour’s hunters while walking with her fiancé, to whom she was shortly +to be married. The police discovered their mistake only after she had +gone through all the misery and shame of being taken to the Depôt and +questioned, and detained in the prison of St. Lazare until sufficient +influence was brought to bear to secure her release. Her case was taken +up by our friends on the Municipal Council, and at their instigation a +prosecution of the Prefect was instituted by the fiancé of the girl, +whose sufferings were scarcely less than her own. That one of the people +should have dared to prosecute the man who had hitherto been a +practically irresponsible tyrant over all the poor women of Paris was a +proof of the growth of public opinion there. + +But Marie Ligeron was only released from the St. Lazare by death. That +cruelly injured woman never recovered from the shock of the mental and +physical horrors she was forced to endure in that depôt of shame, and +sank under the illness to which it gave rise. She died. She was twenty +years of age. Her death made a deep impression in France. It afterwards +transpired that her cowardly medical inquisitors themselves had +pronounced her to be a pure virgin, and that they had detained her in +that horrible place, the St. Lazare, after this verdict as a kind of +“curiosity.” Some of the newspapers asked, “Could even the Turks have +devised a more cruel method of slow murder?” The _Marseillaise_ +concluded a long and pathetic article on her fate with the words, “We +will no longer endure this Police Inquisition which slaughters women. +Every human being has a right to Law. If this is your civilisation, know +that it is the civilisation of assassins! Sleep, poor dead girl! _you_ +have pardoned them, perhaps. We will not pardon them.” + +During the preparations for the Geneva Congress, a controversy arose in +Switzerland concerning the part to be taken by women in the Congress. +Certain gentlemen there, though friends of our cause, insisted that +ladies should be excluded from special sections. Some of the ladies were +inclined to yield on this point, and it was hoped that our English +Parliamentary leaders would give the word as to the advisability of +ladies absenting themselves from certain meetings, and that this word +would be authoritative. Mme. Humbert having fully explained the +situation to me, I replied in the following letter, which I am induced +to reproduce here, seeing that the same question, in one form or +another, still occasionally arises, and that it may be useful to the +coming generation to know the reasons for the firm stand which the +pioneer women took in the matter. + + + “DEAR FRIEND,— + +“I cannot disguise from you that the subject of your letter has been a +cause of anxiety to me and my friends. We are to hold a private +conference on the subject. Meanwhile, I give you my personal answer to +the ladies of Switzerland. Here it is. + +“Ladies! you have appealed to me to use my influence to cause to be +authoritatively closed against women a portion of the sections and +public meetings of the Congress. It is not I who rule the Congress. I +have some influence, but if I were to make use of that influence with +our men of England, who are allied with M. Humbert in the organisation +of the Congress, in order to obtain this exclusion of women, they would +not grant my request, and would be amazed at such a request coming from +me. In fact, I believe there is not a man among them who would attend +the Congress if a public announcement should be made of the exclusion of +women from any part of the deliberations. Our gentlemen here would look +upon such a public act as an abandonment of principle. It is precisely +this peremptory exclusion of women by statesmen and others from all +participation in council and in debate on such vital questions which has +led to the present terrible wrong to Society by the passing of these +oppressive and God-defying laws. Eight years of conflict and experience +have convinced a portion of the Christian manhood of England that this +has been at the root of many of the most fatal errors of legislators. I +have sent your letter on to the gentlemen members of our Committee. I +know their feeling will be on reading it, ‘We have laboured hard all +these years in the cause of womanhood, and, in doing so, we have learned +the absolute necessity of the co-operation and the advice of women; and +here there are women themselves who, bowing to the authority of certain +men, ask us to bid them stand apart!’ + +“Do not imagine, dear friend, that I do not feel much sympathy with your +ladies on the subject of being present in the Hygienic Section. Tell +them I understand their feeling, and that so far as their having a tacit +understanding in any group of themselves that they will not attend the +Hygienic meetings, I have no objection to make. This can be quietly +done. No one can find fault with any of the Swiss ladies for absenting +themselves individually. None of us could wish any woman to attend who +feels that the sacrifice is more than she could bear. It is perfectly +legitimate for you to adopt your own plans in this respect, and this +involves no abandonment of principle. You see the immense difference +between such action and the public announcement on the part of men that +no women are to be admitted. + +“It is utterly useless for you to ask Mr. Stansfeld to promote such a +public act of exclusion. He will not do it. You might as well ask him to +strike you or thrust you out of the room. I think you hardly know what +our best Englishmen are. They will be true to women now, even in spite +of those women themselves. + +“I hope, dear friends, I have made the matter clear. I would not do +anything to shock public opinion so as to do harm. On the other hand, I +will never, God helping me, bow down to public opinion when that public +opinion is so far from being just and pure as it is now. Did our Lord +ever bow down before public opinion? Would this Crusade ever have been +begun at all if some English women had not openly defied public opinion? +Believe me, when this Congress is over, you will be astonished to find +how easy and useful it is for men and women to work and consult +together, and how wonderfully the cynics have been silenced. Yes, I know +very well some of the cynical and indelicate medical men you speak of. +There will be few of such among us; but granted that there will be some, +I do not fear their influence. They will be overpowered by the dignity, +gravity, and determination of our abolitionist medical men. + +“I believe, dear ladies, you will act for the best under the guidance of +God, who will not fail us, and who will silence the enemy.” + + +I take from a number of my own letters to M. Humbert, written at this +time, which he returned to me, the following, which recalls some of the +circumstances of the year of our first Congress:— + + + To M. HUMBERT. + + _April 30, 1877._ + +“We have much correspondence just now concerning the visit of members of +the Paris Municipal Council to London. M. Yves Guyot was to have been +one of the number; he was to come as representing the Commission on the +Police des Mœurs, while the other visitors represented other +Commissions. The Lord Mayor of London sent them an invitation to a +banquet at the Mansion House, and we were making preparations for a +Conference with M. Guyot and the other Paris Councillors who are in +sympathy with us in the interests of abolition all over the world. But +the Prefect of Paris was unwilling to allow Guyot to come to England, +and has insisted on his taking his imprisonment now at once. The +Minister of Justice refused a formal request from the President of the +Paris Municipal Council to give Guyot a week’s reprieve in order that he +might fulfil his important mission to London. M. Desmoulins writes that +M. Guyot went to the prison of Ste. Pelagie last Friday evening, the +27th, regretting much to bid farewell to the spring and summer. + +“Our earnest fellow-worker, Mr. Collingwood, of Sunderland, is now in +Paris doing good service for our cause. He is a man of great faith, and +is endeavouring to persuade our Protestant friends in France that they +ought to take political action at once, and not merely pray and make +speeches. He tells me that they have begun to petition the Chambers, as +M. Caise’s group has been doing. + +“I thank you for your _compte-rendu_ of the Conference of the presidents +of the five sections of our approaching Congress. In return I send you a +little news from England. Our position is peculiar; for we have no +Repeal Bill before Parliament this Session. Our chief Parliamentary +leaders believe it would be quite useless to bring the question before +the present Parliament. The news that there is to be no debate on +abolition this year has been received throughout the country with deep +regret. There never was a period in which so much activity and life was +manifested in our work as now throughout the country. The Working Men’s +League and all the other Associations throughout Scotland and Ireland as +well as England are in an attitude of suspense waiting for the word of +command in order to renew the conflict with more determination than +ever. But as it is, memorializing, petitioning, and deputations to the +Government would be unfruitful. The question with us now is, to what +point shall we direct the energies of our Abolitionist population? An +international object does not afford an immediate scope for the +activities of our working class abolitionists, though it has their +earnest sympathy. We have thought of promoting formal delegations to the +Congress from our working men’s societies, and I should be glad if you +could send me addresses of some working men’s societies in Switzerland +who might be put into communication with our working men’s Abolitionist +Committees in Edinburgh, Birmingham, Glasgow, etc. + +“We have lately had some exciting Parliamentary elections, resulting in +victories for our cause. At Oldham there was a hard-fought contest, +which resulted in the election of Mr. Hibbert by a majority of 2,000 +votes. Mr. Hibbert has been for many years a strong adherent of our +cause. It is thus that in England we win slowly, step by step, our +Parliamentary victories. + +“Poor Yves Guyot has just written to me from the prison of Ste. Pelagie, +in dread lest his colleagues of the Municipal Council should fall into +the hands of our adversaries in London rather than of abolitionists in +seeking information. Mr. Benjamin Scott, who holds a high civic office, +that of Chamberlain of the City of London, has presented an address from +his own Committee to the Paris Councillors, which I think will have some +weight. Mr. Martineau, town councillor of Birmingham, has done the same +for his Midland Counties Committee. + +“Your daughter Amélie asks for some account of our women’s activity +during the time of our severest conflict here. I doubt whether such an +account might not be a little appalling to your ladies at present, +because in England, necessarily, our activities are very strongly +directed towards public meetings and election work. Our ladies worked at +a number of elections, beginning each conflict with devotional meetings. +It was on these occasions that we suffered most annoyance; but we gained +great triumphs in convincing Parliament of the power and vitality of our +principles. Amélie knows how truly gentle and womanly are the women who +take part in this active political work. What you tell me of the women +of Switzerland and their increased zeal is most encouraging. If women +had votes, there would be less need for them to ‘agitate.’ Your letters +and report of the proceedings of your Grand Council were read at our +Federation Council Meeting on Monday. We follow with profound interest +every step of your conflict. The ‘powers that be’ are terribly committed +to false principles on this question throughout the world. It is a happy +thing when they speak out plainly. When they proclaim themselves aloud +in favour of corrupt and immoral institutions, then, and not till then, +do slumbering Christians and patriots wake up to perceive that we are +indeed in the midst of war, and that our battle is the battle of the +Lord against the mighty. We shall be anxious to know how your elections +end.” + + +As the date of the Congress drew near, the discussions among the members +of the different sections became more eager and anxious. Several +complications having arisen in regard to the relative importance and +position of the different questions to be considered, the Committee in +London accepted the offer of Mr. Stansfeld to go in advance to +Switzerland in order to meet and confer with all the different +Presidents of the Sections, with Mr. Humbert and others. This visit of +Mr. Stansfeld had very happy results, in contributing to the harmony +which eventually prevailed. + +It is not my intention to give any complete account of the great +Congress at Geneva. The proceedings were published in two large volumes +entitled “Les Actes du Congrès de Genève” (to be had from M. Henri +Minod, 6, Rue Saint Leger, Geneva). These volumes contain also all the +most important papers and addresses given on the occasion. There were +present at the Congress five hundred and ten delegates, representing +fifteen different nations. It should be understood that these delegates +were all convinced of the necessity of the abolition of all regulations +of vice. This was the only condition that was required of them in order +to become members. + +About 120 papers and reports were presented to the various sections of +the Congress, after the reading and full discussion of which, +resolutions were formulated and submitted to the different sections for +renewed discussion, amendment and final adoption. International +Committees had been established several months previously, in which the +different sections met periodically for the study and discussion of the +subjects to be brought before the Congress. Finally the resolutions +adopted by each section were placed before the whole Congress for +approval and acceptance. Rarely has there been recorded such a unanimous +expression of international opinion, emanating from representatives of +so many different countries; nor an expression of opinion, founded upon +investigations so extensive and so conscientious. The following are the +resolutions of the five sections:— + +On the 17th of September, the first day of the Session, immediately +after the nomination and election of the Bureaux by the General Assembly +of the Congress, the Five Sections in combined Session passed the +following resolution:— + +“The Congress recognises the many-sided character of the question which +it has assembled to discuss. + +“It acknowledges that its solution is only to be sought in the collation +of the results arrived at by the labours of each of the Five Sections, +in such manner that the conclusions of each particular Section may +finally be accepted from the point of view of all the Sections; and it +is with this understanding that it proposes to contribute, by its +decisions, to the general conclusions at which the Congress desires to +arrive.” + +Towards the close of the Congress the Section of Hygiene affirmed— + + I. + + That self-control in the relations between the sexes is one of the + indispensable bases of the health of individuals and communities. + + + II. + + That prostitution is a fundamental violation of the laws of health. + + + III. + + Being convinced that the province of Public Hygiene should not be + restricted to the surveillance and prevention of specific maladies + which affect populations, we declare that its true function is to + develop all the conditions which conduce to Public Health, whose + highest form is necessarily included in Public Morality. + + + IV. + + The Section of Hygiene condemns, in view of their complete failure, + all systems of Police des Mœurs whose object is to regulate + prostitution. The Section bases its condemnation on the following + amongst other grounds, namely: that the obligatory examination of + women is revolting to human nature; that it can only be carried out in + the case of a certain proportion of women; that it is impossible to + rely upon this examination to discover the most serious constitutional + form of venereal maladies, or to hinder its progress; and that, + consequently, it gives a false guarantee of the health of the women + who are subjected to it. + + + V. + + The Section of Hygiene desires especially to see removed all obstacles + which at present prevent venereal maladies from being as extensively + treated as every other form of disease in the hospitals which are + controlled by municipalities and other public bodies, as well as in + those which are supported by private liberality. + + + VI. + + The Section of Hygiene also expresses the hope that the ordinary + police will strictly maintain order and decency in public streets, and + repress every public scandal, whether caused by men or women. + +The Section of Morality affirmed— + + I. + + That impurity in men is as reprehensible as it is in women. + + + II. + + That the regulation of prostitution tends to destroy the idea of the + unity of the moral law for the two sexes, and to lower the tone of + public opinion in this respect. + + + III. + + That every system of organised prostitution encourages profligacy, + increases the number of illegitimate births, develops clandestine + prostitution, and lowers the standard of public and private morality. + + + IV. + + That the compulsory medical examination of women, the basis of every + system of regulation, is an outrage on woman, and tends to destroy, + even in the most degraded, the last remnant of modesty which she may + retain. + + + V. + + That the registration of prostitutes is contrary to common law, and to + the principle of liberty. + + + VI. + + That in regulating vice the State forgets its duty of affording equal + protection to both sexes, and in reality degrades the female sex and + corrupts both. + + + VII. + + That the State, whose duty it is to protect minors and to assist them + in every good effort, on the contrary, incites them to debauchery, in + so far as it facilitates it by regulation. + + + VIII. + + That in authorising immoral houses, and in raising a reprehensible + trade to the rank of a regular profession, the State sanctions the + immoral doctrine that debauchery is a necessity for men. + + + IX. + + That it is desirable to address an appeal to all authors, editors, + printsellers, and booksellers in Europe and America, urging them to + lend no encouragement to the sale or circulation of pictures or works + of a corrupting tendency. + +Questions proposed by the President and answered by the Section of +Social Economy. + + I. + + Are the economic interests, rights, and independence of women + sufficiently respected and guaranteed at the present day by the law, + by opinion, and by the customs of society? + + _Answer_ (unanimous).—No. + + + II. + + Is the continuous exercise by a woman of a profession involving manual + labour consistent with the proper performance of her domestic and + maternal duties. + + _Answer._—That depends upon the profession and the individual + circumstances of the woman. + + + III. + + Is the pay accorded to the manual labour of women sufficient to + satisfy their legitimate wants? + + _Answer_ (by majority).—No. + + + IV. + + 1. What are the principal causes of the insufficiency of women’s wages + in industrial occupations? + + _Answer_ (by majority).—The inequality established between men and + women by the law, the customs of society, general ignorance, and the + regulation of prostitution. + + 2. Is it possible to remedy this inferiority in women’s wages? + + _Answer._—Yes, by equal laws, by the improvement of morals, by the + abolition of regulated prostitution, and by the spread of general and + professional education for women. + + + V. + + What are, or will be, the consequences in regard to the economic and + moral condition of women of their employment in manufactories? + + _Answer._—The consequences will vary according to circumstances. The + Section considers that no industrial employment should be closed to + women which may enable them by their own labour to protect themselves + from want and prostitution. + + + VI. + + Should Government interfere to prevent the labour of women in + factories? + + _Answer_ (with two dissentients).—No. + + + VII. + + What advantages can women gain from the principles of union and + co-operation among themselves? + + _Answer_ (unanimous).—The same advantages as are gained by men. + + + VIII. + + How can women’s education be organised so as to contribute most + effectually to the amelioration of their social and economic + condition? + + _Answer._—By throwing entirely open to women every branch of + education, and by assuring an equal expenditure by the State and by + society on the education of the two sexes. + +The Section of Preventive and Reformatory Work affirms— + + + I. + + That the ideas which are involved in the system of the regulation of + vice are entirely incompatible with the work of rescue. + + + II. + + That it is proved that the Regulation of prostitution is a great + hindrance to the success of works of Rescue and Reformation, inasmuch + as registration and medical examination are opposed to all sentiments + of feminine modesty, which are never absolutely extinguished in any + woman, and inasmuch as they render more difficult the moral + restoration which we can and ought to hope for in the case of every + fallen woman, however abandoned she may be. + + + III. + + It is desirable to have widely established homes, in which the system + should be as little as possible of a penitential character, inasmuch + as sympathy and Christian love are the only efficacious means of + rescuing and reforming young women. + + + IV. + + It is desirable to establish a system of intercommunication between + all countries in order to prevent the trading in women and girls for + immoral purposes, and in order to protect friendless women who are + seeking employment in various countries. + +The Section of Legislation declared— + + I. + + That the State has not the right to regulate prostitution, for it + ought never to make a compromise with evil, nor to sacrifice + constitutional guarantees to questionable interests. + + + II. + + Every system of official regulation of prostitution involves the + arbitrary action of the police and violation of the legal guarantees + against arbitrary arrest and imprisonment which are assured to every + individual, not even excluding the greatest criminals. The compulsory + examination of women is equally contrary to the law. Inasmuch as this + violation of the law is solely to the disadvantage of woman, there is + made between her and man an excessively unjust distinction; the woman + is lowered to the rank of a mere chattel, and is placed beyond the + pale of the law. Moreover, by the regulation of vice the State + directly violates its own penal law, which forbids incitement to + debauchery, by making itself the accomplice of such incitement, in so + far as it is offered by the houses and the women sanctioned by its own + authority. The State herein also violates its duty of affording + protection to minors. + + + III. + + The system of regulation does not attain the object desired, for + regulation fosters and develops prostitution instead of diminishing + it. The increase of clandestine prostitution in the towns where the + system exists suffices to show that the regulations are eluded with + increasing frequency. The development of venereal maladies and the + number of indecent assaults in these same towns prove also that + regulation does not accomplish the desired results. + + + IV. + + It results from the preceding that the State should renounce the + project of pursuing the hygienic aim, the more so that in this case + there is no question of an external danger such as an epidemic + menacing the general public health, but of a danger to which those who + expose themselves do so knowingly and of their own free will. The + State ought, therefore, to abandon this arbitrary administrative + procedure, and to recur to law alone. It should confine itself to the + protection of minors and to repressing by legal and judicial means all + that is contrary to public order. + + + V. + + The State should continue to punish incitement to debauchery when + directed towards minors of either sex, and should treat procurers with + special severity. It should punish the decoying of minors for immoral + purposes. It should prohibit every collective organisation of + prostitution by punishing the offence of keeping an immoral house open + to the public, and that of letting apartments for such uses. An + analogous case is that of gambling houses, which are prohibited by + penal enactment in almost all countries. + + We would retain unchanged the penal enactments concerning outrages on + public morality, and particularly _public_ solicitation and indecent + assaults, and the illegal confinement and detention of women and the + decoying of those who are under age. + + + VI. + + As to the causes of prostitution, from a legal point of view, the + State might punish the seduction of a minor, when that seduction has + been effected by means of false pretences. + + A question which merits consideration is whether the State should not + re-establish the right of affiliation in those countries where it has + been abolished, in order to equalise the position of the man and the + woman in relation to their illegitimate children.[13] + +The following is a personal reminiscence in the form of a letter +addressed by myself to a relative, towards the close of the Congress:— + +“I can only give you a brief sketch of the past week; full reports will +be published. The anxiety which we could not but feel went on augmenting +up to Friday. On Friday we began to see daylight, and all has ended +well. Many of us are tired and stupefied for want of sleep, but at the +same time inwardly giving thanks to God. This Congress has been a +wonderful event. There were 510 inscribed members, besides the numerous +public which attended the meetings. It is, they say, the largest +Congress that has ever been held in Geneva. On the first days people +continued flocking in from all nations. There were Greeks who came from +Athens; and Russians from St. Petersburg and Moscow. There were +Americans, Belgians, Dutch, Danes, Germans, Pomeranians, Italians, +French, and Spaniards. Senor Zorilla, the late President of the Spanish +Cortes, spoke on Wednesday, and was nominated as one of a Committee to +consider what action could be taken in Spain. On Sunday, in the +Cathedral, Pastor Rörich preached a powerful sermon to a very large +congregation on the question before the Congress, and in all the +churches we and our work have been prayed for. + +“We always anticipated that when the final resolutions should come to be +voted upon, then would be the real war, and so it was. On Thursday +morning the voting began. Our faithful bands of ladies worked and +watched in their different sections quite splendidly. First we had a +considerable conflict in the Social Economy Section. Then came the +voting in the Legislative Section, in the smaller Hall of the +Reformation, which was densely crowded. Professor Hornung presided. The +discussion lasted three hours. Some lawyers were present who are now +busy in the prospect of the revision of some parts of the penal code of +Switzerland, notably a young Jurist, an able man, who spoke well, but as +a downright opponent. There followed a stormy scene, which the President +with difficulty controlled. People of many different languages stood up +at the same moment, each with a finger stretched out, demanding to +speak. “Je demande la parole,” sounded from all sides of the room. Mr. +A——, the young Jurist, made the President indignant by asserting that a +resolution drawn up by him was not _juridique_. Seeing that M. Hornung +is Professor of Jurisprudence at the Geneva University, and possesses +the very highest reputation, this was rather strong, and I do not wonder +it irritated him. But it did good, for it stimulated him to come out on +the last day of the Congress with a splendid judicial speech, by far the +best and clearest utterance of the kind I have ever heard in any +country. We shall translate and circulate it. Hornung is a delightful +man. He has that good gift of God, an enlightened intellect, as well as +a pure heart, together with great refinement and gentleness of manner. + +“At one o’clock, when we were all feeling the need of food, and our +throats were dry with the dust of the room, an Italian Advocate got up +and declared there had not yet been enough discussion of each point. The +Chairman was aghast. He had expected the voting to be got over just at +that moment. A kind of barking, House of Commons cry arose of ‘Vote, +vote!’ while the President stood open-mouthed, attempting to read the +resolutions so as to be heard. A sort of stampede seized some of the +German and Swiss members, and they made for the door. Half the meeting +would have gone out, and so damaged the worth of the voting. So I +ventured to shut the door and set my back against it, declaring that no +one should have any food until he had voted! This half startled and half +amused the assembly, and they all sat down again obediently. After +another half-hour of discussion, it was agreed that we should meet again +for a final voting at half-past six the next morning. + +“On the same day the resolutions of the Moral Section were passed very +satisfactorily. Then came the Hygienic Section. The discussion here was +so long that it was also adjourned until an evening hour. + +“At eight o’clock that evening we all went to the Hall of the Hygienic +Section, and there sat crowded together, or stood, amidst a scene of +intense interest, till midnight. Dr. Bertani, of Rome, took a leading +part. Our ladies all went to the meeting; but they had been up so early, +and had worked so hard all day, that by eleven p.m. this is the scene +which one of my sons described as having observed at the back of the +hall: ‘A long row of ladies _all sound asleep_’; but they had appointed +a watcher, Mrs. Bright Lucas, who sat at the end of the row, and whom +they had charged to keep awake, and to give them the signal whenever +voting began on each clause of the resolution. Mrs. Lucas was wide +awake, with eyes shining like live coals! + +“We had prayed that God would direct this meeting, and it was wonderful +and beautiful to see how the truth prevailed. + +“Dr. de la Harpe, the President, acted well throughout. At the end I +shook hands with him and Dr. Ladame, thanking them for their excellent +words. Dr. de la Harpe replied, ‘You owe us nothing; it is you and your +friends who must be thanked, who have brought us so much light.’ + +“At the end of the Congress all the Resolutions came out satisfactorily. +We owe a good deal of this result to Professor Stuart’s tact and +patience in talking to the different presidents individually. We think +our resolutions are, on the whole, excellent as a statement of +principles—clear and uncompromising; and shall we not thank God for +this? His hand has been over us for good all this time, convincing men’s +hearts and consciences, and controlling their words and actions. The +earnest daily prayers offered up have not been in vain. + +“These resolutions will be sent to every Government, and to every +Municipal Council throughout Europe. They have been telegraphed to the +English press _in extenso_. My son George was charged with the work of +telegraphing, and had necessarily to exercise much alertness and +activity; M. Humbert is impressed with the excellence of whatever work +he undertakes. + +“In the Legislative Section we had an energetic discussion over the +seduction laws of different countries, and the _réchérche de la +paternité_, subjects not immediately in our programme, but closely +touching it. The discussion became so hot that it seemed difficult for +some of the members to remain calm at all. Signora Mozzoni, a delegate +from Milan, burst into tears over it, and one or two of our good +gentlemen lost their tempers a little. One cannot wonder, for this is +one of the important questions upon which people of different nations +and creeds hold very different views. Miss Isabella Tod and Mrs. Sheldon +Amos took a line on the point of the age to which protection should be +given, in which I could not quite follow them, and I felt obliged for +once to oppose my own countrywomen. Professor Hornung was pleased with +what I said, as it seems it accorded with the views of most Continental +Jurists. The young advocate who had opposed us called yesterday to say +that he had come round to our views, chiefly influenced by that +desperate little impromptu legal discussion among the ladies. He had +imagined, he said, that we were a number of ‘fanatical and sentimental +women,’ but ‘when he heard women arguing like jurists, and even taking +part against each other, and yet with perfect good temper _like men_ +(!), he began to see that we were grave, educated, and even scientific +people!’ He came afterwards to every meeting, and, as he said, weighed +all our words. + +“I think I have not mentioned the resolutions at the Section of +Bienfaisance, under good Pastor Borel’s presidency. Those also were very +satisfactory.” + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + “When the necessary revolution in the mind of the people is completed, + that in the institutions of the country will follow as the day follows + the night.”—W. LLOYD GARRISON, the leading abolitionist of negro + slavery. + + +A great extension of our work followed the Congress of Geneva. As the +cause was taken up in several countries of Europe and in British and +other Colonies, its history comes naturally to be less of a personal +record. My own reminiscences become more limited in proportion as our +principles were gradually extended by the force of their own vitality, +throughout the world. The originators of the movement could not be +everywhere at once. Many stirring scenes and events connected with our +work only came to our knowledge through correspondence or press notices, +while we continued to direct the work to some extent from our central +Committees in London and Geneva, with occasional journeys to and work +in, other countries. + +It was at the Congress of Geneva that we first made the acquaintance of +M. Pierson, of Holland. I lately asked him to remind me of some of the +circumstances connected with his first entering into the work, to which +he has been so great a strength. (I have already said that M. Pierson +was the successor of the well-known Pastor Heldring.) He wrote, in reply +to my request, from Zetten, as follows:— + +“I saw Heldring first in 1847, and went with him to spend some days in +his family. Heldring was forty-three years old, and I thirteen. He was +then building his Refuge of Steenbeck. On January 1st, 1848, he opened +this Refuge. A lady, Miss Petronella Voûte, of a well-known family in +Amsterdam, descendants of French refugees in the reign of Louis XIV., +was placed at the head of the Refuge. She worked with Heldring till his +death in 1876, and died the following year under most remarkable +circumstances. There were various branches of Heldring’s great work. +Before his death he had founded institutions for the aid of women and +girls in different circumstances. I myself have added to these two +smaller homes for young girls, and the Magdalena House for unmarried +mothers, with a house for the children born there. For some time my +relations with Heldring had been somewhat less intimate, though we were +always friends. I had been first, for some years, a minister in a rural +district, among staunch Calvinists, and afterwards for seven years in +Bois-le-Duc, a town of 25,000 inhabitants, thoroughly Roman Catholic, +where Protestants were as one to ten against the Catholics. During this +time Heldring now and again expressed strong doubts as to the +regulations of vice, which had been silently and slowly introduced in +several of our towns in 1852 and after. He felt instinctively that there +was something rotten in the State which allowed the introduction of such +measures, and as soon as he heard of your first endeavours to attack the +system he took note of it, and expressed his hope that a new era was +approaching. + +“He wrote to Van den Bergh (afterwards my son-in-law), in March, 1870, +some words which, as coming from an old man of seventy-one years, show a +little uncertainty, but which, taken in connection with his declarations +at former periods, prove that he had always seen the true bearing of the +question. He stood quite alone in Holland in this matter. He and a +friend together had published in 1852 an anonymous pamphlet, in which +every kind of regulation is condemned. That pamphlet was lying in a +bookseller’s garret. I bought the remaining copies, some hundreds, in +1858 for £2. + +“In July, 1876, Heldring died, and in January, 1877, I came here in his +place. Miss Voûte, the Directress of Steenbeck, had been a friend of my +wife and myself from our childhood, and was very happy that we should +take Heldring’s work. But some five or six weeks after my arrival it +became evident that her physical forces were giving way. Once—it may +have been in March, 1877—speaking of Heldring and of me, she said to me, +‘I feel such strange forebodings, I don’t know why; but it seems as if +the whole work of Steenbeck will be changed and begun anew.’ ‘In what +sense?’ I asked. ‘In every respect,’ she replied; ‘but I don’t know +how.’ On the 14th April I went to see her, because we thought her end +was approaching. After having prayed and spoken some words I left her, +but I had not been gone an hour when some one came running to tell me +(what, in fact, I already saw) that the Refuge was in flames, and Miss +Voûte lying on her death-bed! I spare you the details. It is enough to +mention that we brought her to my house. At first it seemed as if the +shock had aroused her instead of doing her harm, but four days later she +died suddenly. + +“Steenbeck was burned to the ground. I had much to do in the following +weeks, and when the invitation to the Geneva Congress came, I felt much +inclined to accept, simply because it would give me a few days of +leisure. But I honestly confess that I had some hesitation; I had always +disliked the sanitary measures of the regulations, and abhorred the +system of organised houses of shame; but I had the impression that the +Congress was not taking up the great and central question, and that it +took the humanitarian point of view rather than the Christian. I did not +require to be converted by the Congress, for I already agreed with the +principles proclaimed by it; but I came back from it persuaded that the +question _was much more important_ than I had imagined. + +“I immediately felt two things: first, that we had been made dupes of by +a false and stupid medical science, so-called; and second, that our +question was the ‘tendon of the heel of Achilles’ of the whole matter of +moral reform. These two points fitted in precisely with my state of +mind; for I hate the humbug of false, would-be scientific men (I have +seen too much of it); and I enjoy dealing with a question which involves +a great many other questions, and which may be said to be a touchstone +to try the minds of men. + +“So in 1878 our first appeal in Holland was made to the public. + +“Steenbeck burnt down ten months after Heldring’s death, Miss Voûte +dying almost beneath the falling walls, had made a deep impression. +Money came in from every side. In five months a large building was +erected. Meanwhile the inmates had been lodged in the Church. The work +had not been dropped for a moment. On the day of the opening of the new +building friends came from every part of the country to assist at the +ceremony, and I used the occasion to draw the attention of the assembly +to the work of the Federation. There was some opposition. Some thought +that I was steering in another direction from Heldring; but as I have +said, having discovered that Heldring’s pamphlet of 1852 was lying at +the bookseller’s, I bought all the copies left, for which the good +shopkeeper was very glad. It was a strong weapon. I could show that I +was only taking up the thread where Heldring was obliged, for want of +sympathy, to let it drop. + +“I drew up a circular letter, adding with each letter a copy of +Heldring’s pamphlet, and distributed these. In March, 1878, I invited +some four to five hundred persons to a meeting at Utrecht, in the centre +of our country. The assembly was numerous. The foundation of our work +was laid. A good report of this meeting may be found in the _Bulletin +Continental_ of June, 1878. + +“In recalling those zealous days of our early entering upon the +struggle, I instinctively feel the first holy fire rekindling in my +heart and mind. God has been with us, and is still blessing his work by +his gracious presence. We have not done as much as we wished or could +have done; but we have not lived in vain. To him alone the glory, and +blessing to our posterity.” + +M. Pierson adds some words in the same communication which are worthy to +be reproduced, inasmuch as they describe a state of mind which we have +met with and have had to combat in many countries, and which appears +again and again. He writes: “Here in Holland we often find ourselves in +enforced opposition to our well-intentioned friends, especially among +Christians. In one of our cities some years ago a Committee was formed +for promoting purer morals. They were in favour of attacking immorality, +but refused to express any opinion about the public regulation of vice. +It seems, at the date I am writing, that this Committee sleeps very +quietly. I once named them Nicodemites, which much scandalised them. +What Christians ought to realise—but seem very much to forget—is that in +Christian countries _they are responsible for the spirit in which the +laws are made_. Many of them seem to think that the Government, in its +very essence, is a worldly, ungodly institution, somewhat in the same +way as if they were living in a Pagan land, under the Roman Emperors. +The Church, in those circumstances, had nothing to do but to save as +many souls as could be brought into the fold of Christ. The Christians +were not responsible for the Pagan laws and their destructive influences +in those times. But with us it is quite a different thing. It will take +a long time to make our principles widely understood, but it is not lost +time.” + +I have gladly hailed at all times, and in all countries, the entrance of +our question into its true and necessary political phase. The word +“political” terrifies many people, some of them being the best and most +earnest Christian people, because they do not, in fact, understand its +true meaning. They see the spectre of party feuds, of party political +interests in conflict. But there is no question of party in the politics +of this sacred cause of ours. It is a question which vitally concerns +our social life through all the classes, from the head of the Government +down to the poorest toiler for his daily bread. It is a moral question +which affects the moral and spiritual life of the peoples of the earth, +and through their spiritual individual life, the domestic, social, and +public life of the community. _But it must be fought out on the lines of +law and Government—on political lines._ Corrupt magistrates, rulers, +experts, and profligates of all grades will not look at the standard +which the spiritually-minded man or woman holds up to them—the standard +of Christian ethics. They pass it by with a smile. They confess no +allegiance to any such law. But these rulers, and these inventors and +upholders of State regulation of vice, must bow to the law of the land. +They may scoff at Christian teachers, but, sooner or later, they must +reckon with that which is at their door, the _Penal Code_, which, though +thrust aside, or violated for a time, still stands there, a rock against +which they will stumble and fall, or else it will fall on them and crush +them out of place and power. And how can we bring the law of the land to +bear against an illegal and criminal institution, except on the field of +politics, and by means of political action? For my part, I have never +been able to hail our salvation from this horrible system as _near_, in +any country, until the question has entered into the political stage. +While saying this I hold firmly the truth that “our weapons are +_spiritual_, to the pulling down of strongholds”; that it is by the +faith of the true servants of God, by their persistent prayers and their +confidence in Him, that we shall win the victory. But in all matters of +human action and conflict we use means. The hand of the warrior grasps +the sword, while his heart is stayed on God. We reach out for every +lawful means, on every side of us, for the destruction of this iniquity; +and a long experience, as well as the lessons of history, prove clearly +that the public, political means afforded us by the just laws and +Constitutions of our several countries are above all the most effectual +means for the destruction of legalised illegality, of the slavery, +oppression, greed, cheating, murder, and shames embraced in the +institution of State regulated vice. + +A movement in favour of our cause had been energetically promoted in +1878 in Spain by M. Empeytaz and other upholders of our principles in +Spain. The “Voice in the Wilderness” was translated and distributed in +Barcelona and Madrid. Pastor Fritz Fliedner, the well-known German who +founded the deaconesses’ institution of Kaiserswerth, was at that time +travelling in Spain, and found that the Governor of Madrid had +suppressed the Spanish edition of the “Voice in the Wilderness.” He +called on the Governor, and also procured the intercession of the German +Ambassador on behalf of the work, and the prohibition was withdrawn. + +In Spain we also found a brave champion of our principles in the +Countess de Precorbin (Spanish by birth), who had joined us a few years +before. This lady held meetings in several towns and districts of Spain, +giving addresses to soldiers, students and others, and was everywhere +graciously received. So great was her desire to gain the ear of the +working people, that in one district, where a large proportion of the +male population was engaged in working in mines during the day, she had +herself let down into a mine in a basket. It was a surprise to the +miners to see this gentle lady in the midst of them, and to hear her +message concerning justice, equality, purity, and the sacredness of home +life; they heard her gladly and reverently. A Spanish lady of high rank, +Donna Concepion Arenal, continued for some years to advocate our Cause +in a periodical edited by herself, _La Caridad_. This ceased at her +death. The movement in Spain languished after a few years, yet we +continue to hope that it may be revived in some manner in future. During +this year we received expressions of personal sympathy and adhesion from +several influential Jews. Zadok Kahn, the Grand Rabbin of Paris, wrote a +beautiful letter to the Federation, expressing his full sympathy and +that of the best men of his people. The Grand Rabbin Wertheimer, of +Geneva, gave his adhesion. I had called on the Grand Rabbin Astruc, of +Belgium, on my way through that country in the previous year. From that +time he became also a firm adherent. Ben Israel, Grand Rabbin of +Avignon, also wrote several letters full of sympathy with the work. + +Dating from the Congress of Geneva, we began to store up an arsenal of +good weapons in the form of literature. Books innumerable had been +written by the defenders of regulation, and there was no lack of solid +literature on their side. The only Continental work of any consequence +which had been used to counteract their influence up to 1878 was the +modest little book entitled, “A Voice in the Wilderness;” this was a +collection of my first appeals made on the Continent of Europe, ably +edited by M. Aimé Humbert. This work never appeared in English. It was +translated gradually from the French into every other European language. +This little book was, as M. Humbert rightly said, merely a call to +battle, a challenge—and this assertion was reproachfully echoed by our +adversaries. “We want,” they said, “something scientific, statistical +and closely reasoned. We do not want merely the expression of a woman’s +revolted feelings against a system which we believe to be useful and +necessary.” They had not long to wait for the scientific arguments and +close reasoning which they professed to desire; for the two bulky +volumes published after our Congress of 1877, entitled _Les Actes du +Congrès de Genève_, furnished all that could be desired in that +direction, being a collection of the weighty utterances, prepared for +our Congress, of philosophers, statesmen, medical men, jurists, women of +experience in social work, and of thoughtful leaders among the working +classes, drawn from many different countries of the world. It may not be +uninteresting to my readers to see the relation of our first literary +effort to what followed, as expressed in a quotation here given from a +letter which I wrote to M. Humbert in reply to his proposal in 1875 to +publish in pamphlet form the principal portions of my appeals on the +Continent. + +“I feel with you every day,” I wrote, “that some such _voice_ is needed +just now. It would, perhaps, have been better had we been able to bring +out a complete book as our first—a book which should contain all the +scientific and juridical arguments as well as a complete review of +historical facts relating to this subject. But such a complete book is +at this moment impossible; I therefore beg you to communicate what I now +say to Messieurs Sandoz and Fischbacher (publishers). We want statistics +and facts—yes,—but would English statistics and facts alone, drawn from +a limited experience, be much or generally valued in other countries? I +think not, if they stood alone. Facts from a larger area we must have +later, and we shall have them, for, thank God, they stand as +indestructible witnesses everywhere of the folly and futility of the +attempt to regulate vice. How much more powerful, how overwhelming, in +fact, would it be for our opponents, and how strengthening for our +Cause, if we could show facts and statistics gathered from every country +and over a larger period of time. This is precisely what we are now +aiming at. We have received all the most recent reports from Italy, +France, Germany and other countries. On every hand there is confession +of the failure of regulation. Mireur, Jeannell, Diday, Deprés, +Pallasciano, Huet, Crocq, all confess to hygienic failure. The proposals +of some of these men to insure future success (a success which they +confess they have never yet ensured) are of such a wild and ghastly +nature that one has only to read their books to see that the beginning +of the end is at hand. + +“From out these statistics there appear here and there deeply pathetic +facts such as this: that four-fifths of the poor girls subjected to this +tyranny (according to one writer) are orphans; many are foreigners in +the country of their enslavement; many are young widows. Does not our +God, who is the God of the Fatherless, of the Widow, and of the +Stranger, take note of these things? + +“You see that in a year or two we shall have a mass of evidence against +this system which will give the doctors and materialist legislators a +hard task to refute. + +“I care little that men accuse me, as you say, of mere sentiment, and of +carrying away my hearers by feeling rather than by facts and logic. Even +while they are saying this, they read my words, and they are made +uncomfortable! they feel that there is a truth of some sort there, and +that sentiment itself is after all a _fact_ and a power when it +expresses the deepest intuitions of the human soul. They have had +opportunity for many years past of looking at the question in its +material phases, of appreciating its hygienic results, and of reading +numberless books on the subject, statistical, medical, and +administrative. _Now_, for the first time, they are asked to look upon +it as a question of human nature, of equal interest to man and woman, as +a question of the heart, the soul, the affections, the whole moral +being. As a simple assertion of one woman speaking for tens of thousands +of women, those two words ‘_we rebel_’ are very necessary and very +useful for them to hear. The cry of women crushed under the yoke of +legalised vice is not the cry of a statistician or a medical expert; it +is simply a cry of pain, a cry for justice and for a return to God’s +laws in place of these brutally impure laws invented and imposed by man. +It is imperfect, no doubt, as an utterance; but the cry of the revolted +woman against her oppressor and to her God is far more needful at this +moment than any reasoned-out argument. I think, therefore, and my +husband agrees with me, that it is better to publish the ‘Voice in the +Wilderness’ simply as the utterance of a woman, and to do it quickly. It +will rouse some consciences, no matter how imperfect men may find it. On +the eve of a war it may be said that the sound of the trumpet is +imperfect because it only calls to the battle, and that we want to see +the troops, their arms, and the strength of muscle on either side; yet +the call to battle is needed: the close grappling with the foe will +follow. It is only when the slave begins to move, to complain, to give +signs of life and resistance, either by his own voice or by the voice of +one like himself speaking for him, that the struggle for freedom truly +begins. The slave now speaks. The enslaved women have found a voice in +one of themselves who was raised up for no other end than to sound the +proclamation of an approaching deliverance. Never mind the imperfection +of the first voice. It is the voice of a woman who has suffered, a voice +calling to holy rebellion and to war. It will penetrate. Then by-and-by +we shall come down on our opponents with the heavy artillery of facts +and statistics and scientific arguments on every side. We will not spare +them. We will show them no mercy; we shall tear to pieces their ‘refuge +of lies’ and expose the ghastliness of their ‘covenant with death and +their agreement with hell’; we and our successors will continue to do +this year after year until they have no ground to stand upon.” + +There was, and is, of course, this marked difference between the +character of the literature of the regulationists and our own—namely, +that the motive of all their arguments is that of expediency, based upon +the assumption of the necessity of vice; the moral and the higher +hygienic aspects of the question are ignored by them. This has been well +expressed by Sir James Stansfeld on several occasions. He wrote shortly +before the Geneva Congress to M. Aimé Humbert as follows:—“You and I +have a great work in hand. Speaking for my own country, I have neither +doubt nor fear of the issue of the conflict. There is no case in the +history of England of the failure of any movement based upon the moral +and religious sense and convictions of the community in which any +considerable number of men or of women have had the courage and the +faith to persist; and there are men and women enough prepared to spend +their lives in this holy cause thus to insure its success. We had the +weakness, we incurred the guilt, of borrowing and accepting this unholy +and indecent law from France. It stole its way on to our Statute Book +under a miserable hygienic pretence. Its contrivers seem to me as men +deprived of the consciousness of the unity of the law of God. They would +sacrifice morality to health, the soul to the body, the immortal to the +mortal part. They cannot look high enough or far enough to see that it +is a philosophic, a scientific, as well as a religious truth that there +cannot be dissonance between the laws of Nature and the laws of God, and +that it is, therefore, inconceivable that the immoral should be a truly +sanitary law. Even partially and temporarily applied as these laws are +here, they are already a proved sanitary failure, proved upon the +figures of the Government Returns.” + +Besides the more solid works which began from this time to appear in +favour of our cause, each country interested in it, beginning to find +the necessity of some record of its own activity and that of other +nationalities, started a special organ of its own. Beginning with the +_Bulletin Continental_, published monthly at Geneva, there followed +special organs of the Abolitionist Societies in Holland, Belgium, +Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, and Italy. + +Up to this time we had not obtained much support from the Roman Catholic +section of the community in different countries, except in individual +instances, such as that of Archbishop, afterwards Cardinal Manning, who +some years previously had expressed his strong disapproval of the +principles of the Regulationists at the Papal Court on the occasion of +several of his visits to Rome. Our friend Mme. de Morsier, of Paris, had +been prompted by some of the writings of Archbishop Dupanloup on the +subject of woman’s education to pay a visit to that prelate on behalf of +our cause shortly before the Congress of Geneva. I give the account of +her visit in her own words written to me at the time. + +“We went to the house of Monseigneur Dupanloup. The residence of the +Archbishop is situated on the banks of the Loire, in the midst of +verdure; on one side there is the college which he superintends, a large +building standing close to the woods which descend to the river; on the +other side stands an ancient castellated mansion, covered with ivy, +climbing roses, and honeysuckle. It is in this house that the +Monseigneur himself lives. On the terrace, embosomed in woods, the table +was spread for the evening repast. The Monseigneur had just arrived from +Rheims, whence he had come expressly to receive me. In spite of his +fatigue and the suffering caused by an accident to his finger, he did +the honours of his house with graceful courtesy. When he appeared and +crossed the lawn, dressed in his purple robe, his white hair uncovered, +I must confess I felt surprised. I had only known him by Parisian +report, so that I had expected to see a proud and rather pompous old +man, receiving his guests amidst the luxury and ceremonial of the +cardinals of the Middle Ages. But I saw before me a gentle and holy +looking man, so simple in his manner and bearing, that in talking to him +I soon forgot his high position and great talent, and felt quite drawn +to speak to him freely as an equal. The table spread upon the lawn, and +among the flowers, the venerable old man invoking a blessing on the +repast, the nightingale which was singing the first notes of evening, +and the strains of the ‘Angelus’ which reached us from a distance, all +together formed a striking picture of peace and happiness. It was in the +midst of this scene that, summoning courage, I spoke to him of those +dark horrors and of that hard struggle in which I had come to claim the +support of his sympathy. The Monseigneur listened without remark, asking +from time to time some question. Several times he exclaimed, ‘Your +Congress delights me; that is the important point. It will require a +thunderbolt to awaken consciences.’ His secretary, an Abbé of great +talent, manifested his approbation of our cause. Monseigneur described +to me how much the conscience of their religiously educated youth +revolted when they learned that vice is actually legalised by the State. +He himself had had, he said, only very recently a complete revelation of +the state of things, from the work of Parent Duchâtelet which had fallen +into his hands. The evening passed in conversation. When I was leaving I +offered him my hand (which I afterwards found was contrary to etiquette) +and said to him, ‘Monseigneur, may I now feel assured of your sympathy +for our cause?’ ‘Yes, assuredly,’ he replied. ‘Do you authorise me,’ I +asked, ‘to make use of your name as a convinced adherent.’ ‘Yes,’ he +said; ‘I consent fully.’ Then he himself extended his hand to me, and +finally, in parting, I said: ‘Monseigneur, I recommend our cause to your +prayers.’ ‘You have them,’ he said. The carriage rolled away, and I felt +my heart full of gratitude to God, and I said to myself, ‘Ah! if all +Bishops were like this one, and all Abbés like those I have seen at +Orleans, the true friends of progress would have little excuse to make +war against the Catholic religion.’” + +Up to the time of which I am writing very little progress had been made +in Germany in respect of State abstinence from compromise with public +immorality. In the year 1876, M. Humbert had some correspondence with +eminent members of the German Inner Mission, and from that time onward +we had several distinguished individual adherents in Germany, men and +women; but they were few. + +A Petition had been presented in that year to the Reichstag, signed by +Dr. Dorner in the name of the Central Committee of the Inner Mission. It +was as follows:— + + + “BERLIN AND HAMBURG. + +“The undersigned Central Committee takes the liberty of drawing the +attention of the Reichstag to the following:— + +“Upon the occasion of the revision of the Penal Code by the German +Empire, upon the 15th May, 1871, there were proposed certain additions, +emanating from the Reichstag itself, Sections 180 and 361; additions +which would have for their effect to accord in Germany a legal existence +to houses of infamy, and to thereby introduce them within certain +portions of the limits of the Empire in which they do not at present +exist. It is not to be doubted that the motive which has dictated this +proposition is that of acting in the supposed interest of the public +health, but we are none the less convinced that its adoption would be +injurious to the public welfare, and that the moral foundations of our +social life, already menaced, would be thereby still more profoundly +shaken. + +“The trade of the procurer, which hitherto has fallen under the ban of +severe penalties, would find itself, by virtue of the observance of +certain formalities, with which it would be easy to comply, placed +henceforth under the protection of the law. The number of women, +especially in the large towns, who practise vice under the supervision +of the police would also be materially augmented; once legalised, the +trade of the procurer would be given up to a depraved competition, and +all this would tend in the highest degree to the public demoralisation. +Further, confidence in the Imperial legislation, and consequently in the +Empire itself, which has need rather to be strengthened, would +experience a serious shock amongst very considerable and important +portions of the population; and the supreme authority, which, according +to the declaration of the Government and of the Chancellor of the +Empire, was to be augmented by the revision of the Penal Code, would +find itself instead materially weakened. As regards the sanitary reasons +which are put forward in support of the proposition, we believe +ourselves authorised in saying that their value has not yet been +sufficiently established from the experimental and scientific point of +view, and that, on the contrary, in this respect also, the proposition +is open to serious objections. + +“We will add, lastly, that this proposition is put forward precisely at +the moment when we are witnessing, in England and in Switzerland, a +movement as profound as it is earnest, which has for its aim, with ever +increasing prospects of success, the abrogation of all legalisation of +vice, whether on the part of the Legislature or of the Administrative +function. + +“In virtue of these considerations, we address to the Reichstag the +following prayer:— + +“‘That the Reichstag be pleased to reject every proposition tending to +alter the provisions already enacted by the law against the trade of the +procurer, or to authorise in any manner whatever the exercise of that +trade by placing it under official protection. + +“‘In the name of the Central Committee of the Inner Mission of the +Evangelical Church in Germany, for the President, Dr. Dorner, Member of +the Superior Consistory.’” + + +This petition, it will be observed, was directed, not against the then +existing system of legalised vice in Germany, but only against a fuller +development of it which was threatened. Then, and up to the present +time, in most cities in Germany, a permission to follow their calling +was and is given by the police to unfortunate women living in their own +lodgings, on condition of their conforming to certain prescribed police +and sanitary rules. This is in itself an open, official sanction. A +people, having become accustomed to this amount of official license, is +easily, and, indeed, logically, carried on to acquiesce in the more +complete form of Governmental sanction of vice, namely, the licensed and +protected house of shame. There is, therefore, to the convinced +Abolitionist, a fatal omission in this otherwise excellent petition, in +the absence of an additional protest against the license which was +_already accorded_ in Germany. + +The light which is now falling so fully and steadily upon this question +will surely in time reveal clearly to reformers in Germany, as +elsewhere, the necessity of attacking any and every compromise with +vice, in whatever form. In official compromise with sin there is no +standing still; there is a perpetual advance towards more shameless and +elaborate organisation of profligacy. The house of ill-fame _never +existed_ in England as an openly recognised and State-protected +institution, but it came by degrees, under the regulations now +abolished, to be tacitly permitted, and the English Abolitionists knew +well that, unless a blow were struck at the root principle of the whole +system, the open recognition of organised houses of debauchery would +follow in their own, as in all other countries, where the system of +regulation has once obtained a footing. This matter is clearly stated in +the Berlin Regulations instituted in 1850. The following words are +translated from the German of the _Resolution of the Royal Presidency of +Police of Berlin, December 11th, 1850_, which precedes the Regulations:— + + +“The method of tolerance may be twofold: permission may be given to the +women to have each a domicile of her own, upon submitting to a stringent +regulation; or, on the other hand, they may be confined in special +houses, under a responsible householder. + +“This last method offers more guarantees and greater security to +police-regulation, and facilitates supervision. No doubt the moral +sentiment revolts at the idea that the public authority should tolerate +and protect houses set apart for purposes of vice, _but experience has +proved that this mode is, for Berlin, the least objectionable_.” + + +In March, 1878, a visit was paid to the district of Torre Pellice, in +North Italy, the cradle of the Waldensian Church. The pastors and people +of that country were quickly and securely gained to our cause, as is +usual with persons who have suffered for a truth for which they have +been called to contend. + +In 1879 I visited the Ban de la Roche in Alsace, with my husband; here +Pastor Dietz and others were won to be warm adherents of our cause. We +passed through Colmar and Muhlhausen, but it was not until some years +later that we made the acquaintance of M. Schlumberger, Mayor of Colmar, +and heard of the unique part which he had taken in the cause of justice +and morality. + +The principal event on the Continent of the year 1879 was the Annual +Conference of the Federation, held at Liége, in Belgium. The following +account of that event was written by Mme. de Morsier, of Paris. + +“There is an advantage in choosing middle-sized towns for these annual +meetings. In large centres like Paris and London our action is partly +lost on account of the vastness of the place. No doubt the active +members of the Federation feel the benefit of them, but very little +impression can be made on the public, whilst in smaller towns, like +Liége, we may, as we have seen, produce a great impression, even at an +unfavourable season, when the higher class people are away. + +“Our public meetings in Liége, Verviers, and Seraing, were attended by a +numerous public, chiefly men. The earnest attention with which we were +heard convinced us that the good seed did not fall on barren soil. Even +the press did us the honour of discussing our question, and some papers +published very good articles. However, we had the opportunity of +noticing that Belgian editors, like those of other countries, are +extremely full of solicitude for us, and eager to caution us against +many and various dangers. ‘Beware the perilous paths;’ they seem to say, +‘if you take the right one we will follow you; but what is wanted are +works of rescue; leave the police alone and create _Refuges_.’ + +“Well, the Conference of Liége answered in a very categorical manner to +this, the constantly repeated suggestion of the over-prudent and timidly +charitable. + +“The one thing that struck us was how much the question has developed, +how much enlarged is the view taken of the subject—the really essential +aspect of it, _i.e._ the defence of individual liberty and right. And +this is the result of the _logic of facts_. The strength of a principle +lies in this, that it gradually imposes itself upon all true and serious +minds, and leads them to accept its logical and necessary consequences. +I have no hesitation in saying that, in my opinion, the main fact of the +Conference in Liége has been this unity of feeling among the Delegates +present on the great question of the sacredness of personal liberty and +individual right. + +“This is the firmest basis upon which to act, our best security against +inconsistency. If we deny to the police the right of sitting in judgment +upon the morality of women, we must be ready to refuse this right also +to every form of arbitrary rule, whether it be the arbitrary rule of an +Assembly of well-intentioned people, or the arbitrary rule of corrupt +agents or officials. Our experience during our struggle for this cause +has opened our eyes to the fact that all the great struggles of the +present day, whether political, social, economic or religious, may be +summed up as one great war between the two principles, Compulsion and +Liberty, and if the first principle is still so powerful in countries +boasting of liberal institutions, is it not to some extent because the +partisans of the second principle have thought it prudent to temporise +with the first; being led astray by the beautiful modern +invention—_opportunism_? It was, therefore, with double satisfaction +that I saw the Federation fortifying itself more and more by relying +upon absolute principles. I will quote as an example the energetic +speech of Mr. Benjamin Scott, Chamberlain of the City of London, at the +public meeting of the 22nd August in Liége. Mr. Benjamin Scott regarded +the subject from an extremely elevated point of view, and showed himself +as daring as truth itself. + +“‘You are not free,’ said he to the citizens of Liége. ‘Liége is not +free; Brussels is not free; and Paris is not free, though she has +battered down the Bastille, and placed the statue of Liberty on the +column of July.... It could never be said that the United States were +free so long as they held four millions of negroes enslaved. Paris, +Brussels, and your fine city of Liége are not free so long as any woman +may be deprived of her civil rights at the caprice or tyranny of a +police agent, or through the denunciation of a scoundrel.’ + +“You may be sure that M. Yves Guyot did not fail to fling many keen +shafts at the Police des Mœurs, on the ground of its illegality and +violation of individual liberty, enforcing his powerful arguments by +quotations from the Belgian Code, which fell like battering-rams on the +hypocrisies of the system. M. Humbert traced in broad outlines the +history of the Federation in all countries. With the readiness of mind +and tact of a man accustomed to act as chairman, he took the opportunity +of a rather violent speech from M. O—— B——, of Liége, to re-affirm the +large and independent point of view maintained by our Association. ‘We +are not here to enter into any political or religious polemics,’ he +said, ‘we seek to recall your minds to those humanitarian truths and +principles in which all those who desire justice and respect the rights +of human beings can unite.’ + +“M. Pierson, Director of the Asiles of Zetten, Holland, gave some +interesting details of his special work, and declared that his +experience in such practical endeavours had convinced him of the truth +of the principles maintained by the Federation. + +“Let the editors of papers be at rest; we also approve and encourage +works of rescue and reformation, and especially when their founders +understand the duty of thus publicly proclaiming the lessons they have +learned through such private experience. + +“The public meeting of Liége will take its place among the brilliant +successes of our cause. Seven hundred people expressed their adherence +to our principles by their enthusiastic cheers. M. Nicolet, President of +the Committee of Liége, must have been well satisfied with his +countrymen. + +“On the Thursday evening we held a women’s meeting. The schoolroom +placed at our disposal was full, and, notwithstanding the warnings as to +the necessity of _prudence_ which had been given us, we stated the +question plainly and frankly. The expression of mingled curiosity and +amazement, which we first observed on the faces of the listeners, was +soon succeeded by an expression of attentive sympathy. + +“The Baroness de Stampe spoke of Denmark, the Countess Schack of +Germany, and Mme. de Morsier related some facts which she had witnessed +in Paris. A hearty vote of sympathy was granted to us, and on our +leaving the room, many hands pressed ours, and heartfelt words of +encouragement were spoken. + +“We had also the great satisfaction of seeing many young men of Liége, +students, etc., at our business Conference, where we invited them to a +private meeting at the Hotel de Suède. A great many came, students, and +some workmen also. That evening’s reunion will remain one of the best +souvenirs of Liége. Nothing moves me more deeply than to see on the +faces of young men the expression of noble impulses and generous +enthusiasm. Whatever the struggles, the failures, or the wreck of +illusions which life may bring, a spark of the true fire will always +linger in the soul of the man who sincerely believed in justice and in +true love when he was twenty. + +“M. Humbert’s words found ready response when, in a splendid +improvisation, he drew for them the picture of a truly noble, active, +and useful life, and spoke to them of the march of humanity on the path +of progress, guided by the light of the two beacons of science and +faith. + +“M. Testuz and M. Durand of Liége, spoke also some heart-stirring words +to this youthful assembly. + +“On Sunday 21st, the delegates of the Federation were invited to a +friendly tea-party, in the _Presbytère de la Chênée_, by M. Nicolet, +which was rendered delightful by the feeling of true fraternity which +united us through sharing the same moral aspirations and hopes, in spite +of our many differences of opinion upon other points. We may construct +systems, found religious sects, or analyse scientific facts, but the +focus of true life, the lever elevating humanity to noble aims, will +always be the spirit of _Love_ and _Justice_. + +“On Sunday we were awakened by the sound of the funeral bell, which +announced the death of the Archbishop of Liége. We were invited at four +o’clock to visit the Pastor Nicolet, at Chênée. About the same hour M. +Yves Guyot gave a conference in his own name, personally, to the +Associations of _Libre Penseurs_, and the Countess Schack accompanied +him. Some of us took the route to Chênée in a carriage. The presbytère +(pastor’s house) is situated in the middle of the village—a pretty +little house, the ground floor of which is the chapel. Above is the +drawing-room, which opens upon a wooden balcony with a charming view. +Next to the house is a garden extending to the bank of the Canal de +l’Aurte; beyond, to the right, a little village with its bell-tower and +church. On the left the great furnaces of the Vieille Montagne;[14] +further down, and all round, wooded hills. + +“Nature here is as amiable and peaceful as the charming hosts who +received us. M. Nicolet offered to have a service in the chapel in +English for the English workman delegates. Those of us who remained on +the little balcony enjoyed the sound of the manly voices singing their +beautiful hymns. The setting sun was covering the west with gold, and a +light mist slowly rose from the valley. In the drawing-room there was +conversation, grave and gay. Mr. Stuart was compelled to pay a fine in +aid of the Maison Hospitalière. He had made a bet that the English +working men delegates would not find their way to Chênée; but they, +setting off on foot at the moment that we entered our carriage, had +arrived at the door of the presbytery before us. Mme. Nicolet proposed +that we should all visit the Chapel. It is charming, this little chapel +in its great simplicity, with its iron pillars and its Gothic windows, +which open upon the garden, the river, and the hills. + +“There was a harmonium; why, we said, should we not sing? M. Nicolet +brought his violin, and took the shoulder of M. Pierson as a _chevalet_, +young Gustave took the harmonium, and the singers grouped themselves +round the window. The sweet melody rose and fell like a wave, and our +souls were quieted and elevated by this flood of harmony. The last rays +of the sun, broken by the lattice work, bathed the group of singers in +their golden light, playing round the white hair of the venerable +violinist. At the same moment M. Yves Guyot and the Countess Schack +silently entered the Chapel, and took a seat on one of the benches. + +“We shall not soon forget the peaceful presbytery of Chênée, the balcony +garlanded with flowers, the group in the chapel, lighted by the setting +sun; and above all, the kind pastor and his wife, whose loving Christian +friendship gained every heart. Whenever I may hear again Luther’s hymn, +the Hallelujah of Beethoven, or the sorrowful melodies of Calvary, I +shall see again, in thought, the chapel of Chênée, and the friends who +were assembled there that Sunday evening, the 24th of August, 1879. + +“Gustave and Clement accompanied us to the railway station. The pale +crescent moon rose above the horizon, and the furnaces of the Vieille +Montagne flung their flames into the cool evening air. + +“On Monday, at 3 o’clock, the Federation was under arms; it was time to +go to Verviers, where a conference had been prepared. Verviers is a +pretty little industrial town; the houses have a comfortable look, which +is somewhat reflected in the faces of the citizens. At 7 o’clock we were +at our places in the Hall of Emulation; the public alone was late. This, +however, allowed us to enjoy upon the balcony a magnificent spectacle. +The town had just been inundated by a storm of rain, the western sky was +on fire, here and there clouds torn asunder revealed calm expanses of +the heavens, of a pale blue or green, which harmonised with the purple +tints of the evening. The wet pavement reflected the burning sky, and +the whole place seemed illuminated. Some of us admired in silence, while +others analysed every changing effect. + +“The meeting began coldly. We were told that the hour fixed was too +early, and that the workmen had not yet left the foundries. By degrees, +however, the hall filled; there were a great number of men, and some +women—a very attentive audience, though less enthusiastic than that of +Liége. + +“M. Yves Guyot, Mrs. Butler and M. Pierson spoke. Mr. Lucraft, a +delegate of the London workmen, improvised a speech full of fire; the +ardour of his manner and voice captivated those even who did not +understand what he was saying. Mme. de Morsier translated for him. Mr. +Bonjean, a citizen of Verviers, in a brief speech, thanked the +Federation. + +“The hurry to reach the train at night was not very favourable to the +orators; nevertheless, the meeting was good. As we entered the railway +carriage, M. Humbert complained bitterly of the blows which he had +received in the back from ladies’ fans, which they thus made use of to +remind the speaker that the time was getting late! He demanded that at +Seraing fans should be prohibited! + +“On Tuesday our partings began. The representatives of the North +disappeared from amongst us, with the Baroness de Stampe and Dr. +Giersing, of Denmark. M. Testuz (from Sweden) disappeared like a +shooting star. Those who had exchanged thoughts with him at the dinner +table of the Hotel de Suède, would gladly have once more shaken hands +with him before his departure. Why did M. Testuz disappear like a +shooting star? + +“M. and Mme. Pierson next took their departure, and the Parisian +deputation also began to be dismembered. Nature seemed to wish to soften +our regrets, for the weather was beautiful, the heavens blue, and the +bright rays of the sun tempered by an autumnal breeze. + +“It was pleasant to linger in the Botanical Gardens where underneath the +canopy of pines, the gentle breeze carried to us the scent of the +heliotrope, roses, white campanula and giant daisies flowering together +in the beds in that beautiful disorder which is more agreeable to the +eye than the mosaic horticulture which is now the fashion.” + +But it was time to start for Seraing. We went by the river, the whole +party—at least, all who still remained. The wind had risen, it fluttered +the ladies’ veils, and it seemed that the classical hat of the Cambridge +Professor had a design to make acquaintance with the waves of the Meuse. +Madame de Morsier, depositary of the precious Belgian Code, carried the +volume with a respectful awe, which caused her to be charged with +fetichism. The Belgian Code! It is the Krupp cannon of our artillery! +Madame de Morsier asked what certain orators would do that evening if, +putting out their hands to take it for quotations, they should find it +had disappeared. + +“The boat flew quickly through the water. We glided past wooded hills, +at the foot of which the furnaces, with their blackened walls and tall +chimneys, launched out columns of smoke mixed with flames. Here and +there were workmen’s villages nestling in the woods. Nature and industry +were united in a powerful harmony; it seemed like a key-note of our age. +Those who despise the romance of the Rhine might enjoy themselves here. +At every moment the scene changed; it was a succession of little +pictures of varied style: here a slope of dark woods, against which +rises a great furnace; there an island in the middle of the river, in +which one caught glimpses of mysterious paths; further on, a meadow of +brilliant green, meeting at its horizon line the western sky all decked +in gold; here, a boat, whose brown sail stood out against the sky, while +lower down on the horizon, clouds of capricious form, lighted up by the +departing rays of the sun, presented the most varied tints, or, tearing +themselves asunder, revealed to our sight the transparency of a +boundless horizon. Occasionally the boat stopped to take in passengers. +We saw on the shore a friend waving his hat in our direction, the wind +blowing back his silvery hair. It was the good pastor of Chênée and his +excellent wife, standing on the little pier, ready to join us. + +“At last we reached Seraing, coquettishly seated upon the two shores of +the Meuse, bound together by a bridge of iron which is not wanting in +elegance. Opposite the place of debarkation, in the middle of a little +parterre, stands the statue of Cockerill, the founder of these vast +ironworks. Around the pedestal are grouped figures representing the +workers in the foundries with their various implements of toil; their +countenances and their marked features have something noble and proud +about them; one reads in them the character of men who feel themselves +masters of their art. We walked through the streets of the village, +women and children gazing at us with curiosity from the door steps. + +“On this occasion we had no time to lose, only just time to take a cup +of coffee at the little Inn, before going to the hall placed at our +service by the Society of Seraing. We found all the seats already +occupied, but there was no gas lit; it was not the custom to light up +before a quarter past seven. We took our places upon the platform whilst +attempts were made to light up. The patient audience interested itself +much in this operation, and gave advice. At last a few burners consented +to be lighted, and the meeting began. There was a crowd of workmen and +women who listened attentively. We found here a more complete sympathy +than at Verviers. The enthusiasm was not so loudly expressed as at +Liége, but there was something convinced and quiet in the audience; +whenever the smallest noise occurred, the meeting demanded silence. +These people we saw had not come to be amused, but to be instructed. The +speakers were MM. Minod, Humbert, Guyot, and Mrs. Butler. Mr. Stuart +concluded a brief speech with the words, ‘The police of morals is the +greatest mystification of our age. It is a servant which has never +fulfilled its task. Dismiss it.’ + +“We had this time leisure to go quietly to the station through the +beautiful air; the moon and Jupiter were shining brightly in a deep blue +sky. We passed along the side of the great foundries; immense jets of +fire were flung out from the chimneys; we heard the dull heavy blows of +the steam hammers, and then a roaring sound like the breaking of a great +wave. It was the flowing out of the boiling fountain of metal into the +mould, accompanied by the shouts of the workmen announcing the success +of an operation. A mighty spectacle, but one which has its melancholy +side, when one thinks of those men compelled to such hard nocturnal +labour, exposed to the heat of that burning lava, condemned to a life +apart from other citizens, and only coming out from the foundries in +order to go to rest, when others are awaking up. The eternal problem of +social industry—will it ever be solved? + +“But here was the train, and the last joyous return to our hotel. Once +more a repast together: to-morrow the great adieu. + +“Wednesday morning, the 27th August, the friends who remained +re-assembled once more for conversation in the drawing-room of the Hotel +de Suède. The conversation took that tender and serious tone which often +precedes the hour of parting. Each one traced back the thread of his or +her memories, and recounted the events or circumstances which brought +them first in contact with the great idea which unites us. Strange +coincidences some of them appeared to be. ‘The chances of life’ one +said. ‘Perhaps something more than that,’ said another. Yes! there is +something here more than chance. + +“That same day the trains for Paris, for Antwerp, for Cologne, and for +Calais carried away the last of our band. A farewell grasp of the hand, +a parting smile, a bouquet of flowers presented, and then all is said. + +“Each one drove away towards his destination, and to the encounter with +new duties. + +“And now, little town of Belgium, sitting on the banks of the Meuse, +surrounded with green hills, let me take one parting look at you! We +have only known you a few days and now you live in our memories a +luminous point in the past. Many of us arrived within your walls +strangers to each other, and have parted friends; some arrived +sorrowful, discouraged, asking what will be the end of all this? They +return peaceful, and fortified with the conviction that work is +happiness, and conflict a duty. + + “_Manet alta mente repostum._” + +M. Lecour, the well-known chief of the Morals’ Police in Paris, had been +advised in 1878 to retire from his post, and was appointed chief +_marguillier_ (bell-ringer) of Notre Dame. + +On the 23rd and 24th January, 1879, the editor of the _Lanterne_ was +prosecuted by the Government for a series of letters published in that +paper containing charges against the administration of the police, +including the Police des Mœurs. The editor was condemned to three +months’ imprisonment and a fine of 2,000 francs. + +The disclosures made at the trial of the _Lanterne_ induced M. Gigot, +the Prefect of Police, to beg M. Marcère, the Minister of the Interior, +to appoint a Commission of Inquiry. + +M. Naudin, M. Lecour’s successor, was heard before this Commission on +the 7th April. Nothing could be more shallow than his deposition; a +_rechauffé_ of administrative phrases, uttered with an air of +conviction, as if they were novel truths. His evidence was to the effect +that “all the officials hitherto employed at the Prefecture had but one +idea—to maintain appearances; avoid mistakes in arrests; exercise the +greatest prudence in the most delicate functions; and, above all, +prevent public scandal, and maintain the secrecy of their operations.” + +The Commission had arranged with the new Prefect of Police, M. Andrieux, +to hear his deposition. They met and waited some hours, to be told +afterwards that he had forgotten his appointment. A fresh appointment +was made, when the Prefect again insulted the Commission in the same +manner. + +Soon after the celebrated articles published by the _Lanterne_ (M. Yves +Guyot), under the signature of a “Vieux Petit Employé,” were resumed, +and they pointed out that the greater number of the officials who were +implicated in the atrocities brought to light at the trial of the +_Lanterne_ were still in office, while those of their subordinates who +had dared to speak the truth had been summarily dismissed the service +without compensation. + +The Appeal which had been made in the case of the _Lanterne_ was +decided, and that courageous journal was again condemned by French law, +and victoriously absolved and applauded by French public opinion. + +The damning evidence brought against the Prefecture of Police had caused +the retirement of M. Gigot, the chief members of his staff, and later, +of the Minister of the Interior, M. Marcère. In more than one country, +the light which our crusade threw upon men and deeds caused many a man +in office to disappear, to melt away out of sight. The new Prefect +continued to countenance the same abuses, and the _Lanterne_ continued +its public censure of them. M. Andrieux then calumniated that journal in +his place in the Assembly, declaring it to be the centre of a +Bonapartist plot, of which the “Ex-Agent des Mœurs,” “The Vieux Petit +Employé,” and the “Médécin,” were the leaders. + + + + + CHAPTER X + + “What though the cast-out spirit tear + The Nation in his going, + We who have shared the guilt must share + The pang of his o’erthrowing; + Whate’er the loss, + Whate’er the cross, + Shall they complain of present pain + Who trust in God’s hereafter?” + + +It was in the year 1880 that we first began to see that we were +approaching a turning in the long road which we had traversed for ten +years, and were facing towards victory, the victory which we had always, +even in the darkest hours, believed we should one day see. I have +described in a former chapter the chill which fell upon our hopes for a +time in the year 1874, when the General Election of that year resulted +in the return of a reactionary or indifferent Parliament from which we +had little to hope for our cause. The seven years’ existence of that +Parliament having expired, and our principles having meanwhile gained +ground, through our unceasing efforts, in the public mind, the new +Parliament of 1880 was hailed by the Abolitionists with a hope which was +not destined to be deceived, although there were yet five years more to +run before we saw the virtual demolition of the hated tyranny against +which we had so long made war, and six years before the seal was put +upon its legal abolition by Queen Victoria’s signature to its death +warrant, given on the 13th of April, 1886. + +Younger workers in other parts of the world may, we hope, be encouraged +and fortified in present or future conflicts against injustice, by a +knowledge of our seventeen years of labour, crowned at last by complete +success. A first or a second defeat sometimes causes a sense of dismay +in the minds of those who have had as yet a limited experience in such +warfare. Such may perhaps take courage by looking into the deeper +meaning of our long struggle. Had our victory been more quickly or more +easily won, it would not have been a solid or durable victory. An early +success based on a partial awakening of the public conscience would have +left us an easy prey to renewed designs for the reestablishment of the +evil system, based on the old corrupt traditions. God, in His +providence, had a far deeper and wider work in view than we had any +conception of when we first arose at His call to oppose an unjust Act of +Parliament. His purpose embraced also our own education, the education +of those who were called to the front, and for whom a prolonged and +stern training was needful to enable them to “endure hardness,” and to +become worthy representatives of the truth which was to be handed on by +them to the people of other lands and to their own descendants. He +brought them through all the trials and vicissitudes which were needful +for the strengthening of their faith, the maturing of their judgment and +the perfecting of their patience. + +A Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry on the subject of the +vice-regulating Acts have been appointed by the late Government. Its +proceedings were necessarily closed by the dissolution of the Parliament +which had appointed it. Its Report was printed, which contained a +recommendation of the appointment of another and similar Committee by +the New Parliament, with the same objects in view, _i.e._, to take +evidence on the subject from all sides. This new Committee was +appointed, and some of our best friends and leaders were elected members +of it. The scope of the inquiries and examinations made by it was of a +much wider and more comprehensive character than that of any former +parliamentary inquiry on this subject. + +It was in January of this year, 1880, that a deep impression began to be +made on our English public by the revelations coming to us from time to +time of the extent and cruelty of the white slave traffic between our +own country and several Continental cities, more especially Brussels, +Antwerp, and other towns of Northern Europe. + +I cannot and need not here undertake to give at length the story of the +noble and self-denying enterprise of Alfred Dyer and his friend George +Gillett. Their work has already been described in a brochure[15] +published by the Abolitionist Committee of the City of London, under the +auspices of the late Chamberlain, Mr. Benjamin Scott. The two men who +undertook this difficult and heroic research were members of the Society +of Friends, men of the highest character; and it may be imagined what +such men had to suffer for their boldness in entering personally the +Belgian prison houses of cruelty and shame, with the design of rescuing +young English girls who had been betrayed by the merchants of vice, and +sold to these institutions. They not only risked their lives through the +violence and rage of the keepers of these slave dens, but bore to be +ridiculed, traduced and slandered on account of their action, by persons +in high position whose own lives and theories of life were a constant +denial of the possibility of virtue in man. I realised some of the +outward and tangible results of this courageous action (considered +independently of its far deeper moral effects) eleven months later, when +I received, at midnight, on the 15th of December, the following +telegraphic message from Mr. Alexis Splingard, an advocate of Brussels, +written on leaving the Court in that City, where a number of the +_Tenanciers_ and Slave-traders of Brussels had been tried. “All +condemned, Regnier to three years of prison, Roger two, Parent +twenty-two months, Landre eighteen months, Perpéte eighteen, Andronnet +eighteen, Mayer ten; five others to different terms of penal servitude.” +I sent this telegram the next morning to my sister in Naples, +accompanied by the following words, in a letter which she returned with +others to me: “This news will strike incredulous people perhaps a little +as corroborative of our statements concerning the cruelty and guilt of +these men, statements which, in my own case, my friends sometimes think +to be coloured by my sympathy for the victims. We are thankful to know +that some of these prison doors are now opened, and some of the slaves +set free; but alas! for the thousands who are gone, dead, murdered, who +found no deliverer!” + +“Sometimes I feel like Dante, who fell prone ‘as one dead’ on witnessing +inexpressible human woe. I do not find in ordinary evangelic teaching +anything which meets this mystery of wrong and pain, this woe of the +murdered innocents, (for indeed many are innocent, mere children, having +no choice, but thrust violently into hell). But God is above all human +teachings. If _He_ would reveal Himself more clearly to me, I feel sure +I should be stronger to act. Religious teachers never lead us to hope +that God makes up hereafter to these outraged creatures of His for all +they have endured, _unless_ they have gone through a proper repentance +here below. Some day I believe He will tell me Himself what He has done, +and is doing for them. The winter is long and dark; but summer will +come, and will bring more light.” + + +One of the most important meetings which had been held upon our subject +in France was held in the Salle Lévis, Paris, in April of this year. The +room was crowded to excess. The following report was written by one of +the principal assistants:—“The chair was taken by Dr. Thulié, a former +president of the Municipal Council, who, in an extremely eloquent +address, explained the aim and action of the Federation, of which the +existing French Association regarded itself as a section, and showed the +immorality and utter uselessness of the Police des Mœurs. + +“‘These English women,’ he said, ‘are the apostles of this great cause; +they have the virtue, the self-abnegation, and the daring of apostles. +Now, for the first time, woman comes forward to plead her own cause, +instead of awaiting the _bon plaisir_ of man. She has a right to life; +she has therefore a right to liberty. If it should be attempted ever to +apply to men the cruel and exceptional measures that are applied to +women, all the world would cry out. For one act of self-abandonment to +evil, you impose upon a woman a whole existence of torture, while you +leave man irresponsible for his libertinage. We must begin by replacing +woman under the protection of the Common Law, and thus restoring her to +her true dignity.’ + +“Professor Stuart spoke shortly and ironically against the Police des +Mœurs, and the stupidity, uselessness, and false pretences of those who +were always ‘going to stamp out the disease,’ but who, during the +hundred years that they had been going to do so, had never yet so much +as begun to succeed. + +“Mr. Benjamin Scott said that he had been commissioned by the City +Committee to congratulate them on their having obtained the right of +public meeting; but he regretted to find the congratulation was somewhat +premature, the admission to the present meeting having been, he found, +limited to those bearing tickets. He hoped, however, that this great +right would soon be theirs; liberty of the press and liberty of speech +were as the air we breathe; without it we die. + +“Mrs. Butler followed. Her speech was thus described in _La France_: +‘_It was a prayer_, an urgent appeal, to this popular audience so +accessible to generous emotion.’ ‘M. Lecour argued with me,’ said she, +‘that as the regulation of vice was established by law in England, and +we English have so much respect for the law, we were bound to respect +this law. M. Lecour spoke in profound ignorance. It is because we +respect the law that we desire to have our laws worthy of respect. This +law is not worthy of respect—it will be abolished.’ + +“M. Yves Guyot followed. He concluded by moving the following resolution +based on the principles of the ‘Declaration of the Rights of Man.’ It +was carried by acclamation, the audience rising to their feet. + +“‘Considering that the principles of 1779 form the basis of our Common +Law: + +“‘That the proclamation of the rights of man applies equally to the +rights of woman: + +“‘That article 1 of that proclamation declares all citizens equal before +the law: + +“‘That article 5 declares that no action that is not forbidden by the +law shall be interfered with officially: + +“‘That article 7 declares that the law shall be equal for all, whether +it protect or punish: + +“‘That the same article 7 declares that no one shall be accused, +arrested, or imprisoned, save in such cases as are specified by the law, +and according to the forms prescribed by the law: + +“‘That those who solicit, facilitate, execute, or cause to be executed +any arbitrary act, are liable to punishment: + +“‘That the creation of all or any exceptional laws being contrary to the +principles of the Common Law, it is _a fortiori_ impossible to tolerate +those police regulations which are in flagrant violation thereof: + +“‘That the Common Law is sufficient to repress all violations of public +morality or order: + +“‘This meeting, approving the objects of the Association for the +Abolition of Regulated Prostitution, requests the representatives of the +people, Municipal Councillors, Deputies, and Senators, to put an end as +speedily as possible to the system known as the Police des Mœurs, a +system illegal in its origin, arbitrary in its application, and immoral +in its effects.’” + +“This resolution was voted with an enthusiasm, which sufficiently proves +that the abolition of the Police des Mœurs interests a large portion of +the honest and industrial population of Paris. + +“The Prefecture of Police comprehends this, and attaches the greatest +importance to the meeting of yesterday, they having sent to it a +considerable number of their agents. Lurking behind a pillar was the +_sous-chef_ of the Police des Mœurs, Remise, taking notes and listening +with an impatience he could not dissemble. A certain number of his +agents were in attendance. + +“The Chief of the first brigade of the detectives had sent the Inspector +Guyot de Lencleuse, who M. Brissaud had formerly charged with the +surveillance of the _Lanterne_. The second brigade of detectives was +represented by the Seigneur Antonny, who took more than twenty pages of +notes. There were other police officers of lower grade scattered over +the room. If M. Andrieux did not obtain the most completely detailed and +faithful accounts of the meeting, he had, nevertheless, taken all the +precautions for that purpose.” + + +The distinguishing event of this year was our second great International +Congress, which was held in Genoa at the end of September. In August the +Hon. Depretis, Italian Minister of the Interior, issued from Rome a +Circular to all the Prefects of the Kingdom, requiring them promptly to +“send in their observations as to the results of the provisional +regulations now in operation, in order that they may be considered in +the compilation of the permanent regulations.” So, “a month before +representatives of the civilized world,” said one of the Journals of +Rome, are to assemble in Congress to prove by facts that every form of +Governmental regulation of vice is noxious, the Hon. Depretis proposes +suddenly to enforce a new regulation in Italy by a simple royal decree. + +The _Dovere_ of Rome published the following eloquent defiance addressed +to the Minister:—“From the 27th of September to the 4th of October next +a Congress will be held at Genoa to discuss the principles of the +Federation. You, sir, hold in your hands and at your orders the +countless phalanx of those interested in the revolting system of +officially regulated and patented vice. Despatch all those persons to +Genoa at that epoch, bid them take part in the Congress, and bid them +defend the system which you are still striving to uphold. Let them +advocate your cause, and to them will make answer those men and women of +conscience and of science who have sacrificed time, thought and labour +to this great question. The conscience of the people will decide between +the two, and, be assured, that to the decisions of that conscience you, +whether you will or no, will have to bow down sooner or later.” + +The _Liberta_ of Genoa and the _Nazione_ of Florence had articles or +addresses to the Minister in the same spirit. + +A delegate to that Congress wrote to friends in England as follows:— + +“It would be impossible to give you within the scanty limits of a letter +any adequate idea of the really imposing character and the splendid +success of the second Congress of the Federation. Full details will be +furnished later, which will afford you the means of publishing matter of +deep interest to our friends in England. There can be no doubt that a +great step in advance has been made, and that a real international +progress must have taken place in public opinion before so unanimous a +declaration of principles could be formulated—one might almost say +without discussion—inasmuch as the complete accordance of principles +which existed among the delegates from Associations and Committees of so +many distinct nationalities was evident at the first great public +meeting—and not merely in the Executive Committee and the Conseil +Général. The formal public declaration of those principles at the +popular meeting in the vast Hall of the Carlo Felice Theatre, was voted +over again by acclamation by the people. The Federation found itself in +a city of friends and believers in their principles. It was unnecessary +to argue those principles out in detail. The various orators who +ascended the tribune in turn were greeted by the Genoese as old and +tried friends, whose services they were met together, not to discuss, +but to approve. It was almost confusing to those who had gone to the +meeting prepared to prove their case to find it already understood and +judged by a public as intelligent as it was enthusiastic. + +“You are probably aware that the Syndic and Municipality of Genoa had +already freely granted the use of the huge Opera House to the Italian +Committee of reception, and that the Syndic himself was among the first +to inscribe his name among the Genoese adherents to our principles. + +“The various _ordres du jour_ will give you a general idea of the course +of the proceedings on each day, but I have only time to tell you now of +the winding-up. The Government appears to have become alarmed at the +vast concourse of people from all parts of Italy that had signified +their intention of thronging the theatre on the last morning. Delegates +from the Working Men’s Associations of all the towns of Italy were to +arrive and join the Working Class Associations of Genoa in procession +with their various flags and bands of music, and the Prefect at the last +moment forbade the opening of the vast theatre of the Opera House to the +public. It soon appeared that this was an injudicious act on the part of +the Prefect; for the demonstration was far grander in consequence. The +Hall of the Carlo Felice Theatre opens upon an enormous stone balcony, +the whole length of the building, which looks upon the largest square in +Genoa. To that square the crowd proceeded, in perfect order, each +Association arriving in turn, with flags flying and trumpets sounding, +and ranged themselves in a compact mass underneath, awaiting the public +announcement of the final Resolutions of the Congress. All the members +of the Federation went out in a body on to the long stone balcony; a +platform was hastily improvised for Professor Bovio, Deputy of the +Italian Parliament, whose magnificent voice could be heard from one end +to the other of the immense piazza, and absolute silence was maintained +while he read, one by one, to the people, the Resolutions which had just +been voted in the Hall within. Each Resolution in turn was voted by +acclamation by the multitude with deafening cheers, which ceased as if +by magic when he again held up the paper in his hand as a sign that he +was about to read again. + +“He then addressed a few stirring words to the people, and on his +retiring, Signor Brusco Onnis—the oldest living friend of Mazzini—was +called for. He is a great favourite with the people, whom he has done +much to educate in the principles of true equality and morality. Mr. and +Mrs. Butler took the opportunity of going down among the people during +Signor Brusco’s speech, and on their return reported that so perfect was +the silence and order maintained that every word he uttered was +distinctly audible to the furthest extremity of the immense square. A +business meeting of Delegates was held on the morning of the 4th, and a +friendly banquet of the Foreign Delegates, the Commissariat and the +Members of the Italian Committee took place on the evening of that day +in the Restaurant of the Café Roma, a pleasant conclusion to a week’s +work which will not soon be forgotten by those who had the privilege of +sharing in it.” + +Our President at this Congress was Signor Aurelio Saffi, who had been +associated with Mazzini and Armellini, the Triumvirate who governed in +Rome for a short time after the Revolution. + +His presidential address was very eloquent, philosophical, and closely +argued, its colouring here and there heightened by flashes of personal +recollections of the years of exile he had spent in England, and by +touches of deep emotion. Among his closing words were the following: +“Let us arise, let us arise, with the courage that wins every battle +against this doctrine (of the necessity of vice), the accomplice of +tyranny, and against the guilty policy of those Governments who have +made use of it to legalise their false authority. Let us arise, in the +name of humanity, to protest against such abominations as those which we +have recently seen to be sanctioned by the vice-protecting laws of +Belgium, which permit base wretches to corrupt innocent, betrayed +children. Let us not permit the power of truth and the sense of right, +the fire of Prometheus, to be extinguished in the soul at the bidding of +the high priests of vice and the pontiffs of tyranny. Let us fight +against them to the death. The protest of a single victim of the guilt +and selfishness of the whole world has, in the end, more influence on +the course of human affairs than all the crimes—armed and decorated +though they be—which outrage and crush all that is immortal and sacred +in the human being.” + +Several recollections of those bright days in Genoa stand out in my +memory with a vividness of which, perhaps, they may not seem quite +worthy, when compared with the great and serious work done at that +Congress. The weather was brilliant; the beautiful city was bathed in +unbroken sunshine; and the hearty welcome given to us by our Italian +friends was cheering and grateful beyond words. Numbers of the poor +industrious Ligurian working people, as well as some of the sunburnt +seamen and captains of merchant ships lying in the harbour, managed to +find time now and again to attend our meetings, following with +intelligent interest all that was said. + +I recall the devotional meetings, morning after morning, in the Church +of the Scottish Minister, a warm friend, and the words of encouragement +and inspiration spoken there by my husband and M. George Appia, of +Paris. + +The brilliant appearance of the city was enhanced by the enthusiasm +aroused by the fact that Garibaldi was then staying at his daughter’s +house in Genoa. He invited the leading members of the Congress to pay +him a visit there, as he was then failing very much in health, and +unable to move without the help of his faithful servant, a tall, dark +Nubian. He received us in his room, with some of his children around +him, and spoke to us cheering words concerning the ultimate triumph of +our cause, which was the cause of truth and justice. It was his habit to +take a daily drive, reclining in a large easy carriage. One day he +passed thus along the Acqua Sola, and down the Via Nuova. The streets +were a living mass of human beings, every window filled, and even the +housetops covered with people, eager to see and greet the old hero. On +this occasion his carriage stopped for a moment in front of the Hotel +Isotta, where some of the English members of the Federation were +staying. One of my sons, who was at the window of our salon, said to me, +“I think he is asking for you, mother.” I went to the window, and +Garibaldi, looking up and smiling, raised his poor crippled right hand +with a movement of salutation. He was disabled in almost every limb by +rheumatism. + +On returning one evening from one of our sessions, we found around the +door of the Hotel Isotta a group of women of humble rank, some with +babies in their arms. The Master of the Hotel said that this was a +deputation, which had waited for more than an hour to see me. He bade +them enter the hall, where these poor women presented to me a formal and +neatly written petition, evidently prepared with extreme care, and +slightly ornamented. This was a respectfully worded request that I +would, before leaving Genoa, come and address them in their own +“People’s Hall.” + +Wishing to know more particularly the object of the request, I asked +them if they desired that I should speak to them on the subjects which +were before the Congress. [Some of them had been at our meetings, and +had caught some words of sympathy concerning the wrongs of the daughters +of the poor.] One of them came forward, and speaking for the deputation, +replied: “We beg, Signora, that you will come and speak to us of the +_Man of Nazareth_.” “Of Christ our Saviour?” I asked. “The same,” they +said, bowing their heads. There was a patient, grave self-restraint, and +a look of trouble in those poor faces which went to my heart. It was not +in me to resist such an appeal, and I said I would come. Some evenings +later two workmen came to conduct me, the Countess de Precorbin and +Signora Schiff, of Milan, to their Hall. I find a letter, in which I +wrote of that meeting as follows:—“It was an excellent meeting, and in a +certain sense more practical than any of the others. Though I had been +invited to address women, when we arrived we found a number of men also +gathered round the door. One of the women said, ‘Many of our brothers, +husbands, and sons are waiting outside, and are very desirous to be +allowed to enter with us to hear your words.’ Too gladly did we welcome +them; I always prefer mixed meetings; and among the working people, +separate meetings are never asked for, nor desired. The audience +understood perfectly the question dealt with by the Federation. There +was no need for us to point out to them the cruel injustice and shame of +the vice regulations. They knew all that only too well; and in a +conversation with a group of them afterwards, we felt that many a story +of wrong and woe lay behind the quiet tears that were shed. I did not +forget their special request, and took as the basis of my address +several incidents in the life of Jesus, in which he especially showed +himself as the great Emancipator, the friend of womanhood, and of the +poor and the weak; the only absolutely Just One, the Saviour of all. The +faces of the poor women evidenced deep but quiet emotion. At the close +they all, men and women, crowded up to the platform to pour out their +pennies on the table. There was quite a little mountain of pennies, and +of little soiled papers of _Una Lira_. This was a contribution towards +our Federation work. I often observe how much more readily in general a +poor audience offers a contribution than a richer or higher class +audience. I was much touched by it. They then wrote out and passed +unanimously a resolution of adhesion to the principles of the +Federation, which was signed, later, by the whole assembly.” + +I must not omit to record that the whole of the Catholic Press of Rome, +and almost of Italy, wrote that week in support of our cause. + +The imposing and affecting demonstration of sympathy given by the +concourse of representatives of Operative Societies from every part of +Italy was one of the most striking features of the Genoa Congress. This +result was mainly due to the missionary efforts of Giuseppe Nathan, and +to the confidence in and love for him which prevailed among the people +of his country. He wore himself out in the cause; his whole heart and +soul were in it. He died only a few months after the Congress of Genoa. +He had been already suffering and weak before the Congress. We had +written from England to his mother, Signora Sarina Nathan of Rome, to +ask her to use her influence with him to persuade him to take greater +care of himself. Her reply was worthy of a true Roman matron of the old +times: “The cause comes first,” she said, “my son’s life second.” She +did not long survive that beloved and revered son. + +And now we are still waiting to see this yoke of legalized vice removed +from the necks of the people of that beautiful country. They have been +deceived again and again by promised or partial reforms. In some parts +of their country the system is falling to pieces through its own +corruption. But the victory is not yet. Revived energies and a leader +are wanted. Poor Italy! when troubled about her I recall the words of +Dr. Commandi of Florence, who, after speaking of her poverty, her +weakness and her many difficulties, said, “But we know that our God will +have the last word, and that word will be _Salvation_.” + +I must turn to a darker page in my memory of this year’s events. + +On the 1st May, 1880, I published in England a statement which was +afterwards reproduced in French, Belgian, and Italian Journals, in which +occurred the following words:—“In certain of the infamous houses in +Brussels there are immured little children, English girls of from ten to +fourteen years of age, who have been stolen, kidnapped, betrayed, +carried off from English country villages by every artifice, and sold to +these human shambles. The presence of these children is unknown to the +ordinary visitors; it is secretly known only to the wealthy men who are +able to pay large sums of money for the sacrifice of these innocents.” +There followed a recital of incidents which had been sworn to by +witnesses, but which I need not repeat. I concluded with the words: “A +malediction rests on those cities where such crimes are known and not +avenged.” + +Much indignation was felt by certain persons, and especially by some of +the chiefs of the police in London and Belgium, at the audacity of these +assertions. Many of my friends cautioned me not to publish such +statements, declaring that all sensible persons would say that the +writer of them was mad. I persisted, however, in giving them publicity. + +In the autumn after the appearance of these statements, M. Levy, a “Juge +d’instruction” of Brussels, instigated probably by the police of that +city, challenged me to prove a single case in Brussels of outraged +childhood in any house of the kind referred to. This challenge was sent +through the “Procureur-Général” to our Home Secretary, Sir William +Harcourt, and took the form of a demand that I should be required, under +the Extradition Act, to make a “deposition on oath” before a magistrate. +There was considerable hesitation amongst my friends as to whether I +ought to accept this challenge or not, as the legality of the demand +made by the Belgian authorities was questionable. I quote the following +from a letter written to my sister in Naples: “We are still in suspense +about this affair. There is a doubt as to whether I should submit to the +Home Secretary’s demand, and answer all the questions, or whether I +should refuse to answer, and so incur the full legal penalty. On +Saturday last my husband, travelling to Oxford, met in the train Mr. +Stamford Raffles, the stipendiary magistrate before whom I should have +to make my affidavit. Mr. Raffles appeared very nervous about having to +take my statement. I was not well that evening, and retired to rest +early; but I was not allowed to be quiet very long, for before 5 o’clock +in the morning I was awakened by a loud knocking at our front door. It +was a confidential messenger from the Chamberlain of London. He said he +had travelled down from London through the night with a sealed packet, +containing a message for me, which it was not desirable to trust to the +post, and which was to be delivered as quickly as possible. It was quite +dark. I lighted my candle to see to read the letter, and Jane made a +fire downstairs and prepared some tea, etc., for the messenger, who was +shivering with cold. He was to return to London again by the first +train. I felt a little confused in the cold and dark morning, reading a +mysterious letter from the Guildhall, which contained also a telegram in +cypher from Brussels, warning me that there was some trap being laid for +us, and probably some collusion between the police of London and that of +Belgium. I do not think that this latter is the fact, but I suspect that +certain enraged Belgian authorities have prompted this arbitrary act on +the part of the Home Office with a malicious purpose, and also, no +doubt, in the desire to clear themselves from the charges of the crimes +which we have imputed to them, and with which I mean to continue to +charge them. I am sure that neither at our Home Office nor at Scotland +Yard, shall I or our cause meet with sympathy. This early-morning +letter, which enclosed several communications from friends in Brussels, +implored me to refuse to give evidence, adding, ‘it would, if you +declined, be worth everything to the cause for you to suffer the full +legal penalty of refusing to answer. This would arouse the public as +nothing else could.’ I appreciate this point of view, but on the other +hand, if I refuse, the Belgians and our opponents elsewhere would +naturally say it was because I had no positive charges to make against +them. Moreover, I am longing to make known in the most public way, those +terrible cases. We wish these iniquities to be known. It has been said +to me several times, ‘You may be prosecuted for libel,’ but my Counsel +says, ‘Who are the persons who would prosecute? Not the keepers of these +houses or their clients. Perhaps the Procureur du Roi on their behalf, +but would he dare to do it? I scarcely think he would.’ + +“Such days as these must come, we know, sooner or later, for us or our +successors, and it is not for us to draw back. M. Humbert writes to me +beautifully as follows:—‘The father of lies will employ all his strategy +in order to parry the blows of your denunciation. I am persuaded that at +Brussels the police have strict orders to cause all the proofs +(including persons) to disappear which could afford justification of +your statements, and those of Mr. Dyer. In the face of all, advance +courageously, even into the jaws of the dragon if need be, and even if +the monster is concealing himself in the sacred precincts of the Hotel +de Ville or the Palais de Justice. It was inevitable that this phase in +our history should arrive. Primitive Christianity itself needed, in +order to become known, that its adherents should be dragged into the +Judgment Hall and before the Tribunals.’ + +“Mr. Scott had received a carefully sealed letter from a friend in +Brussels; who wrote, ‘Do you know that you are walking into the jaws of +hell?’ Mr. Scott answered, ‘I know it. How is it possible but that hell +should be moved to its depths, now that its right to swallow up its +thousands of yearly victims is questioned?’ + +“M. Bosch, a good man and honourable magistrate in Brussels, said to our +colleague, Pasteur Anet, ‘Oh, take care what you do, especially in the +matter of the children found in these houses. You know not the depths +and bitterness of the infernal hatred you are rousing against +yourselves.’ This is true, but then the cry of the children is sounding +in our ears, and also those words, ‘Take heed that ye offend not one of +these little ones.’ + +“The words of the 94th Psalm come often to my mind:—‘They slay the widow +and the stranger; they murder the fatherless; yet they say, the Lord +shall not see it.’ And also the tenth chapter of Isaiah:—‘Woe unto them +that decree unrighteous decrees, and write grievousness which they have +prescribed; to turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the +right from the poor of My people, that widows may be their prey, and +that they may rob the fatherless.’ When half awake at night, I feel +anxious and sad; and sometimes I am impelled to get up, in spite of the +cold, to arouse myself, and kneel and pray; and then sometimes a great +calm takes the place of the waves of troubled thought, for I see clearly +that God is working, and that we are only like little flies, so very +small, though His instruments, in the midst of the great events which +may be about to be evolved. + +“I am writing to try and encourage Mme. Splingard; her son Alexis has +been with us, and has returned to Brussels. His life has been +threatened, and he might one day be a victim to malice.” + +I made my deposition in the month of November, in the Room of the Chief +Magistrate. There were present, besides my husband, half a dozen of the +most solid and honourable citizens of Liverpool, who were deeply +interested in the whole matter, my Counsel, Dr. Commins, and a reporter. +My deposition was forwarded to Sir William Harcourt, and by him to the +Procureur du Roi, at Brussels. _From that time forward there were no +more attempts to deny the charges I had made._ The proofs of everything +I had said were too strong to be set aside, while Mr. Dyer’s action, and +the facts cited in my deposition, produced results in Belgium for which +all the friends of Justice were thankful. + +Besides the facts which I stated on oath, others had been published in +Belgium, in spite of efforts to hush them up; among them was the +following:— + +“On the 19th January last, two persons, Constance Delvaux and Catherine +Reniers, were brought before the Correctional Tribunal of Brussels, +charged with the offences indicated in the following narrative:—Madame +P——, of an honourable family of Brussels, had placed her little daughter +at a school in that city. She was accustomed to call for her child at +the end of the week, and to take her home to spend the Sunday with her. +On a certain Saturday she called as usual, and on asking if her daughter +was ready, she was met by a look of astonishment from the ladies at the +head of the establishment, who replied, ‘But, madam, you sent for your +daughter some days ago, and she went to you, accompanied by your +messenger.’ It transpired that a woman had called, bearing a letter, +apparently signed by Madame P——, saying that owing to special +circumstances she wished to have her daughter at home that week, and +had, therefore, sent a servant to bring her. This letter was a forgery. +It was proved in the trial that the Baron de Mesnil Herman, of the rue +des Arts, No. 17 (why should I spare him the publicity he deserves, and +had attained?), of forty-three years of age, had somewhere set his +adulterous eyes upon this child, and that he had engaged the women above +named to bring her to him. The child was taken to the notorious Café +Riche, a place of assignation much resorted to by gentlemen of high +society, councillors, diplomatists, military officers, etc. Therèse +Daubremist, called as witness, said that Constance Delvaux had asked her +to write the fraudulent letter; ‘I thought she was the child’s mother; I +wrote the letter.’ Constance Delvaux replied, ‘I caused the letter to be +written in order to oblige the Baron de Mesnil.’ Catherine Reniers +stated, ‘I had gone previously to the school to ask for the young girl, +but the directress required that a letter should be brought to her from +Madame P——. It is so natural that we should wish to oblige Monsieur le +Baron de Mesnil.’ The Public Prosecutor commented on the depth of +immorality revealed by the conduct of the two women, and demanded a +severe application of the law. The two women were condemned to seven +months of prison. _The Baron de Mesnil was not even summoned as a +witness at the trial?_ The poor child, after having been introduced to +‘indescribable scenes’ at the Café Riche, was sent with one of the women +above named to Aix-la-Chapelle. Her mother went immediately in pursuit +of her (this lady is a widow), but her child had been hastily removed +thence to some other city, and no trace of her could be discovered. +Silence on the subject was for a long time maintained by the press, on +account of the high position of the Baron de Mesnil. Then there came a +rumour of the young girl having been found in Paris, whence, it was +said, ‘the police will return her to her native land.’” Return her! but +in what condition? I republished this story in an appeal to the mothers +of England, in which I said :—“Reflect what it would be to you, to have +one of your pure and tenderly cherished darlings returned to you, after +having been forced to witness and take part in such unspeakable +horrors—ruined in body and mind, the poor young brain never more able to +get rid of the spot blacker than death, which no tears from the heart, +nor even a mother’s love, can efface! Reading these things, you will not +be among those who blame me for ‘wounding the susceptibilities’ of +persons in high office, perverted judges, luxurious livers, who condone +and even take part in such horrors. If we mothers were to hold our peace +the very stones would cry out.” + +Similar revelations of this kind began to come to us from France and +other countries. I wrote to my sister:—“The present time resembles an +era of incendiarism, in which fires are breaking out with lurid light on +all sides, north and south, east and west. We have scarcely taken breath +after hearing of one tragedy before the post brings us tidings of +another. It is well it is so. For long years past the slaughter of the +innocents has been going on. We knew it not, or only had a partial +knowledge of it. Now we know, and before God we are responsible for that +terrible knowledge.” + +From Bordeaux, in France, there came to us a terrible story of the two +little children Delemont. The scandal in this case was so great that +several gentlemen of high position were arrested and tried, among them +being Commandant A——, a man of advanced age, and another, a Colonel C——. +The former was condemned to ten years’ imprisonment. The latter was +acquitted, on the ground of his having fought bravely at Metz. The +Minister for War, M. Ranc, however, did not deem it a brave action to +have taken part in the destruction of a little child, and shortly +afterwards expelled him from the army. The evidence given by the +children was tragic and heart-rending. They identified the criminals at +once when they were brought before them with a number of other men. Very +awful must have been the steadily pointed finger of those innocent +victims for any culprit not wholly reprobate. These men, however, were +past shame. But a judgment day awaits them, when the pointed fingers of +the children will be worse for them than the heaviest judgment of any +earthly tribunal; for + + “The child’s sob curseth deeper + Than the strong man in his wrath.” + +In the late autumn, the trial to which I have before alluded took place, +resulting in the condemnation of large numbers of the slave-dealers and +slave-owners of these modern times. The evidence brought against them +was of the most awful kind, showing that the exaggeration with which we +were sometimes charged had had no existence; and, in fact, no words +could have been strong enough in which to describe or denounce the +atrocities perpetrated in these bastilles of shameless vice. One young +girl, having escaped from one of these houses in Brussels, came to us, +and was a refugee in our house for some time. She was taken with another +English girl to Brussels, under the kind care of Mrs. Steward, to be +witnesses against their tormentors. I was not present at those trials, +but was told that they gave their evidence with firmness, and sometimes +with an indignant _brusquerie_ which was not unbecoming. These events +certainly had a purifying effect for a time on the moral atmosphere of +Brussels, and the publication of the sentences pronounced on the +culprits conveyed a kind of electric shock throughout the infamous world +of slave-dealers, both in Belgium and other countries, which we believe, +for a time at least, to have materially lessened the evil. + +The Public Prosecutor wrote kindly concerning our poor young English +witnesses, saying that Pasteur Anet and Mrs. Steward would have +permission to sit by their side in the Court. One of these girls, on +returning to my house, told me that the brutal creature Roger, +afterwards imprisoned, meeting her in a passage of the Court, fell on +his knees before her to beseech her not to give evidence concerning his +violent treatment of English girls, of which she had been both a witness +and a victim. + +Another of the poor refugees helped by Pastor Anet to escape from +Brussels came to our house in Liverpool. She appeared to be in pain, and +on being questioned she replied that she was suffering from unhealed +stripes on her back and shoulders from the lash of this tyrant. I called +in our physician, Dr. William Carter, of Rodney Street, Liverpool, to +certify to the truth of her declaration; and, in very deed, we found the +livid marks of the stripes of which she had spoken. We seemed to stand +before a victim of some cruel overseer of slaves in the cotton +plantations of one of the Southern States of America in the past times. +I drew from her, when alone, the story of her martyrdom. The keeper of +this house in Brussels, enraged with her because of her persistent +refusal to participate in some exceptionally base proceedings among his +clients, had her carried to an underground chamber whence her cries +could not be heard. She was here immured and starved, and several times +scourged with a thong of leather. But she did not yield. This poor +delicate girl had been neglected from childhood; she was a Catholic, but +had had little or no religious teaching. She told me with much +simplicity, that in the midst of these tortures she was “all the time +strengthened and comforted by the thought that Jesus had Himself been +cruelly scourged, and that He could feel for her.” Before her capture +she had one day seen in a shop window in Brussels an engraving of Christ +before Pilate, bound and scourged. Some persons, no doubt, may +experience a little shock of horror at the idea of any connection in the +thoughts of this poor child between the supreme agony of the Son of God +and her own torments in the cellar of that house of debauchery. We often +sincerely mourn over these victims as “lost,” because _we_ cannot reach +them with any word of love or the “glad evangel.” But _He_ “descended +into hell,” into the abode of the “spirits in prison” to speak to them; +and I believe, and have had many testimonies to the fact, that He visits +spiritually these young souls in their earthly prison, many a time, He +alone, in all His majesty of pity, without any intervention of ours. + +And yet we continue to mass all these victims under one great ban of +social excommunication; to treat them as a _class_, to make exceptional +rules and laws for them; and in our various police codes we continue to +call them all by the ugly name of _prostitute_, and to pile on fresh +penal clauses in order to deal with them more and more severely, in the +idea that we are “repressing vice.” The Judgment Day will reveal some +astonishing things. + +At the close of the year I wrote to my sister in Naples as follows:—“I +received some weeks ago a letter from the Editor of the _National_, of +Belgium, telling me that he was summoned to give evidence before the +Commission now sitting at the Hotel de Ville on the complicity of the +police in the crimes divulged in the late trials, and asking me to send +him all the information I could, and especially, for his own use, my +deposition made before the magistrate. I sent him this, having already +sent one copy to the Bourgmestre of Brussels. I imagined he would make +use of it in some way, but not exactly as he did. He took this document +to the Hotel de Ville, read it all through before the Commission, and +next day published it entire in his paper, with all the names. I had had +it printed, you understand, simply for private or judicial use. It seems +that the editor of the _National_ is an enterprising man, and no doubt +he would like to gain some notoriety for his paper, as I have been told +he wishes to become a _Grand Seigneur de la Presse_, but in a good +cause. I dare say his motives are somewhat mixed. He gave the whole +evidence, with a fine summing-up on the principle. 60,000 copies of his +paper were sold before the evening; a second edition was called for, and +the next day 20,000 more were sold. Of course, at once his life was +threatened, pistols were levelled at him, prosecutions for libel were in +preparation, of which he is the object, as the publisher in such a case +is prosecuted and not the author of the accusations; his office was +besieged, and is still so, by people threatening him, and by a yet +greater crowd of persons pouring out their griefs and wrongs which they +have suffered through the Police des Mœurs, revealing many terrible +tragedies. For the moment this editor is a great man, and the agitation +throughout Belgium is considerable. About two-thirds of the Press of +that country, they tell me, are now warmly on our side. The _Journal de +Mons_ thanks the English for this ‘chastisement.’ All honest and decent +people are aroused, many are indignant, many more are incredulous. The +_Courrier de Bruxelles_ speaks of ‘profound emotion,’ and of ‘the +conscience of the people being aroused as by a thunderbolt.’ + +“You can imagine that on first hearing of this I felt a little troubled, +and as if I had been ‘given away.’ Also, persons friendly to us, such as +Lambillon, Hendrick and others, who had given us information from a good +motive, were angry at seeing their names published as having had any +knowledge whatever of these evil things; and I was pained to think of +_their_ pain. + +“I was pondering all this one evening, when I suddenly recollected that +on New Year’s Day of this year, and many days after, I had taken upon me +to make a special and definite request to God for light to fall upon +these ‘dark places of the earth wherein are the habitations of cruelty.’ +Some strong influence seemed to urge me to make this request. I used to +kneel and pray, ‘O God, I beseech Thee, send light upon these evil +deeds! whatever it may cost us and others, flash light into these abodes +of darkness. O send us light! for without it there can be no destruction +of the evil. We cannot make war against a hidden foe. In the darkness, +these poor sisters of ours, these creatures of Thine, are daily +murdered, and we do not know what to do, or where to turn, and we find +no way by which to begin to act. Send us light, O our God, even though +it may be terrible to bear.’ I had made a record of this petition, and +then I had forgotten it. But not so our faithful God. His memory is +better than mine! He did not forget, and He is now sending the answer to +that prayer. Then I thought of the words;—‘O fools, and slow of heart to +believe.’ Here is the very thing I had asked for, brought about in a way +I had not dreamed of. + + ‘We cannot ask the thing that is not there,’ + ‘Blaming the shallowness of our request.’ + +“The Journals speak of that number of the _National_ as ‘a flash of +lighting,’ and use almost the language of my own soul about it, and I +bow my head in thankfulness, seeing the hand of God in all. + +“M. Humbert wrote to me in the early days of this year:—‘I begin this +year under a sense of awe; I _can but hold my pen obedient to the +dictation of incalculable events_.’ It is interesting to know that some +of these slave-owners of Brussels shut up their houses and fled on +reading the accusations in the _National_. ‘The wicked flee when no man +pursueth,’ but only the echo of a far-off woman’s voice! M. Humbert +quotes a German proverb, ‘_the dead fly fast_.’ Long-lasting corruption, +when ripe for dissolution, is not slow in suiciding. But alas! the +poison has spread far and wide. There is an infection in the presence of +deathlike corruption which even the best can scarcely escape; and we may +ask, ‘Can these bones live?—Ah, Lord God, Thou knowest.’ + +“I have been a little troubled by an article published in a Brussels +newspaper by an ardent young Belgian friend, who makes it seem that his +own generous, but too violent, and even fierce expressions convey my own +feelings. One cannot be too indignant or too full of scorn in such a +case, but I never in my life spoke of _physical_ force! ‘Our weapons are +not carnal, but spiritual, to the pulling down of strongholds.’ +Nevertheless I can forgive people longing for pistols who have not +experienced the superior power of moral weapons. Indeed, at some moments +I do also! + +“Events have followed each other rapidly. M. Lenaers, the famous Chief +of the Police des Mœurs in Brussels, and his second in office, +Schroeder, were both summoned to the Hotel de Ville, and at a secret +sitting of the _Echevins_ Schroeder was censured. These two worthies, +however, instituted a prosecution against the Editor of the _National_ +for libel, on account of the statements regarding them. The Editor was +jubilant. He took no advocate, but pleaded his own cause, and accepted +the whole responsibility of his publication of my accusations. I asked +myself, ‘Will his jubilance endure if he is condemned to imprisonment, +poor man?’ We have the Catholic Press largely on our side, but our best +individual champions are not Catholics. His Majesty the King looks on! +Parliament has taken up the matter. Reuter’s telegram announced in our +_Daily News_ that “the Minister of the Interior had been questioned on +the misconduct of the Police des Mœurs.’ A short debate took place. M. +Jacob, a deputy, spoke gravely and well ‘amidst a deep and significant +silence.’ He solemnly called on the Minister to take a bold step and +dismiss certain functionaries. The Minister replied that the accusations +published in the _National_ were ‘probably a libel,’ whereupon a great +hubbub arose in all the Journals of the two following days.” + +“One evening, before her departure for Brussels, Mrs. Stewart was with +us, and when we were gathering for family prayer she asked, ‘Shall we +not pray for those wretched men now in prison? What must their thoughts +be, waiting for the earthly judgment, in anticipation of the awful +judgment to come?’ My husband replied, ‘Yes, we may indeed pray for +mercy for them;’ but his heart bleeds, as mine does, for their victims.” + +A Memorial concerning this traffic in child slaves had been drawn up at +the Guildhall by the City of London Committee, addressed to Lord +Granville, our Foreign Secretary at that time. The City Committee +commissioned me in October to present a similar Petition to the +Bourgmestre and Echevins of Brussels, enclosing also a copy of the +Memorial to Lord Granville. I went with these to the Hotel de Ville, +where I was courteously received. After presenting the Memorials I +ventured to request the Bourgmestre to dismiss the officials and other +persons in the room, which he did, looking a little troubled; for my +heart urged me to speak to him face to face concerning his own +reponsibility in all this matter. It proved to be rather an affecting +interview—rather terrible even. I think I trembled, and the Bourgmestre +covered his eyes with his hand. He treated me with courtesy and +gentleness. + +Some time later, two or three official personages, to whom these +revelations of evil had come forcibly home, found that the state of +their health required them to visit the South of France. In one case it +was found necessary greatly to prolong this residence in the south, for +he never returned; ‘his place knew him no more.’ MM. Lenaers and +Schroeder, Chiefs of Police, were dismissed from office. But the system +of Government-patented and regulated vice _continues to exist_, and the +friends of Justice continue to work and to wait. + +Looking back over the ten or eleven years of our crusade, and observing +the admirable organisations which had arisen in that time, I felt +impelled to point out a danger, which often threatens the success of +vital work, though seldom recognised as a danger, namely, the tendency +to lean too much on a perfected organisation, which sometimes in itself +cramps the life within it. I sent out a circular to my friends on this +subject, in which occurred the following, which I reproduce, because the +same tendencies may arise again. “This international work of ours seems +to have entered upon a phase through which all movements of the kind are +liable to pass, and to point to the danger which there is even in the +attainment of a high and satisfactory organisation. This high +organisation is often reached at the expense of individual initiative +and independent personal effort. We are now incurring the risk of +substituting stereotyped office work for the vitality of missionary +zeal. M. Humbert lately wrote to me that he considers our propagandist +activity is at the present moment somewhat paralysed, and I think we +must ourselves confess that the individual activities of the members of +our League are not on the increase at present. Some of the prominent +members of our Central Committee are unable to give more than a small +fraction of their time to our work, being heavily charged with other +business of a public or political kind, and this necessitates to a great +degree their reliance on the regular machinery and steady work of a +bureau. + +“In the winter of 1874, taking counsel only with my own heart, I +started, as you know, on a mission for our cause to the Continent. In +the summer of 1876 our two able comrades, Mr. Wilson and Mr. Gledstone, +went forth to America, to stir up a spirit of watchfulness there. More +recently, Mr. Dyer and his friend undertook a difficult and hazardous +enterprise in Belgium. I cite these incidents as cases in which there +was no danger of sacrificing missionary zeal to system. These missions +and others of a similar nature have proved to be very fruitful, and I am +deeply convinced that our cause will cease to make such rapid progress +as heretofore if individual propagandism of this nature is altogether +abandoned, while we, sitting at home, or largely absorbed in other +business, leave the cause mainly to the working of office machinery, and +expect its triumph to be achieved by agencies established in London and +in Switzerland, however perfected those agencies may be, and however +skilled the agents. It is not by official machinery that we shall +conquer, though that is necessary _as a scaffolding of operations_, but +by self-sacrifice and unwearying missionary zeal, without which no great +cause was ever won. I have observed that we are sometimes even betrayed +into the error (unconsciously probably) of discouraging the initiative +of honest and humble persons who have been filled with the desire to do +something independently for the cause. Their ardour must have been +checked rather than stimulated by being directed to follow in the path +of a centralised organisation, the very existence of which tends to make +people think their own personal efforts are not required. We cannot, of +course, dispense with our valuable organisations and bureaus, but it is +quite possible at the same time to welcome the efforts of every +individual, however humble, and to stimulate independent activity on all +hands. We need missionaries in all countries. The discovery of these, +and the impulse to be given to them, must greatly depend on the +maintenance of a vigorous correspondence of an informal, personal kind, +wherever there is an opportunity for it; and when such persons are +found, a generous confidence as well as prudence may well be exercised +in the amount of encouragement given to them to go forward, even if +their plans and methods may not be wholly familiar to, or approved by +us. The essential is that they should have a clear grasp of our +principles.” + + + + + CONCLUSION + + “Being in the line of Duty, and realising my oneness with Omnipotence, + I cannot possibly fail of success; for Omnipotent Love is pledged for + the accomplishment of _that for which I trust_. The zeal of the Lord + of Hosts shall perform it. ‘Thou shalt decree a thing,’ He hath said, + ‘and it shall be established unto thee.’ There is no room for doubt. + Because of the imperativeness of duty and the faithfulness of God, I + am fully equipped with power to fulfil that duty.” + + +In concluding this volume of personal reminiscences, I am reminded of +the survey of the work of the decade which expired in 1880, which I was +asked by our friends to bring before them on the occasion of the Annual +Meeting of the “Ladies’ National Association” of that year. The thoughts +which rose to my mind then, come again vividly before me now. I may +fitly close this record by some extracts from that address, as follows:— + + +“The fact that a Select Committee of Parliament is now sitting to +inquire into the working of the system which we oppose, produces a +certain lull in the more public and demonstrative action of the +Abolitionist movement. Our question is again placed _sub judice_ by the +House of Commons, and our Parliamentary leaders consequently have their +lips closed. For five years past successively, we have had the support +of the eloquent voice and powerful arguments of Sir James Stansfeld, who +always on all occasions asserted that, amidst all his convictions, deep +and strong on this question, he had none deeper or stronger than +this—that women must continue to stand in the forefront of this battle, +and that, if they should cease to do so, the battle would be lost. Mr. +Stansfeld is now, however, a member of the Parliamentary Committee of +Inquiry, and cannot be with us here. Sir Harcourt Johnstone, our +Parliamentary leader, is in the same position, being also a member of +that Committee. + +“We are this evening called once more, therefore, to plead publicly our +own cause; and this happens to be the case just at the close of a decade +of labours, as if to call us, as women, to look back and record what God +has done for us, perfecting His strength in our weakness, in these past +ten years. + +“These circumstances seem to prompt us to an attitude of grave +retrospect, and of calm and deliberate preparation for the future. + +“We must remember that the principal labours of a great movement do not +consist in those public demonstrations and exciting parliamentary +debates in which they culminate. Thought leads, after all, and the +intellectual battle must continue to be waged by solid argument, by +repeated assertion of principles, and by the unwearying pursuit of the +multifarious fallacies and falsehoods to which a retiring cause +inevitably betakes itself. Above all, ours is a spiritual warfare, and +the victory must be won by the deepening of our own convictions, by +increased faith in the permanence of the eternal principles of justice, +and by a more absolute trust in Him in whose cause we are engaged. + +“Since our first uprising in 1869, we have been gathering around us an +increasing number of adherents of the medical profession, the breadth of +whose views has led them to take a foremost place, not only in our +crusade, but in the ranks of scientific teachers; they have set forth, +not only the true medical aspect of this question, but also its far +higher scientific aspect, in its relation to ethics and jurisprudence. + +“The Society of which Elizabeth Fry was a distinguished member was, as +we might naturally expect, among the first to welcome the public action +of women in this matter; and the earliest public meetings addressed by +women on this question were held in Quaker meeting houses. I cannot +refrain from expressing my gratitude to those who, while most persons +were scandalised by women’s action in those early days of our conflict, +frankly gave me the right hand of fellowship, asking for no credentials +whatsoever, except my own assertion that the cry of the oppressed and +the voice of God within me were calling me to this work. + +“It would be impossible for me, in this brief hour, to enumerate the +succession of conferences, debates, mass meetings, and stormy election +conflicts in which we have taken part during the last ten years; and my +address to you this evening is not in any sense a report of work done, +but only a most brief and imperfect survey of the rapid expansion of our +cause.... + +“Let me lead you on to the spring of 1874. At that date we became aware +of a vast enterprise, conceived and planned by the advocates of +regulated vice,—an enterprise which involved a world-wide scheme for +bringing under this degrading system all the nations of the earth. In +order to meet this international action, it seemed to us that we must +ourselves make an appeal to all the nations of the earth. + +“A few of us—very few—met in York in June, 1874; our small number seemed +utterly incommensurate with the vastness of the scheme before us. Faith +enough was found, however, in that little band to welcome the suggestion +of one member of it that she should go whither God would send her on the +Continent of Europe. + +“On the eve of her departure a company of friends assembled at +Birmingham to commend to God this mighty enterprise in its small +beginnings. The conference of that evening began by the reading of those +prophetic words—for, in fact, they proved to be prophetic—‘I will say of +the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in Him will I trust;’ +‘He shall give His angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy +ways;’ ‘Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder’ (violence and +treachery). + +“The history of that winter’s journeyings and labours is known to you, +as well as something of the subsequent progress of the work on the +Continent. This being the anniversary of the Ladies’ National +Association, I may fitly mention that women on the Continent are +faithful to the call they have received. Indeed, the hearts and +consciences of women, especially of women of the humbler classes, bear +the same witness in every land, concerning this question. At a meeting +of women lately addressed by the Baroness Stampe and the Countess Moltke +in Copenhagen, the poor women crowded up to sign their names, and pay +their little contributions as members of our great League. One, who was +very poorly clad, said, ‘If I have to sell my shawl in order to become a +member, I will do it.’ If every woman in the more favoured classes of +life were willing to make a sacrifice in proportion to this which the +poor Danish woman was ready to make, we should have a mighty force added +to our army. + +“Another important feature of our progress is that of the establishment +of a branch of our work in the United States of America, to prevent the +encroachments of the Regulationists there, who are making constant +efforts to introduce this system. Every great cause is propagandist in +its spirit. Mr. H. J. Wilson and Mr. Gledstone went over as delegates +from England to America, to arouse the lovers of virtue and freedom +there. The seed they sowed has been very fruitful. + +“The great event of the Geneva Congress, in the autumn of 1877, is well +known to you all. I may remark, however, that an important element in +our success has proved to be the importation into England of Continental +opinion on this subject, opinion which is the more weighty as our +Continental neighbours have had a prolonged experience of the regulation +system, which has been comparatively recently introduced here. We have +now in our hands a powerful weapon to employ for this work; I mean the +published _Actes_ of the Congress of Geneva. The conspiracy of silence +of the press has done us this service—in that it has forced us to create +a literature of our own. + +“If we ask ourselves what are the results which we have gained, in the +form of the actual abolition, in any part of the world, of the +regulations against which we contend, we must confess that they are +small. But the approach of victory is signalised not so much by the +definite results which we are able to record in the shape of abolition +as by the attitude and manœuvres of our opponents, accompanied by the +progress of public opinion everywhere, on the question of morality and +of the equal application of the moral law to both sexes. The Spartan +general Brasidas, surveying the ranks of his enemies, said, ‘I see by +the shaking of their spears that the rascals are preparing to run.’ We +see as clearly by the ungraceful and eccentric dance now being performed +by our opponents that they are preparing for a forced retreat from the +position they have so long and so proudly maintained. The whole army of +Regulationists have changed their front during these past ten years, +having introduced the most extraordinary alterations in their tactics; +and, as is generally the case when a bad cause begins to fall, they are +introducing changes in the most opposite directions; on the one hand +exaggerating all their pretensions and demands, and on the other hand +making concessions, with the hope of prolonging their own existence. + +“I may enumerate the concessions which have already been made to the +advancing force of public opinion in the form of committees or +commissions of special enquiry into this question: First, the Royal +Commission appointed in 1870, the report of which was contradictory and +inharmonious, resembling the confusion of tongues at the tower of Babel. +Secondly, the Italian Parliamentary Committee, which sat in Rome, and +which, at the close of its inquiry, proposed some kind of compromise. +Thirdly, the Commission of the Municipal Council of Paris, now sitting. +Fourthly, the Hong Kong Commission, which reported unfavourably of the +Government establishment of vice in that colony, but gave way +practically to the urgency of medical men in maintaining an amended form +of the system. Fifthly, the Parliamentary Committee actually in session +in London. + +“Through all the cycles of human history, certain crimes and cruelties +have in a great measure succeeded in hiding themselves, but now the +fierce light is bursting in upon them on every side. The horrors and +agonies of sensual sin are appearing in view. We continually receive +from all parts of Europe revelations such as men had never guessed of +before. The international slave traffic in human souls (that _necessary_ +adjunct of State-organised vice) has prospered in silence and secrecy; +but _it_ also is now coming to the light; it has been and is carried on +on a larger scale and in more horrible ways than is generally suspected +or can be easily conceived. + +“It is possible, even probable, that the most anxious and difficult days +of our struggle are yet to come; that when the upholders of the existing +regulations of vice in various lands shall see it necessary to abandon +their present position, they will come to us with offered compromises; +and then there will be a sifting-time; our principles will be tested, +and our integrity severely tried. That such compromises, various in kind +and more or less subtle in their nature, will be proposed, and that they +are already being concocted, I cannot doubt. We shall require clearness +of insight to discern their nature, and firmness of purpose to deal with +their propositions. + +“We have experience enough to demonstrate that, whenever a practical +victory awaits us, we may look for a corresponding attempt on the part +of the Regulationists to re-establish the evil principle in, it may be, +an extremely modified form or in a misleading guise; hence the supreme +importance of clearness of discernment on our part, of wisdom and +penetration, of skill to separate the old leaven to its last particle +from every plan for the future, and to reject, at the risk of being +deemed vexatious irreconcilables, every proposal which bears within +itself the theory that prostitution is a necessary evil, and the +consequent admission that a certain number of God’s creatures are +doomed, also by a fatal law of necessity, to be transformed into mere +instruments for the basest and most unholy purpose.” + + 1897. + + +And now, my dear Friends and Fellow-workers who have followed so far +with me this record of our first ten years of conflict, my concluding +words shall be addressed to you. + +As I look back through our long warfare there rise before my mind not +only our united band in untiring conflict with injustice, but many +pleasant adventures, social gatherings, and sweet friendships, taking +their rise in a common aim, cemented by fellowship in trial and in hope, +and ripening, year by year, for the higher communion of the life to +come. Many pleasant memories are revived, and some sorrowful ones. Ties +have been riven, ties so dear and so familiar that when they vanished +our weak hearts were rent. Fair households amongst us have been +scattered. Some who were active in the work are now disabled by +permanent physical weakness or approaching age; and we daily feel that +our dearest communion fronts the hour of death. We have mourned together +when some of our ablest helpers and boldest champions fell in the heat +of the battle. But we have had strength given us to rise again, to put +on our armour, and to turn our face to the foe. + +We are of those (it has been said) who represent the imperishableness of +principles, one of the many assurances of immortality. Let us be of good +courage, then! He who has helped us hitherto will be with us to the end. +More than twenty-seven years ago, while we were but a small, feeble +company, and few cared to give ear to our appeal, much less to join in +our aggressive action, we may have said in our hearts, ‘Who will rise up +for me against the evil doers, or who will stand up for me against the +workers of iniquity?’ and, indeed, I may say for myself, ‘Unless the +Lord had been my helper, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.’ But the +heavy curtain of darkness was lifted up at last, and we now see that +there were celestial warriors on our side, and more for us than against +us. The event foretold by Christ is coming to pass; the secret sins of +Europe are beginning to be proclaimed from the housetops; the light of +truth is already falling upon the dark places of the earth, full of the +hideous habitations of cruelty; the hidden things of darkness can escape +the dreaded light no more. + +Looking forward, as we must, to another term of conflict, and +considering what may, and probably will be, the special trials which +await us, I counsel you, Friends, to be strong. Cultivate a sound +judgment. Take this question into the solitude of your chamber; let the +light from God’s presence penetrate your inmost thoughts; see clearly +and act firmly. + + Let this be all our care + To stand approved in sight of God, though worlds + Judge us perverse. + +God forbid that we should ever trifle with the righteous conditions of +success, for we know that every compromise is a loss of power, and would +force us to begin all our work over again! May He grant us the +disciplined conscience whose unfaltering logic shall hold its own +against every fallacy, and continue to pierce through an iniquity which +has corrupted more or less all the Governments of Europe, and blinded +even the Churches, in which there can be no real health until they have +openly taken their stand on God’s side in this matter. + +Our opponents continue to tell us that ‘something must be done.’ True! +practical effort is wanted on every side, economical, industrial, +social; legal reforms are required, as well as moral and spiritual +forces. We do, in fact, already combat, from all these sides, by means +of the many collateral organisations which have gathered around us, the +great evil of prostitution itself. It is true we had long neglected this +work; but let those who blame us look round now, and survey the array of +forces and agencies which have sprung up in many countries during these +last twenty-seven years, animated by our protest, and working hand in +hand with us. Let them regard these efforts and their results, and say +whether we have not fully recognised the fact that ‘something must be +done,’ and whether we have not faithfully endeavoured to do that +something. But what some men mean when they call for something to be +done, is that some provision of some sort must be made, whereby impurity +may be divested of its unpleasant physical consequences,—that some +organisation must be planned, based on the recognition of prostitution +as a necessity of our social condition. To these we have but one reply: +while it is our turn to remind those persons that ‘something must be +done,’ and that that ‘something’ is that men must learn to live +virtuously; that is the only possible remedy for the physical plague. +But there are men who do not like to hear this; they will try everything +rather than this. The end, however, will be the failure of their every +effort to separate the moral and the physical laws of the universe, and +the confirmation of this truth—that the only cure for the evils which +they so much dread is _purity of life_. + +O! that men would turn from the evil of their ways, for then, though +their sins should be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, and +they shall find themselves in the hand of a Saviour who is able to save +_to the uttermost_! + +Let holy charity continue, dear Friends, to be the inspiration of all +our work. Pity for the suffering; justice for all; the oppressed to be +delivered; the slave to be set free; the moral law to be obeyed to the +last tittle; the soul of the poor to be delivered from the hands of the +spoiler; and the Governments of the world to be warned of that logic of +retribution whereby men and nations reap as they have sown. Such has +been our programme in the past; such it will continue to be in the +future. + + + THE END. + + + Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London. + +----- + +Footnote 1: + + The members of the Commission were: the Right Hon. William Nathaniel + Massey, the Right Hon. Viscount Hardinge, the Right Rev. the Bishop of + Carlisle, the Right Hon. Sir John Pakington, Bart., M.P., the Right + Hon. General Peel, the Right Hon. W. F. Cowper-Temple, M.P., Sir John + Salisbury Trelawney, Bart, M.P., Sir Walter Charles James, Bart., + Vice-Admiral Collinson, C.B., Charles Buxton, Esq., M.P., Major + O’Reilly, M.P., Peter Rylands, Esq., M.P., A. J. Mundella, Esq., M.P., + Professor T. H. Huxley, the Rev. Canon Gregory, M.A., the Rev. + Frederick Denison Maurice, the Rev. John Hannah, D.C.L., S. Wilks, + Esq., M.D., John Henry Bridges, Esq., M.D., T. Holmes, Esq., F.R.C.S., + George E. Paget, Esq., M.D., Holmes Coote, Esq., F.R.C.S., George + Campbell, Esq., D.C.L., George Woodyatt Hastings, Esq., Mr. Robert + Applegarth. + +Footnote 2: + + Psalm xci. + +Footnote 3: + + One of the utterances of the defeated candidate did, perhaps, more + than anything else to turn the working men’s votes against him, viz., + this: in a public document regarding his Governorship of Malta, Sir + Henry Storks had stated that he much regretted his inability to bring + soldier’s _wives_ under the degrading and disgusting tyranny of this + legislation. + +Footnote 4: + + Unhappily a _Projet de loi_ which has since been proposed in Brussels + as a substitute for the actual system contains all the old evil + principles in a more veiled form. The sincere men who had embraced the + Abolitionists’ views had more or less retired from public life, and + the work of so-called reform fell under the influence of experts who + are not sincere in their aim. + +Footnote 5: + + Dr. Schneider, Report of the Vienna Congress, p. 49. + +Footnote 6: + + We had gained, up to this time, the abolition of the system in the + Cape Colony, and in Bombay; also in St. Louis, U.S.A., a victory had + been won. + +Footnote 7: + + Alluding to the Bill proposed by the Home Secretary, Mr. Bruce, which + would have been practically a repetition of the Regulations. + +Footnote 8: + + Mr. Benjamin Scott’s “A State Iniquity.” + +Footnote 9: + + These lines were written while our revered friend was still living and + at the post of honour among us. + +Footnote 10: + + See the book of Lecour, “La Prostitution à Paris et à Londres.” + 1782–1872. + +Footnote 11: + + “Recollections of George Butler.” Arrowsmith, Bristol. + +Footnote 12: + + _Shield_, 1877. + +Footnote 13: + + Owing to the great pressure of time at the close of the Congress, and + to the variety in the laws in this respect in different countries, the + Section was unable to give an exhaustive discussion to this question; + but several members of the Congress, after the framing of this + resolution, signed and handed into the Bureau at the Public Meeting + the following declaration:—A Congress which has, at the outset, + admitted the principle of equality of the two sexes before the law + has, in virtue of that admission, affirmed the equal responsibility of + the man and of the woman in respect to their illegitimate offspring. + Though it may defer for the present the consideration of the possible + and practicable means of establishing the right of affiliation, it has + in reality already admitted this principle. + +Footnote 14: + + One of the largest iron foundries in Belgium. + +Footnote 15: + + “The European Slave-trade in English Girls. A narrative of Facts.” + Dyer Brothers. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES + + + ● Fixed typos; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. + ● Renumbered footnotes and moved them all to the end of the final + chapter. + ● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78588 *** |