The man or woman from whom a divorce
ought to be obtained is _ipso facto_ the man or woman who ought not to
be a parent.
When it is a question of life or gold, we in England are consistent
Mammon worshippers. Woe to the poacher, but the wife beater has only
strained a right and may be leniently dealt with; woe to the destroyer
of pheasants, but the destruction of peasants is a detail. Thus it is
that the great fundamental questions which, because they determine the
destiny of peoples, are the great Imperial questions, are unknown even
by repute to our professed Imperialists. Every kind of industry except
the culture of the racial life interests them profoundly--if there is
money in it. The whole nation can go wild over a budget or the proposal
to revive protection, but the conditions under which the race is
recruited are the concern of but a few, who are looked upon as cranks.
In the case of such a question as our Divorce Laws the public is
substantially unaware that we are hundreds of years behind the rest of
the civilized world; that our practice is utterly unthought out, and
that the supposed compromise of Separation Orders is insane in principle
and hideous in result. The present law bears very hardly upon both sexes
in a thousand cases, but more especially upon women, toward whom it is
grossly unjust. All honour is due to the Divorce Law Reform Union,[19]
which for many years has devoted itself to this important subject, and
has at last succeeded in obtaining the formation of a Royal Commission,
the upshot of which, we may hope, will be to reform our law on moral,
humane, and eugenic lines.
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