HUSBANDS AND WIVES.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 198, 5 January 1866, Page 3

HUSBANDS AND WIVES.

The Saturday Hevieio complains of the sentimentalism of the Judge of the Diverce Court, which is more displaced in that than in. any other conrt, and yet to which he is more addicted than any of the other judges. It is quite right that if a man by his brutality drives his wife from his home, he should be bound to give her a maintenance, and not be allowed to escape with all but social penalties to which he is probably indifferent. But it must not be forgotten that there are also shrewish and intolerable wives in the world — women of little minds, and violent tempers, and piercing tongues. Sensible people would rejoice to see both Sir James Wilde and the police magistrates invested with the power of ordering a severe whipping both for the navvies and the educated men who indulge in the cowardly and detestable pastime of wife-beating. But when a woman charges her husband with cruelty, and seeks a divorce on that ground, coupled with adultery, one must take into account all the circumstances before giving way to a furious invective against the peccant husband, and handing over to her a third of his income. Did not Xantippe behave on a memorable occasion so as to deserve a box on the ear from Socrates ? And can every man be expected to be as magnanimous as John Wesley, who, when worried by a peevish and outrageous shrew, found adequate relief in saying to the curse of his life, " Suspect me no more, asperse me no more, do not any longer contend for mastery, for power, money, or praise ; be content to be a private and insignificant person. ' ' Weaker men, when they find their homes turned into purgatories by the so-called Angel in the House, are more likely to revenge their injuries by irregularities away from home and by cuffs when they return. This is gross misconduct, but still there is misconduct and misconduct. As long as women of the Xantippe species infest the world (and there are few signs of their dying out) there will always be cruelty — technical cruelty — and desertion " with extenuating circumstances. " The truth is that when the case lies between a man and a woman, the chance against the man is every day becoming stronger. Juries and judges are becoming more and more violent believers in Mr. Jioebuck's amiable doctrine — the only amiable doctrine that gentleman has ever avowed — that " there is no such thing as a designing woman." If a man breaks a promise of marriage, the poor lady has only to bring her wounded feelings and bleeding heart into court, and she is sure of substantial damages. But if the lady coarsely jilts her lover, he would be laughed out of Court if he tried to find healing in damages. If a woman chooses to say that a man behaved improperly to her in a railway carriage, the invariable presumption is that he is guilty. Nothing can induce some people to believe that women were made ever so little lower than the angels, or that they are capable of any folly or crime to which the baseness or depravity of men did not first drive them. The principles too broadly laid down in the late 'judgment, if carried out without modification, will charm these gallant monomaniacs bepond measure.