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• would hope that before long it will also come to be recognised in matrimonial legislation . That it is proved by well-known cases of hardship suffered by women of station , and also by professional women earning lax'ge incomes by pursuit of the arts , how real is the injury inflicted . That if these laws often bear heavily upon women protected by the forethought of their relatives , the social training of their husbands , and the refined customs of the rank to which they belong , how much more unequivocal is the injury sustained by women in the lower classes , for whom no such provision can be made by their parents , who possess no means of appeal to expensive legal protection , and in regard to whom the education of the husband and the habits of 3 ns associates offer no moral guarantee for tender consideration of a wife .
That whei-eas it is customary in manufacturing districts to employ women largely in the processes of trade , and as women a , re also engaged as sempstresses , laundresses , charwomen and in other multifarious occupations which cannot here be enumerated , the question must be recognised by all as of practical importance . That newspapers constantly detail instances of marital oppression , " wife-beating , " being a new compound noun lately introduced into the English language , and a crime against which English gentlemen have lately enacted stringent regulations .
But that for the robbery by a man of his wife ' s hard earnings , there is no redress—against the selfishness of a drunken father , who wrings from a mother her children ' s daily bread there is no appeal . She may work from morning till night , to see the produce of her labour wrested from her and wasted in a Gin Palace , and such cases are within the knowledge of every one . That the law , in depriving the mother of all pecuniary resources , deprives her of the power of giving schooling to her children , and in other ways providing for their moral and physical welfax * e ; it obliges her , in short , to leave them to the temptations of the street , so fruitful in juvenile crime .
That there are certain portions of the law of husband and wife which bear unjustly on the husband , as , for instance , that of making him responsible for his wife ' s debts contracted before marriage , even although he may have had no fortune with her . Her power also after marriage , of contracting debts in the name of her husband , for which , he is responsible , is too unlimited , aud often produces much iujustice . That in rendering the husband responsible for the entire maintenance of his family , the law expresses the necessities of an age , when the man was the only but that
money-getting agent ; since the custom of the country has greatly changed in this respect the position of the female sex , the law of maintenance 110 longer meets the whole case . That since modern civilisation , in indefinitely extending the sphere of occupation for women , has in some measure broken down their pecuniaiy dependence upon men , it is time that legal protection be thrown over the produce of their labour , and tliat in entering the state of mai' - riitgo , they no longer pass from freedom into the condition of a slave , all whose earnings belong to his master and not to himself .
That the laws of various foreign countries are in this respect much xnoa-e just than our own , aud afford precedent for a more liberal legislation than prevails in England—and your Petitioners therefore humbly pray that your Honourable House will take the foregoing allegations into consideration , aud apply such remedy as to its wisdom shall seem fit —• And your Petitioners will ever pray .
LA . DIES SAtfOTIONINQ THE ABOVE . Anna Blackwoll ; Isa Blagden ; Elizabeth Barrett Browning ; Sarianna Browning ; Mrs . Cowden Clarke ; Charlotte Cuskman ; Amelia B . Edwards ; Eliza F . Fox ; Mrs . G-askell ; Matilda M . Hays ; Mary Hovritt ; Anna Mary Howitt ; Mrs . Jameson ; Harriet Martinetui ; Honble . Julia Maynard j Mary Mohl ; Bessie Rayner Parkes ; Mya , Reid ; Miss Sturoh ; Mrs . Carlyle ; Mies Jewebury ; Mrs . Lovell ; Mrs . London j Miss Leigh Smith .
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When the news of the proposed armistice reached the northern forts of Sebnstopol it produced a great sensation among the Russian troops , as preparations wero toeing made for alarming the advanced ppats of General d'Autemarre ' s division , by means of an attack to be made by way of Janisnle and Koluluz . This design , of course , was countermanded ; and so was an order which had been g iven to reinforce Lieutcnant-Gcneral Wagner near Kertch . The fire from the northern forts has now entirely censed , and the troops before Emmtorin have fallen back on Tulatt . Fort St , Nicholas has been mined . . Five English rogimenta , according to a despatch from Mar * 8 « i 11 ob , are preparing to return to England ; but , on the other farad , 494 of the Scota Fusiliers and
Coldstreams left London for the Crimea on Wednesday . Three thousand infantry , and two batteries of artillery have been sent to Kertcb . The thaw has begun at Kinbum . Reinforcements have arrived , and all is quiet . On the Danube , also , the thaw has set in . There are very few foreign troops now in Constantinople . One thousand French are in camp at Maslak , and two English battalions , with a small cavalry detachment , still occupy Pera and Scutari . The Russians have evacuated part of Turkish Armenia , and have retired to Erivan .
The Moniteur contains a decree , fixing the number of men to be called on to recruit the army in 1856 . It is precisely that of last year . This looks like a determination to push on the war should necessity require it . General Zomoski lias bad an audience with the French Emperor , and has left for Constantinople to assume the command of the Polish regiment formed in that city .
emaciation and exhaustion from repeated attacks of fever , from dysentery , from diarrhoea , or from continued exposure to the severity o > f a Crimean winter . Altogether , there were many more requiring the assistance of stretchers to be lifted from the caiques than upon any previous occasion . In most instances , the patients were quiet and passive when they reached the shore , but among the fever cases I heard the mutterings of delirium . One poor fellow fancied that he had landed in England , and was begging to have his children brought to him . His haggard face and sunken features looked particularly ghastly , obscurely seen by the flickering light of the corridor lanterns , as the fatigue party bore him to his bed ; but it is needless to pain your readers by again attempting to portray these scenes of suffering with which they are already familiar . They will hear with pleasure that
the transport service for the sick on this station is in a most efficient state . The Andes , formerly one of Cunard ' s fine mail steamers , is a model of cleanliness and comfort , quite equal to the Alps or the Imperador , or any of the vessels which have touched here . .. One point of pre-eminent advantage respecting this hospital is now established ; fevers and other contagious diseases do not spread from , bed to bed . It is doubtful if a single instance of the kind has occurred since the opening of the first ward ; nor have any of the attendants , men or women , suffered in health . When this is contrasted with what is known to have happened in other places , we must in common justice acknowledge tliat in the appointment of the present chief of the establishment . Dr . Parkes ( by whom all these matters are directed ) , the Government has exercised a very sound judgment . —Times Correspondent ( Rerikioi ) .
THE EXPLOSION OI ? THE DOCKS . The Fx-ench have done their shave of the work very effectually , and I see nothing that I'emains for them to destroy . For various reasons , the English works were more gradual in their progress , but have not been less thoroughly carried out . I believe the first idea was to blow up the whole at once , which would probably have given a more picturesque aud , to appearance , more thorough ruin . But this plan was abandoned b y reason of the dampness of the ground . Water flowed in from the ravine in rear of the docks , and rose in the shafts of the mines . It is probable that , had the engineers waited to explode the
numerous mines until all of them were complete ,-the powder would have become damp in many of them and would not have ignited ; so it was resolved to blow up a little at a time . Our respect for the power of powder is vastly increased b y a view of the havoc it has played in such stupendous works as the docks —structures formed to last for ages , and to the duration , of which no limit could be assigned . The difficulty of destruction was enhanced in the case of the docks allotted to the English by the fact- that these were in part hewn out of solid rock . The basin thus formed was lined with huge masses of stone , and , between rock and stone earth was filled in . The
engineers availed themselves of the soft interval for their mines , and blew the walls and counterforts inwards , but ilie rock remains , marking in places the outline of the docks . Everything is removed and riven without being scattered ; and this is the object at which our engineers have constantly aimed . They have sought all along , and generally with much success , so to proportion the charges of their mines tliat , while everything should be overturned , rooted out , aud thrown into the utmost confusion ( literally topsyturvy ) , as little as possible should be thx-own out of
the crater . And accordingly most of their explosions have not had the appearance which would popularly beanticipatedfromthe letting off of two , three , orjmore thousand pounds of powder . There was no diverging gush of stones , but a sort of rumbling convulsion of the ground ; a few blocks and fragments were cast \ ip to a moderate height , but the effect upon the spectator was that ^ of some gigantic subterranean hand just pushing the masses a short distance out of their places , turning them , upside down , and rolling them over each other in a eloud of smoke and dust .
Of accidents occurring from the explosions I have heart of none , excepting the oue on Saturday last ( Jan . 26 th ) , which wag of a peculiar nature . The explosion by the dock gate had take place , and some Sappera were busy at the bottom of a shaft forty or fifty feet off , when a noxious gas generated by the explosion entered the gallery , filtering through the intervening earth . The effeot was gradual—one after another the men became giddy , and some of them insensible . With infinite alacrity and courage noncommissioned officers and soldiers descended the shaft , braving a danger which seemed the greater bocause its extent and nature were unknown , to
succour thoir comrades , and as they got down they in turn wero overpowered by the offensive gas . Major Nicholson and Lieutenant Graham also went down , and Buffered in consequence . The former was insensible , when , supported by his men , he roach ed the top of the shaft , and it was some time before ho recovered . To sum up the nooident ; one man perished , and seven or [ eight wore seriously affected , but have since reoovered . A man wont down into the mine , aftor the ncoidont , holding in his mouth tho extremity of a tube down which air was pumped to him , and he walked about with porfoot impunity and collected tho men ' s oapa and things they had loft boliind . —Times correspondent .
THH HOSPITAL AT llISNKIOr . Tho Andes a team transport nxnivod off tho N " orth Pier on tho 21 st of January from Balaldava , during n heavy galo from the south , with ninety patients , o , large proportion being sovorc cases of fever ; there wero also many oasos of frostbite , nmny of extreme
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WAR MISCELLANEA . Sir Geob&e Maclean , Commissary-General , has received a severe reprimand from . Lord Panmure for officiously suggesting the immediate suspension of all shipments from Constantinople , and the cancelling of home contracts under the present probability of peace . N " ew Russian Modes or Defence . — The Invalide has published in detail the report drawn up by Admiral Glasenapp as to the construction of the row gunboats now building in Russia . In the course of this description , we are made acquainted with" the new weapons which the Russians ha . ve had made for the
purpose ' of repelling boarding attacks . They are represented as consisting of an iron lance , about seven , feet long , and a mace of cast iron , the massive head of which resembles a pineapple , and like it is beset with a number of obtuse projections . Each boat is provided with from thirty to forty lances and from fifteen to twenty maces , in the management of which the Fins are said to possess gi ' eat skill . From this description , these maces would appear to resemble the morgenstem , still in use with the watchmen in Sweden , and with one of which the Marquis of Waterford some years back came inconvenient ly into close contact . — Tinies Berlin Correspondent .
Strange , if True . — A soldier ' s letter published in the Durham OJiromcle contains the assexiiion that many men have got the Inkermann and Balaklava clasp wh were not in the least degree concerned in those actions
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THE PEACE . Babon Butjnow arrived in Paris at half-past ten o ' clock on the night of Tuesday , and took up his quarters in the Hotel of the Russian Embassy , now vacant for two years . Aali Pacha , it is thought , will not arrive before the 22 nd ; Counts Buol and Cavour were expected yesterday ( Fiiday ); aud the Earl of Clarendon will start to-day . Count OrlolF left St . Petersburg on Monday , and arrived at Berlin on Thursday . The Conferences , it is believed , will open on the 23 rd of the present month . The Marquis de Mousticx-, tho French Ambassador at Berlin , arrived in Paris on Sa-turday last , on a visit of some dftya , connected , as some suppose , with the intrigues which are still going forward to obtain the admission of Prussia to tho Cougress .
A \ istria , in tho person of her ropreseutivt ivo , Count Rochborg , invited tho Bund , on the 7 th inst ., to give its adhesion to the conditions wliich form the basis of the Paris negotiations . The Diet doolinod to enter at onoo into tho consideration of tho proposal , but referred it to tho political and military committees of tho Bund . It is apparent that Austria contemplates the conclusion of poaoo as almost certain , as she continues to disarm her frontiers nearest Russia , and to reduoo hot nrrny . Her intox"positiou has probably saved LtuBsia from an exhibition of exhaustion , which might have led to grave results ; for it is now whispered on tho continent that , if RubbI » had riuked a third campaign , her internal weakness would have beoonae so evident thnt tho Allies would have made very different conditions of poaco . If this be trao , Austria still remains tho friend of Russia .
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February 16 , 1856 . ] THE LEADER . 149
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THEJTAR .
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 16, 1856, page 149, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2128/page/5/
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