WIFE-TORTURE IN ENGLAND. 



55 



her entreaty to weigh importantly in any applica- 

 tion to curtail his sentence, and letting him know 

 that any repetition of the offense will be closely 

 watched and doubly severely punished. 1 But all 

 these humane devices, though sometimes, it is to 

 be hoped, successful, yet leave the mournful fact 

 patent to observation that the existing law, even 

 worked with the extremest care and kindness, 

 cannot and does not prevent the repetition, year 

 after year, of all the frightful cruelties, beatings, 

 burnings, cloggings, and tramplings, of which we 

 have given, some pages back, a few awful sam- 

 ples. 



The relief which I most earnestly desire to 

 see extended to these women, and from which I 

 would confidently hope for some alleviation of 

 their wretched condition, though its entire cure 

 is beyond hope, is of a very different sort. It is 

 this : A bill should, I think, be passed, affording 

 to these poor women, by means easily within their 

 reach, the same redress which women of the richer 

 classes obtain through the divorce court. They 

 should be enabled to obtain from the court which 

 sentences their husbands a protection order, which 

 should in their case have the same validity as a 

 judicial separation. In addition to this, the cus- 

 tody of the children should be given to the wife, 

 and an order should be made for the husband to 

 pay to the wife such weekly sum for her own and 

 her children's maintenance as the court may see fit. 



The following are the chief clauses in a bill 

 which has been prepared by Alfred D. Hill, Esq., 

 J. P., of Birmingham, and the principle of which 

 has been approved by many eminent legal au- 

 thorities : 



" Bill intituled ' An Act for the Protection of 



1 1 have before me a letter written by a man under 

 these circumstances from Clerkenwell House of Deten- 

 tion to his wife. The writer, who was sent to jail for 

 beating the aforesaid poor woman very cruelly, is won- 

 derfully civil, and even condescends to coax. He re- 

 grets that it is long since he heard from her, but adds: 

 " I hope you will not forget to try and get me out. If 



you will go to the magistrate, Mr. , i mean, it is 



very likely you can get my time reduced. I hope you 

 will do all you can for me. I have quiet (sic) made up 

 my mind to do what is right to everybody, more espe- 

 cially to you. I hope you will not be angery with me 

 writing. I do hope and pray that you will do all you 

 can for me. So good-bye, hopeing to see and hear 

 from you soon, and with your kind assistance to soon 

 be out. So no more at present from your poor Peti- 

 tioner. ..." The intelligent reader will perceive 

 that there is not a single word of regret for his cruelty 

 in this epistle. Still it is a good point when the ty- 

 rant can be brought thus to sue his victim. All honor 

 to the wise and kindly magistrate who brought it 

 about 1 



"Wives whose Husbands have been convicted of 

 Assaults upon them.' 



" Whereas, It is desirable to make provision for 

 the protection of wives whose husbands have been 

 convicted of assaults upon them : Be it enacted by 

 the queen's most excellent majesty, by and with 

 the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and 

 temporal and of the Commons in this present Par- 

 liament assembled, and by the authority of the 

 same, as follows : 



" 1. In any case where a husband has been con- 

 victed summarily or otherwise of an assault upon 

 his wife, and has been sentenced to imprisonment 

 therefor without the option of a fine in lieu of such 

 imprisonment, it shall be competent for the court 

 by which such sentence has been pronounced, 

 either at the time of such conviction or at any 

 time afterward, upon proof thereof, to make and 

 give to the wife, upon her application, an order 

 protecting her earnings and property acquired 

 since the date of such order, from her husband 

 and all creditors and persons claiming under him ; 

 and such earnings and property shall belong to the 

 wife as if she were a feme sole; and, if any such 

 order of protection be made, the wife shall, during 

 the continuance thereof, be and be deemed to be 

 in the like position in all respects with regard to 

 property and contracts, and suing and being sued, 

 as she would be if she had obtained a decree of 

 judicial separation from the Court for Divorce and 

 Matrimonial Causes. 



" 2. The police magistrate or justices shall in- 

 clude in such order as aforesaid an injunction re- 

 straining the husband from going to or visiting the 

 wife without her consent ; and if any husband, 

 against whom any such injunction shall be made, 

 shall commit any act of disobedience thereto, such 

 act shall be deemed to be a misdemeanor, upon 

 due proof of which any court which would have 

 been competent to make such order and injunction 

 may commit him to the common jail or house of 

 correction of the city, borough, or county, within 

 the jurisdiction of such court for any period not 

 exceeding three months with or without hard la- 

 bor. 



" 3. And any court which would have been 

 competent to make such order as aforesaid may 

 further include in such order a provision that the 

 wife shall have the legal custody of the children 

 of her husband and herself. And the same court 

 which would have been competent to make such 

 order may further include in such order a provi- 

 sion directing that the husband shall pay to the 



wife a weekly sum not exceeding shillings 



per week for the maintenance of herself and of 

 such children, which provisions of the order shall, 

 if the payments required by it be in arrear, be 

 enforced in the manner prescribed by the act of 

 the 11th and 12th Vict. c. 43, for the enforcing of 

 orders of justices requiring the payment of a sum 

 of money. 



