THE TIME FACTOR IN^ THE PROBLEM. 19 



elevation. Early in this century it was not ver}^ un- 

 common for an Englishman to sell his wife into servi- 

 tude. ' ' A gentleman in this country, in 1815, having 

 access to not a very large number of EngUsh sources of 

 information, found, in a single year, thirty-nine in- 

 stances of wives exposed to public sale, like cattle, at 

 Smithfield. " ^ The amazement or incredulity with which 

 such a statement is received by this generation is the 

 best comment on it. 



Another striking evidence of progress is found in the 

 enhanced valuation of himian life, which has served to 

 humanize law and mitigate " man's inhumanity toman." 

 At the beginning of this centia-y nothing was cheaper 

 than human life. In the eye of English law the life of a 

 rabbit was worth more than that of a man ; for even an 

 attempt upon the former cost tlie sacrifice of the latter. 

 The law recognized two hundred and twenty-three cap- 

 ital offences. " If a man injured Westminster Bridge, 

 he was hanged. If he appeared disguised on a public 

 road, he was hanged. If he cut down young trees; if he 

 shot at rabbits ; if he stole property valued at five shil- 

 lings; if he stole anything at all from a bleach-field ; if 

 he wrote a threatening letter to extort money; if he 

 returned prematurely from transportation — for any of 

 these offences he was immediately hanged." "In 1816 

 there were at one time (in England) fifty-eight persons 

 under sentence of death. One of these was a child ten 

 years old."^* 



Space does not suffer even the mention of other noble 

 ideas, the growth of which has enriched our civilization 

 and elevated man. Our glance at the' condition, four- 



1 Dorchester's Problem of Religious Progress, p. 219. The Nero Monthly 

 Magazine, for September. 1814, contains the following: " Shropshire.— A 

 well-looking woman, wife of John Hall, to whom slie had been married 

 only one month, was brought by him in a halter, and sold by auction, in the 

 market, for two and sixpence, with the addition of sixpence for the rope 

 with which she was led. In this sale the customary market fees were 

 charged— toll, one penny; pitching, three pence." 



2 Mackenzie's History of the Nineteenth Century. 



