133 The Conjugal Condition. 



inclinations afterwards. * * * Tlie courts liave 

 manifested a disposition to put a check upon tlie facilities for 

 divorce that have obtained in this city. * * * This 

 determination is the direct and legitimate result of a greatly 

 improved condition of public opinion. California to-day is 

 a very different affair from California before thousands of our 

 OAvn children were growing up around us. The public opinion 

 of a community of single families is a very different thing from 

 the public opinion of a community of single^ and by no means 

 over- scrupulous^ men ; and within the past week two mortal 

 blows have been struck at the very root of the monstrous 

 social evil that so long fed like a canker on the dearest in- 

 terests of our State. * * * A divorce (in Wood's 

 case) was sought on the ground that the defendant was an 

 habitual drunkard ; but it was shown that the charge was 

 unfounded. The defendant,, like thousands of other men in 

 the city, against whom intemperance has never been alleged, 

 was in the habit of indulging occasionally by drinking with 

 his fi'iends and acquaintances. He seems to have been sub- 

 jected to a vile system of espionage by the very parties who 

 participated with him and drank mne at his expense. * * 

 In the case of Buessard v. Buessard, divorce was granted for 

 adultery, clearly proven; but the judge ordered that the 

 guilty party should be for ever debarred from again dis- 

 gracing the sacred rite of matrimony, and mock at its obliga- 

 tions by assuming them. In the case of Krueger v. Krueger, 

 divorce was granted for good and sufficient cause, but coupled 

 with a like injunction. These decisions were in accordance 

 Avith that of the Supreme Coui't in the case of Conant v. 

 Conant, establishing the principle mentioned. We cite these 

 facts in proof that Californians are fully awake to the per- 

 nicious influence of divorce suits, for which no reason 

 exists other than in the inflamed imaginations of weak- 

 minded or viciously disposed persons.^' 



In this statement respecting the law of divorce in Califor- 

 nia, we have it presented to us that a preponderance of 

 unmarried men led to an abuse of that measiu'e ; that, 

 though in some of the other States no such great evil, 

 comparatively speaking, had resulted from the absence 

 of the restrictive clauses prohibiting the guilty parties 

 from marrying again, yet in California it was found 

 expedient to exercise this power; pro^dng the neces- 

 sity of adapting the laws to the peculiar circum- 

 stances of the country which has to be legislated for. 



