134 The Conjugal Condition 



preceding. The object of this is so ob\dons^ that it seems 

 strange any divorce law could be without such a clause. 



We have the testimony of Chancellor Kent^ that in the 

 United States adultery has been committed for the pui'pose 

 of divorce ; and the records of the English Divorce Court, 

 short a time as it has been in operation, presents an instance 

 of a wife's family having employed detectives to get up a 

 case against a husband of blameless character, and exercising 

 an honorable profession. If precautions against a social flaw 

 so mischievous as these instances would indicate, are neces- 

 sary in countries where people may, as a general rule, form 

 marriages with less chances of disunion than in a country 

 so circumstanced as this, the more desirable it is that we 

 should set greater limitations on the liberty of divorce. 



In conclusion, it may not be out of place to urge that 

 while every reasonable effort should on the one hand be 

 made to meliorate the conjugal condition of the people of this 

 colony, caution on the other hand should be observed in 

 adopting any course calculated to aggravate it — and this on 

 economical as well as on moral grounds. Though there are 

 men whose temperament enables them to dispense ynih. 

 family association and affection, the vast majority are 

 affected by inability to enter into the marriage state. Men 

 whose minds have not the intense occupation which such 

 studies as theology, philosophy, science or literature can 

 aflPord, or who have not entered successfully into the arena 

 of the politically ambitious, are but too apt to supply the 

 absence of conjugal relations by dissipation. Drunkenness, 

 which is considered excessive in this country, is no doubt 

 much increased by want of the occupation entailed by 

 domestic ties. Vices cannot, unfortunately, be indulged in 

 without companions, and those who are hurried along by 

 them drag others into the vortex. The licentiousness of the 

 unmarried amongst the men is not without a corresponding 

 amount of baneful results upon the unmarried women. 

 Every circumstance which deteriorates the moral character 

 of a people, augments the cost of governing them, and 

 diminishes their wealth-producing powers. Not only is 

 time squandered, and health and energy wasted, but the 

 position of the celibate is a bar to the successful practice of 

 many branches of industry. The assistance of a wife to the 

 small trader or farmer is of almost inestimable value ; and 

 thou^gh many unmarried men in this country endeavour by 

 partnerships to overcome the drawback, many more would 



