BLACKWELL FAMILY
ELIZABETH BLACKWELL

Wrong And Right Methods of Dealing
with Social Evil (Hastings)WRONG & RIGHT METHODS                                                                            1883
of
DEALING WITH SOCIAL EVIL
As shewn by lately published Parliamentary Evidence.
BY
DR. ELIZABETH BLACKWELL[*This pamphlet requires revision
[smi?] 1883*]
WRONG AND RIGHT METHODS
OF DEALING WITH SOCIAL EVIL
AS SHEWN BY LATELY-PUBLISHED PARLIAMENTARY
EVIDENCE.
-------
BY
DR. ELIZABETH BLACKWELL.
------
D. WILLIAMS, 5, CLAREMONT, HASTINGS.
------
To be ordered through all Booksellers,
or at the Office of the Moral Reform Union, 1, Leinster Place, Porchester Terrace.
London, W.CONTENTS.
PAGE
DEDICATION  5
CHAP.
I.—ON THE "LET ALONE" SYSTEM   7
II.—THE FEMALE REGULATION SYSTEM   14
III.—THE REPRESSIVE SYSTEM, IN REFERENCE TO MUNICIPAL ACTION   29
IV.—THE REPRESSIVE SYSTEM, IN REFERENCE TO NATIONAL LAW   41
APPENDIX   51DEDICATION.
TO ALL PERSONS WHO VALUE CHRISTIAN MORALITY AS THE
FOUNDATION OF PERMANENT NATIONAL WELFARE.
-----
THE following record of facts is laid before women, as well
as men, because their aid is indispensable, for the establishment
of sound legislation or wise custom, in all that concerns
the relations of the sexes.
In the great majority of the subjects of legislation, the
nature and interests of the two sexes are identical ; but the fact
of natural difference between men and women in one important
point, renders it impossible for either sex alone to understand the
true aspect of this ineradicable difference, on which just and wise
action must be based.
The intelligent aid which is thus demanded from women, can
only come from larger knowledge, and earnest study of the actual
facts of life. The fundamental error that one sex can govern the
[several] sexual relations of both, is a corrupting fallacy, which has proved
destructive of national life in the past. The documentary
evidence which follows, shows clearly how all self-styled Christian 
Nations, are really drifting to the same destruction which has
come upon so many ancient races.
The restraining force of old religious feelings and customs is
rapidly disappearing. Up to the early part of this century, when
the Roman Catholic and Puritan Faiths were still active controlling
influences in the life of nations, sexual vice, like other
vice, was regarded as an evil thing in men and women ; and the
efforts made to check it were made on the assumption that it is
to be repressed, not accepted. This is seen in the existent
Common and Statute Law, i.e., the General Law of the typicalnations—France, England, and the United States. But with the
gradual decay of religious faiths in the nineteenth century, a
change has taken place, and is still going on. English Practice
has fallen behind English Law, and the method of dealing with
licentiousness has changed in a striking manner.
The Church, also, has loosened its restraining hand. It
shrinks from plain and forcible condemnation of this deadliest
evil, and neglects to train the young in the strong virtue of
purity. In Catholic countries, the Confessional (which, notwithstanding
its [great] inherent evils, did try to deal with this
vice) has lost its power over men, and no other institution
has taken its place. The Ordinance of Godfathers and Godmothers,
which might have wisely replaced the Confessional in
our own Church, is a dead letter. "Discipline" in other religious
bodies is relaxed or given up. Thus the difficult, but imperative,
duty of guarding and guiding youth, in relation to their sexual
powers, is not provided for.
[*amp:*] Religion and Law, equally, must be aroused to the fulfilment
of their heavy responsibility towards the rising generation.
Rock House, Hastings, 1883.CHAPTER I.
THE LET-ALONE SYSTEM.
The facts contained in the Blue Books, to which reference
will be made in the following pages, are doubtless familiar to
many persons. No apology however is needed for again
bringing them forward, for it is a duty not to allow them to be
forgotten. Some Parliamentary papers of temporary interest may
drop out of sight, but these [*amp*] should be kept in view, and urged upon
the conscience of every parent in the land ; for to the conscientious
parent, equally with the statesman, the importance of
this evidence cannot be exaggerated. A knowledge of facts is the
more necessary at the present time, on account of the renewed
endeavours to establish a false principle of legislation, which are 
now being made. [*invest*]
It may not be generally known, that in consequence of the
serious facts brought to light in relation to an actual trade in
buying and selling young English girls for evil purposes on the
Continent, a Select Committee of the House of Lords was
appointed in 1881, to examine this subject.* The Committee
was directed to enquire into the actual facts relating to this
traffic, and also to consider whether further [*?*] legislation can remedy
the evil.
Although the work of the Committee was limited to the [*amp*]
facts of this infamous traffic, and to the legislation which is
necessary to suppress it, the evidence laid before is covers much
-----
* See the Report of the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the
law relating to the protection of young girls. Aug. 25th, 1881. Price 1s. 10d
[*to the paragraphs of which the figures in their
words refer.*]8
wider ground. This evidence reveals, both directly and
indirectly, facts of the gravest significance in relation to our own
condition, as well as to the of our neighbours, in respect to
social vice. It thus renders important assistance towards the
solution of weighty but perplexing problems, which are now
being widely discussed amongst us.
The great body of facts brought forward in this report, relate
to two different but false methods of dealing with sexual vice, methods
which have come prominently forwards in the present century, in
connexion with the marked decay of the older forms of religious
faith. [*"Purchase" in an amplification of that*]
The distinctive national tendencies of the French and
English nations are strikingly shown in the attitude they have
gradually assumed towards the subject of prostitution ; the
French with their remarkable organising power tending towards
tyranny, the English with their innate love of liberty towards
licence. These opposite national characteristics, with their results
in what may be termed the "let alone," and the "female regulation,"
systems are here instructively revealed.
The first method to be considered is that of "letting social
vice alone" to run its course unchecked. This is the system
employed in London.*
No systematic and efficient action is taken to check
public manifestations of licentiousness. The great Metropolis
is not kept in decent order day and night. Solicitation
by men and women [*male + female*] is not treated as a nuisance in the public
thoroughfares, but the streets are allowed to become the assembling
places of vicious persons, openly plying a disgraceful trade.
Brothels are allowed to flourish, the most abominable acts are
left unpunished, and infancy and youth become the prey of every
species of corruption.
The facts which reveal the condition of the Metropolis, are
furnished by unimpeachable witnesses. They are given by such
-----
* It is well to note the fact that the Metropolis of Great Britain is not a
municipality. The Metropolitan Police are not under municipal direction, and
responsible to the citizens of London ; they are under the direction of the
General Home Office, and under the control of a military officer.
[*+ Page 40 (6)*]

9
men as Sir James Ingham, the Chief Magistrate of London, a
Magistrate of thirty-one years' experience ; Mr. Dunlap, Police
Superintendent during fifteen years ; Mr. Hardman, Chairman of
the Surry County Sessions ; Messrs. Arnold and Morgan,
Superintendents in the London Police Force, &c., all men of
exceptional experience.
The following facts are proved by the testimony of these
competent witnesses, viz. :
(1.) Coffee houses and taverns are often used as brothels and
assignation places, and registry offices as decoys. See numbers
886, 824, 858, report 1.
(2.) Even the very young are left practically defenceless.
They are corrupted in infancy, and vast numbers of children are
encouraged in vice by their parents for the sake of gain :—
811-15, 579.
(3.) The streets are filled with vicious men and women,
native and foreign, plying a vile trade, and tempting the
innocent :—152-3, 732-75, 88-96, 915, 12.
(4.) The police are left without instructions, by their 
superiors, to arrest individuals when they find them actually
engaged in the most demoralising acts :—718, 652-4.
(5.) The magistrates seem often to be without sufficient
power (or are not sufficiently stimulated by public opinion) to 
punish offenders when the offence is a sexual one :—224, 244.
(6.) Brothels are treated as inviolate, except in searching for
unlicensed liquor :—230-31.
[*Re-verify - and also note changes
made by the C.L.A. Act, Criminal Law amendment act —*]
[*in 1881*]
(7.) At Somerset House certificates of birth are given without
hesitation and enquiry, even when it is strongly suspected that
they will be used for fraudulent purposes.
the above are some of the chief points brought out by
indubitable evidence. They prove the evils and dangers which
grow up in all large towns, where an energetic public opinion has
not begun to restrain the growth of vice.10
The most serious danger involved in this state of unchecked
evil, is the increasingly youthful age of those who are corrupted.
A vast and growing number of girls (and boys also) lead a life of
youthful corruption. The evidence on this alarming tendency is
full and positive. Only a few representative facts given in
evidence can here be quoted.
It is stated :—"There are houses in many parts of London
where people procure children for purposes of prostitution at 14,
15, and 16 years of age, without number ; the children live at
home, but go to the house at a certain hour, with the connivance
of the mother, for the profit of the household." (579.) "There
is a great deal of juvenile prostitution in my district, quite
children, as young as 12 years of age." The mothers treat it
indifferently. I sent for a mother concerning her girl of 15 ; she
said, I cannot help it, she must do as she likes ; I had to look
after myself at her age, and she must do the same." (717.)
Says Mr. Dunlap :—"There are a lot of little servant girls
about my division, in lodging-houses and other places ; they get
small wages ; they come out on errands and see girls their equals
in social standing dressed in silks and satins, while they are
slaving ; they talk to the girls and are influenced. I have watched
the progress of some of these children, and they appear with a
coloured handkerchief over their shoulders, they come two and
two through the streets, and after a few days are dressed more
elaborately, and at last launch out in silks and satins." "The
facilities in the streets are so great that the gentlemen select for
themselves." (743 to 46.)
A Superintendent of fifteen years' standing says :—"Ther
has been an increase during my time in the prostitution of very
young children. It is a new thing to me. I cannot form an
opinion as to the cause. This morning, two lads were charged
with attempting to steal. A child, not above thirteen, with very
short petticoats, her fingers covered with rings, was waiting in
the crowd to see 'her man' go down in the van. She found I
was trying to get information. She laughed, ran down the
passage, and hurried to the Police Court. Most likely she was
assisting in keeping 'her man.'"

11
Says another :—"I have been seven years in my district.
There are more young prostitutes there than when I first went
there. I have noticed during the last six months an increase,
that I attribute, in a great measure, to a line regiment now lying
in the Tower. The men associate very much with young girls."
"At the East End there is a large amount of prostitution of girls,
mainly between fifteen and eighteen. They come principally
from the large factories. Nearly all the industries of London are
represented at the East End. A great many females do factory
work and are prostitutes at the same time, with the tacit understanding
and knowledge of their parents. The younger ones
take men to low brothels, the elder ones to almost any coffee
house or brothel in the neighbourhood ; the facilities are very
great." (811 to 15.)
Says another :—"Young girls, from 12, and even 11, are
accosted in the streets by men, who offer money, and make improper
overtures to them, and so they are led on by the evil
associations of other girls who are older than themselves, to drift
into a life of immorality." (865.)
Says an experienced Magistrate :—"There are assaults committeed
upon young girls, in many cases by brothers, and even by
fathers." (915.) "It is an indisputable fact that there are boys
and youths soliciting in the streets ; the punishment for sodomy
is severe, but the difficulty, not to say danger, of obtaining
evidence is immense." (652-4.)
One of the most experienced witnesses states the following
fact :—"There is a low description of brothel where the children
go. In rooms over a saddler's shop I found two children, certainly
not over 15, with an elderly gentleman. They laughed and
joked me. There were six girls in the house, and three men, and
the gentlemen were men of mature age." (718.)
Let it be noted that the Police had no instructions to arrest
such moral murderers—men of mature age. There was no one
to make a charge against them !
One important fact in this dangerous condition of London must
be noted, because it has a direct connexion with the system of State12
regulated vice which will next be considered. This fact is the
large and increasing number of foreign prostitutes, trained under
the foreign regulation system, who resort to London as a free
hunting-ground where men and women can carry on this vile
trade unmolested.
Thus it is said :—"There are certain districts in London
where there are colonies of French prostitutes, perfectly well-known
to the police. The girls brought from foreign countries
into this country are generally girls who understand their
business perfectly well ; they come over here to be professional
prostitutes, and they pay the placers to find a house for them."
(152-3.)
Mr. Dunlap states :—"There are large numbers of French
and Belgian prostitutes who use the brothels in the neighbourhood."
(732.)
"Nearly every one of the foreign women has a man living
with her, and we have great trouble with the men, who are also
foreigners—great big, hulking fellows, mainly supported by the
women ; they do not do a day's work ; they go to the various
cafes and restaurants, and wait there to receive the money from
the women." (785)
"A few years ago," says the same witness, "a tradesman in
the Quadrant assisted the police very vigorously in putting down
the vice, and he said it was the falsest step he ever made in his
life. He has never known what peace or happiness has been
since. He is annoyed in every shape and way by the women,
and the men living with them ; these people (men and women)
are strong enough to exert pressure upon tradesmen interfering
with their vocation."
Such is the condition of London, our metropolis of four
millions of human beings, under the let-alone system ; the natural
family ties between parent and child destroyed ; the streets a
public exchange of debauchery for vicious men and women ;
brothels allowed to flourish and multiply ; no check put upon
licentiousness ; the most abominable acts left unpunished ; the

13
police paralyzed ; superior officials indifferent or perplexed ; and
foreign vice and foreign influence making itself more and more
strongly felt in our metropolis !
One noteworthy point comes into view in this evidence,
which should be particularly remembered. It is the moral perception
and humanity which still exists amongst [the] many English
magistrates, and police superintendents who give evidence. They
have not yet been demoralised by supporting vice. They shew [*regulating and [co?se] [qu??ta]*] 
an earnest desire to protect the yound and check vice. They
willingly give their evidence. This book is full of striking 
testimony to the just and humane tendency of the free and
responsible citizen, as contrasted with corrupted and hardened
officialism.
[*The question part of this could be
re-introduced advantageously into
"Purchase"—*]14
CHAPTER II.
THE FEMALE REGULATION SYSTEM.

     The second method of dealing with sexual evil-revealed to
some extent by this evidence-is the Female Regulation System.
     This is the plan adopted, wherever promiscuous intercourse
between the sexes, has been distinctly accepted as a necessary
part of society.
     Under this theory, no effort is made to check licentiousness
in both sexes, but only to regulate female vice by law, through
ordinances framed for the vicious women who take part in such
intercourse.
     This is the fundamental principle which unites all varieties
of the Female Regulation System, whether in its timid, commencement
in the English Contagious Diseases* Act, still in (?)
in some dependencies , or in the long-tried and logically-developed system as
we observe it in Brussels. The necessary identity of results,
where the same false principle is adopted, will be seen in the
facts recorded in the following pages.
     Under this system all women of loose or suspicious life are
carefully sought for, in order that they may be known to and
registered by the police. The purpose of this registration is to
bring women under very carefully prepared regulations. On
submission to these regulations they may carry on a vicious trade
unmolested.
     The trade thus carefully ordered and regulated assumes, in
the course of time, all the dimensions of a vast and increasing
commerce. Abundant capital is invested in it, talent and
ingenuity are exerted to make its resorts attractive and luxurious,
and an insatiable demand arises for fresh young articles of commerce.

*See Appendix I.


15
    It is under this system that the infamous trade sprang up,
which aroused the attention of the British Government.
     The evidence in the Blue Book relating to Brussels, states
that "Notwithstanding twelve convictions in 1879, and ten
convictions in 1880, the brothel-keepers do not hesitate to run the
risk of detection and punishment, in view of the material advantage
to themselves to be derived from the prostitution of very
young girls, who, as inmates of the houses, are more docile, more
attractive, more easily deluded, and less exacting than women
enrolled for the first time above the age of 21."
     The most valuable evidence given as to this foreign system
is presented by Mr. Snagge. The weighty character of his
evidence is shown by the peculiar nature of his appointment, as
the special agent of the British Government. Mr. Snagge is an 
able London barrister, committed to no party or prejudice. This
gentleman was chosen and specially appointed by Lord Granville
to examine conflicting statements. He was directed to investigate
impartially the system in Brussels, and to ascertain the truth or
falsehood of the allegations respecting the trade in English girls,
as connected with that system. Valuable personal evidence is
also furnished by members of the Society of Friends, viz., Mr.
Gillett, the esteemed banker, and Mr. Dyer, gentlemen whose
names are widely and honourably known.
     The chief remarkable difference from our own, in the
structure of foreign society, is the powerful legal organisation of
female vice which has grown up abroad.
     Mr. Snagge thus describes the manner of life laid down for
the girls in licensed brothels, by the Brussels Municipal
Authorities. It must be observed that this system, as it grows
stronger, always tends to drive women into brothels, on account
of the greater ease and efficiency of their management by the
police.
     "The woman in these houses are subjected to obligations
without number. They are forced to yield themselves to the
first comer, no matter what may be their repugnance; to incur
heavy expenses; to submit to the yoke of the proprietors. They
16
cannot show themselves at the doors or windows of the houses;
they go out rarely, and always under escort; they are entirely
subject to the will of the proprietor, and they seize the first
opportunity of quitting an existence that affords them so little
enjoyment. The result is that brothel-keepers find increasing
difficulty in obtaining women. To preserve their popularity with
their customers they increase the luxury of their houses, and to
procure women they must expend much money." The theory is
that the girls are free to leave, but Mr. Snagge, who visited many
houses in company with the officials who have absolute power over
them, thus describes the regulations which make the theory
entirely false in practice. 1st. The door is always fastened on
the inside, the key being kept by the matron. 2nd The girl's
own clothes are locked up by the keeper, who furnishes
her with clothes which prevent her appearing in the 
street. 3rd. They can only go out with permissino of
the master or mistress of the house. All these are
municipal regulations. 4th. A heavy debt is run up against
them, the price paid the procurer being placed on this account,
and they are told that the law will not allow t hem to leave till
this is paid. 5th. Those who have been registered under false
certificates, which is a penal offence, are held in constant terror
of the law. Lastly, they are medically inspected twice a week ,and,
being always exposed to infection, they spend their time between
the brothel, the hospital, and the prison.
     But the foundation is "purchased"
     The key-note of this whole system is the acceptance, through
registration, of females who, from whatever cause, have begun a 
life of vice; for registration is the first tentative step taken in
the system of female regulation. To this is gradually added the
arrangement of minute and stringent regulations respecting residence,
dress, behavior, and control of their bodies. As long as
they observe the regulations laid down, they are unmolested, and
are even considered to be fulfilling a necessary and useful function
in society.
     The idea of wrong-doing is entirely set aside when a prostitute
is registered. She becomes by that municipal act an


17
accepted member, or trader, of the community; and the whole
powerful system of accepted and regulated female prostitution
follows as a necessary result, as will be seen later.
     Besides the organization of licensed brothels, there is a n
immense number of women living singly in their own apartments
(filles isolees), erroneously called clandestine prostitutes by M.
Treit. They correspond to the women who have been forced
into subjection to the English Contagious Diseases Acts. They
are registered, inspected, and subjected to police regulations, and
protected as long as they observe the police requirements.
There are many intermediate steps leading towards the
complete Bastiles of vice as seen in Brussels and Paris. The
so-called Maisons de Societe of Nice, which train giddy, frivolous
girls, into soulless debauchery, and sell their temporary use to
vicious Americans and English for 1000 francs, are only variations
of the same essentially false principle.*
     Thirdly, there exists an increasing population of poor working
women, whose wages are not sufficient to maintain them, but are
eked out by prostitution. This population, in order to preserve
its independence, hides from the police, who vainly strive to
capture them.
     M. Treit, who has been the legal adviser of the British
Embassy in Paris for 25 years, gives the following noteworthy
evidence of the police system arranged to entrap women. To quote
his own words, "If a woman is suspected of prostitution, one or
two or three inspectors, under a different dress-sometimes as a
workman, sometimes as a gentleman, and sometimes as a servant
-follow the young girl for three or four days before keeping her
in. If a girl under age is 'taken by a man in the street,' and the
mother refuses to interfere, she is registered at the Prefecture of
Police." "At this moment clandestine prostitution is very strong
in Paris." "Clandestine prostitutes are registered to the Prefet
of the Police." "Every young girl who carries on prostitution
must be registered in the Prefecture of the Police, and receive a

*America will do well to forbid the resort of its naval squadron to the
neighbourhood of a town which, with its gambling suburb Monaco, has become
the most dangerous centre of corruption in Europe.
Condemn Treit(?) of women from
(?) by Conc People."18
carte with an indication of the medical visit of her home, of her
apartment, age, and family."
     M. Treit regrets that all female servants in private houses are
no longer under police supervision. He remarks, "The regulations
(of Paris) are the best that could be adopted. Berlin and 
all the large towns of France have adopted the regulations of
Paris." (See 531 to 556.)
     It is very important to note how the full and complete
foreign system, as we see it in Brussels and Paris, grows up
gradually as a logical necessity from regulating, instead of checking,
vice. This method of regulation always begins with timid
tentative efforts directed against women. But it grows bolder as
it proceeds, and as public sentiment becomes demoralized, until
at length, a powerful, independent, official organization is created,
withdrawn from social criticism, and strong enough to resist
social reform. Thus we find all officials engaged in administering
the system, from the highest Judge, or Minister of State, to the
humblest policeman, are henceforth interested in supporting and 
defending the system against all criticisms or radical change.
     The support given abroad to the organization of debauchery, 
by the highest Ministers of State, is thus incidentally
noted by Mr. Snagge. "M. Bara, the Minister of Justice, a very
distinguished statesman and accomplished Minister, desired me
to understand that certain Institutions existed in their country,
licensing prostitution for instance, which could not be interfered
with." (140.)
     "The administration of brothels is a very expensive
machinery (there are clerks, medical officers, hospitals, dispensaries,
and an extensive special police), the municipality
derive a profit from the houses," and "the women pay a fe
for their registration." (128-143.)
     Again, it is stated, "The Municipal Authority, the Commissaire
de Police, even the medical officers, are very lax indeed in
the view they take morally of the whole subject;  they think it a 
wholesome and proper institution."  "I found out as the result
of these trials, that the police functionaries became so accustomed


19
to this system, that they were colour-blind to its abuses. Precautions
against abuse have no substantial efficacy. The police
functionaries favour the brothel keepers, and wink at a great deal
that goes on." (161-2.) Again, "It is within my knowledge
from evidence in these trials, that the girls were told by the
brothel keepers, before the enquiry by the Judge d'Instruction,
or by the official, that it would be best to say they were very
happy. This is a policeman who is going to enquire-'You had
better say you are all right; you are very happy, are you not?
if not, you had better leave with him.' " (170-177.)
     Again, alluding to the great difficulty which we have had in
forcing investigation in Belgium, our Government Agent says: -
"The Municipal Authorities of Brussels, who had been long
accustomed to regulate the Police des Moeurs, were slow to admit
evils on the part of their subordinates. In denying the possibility
of irregularity or abuse, they appeared to orget that constant
contact with the system is apt to dull the moral faculties of
officials who supervise it." (App. p. 142.)
     This profound remark on the inevitable degradation of the
moral sense, when officials are employed to regulate acts of vice
instead of to suppress them, is a weighty fact for a Christian nation
to recognise.
     We see that the Mayor and Magistrates, the Aldermen and 
Councilmen, even the Cabinet Ministers and ruling classes, become
so accustomed to the plan of accepting females for a life of
vice, and minutely and carefully arranging their lives, that so far
from seeing anything injurious in such a plan, they defend it with
energy, and refuse to see the injustice, tryanny, and demoralization
which result from it.
     This demoralising tendency of vice, supported by law, is
fully borne our in our own experience. Wherever immoral
legislation is allowed to proceed, unchecked by a death struggle,
with an enlightened and vigorous public opinion, resolved to
overthrow it, it immediately begins to exhibit the same signs of
awful demoralisation, cynicism, and cruelty, that we observe in
Brussels. This fact is painfully established by the contents of a Our own police - - - - - - - - or taking bribes 
from prostitutes.                               20
Parliamentary paper, published [last August,] in 1891, which will be read
by every just and enlightened man and woman with equal
indignation and shame.*
   Our Brussels Pro-Consul (Mr. Jeffes), states.--"The police
have been much to blame; the police have been on far too
intimate terms with the keepers of these houses." (303.) "The
policemen's visits are not useful in protecting the women, as
they are always in accord with the keepers."
   A Brussels police agent said to an English philanthropist,
who urged him to rescue some unfortunate girls. "We cannot
injure establishments legally authorised, and in which so much
capital is invested." Again, "The police, accustomed to consider
this traffic as legal, and even licensed and privileged, always
encourage and protect it, and especially protect the brothel
keepers."
   A striking fact, in comparing the official demoralization,
which this system produces abroad, with our laissez faire, is shown
in the untruths, the denials, the almost insuperable obstacles
which arose in Brussels, when English public opinion began to
awake to the fact, that an organised and very profitable trade had
long been going on to sell young English girls into an obscene
imprisonment, which has no parellel as yet in this country.
[*before demoralization*]
    Our own officials in London, and wherever they have not
been corrupted by acts regulating vice, although they have often
been indifferent to, or ignorant of the course of social evil--
see 79, 436, 589, 596)--still preserve [their] some moral sense. As
has been seen, they willingly give testimony about these
evils, and they earnestly make suggestions for their removal.
But abroad there is a mighty system of fully organised
government force to support female prostitution; a complete
police Bastille banded together to prevent investigation, and to protect
a cherished institution. So resolved was this organised force
not to be investigated, that our own officials who were first
employed to enquire into this trade in girls, were quite deceived.
False statistics were presented,+ damaging facts suppressed or

*See Appendix II.
+See Note p. 140 of the Blue Book.22
paid by the keepers of the houses to the persons
procuring the girls.
   Answer 2. I find that fraud was frequently and successfully
practised; that girls under age were easily enrolled; that in the
case of English girls, false certificates of birth were the rule rather
than the exception, and that the girls entered upon a life,
presently to be described, to which they were almost irretrievably
committed before they could possibly become aware of its true
nature and condition. I find that in several cases, misrepresentation,
falsehood, and deceit marked every stage of the
procedure from the moment that the girl was first accosted by the
placeur in England to that of her installation in the maison de
debauche.
[*Purchase"*]
   Answer 3. From the point of view of the "procurers"
(placeur), young English girls are a form of merchandise to be
acquired by industry, and disposed of at a market price per parcel
or package. "300 francs par colis" appears to be the ordinary
tariff. From the point of view of the brothel keepers (tenants
maisons), the girls form a costly portion of their stock-in-trade;
they are, like stock upon a farm, kept in good condition, more or
less, and prevented from straying or escaping. From the point 
of view of the girls themselves, they are in some, if not
in most instances, following a calling in which they have
accepted a life of degrading and dangerous servitude in order to
secure the certainty of a livelihood; in other instances they are
victims caught in the widespread net of the placeur, who has
pocketed his fee and decamped, leaving them bewildered and
helpless, and abandoned to a fate to which, generally, they become
accustomed or inured, but from which, now and then, they are
rescued or contrive to escape.
   This last answer contains in its few unimpassioned words
the fact which, above all others, must show to every thoughtful
person the really diabolical character of State-regulated vice.
This fact is, the cruelty to ignorant women, the degradation
inflicted upon all womanhood, by "accepting" the life of lust as
an industry that may be permitted and organised by law.

23
   Mark well the words: "The young girl, thoughtless or fallen,
'accepts' the degrading life to secure a certain livelihood; the
innocent girl, deceived and sold, becomes accustomed or inured
to this hideous soul-destroying bondage." The innocent girl, as
well as the fallen girl, although brought up under the influence
of what we call Christian civilisation, may thus, under the
sanction of State and Municipal laws, accept, and will then become
accustomed to, the conversion of her body into a machine for
obscenity*; whilst her soul, with the connivance--nay, under the
sanction--of the State, is allowed to fall into the most hideous
depths of our social hell! It is this corrupting influence of the
law on the moral sense of womanhood, through the "acceptance"
by law of a life of public lust for any woman, which is the most
direful and ominous sign of this our nineteenth century of
Christianity.
[*Text for "Purchase"*]
[*hint at deeper Depth*]
   Facts disprove the false and dangerous assertion often made,
that if prostitution (i.e., the buying and selling the human body
for lust) be restrained and gradually destroyed, no virtuous
woman could walk the streets in safety. Exactly the opposite is
the truth. It is in towns where the evil trade between men
and women is regulated, not checked, that licentiousness grows
rampant, and that vice assumes forms of new atrocity. It is in
Brussels and Paris, that no young woman can walk alone, even in
the day time, without danger of insult.* I possess abundant
direct personal evidence from women to prove this statement.
   Consider a few of the facts which disprove the superficial
and thoughtless assertions relating to existing order and safety in
Paris.
   To understand the full force of these facts, it must be
remembered that Paris is much smaller than London; the
Department of the Seine, which corresponds to our Greater
London, containing hardly two-and-a-half millions to our four-and-three-quarter
millions, yet the increase of vice, crime, and
suicide in Paris is appalling.

   *See "La Prostitution en France," just published by Dr. Depres, of
Paris, which proves the effect of regulated prostitution in France in exhausting
virile energy, and producing violent and unnatural vice through satiety.

[*and "Le Peril Veneriendam la familie" Diday.*]24

   "M. Reinach, in the Political and Literary Review, lately published,
points out that the constant increase in the number of
habitual criminals calls for the re-establishment of transportation
and the creation of a new penal colony. In Paris alone there are
between 20,000 and 25,000 habitual criminals. He dwells with
emphasis on the spread of crime amongst the young." In 1879,
18 per cent. of all persons tried in France were minors, being an
increase of 3 per cent. in three years. This increase is greatest
in Paris, where more than half the persons arrested are minors.
Out of 26,475 prosecuted in one year, nearly 15,000 were under
twenty-one years of age, the prosecutions including a large
number of the gravest crimes. The proportion of juvenile crime
has almost doubled in three years."
   [This month we received the following] Late intelligence states [from
France]:--"Owing to the insecurity of the Paris streets, as proved
by the alarming number of murderous assaults revealed at the
correctional police courts, M. Camescasse, the Prefect of Police,
has asked that three hundred men be added to his force of
sergents de ville. Even this increase is considered altogether 
insufficient under existing circumstances."
   "The published statistics of suicides in France during the
first three-quarters of 1881 exhibit once more that increase in the
number of cases which has been observable for several years past
--a circumstance the more remarkable since the population has
during this period remained almost stationary. In 1878 the number
was 6,434, in the past year it is calculated that it will exceed
6,500. In the space of thirty years past the proportionate increase
is stated to have been about 78 per cent."
   Farther testimony from France gives the clue to the immediate
cause of this disruption of society.
   "The attention of those suffering from poor wages and only
partial employment has been directed by their leaders towards
the luxurious lives of the bourgeoisie. There is no doubt that
among the less sober and industrious workmen the hatred felt a
hundred years ago against the aristocracy is now aimed at that
wealthy middle class for which France is remarkable. Madame

[*French literature*]25
must have her equipages, Monsieur his mistresses, and the poor
suffer."
Again, we have the following statement, written last June, and
again and again confirmed:—"The state of society in Paris has
become very immoral. Obscene literature abounds everywhere,
and has led to obscene manners. One of the most repulsive
forms of this obscenity is the increase of what are politely called
the frail sisterhood, who now infest every quarter, high and low,
far and near, to such an extent that from morning to night the
streets are encumbered with them. The papers have complained,
the inhabitants have petitioned, but to no purpose; somehow or
another the Government appears powerless to grapple with the
growing evil. It is useless to hide the fact, and whatever
squeamish persons may say to the contrary, the truth must be
told in plain language. There are things still viler. I allude to
their male associates, known as 'les souteneurs' or 'bullies.'"
The increase of this class of vilest criminals—men who
live upon women—is inevitable where promiscuous intercourse is
regulated, not checked. If rich men buy poor women, leaving
them without protection, will buy poor men to afford
them a ruffianly support in the social chaos where they live. We
have noted the appearance this foreign class in London. It
has created tumults in Paris, and the unsafe condition of the
streets, owing to the increase of ruffians, demands an indefinite
increase of the policy force.
We dare not dwell upon the atrocious, almost incredible
scandals, which leak out in France, notwithstanding the utmost
efforts of the policy to hush them up. Such crimes as the
Bordeaux infamy, the Duphot den of vice, these hideous Fenayron
plot, have hitherto been unknown in England. The peculiarity
of these atrocities is the astounding sexual corruption which they
reveal—a putrefaction of morals, to produce which the element of
time is necessary. This complete deprivation of social conscience
can only be produced in England, through the long continued and
extending influence of immoral law.
[*Query*]26
When a law is made for vice, such law does not confine its
influence to the females engaged in the trade ; for the law once
established, shows henceforth to every person in the nation, old or
young, male or female, what attitude is to be taken with regard
to the particular subject of the law.
The influence and action of law necessarily extends in logical
sequence, from the first timid establishment of a false principle.
Thus the State, accepting promiscuous intercourse as necessity,
registers female prostitutes. As a result of this acceptance, the
trade must be made healthy, orderly, and ample. As the indiscriminate
intercourse of the sexes necessarily produces disease, this
is the first evil which demands attention as sanitary science
advances. The first necessary step in regulating the trade in
vice, therefore, is to register those who engage in indiscriminate
sexual intercourse. But vicious men carry on promiscuous intercourse,
and consequently originate and spread disease. Men,
however, will not be registered. TheState is, therefore, compelled at
the outset to leave the most important male half of the trade
unregulated—that half, namely, that injures the innocent, the
unfallen—and that half that supplies all the capital of the trade,
the money without which it could not be continued for a week.
The registration of as many females as possible who carry on
the trade, is therefore the only possible method practically open
to those, who, accepting promiscuous intercourse, wish to try and
make it healthy. Every result that we have seen in Brussels
necessarily follows, from the logical carrying out of this first false
step of accepting promiscuous intercourse through registration of
women, as a trade recognised by law. Thus, brothels are encouraged
on account of their greater convenience of management ;
and vicious women, living in their own apartments (who are
[*justice ??? "Purchase"*] registered) are indulgently treated that they may not hide away.
A chief police functionary of Brussels, who considers these
brothels wholesome institutions, say in his report : —"It is important
that prostitution should, as far as possible, be concentrated
in brothels, where superintendence can be easily exercised and
scandal hid. They are useful, too for discovery of criminals,

27
who frequently resort to them in order to plunge into wild
extravagance."
Whilst the moral sense of womanhood is thus corrupted by [*amp:*]
laws which protect brothels, and raise female prostitution to the
rank of an accepted and regulated trade, the degrading effect
upon men becomes no less marked. Men refuse to be registered
and inspected : they will be free ; the State yields, unwillingly it
may be, but from necessity and leaves to men the freedom which
rapidly degenerates into licence. Unchecked indulgence of the
lower nature becomes gradually a demoniac possession. It craves
more and more unnatural excitement. The hideous traffic
revealed in this Blue Book, is one of the direct results of the
efforts of mercenary panderers to supply fresh excitement for
diseased appetite. It is a weighty fact, which is supported by
incontrovertible and most abundant evidence, that vice in both
sexes increase far more rapidly, and assumes an intensity of
corruption unknown to us, whenever the State accepts, registers,
and guards prostitutes, instead of repressing promiscuous
intercourse. In such a State, corruption eats into the life of all
classes of the community. Licentiousness rapidly increases, and
whenever that increases, unnatural and hideous forms of vice [*fer?ale sod???g*]
increase also. The Authorities, alarmed by the rising flood
of corruption, make more and more stringent regulations for
women, A band of spies, under various disguises, seek to entrap
women. Assignation houses for married women, unknown to
their husbands,are established (through M. Lenaars), in Brussels, in
order that the police may supervise them. Minor girls are registered
in direct violation of the common law of the land. A law to this
effect has lately been passed in Brussels, through the instrumentality
of M. Bols. These are logical results of the destructive
idea, that promiscuous intercourse can be rendered healthy by
the inspection of every female. Meanwhile, corruption increases
to such an appalling extent, that belief in the possibility of purity
in men, no longer exists in the minds of men or women.
A merchant of Bordeaux thus writes to me respecting his
country :—"Sexual immorality is constantly increasing, not only28

amongst our youth but even amongst our boys. I vainly seek a
remedy for this flood of evil, which will infallibly destroy us, as
the Roman Empire was destroyed."
[*Amp?*]
   The one true principle of all legal action in reference to
sexual vice, with its deadly evils, [is now clearly visible to the
intelligence of the 19th century; it] is this:--Male lust must be
restrained, in order to check female obscenity. The action and
reaction of cause and effect cannot be separated. All attempts
to do so, result in increasing corruption.
   The facts and causes of national demoralization are now
plainly before our eyes. Yet so blind are our legislators, our
public press, and large numbers of benevolent men and women, to
the inevitable moral evil arising from false principle introduced
into law, that vast effort is now being made to extend the
destructive system of the Continent into our own country.
   The imperative duty of ceaseless effort is now laid upon
every just and patriotic man and woman, to secure the establishemnt
of righteous law.

[*repeated rejection by Parliament*]

[*A good deal of this chapter can
be introduced into-"Purchase"-*]

[*change*]29
CHAPTER III.
THE REPRESSIVE SYSTEM IN REFERENCE TO
MUNICIPAL ACTION.
The facts recorded in the foregoing pages prove the dangers
arising from letting vice alone; and they also prove to demonstration,
the social demoralisation resulting from the registration
and regulation of the women who take part in promisucous
intercourse.
It is seen that the first system permits great and dangerous
evils to run into licence, leaving them to be dealt with solely
through individual effort, and through the action of the moral
and religious organisations, which in a Christian country
gradually arise to combat them--organisations indispensable to
social progress, but lacking the coherence, force, and educating
influence of righteous law.
It is seen also that the last system gradually destroys latter,
individual responsibility; little by little it produces cynicism,
corruption, and a deep-seated moral degradation in all classes of
society, which at last kills the sense of evil in the individual
conscience, and thus destroys both the will and the power of a 
nation to regenerate itself.
[It is now necessary to] consider in what rightful ways
municipal regulation and national law may check disorder and
disease, and repress licentiousness in men and women.
These methods will constitute the "Repressive System"
--the only righteous method of dealing with vice by means of 
law.
In reference to municipal action, it is necessary to dwell
somewhat at length upon the method employed in Glasgow,
because in that city we have proof form actual experience, that
No will next30

all the beneficial results vainly sought for by the Female Regulation
System, can be obtained without the destruction of social
conscience which inevitably follows that corrupt method of
organising female vice.*
   Glasgow has not yet solved all the problems connected with
this vital subject, but it is on the right way to do so. The
authorities distinctly recognise that vice in men, as well as in
women, must be checked, in any radical method of improvement,
and this is the essential point for our century to consider.
   The Repressive System, as seen in Glasgow, is the combination
of just law, municipal vigilance, and private beneficence,
applied to one root of licentiousness. Glasgow is one of our
principal manufacturing towns. It contained in 1881 over half-a-million
of inhabitants. Its size and character will indicate the
amount of squalid misery and corruption always found in such a
town. The following passage in the evidence shows the astounding
condition which formerly existed in this great ship-building and
manufacturing town, under the "Let alone" system:--
   "From twenty to thirty years ago brothels were large places,
occupying three or four flats, with a large number of windows,
and in the evenings they were all lighted up, the blinds drawn
up, so as to attract outward attention, and very frequently you
would have seen the inmates lying over the window in a semi-nude
state, just to draw the attention of men passing along the
streets. It used to be quite a common thing on fine summer
afternoons for the keepers of such houses to bring out a squad of
women who were living in the house, and parade the principal
streets dressed up in their best clothes, and make a circuit round
and back to their houses, so as to let it be known where they 
were to be had."
   Mr. McCall, who gives this evidence, has been in the Police
Force for 31 years. All his testimony is given from personal 
knowledge. In 1870 he as placed in the office of Chief of
the Police Force of Glasgow, a force now numbering 1,069 men.
The results of the vigorous administration of existing law during

*This evidence is found in "Report on the Contagious Diseases Act,"
   July, 1881. Six shillings.

[**when public conscience is aroused and a
just moral man chosen*]31
the past eleven years, which he was instructed by the Common
Council to carry out, are given in this evidence.
The first and essential step in reform was the growing
intelligence of Glasgow public opinion. This opinion demanded
more vigorous action. The law was amended by the persistent
efforts of the "Repressive Committee" of citizens (to be noted
later,) and to enforce the law, the police were required to occupy
their legitimate position in serving and aiding the citizens.
The necessity of public opinion in directing and supporting
the execution of law is constantly referred to in the evidence.
Thus, it is said: "Previously to the Act of 1862 the people of
Glasgow just thought it (manifestation of vice) was a nuisance
that they had to submit to. But, after the provisions of the
1862 Act were more or less exercised, public opinion began to 
grow, so that it was not regarded as a nuisance that was to be
submitted to without something being done to repress it."
Again, it is said, "By 1870, public opinion had matured to
such an extent that it was expected that the authorities would do
their utmost to repress every brothel, and every manifestation
of prostitution that was possible under the Act." (7408 to 10.)
Again, it is said, "Public opinion in Glasgow had matured so in
1870, that it would go even beyond the length which the authorities
were going in their endeavours to suppress this abomination in
the City." Again (7571), "The motive power is the citizen."
"It is always a great advantage to have public opinion on your
side." (7504 to 6.)
This essential condition of watchful public opinion existing in
Glasgow in 1870, when Mr. M'Call was placed at the head 
of the police force, he was required to enforce the existing
Act, which, established in '43, and amended in '62, and again
in '66, had, from the inertia of the citizens, been allowed to
remain, for the most part, as a dead letter.
The law of 1843 enacted "That the owner or lessee of any
premises or place of public resort, who shall permit men and
women of bad fame, or dissolute boys and girls, to assemble
therein, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding £10, to be recovered by32
summary jurisdiction; that the magistrates may require security
for good behaviour from such person, and, in case of repeated
offence, imprison, eject, or otherwise punish such offender.
A later amendment of the Act confers the following
important, but carefully guarded, powers:—"Any citizen
possessing evidence of the wrongful use of house or premises,
may apply to the police, and the magistrate, on the complaint of the
Procurator-Fiscal, grants a search warrant, lasting thirty days, by
means of which an officer of police, accompanied always by an
entirely independent witness, may at any time enter such place, and
carry off persons or things in evidence. The complaint of the
citizen must be the first step in the proceedings. 7401."
In Section 7,533 it is stated, "It does not matter whether
the brothel has been conducted quietly or not, if a citizen,
appearing, states to the magistrate that it is a brothel, and a
superior official, a superintendent of the police, can corroborate
that citizen in his statement,* the magistrate is required to issue a
warrant, and that warrant extends for thirty days; and, if the
police at any time during that thirty days find men and women
in the house for the purpose of prostitution, they take into 
custody the person in charge of the house, the woman who may
be the proprietress of the brothel, or anyone that she may have
managing it for her." Magistrates may inflict fine or imprisonment,
and a second time may close the house. But this has
never yet been necessary. The people wind it up of themselves.
(7570-71) "The motive power in applying for a warrant must be
the citizen. The motive power must always be independent of
the police."
By another section of the Act of public solicitation is made
illegal:—"Every prostitute or street-walker + loitering in any road,

*This should not be necessary, though it would usually be convenient.  Its being necessary gives to the police a discretionary power to permit the application. The private citizen making the application would, of course, do so on his own responsibility, if it was made maliciously or without probable cause. -W. Shaen.
+This term should apply to both sexes, and, as seen in sentences inflicted by the Glasgow Magistrates, it is so applied in practice.  The growing sense of justice, when the authorities work in right direction in checking social vice, is shown by the determination of the Glasgow municipality to obtain the power of arresting men in brothels.
[*point out the error and [?] defied by [?]*]


33
street, court, or common stair, or importuning passengers for the
purpose of prostitution shall be liable to a fine of 10s. or 14 days'
imprisonment." The powers thus conferred to suppress brothels,
and to maintain order and decency in the streets, violate no
constitutional rights, and leave the police force responsible to
the municipality. The police in Glasgow are not a foreign body,
imposed by some distant power, and irresponsible to the authorities
of the town. The police wear their uniform, they are not disguised in plain clothes as spies upon the inhabitants.
Again, the police are required to join the support of the
respectable citizen to their own action, whenever they are obliged
to perform exceptional acts.
Since 1870 these powers have been vigorously used. Mr.
McCall states:—"I have held out every facility that the Act affords
to the citizens to make a complaint to the Magistrates under the
provisions of the Act, so as to suppress those places; and so far
as the police, again, are concerned, they have received very strict
instructions from myself, that they were to do their utmost to
repress this street prostitution, and both those branches have
been carried out vigorously."
Two important institutions of Glasgow must here be noted,
because they have contributed largely to the very remarkable
success which will now be shown to have attended the action of
the Glasgow Authorities. These two institutions are: 1st, the
Magdalen Homes. 2nd, the special hospital provision which is
freely made for the sick. These Institutions were created, and are maintained by private beneficence of entirely spontaneous and
independent character, and they are indispensable to any wise
repression of those formidable evils.
The large Magdalen Institution has long existed in Glasgow;
it has homes connected with it. Into this Institution any fallen
woman not diseased may enter. There is a very important
Committee connected with this Institution, called the
Repressive Committee. To the initiative of this Committee, 
which contained several able lawyers, much of the judicious
action in Glasgow may be traced. The business of this34
Committee, besides the special work of rescue, includes the
important function of seeing that the authorities are doing
their duty in suppressing street solicitation and brothels. (7472).
     The other old institution of Glasgow is the hospital provision,
which never refuses free medical aid to any applicant. If
any woman, applying for admission to the Homes, requires
special medical treatment, she is advised to go to the Hospital,
and then return to the Home when cured.
     These two large institutions are well supported by voluntary
contributions. They are quite independent of the police, but
working in harmony with them.
     The Glasgow administration-which, as we have seen,
includes repressive law, municipal vigilance, and organised
beneficence-has been carried on since 1870. Its results may be
noted under the seven following heads: -
     First. -The streets have been to a large extent cleared of the disreputable
business of solicitation and assignation and left free for their
legitimate use as safe and decent thoroughfares.
     Second. -The number of brothels has  been steadily and
largely decreased, notwithstanding the growing population.
     Third. -Clandestine prostitution, judging from the most
careful observation possible, has decreased generally in the same
ratio as the brothels.
     Fourth. -There has been a slight decrease in illegitimacy.
     Fifth. -An increased desire to reform has been shown by
fallen women.
     Sixth. -Crime, always connected with sexual vice, of (?) has diminished.
     Seventh. -Disease, which arises from promiscuous intercourse,
has decreased.
      Mr. M'Call's evidence as to these excellent results is confirmed
by a variety of entirely independent evidence. There are
not only the series of police reports and criminal returns for the


35
city of Glasgow presented every year to the Lord Provost, the
Magistrates, and the Town Council, but there are also the tables
of the Registrar General. There are also the annual reports of
the Lock Hospital, and also those of the Magdalen Homes, the
reports of these two independent Institutions being annually submitted
to the city authorities.
     It is of the highest importance to note the evidence under
these seven heads. Thus, in relation to the condition of the
streets, it is said (7413)- "This moral clearance of the streets has
diminished the number of thefts from the person; but more
important than the preservation of property, it has, by removing
seductive temptations, saved the young and thoughtless of both
sexes from straying from the paths of virtue, and preserved the
happiness of many a home." (7405.) "Order and decency are
maintained in the streets." (7407.) "You may now go along the
streets without any interruption."
     The facts in relation to brothels, and the effect of law and
public opinion upon them, is noteworthy. In 1849, with a population
of 314,000, and an inert public opinion, there were 211
brothels, with 538 inmates. In 1870, with a population of
510,816, and a public opinion gradually awakening to the evil,
there were 204 brothels. After nine years of vigorous measures
required by the citizens, the brothels were reduced to less than
one-seventh of the original number. This remarkable result
shows the power of public opinion when it demands and supports
the enforcement of law.
     The great and mischievous error, that vigorous repression of
the public manifestations of vice, is necessarily productive of an
increase of secret vice, is entirely disproved by carefully recorded
facts in the municipal experience of this great city of Glasgow.
     In his answers to questions (7644-5) Mr. McCall declares, "It is
a matter of fact, not mere conjecture, that the administration has 
reduced the number of prostitutes not residing in brothels." "I
have no doubt that the number in Glasgow has been very much
reduced in the ratio that the brothels have been reduced." Again
(7537), "I am persuaded, especially as regards young men, that36

taking away the temptation in the streets lessens the desire to go
to these women." Again (7413), "It has been alleged that these
women have only been distributed and forced into more private
resorts. All my enquiries and observations, however, are opposed
to the truth of such a statement." Again (7585), "I have not
the slightest doubt in my own mind, as a police officer, that the
number of prostitutes in Glasgow and its suburbs has been
reduced."
     There is abundant testimony from this experienced officer
who, whit his little army of 1069 men, is watching this evil, day
and night, that, as the brothel-keepers find it unprofitable to keep
up their trade, owing to the frequent interference of the authorities,
so other branches of this vile trade are also diminishing,
under the auction of public opinion enforcing law.
     This police evidence is supported by the formally-stated
and quite independent report of benevolent institutions.
Thus the managers of the Magdalen Institution
and its connected homes, state: "The homes during the past
year have been kept full, mainly owing to the wholesome
enforcement of the Police Act against street solicitation and
improper houses. This much needed repressive action on the
part of our Civic Authorities has had the effect of partially
protecting the virtuous, and making the practice of vice more
difficult, whilst it has led to a desire on the part of many to be
delivered from a life of evil." (7413.) In proof of this the
statistics of the inmates are given. These, which were only 46 
in the year 1860. (7463.) As stated by Mr. McCall, "They find their
calling is so hard and so unprofitable now, that they are glad to
take refuge in the Institution."
     It is said, in relation to the women who enter the hospital:
"The poor diseased persons it receives and cures are chiefly
young, ignorant, almost always friendless, and wretched; and
until brought under the influence and affectionate counsels of the

37

matron, have scarcely ever known what it is to have a kind word
spoken to , or a kind action done for them." In examining the
reports of the Magdalen Institutions, it is found that a large percentage
are placed in situations or restored to friends. In 1879
51 per cent. were thus aided. The reports abound with letters
from these grateful girls.
      The important subject of venereal disease is successfully met
and provided for, as far as fallen women are concerned. Any
measures which tend to check promiscuous intercourse are
necessarily beneficial, because it is this evil which is the origin
and cause of disease. [*Enlarge a little.*]
     No woman who is diseased is admitted as a resident of the
Magdalen Institution. No compulsion is exercised, but she is
advised to enter the Lock Hospital, and afterwards return to the [*?*]
Magdalen. The proportion of women whom the Magdalen has
been obliged to recommend to the Lock Hospital has grown less. [*?*]
In 1872, 34.7 per cent. were sent to hospital. In 1880, the percentage
had fallen to 18.03, showing the diminution in disease.
This is confirmed by the annual reports of the Lock Hospital
during the past ten years, which repeatedly refer to the abatement
in disease, caused in part by the energetic action of the
local authorities in enforcement of the laws for the repression of
vice.
     In 1875 the gratifying result is presented of 414 patients
dismissed as cured, out of 446 under treatment, with the
remark, "The medical officers, from careful observation of the
character of the disease, arrive at the conclusion that its virulence
has been diminished." (7558.) In 1878 the Medical Officer
reports:--"In reference to the period during which each patient
remains under treatment, and the beneficial influence on the
public health, the period of residence has been gradually
diminishing; the disease is decidedly less virulent in its
character than formerly, and is not so commonly found amongst
the lower and working classes of the population."
     The last Hospital Report for 1880 is as follows, the Medical
Officers append the following states:--"Since the year 1805
38

the objects which the benevolent founder of this institution had
in view have been carried out, and the results are that in
this large city, with more than half a million of population, the
diseases for which this Hospital was opened have become milder
in their type, altogether less fatal, and more amenable to treatment
than formerly, while at the same time its frequency
has greatly diminished, and its effects, even upon the better
classes of people, are not so often the subject of medical
observation.  One of the causes is that there is no restriction
placed on the admission of patients--no case is refused from
want of accomodation.  Every encouragement is afforded,
and as the patients are seen early, they are more readily
cured.  They are kindly treated and spoken to, and ample
facilities are afforded them of beginning a new life."  Acknowledgement
is also given in these hospital reports to "the 
praiseworthy zeal of the magistracy of the city in vigorously
applying the law for the repression and suppression of the
particular vice from which these diseases spring."
It should be noted here that the authorities of Glasgow are
citizen magistrates, directly responsible to the electors; not
stipendiary magistrates elected triennially from among the Town
Councillors, and thus farther removed from a responsibility to
public opinion.
Another quite independent proof of the wisdom of just
repressive law is found in the Registrar-General's tables of
illegitimacy.  These show a decrease of such births in Glasgow
during this administration.  In 1869, the tables show the
proportion of illegitimate to legitimate births to be in 1869, 9-7;
in 1870, 9-5; in 1871, 9-4.  In the last report it had fallen to
8-2 having fallen from 9-7 to 8-2 during the ten years, or the
period of active enforcement of law.
The reports showing the relation of crime and vice, and its
diminution when active measures are taken to repress vice, are
noteworthy, as they afford such a remarkable contrast to the
increase of crime which has been shown to exist in Paris under
the Female Organisation system.39
It is stated, "the summary of thefts is instructive
of the good which has flowed from the efforts made
by the magistrates and police to minimise street prostitution
and brothel keeping in the Municipality. From the years
from 1860 to 1869 the total number of informations lodged for
street thefts, with or without violence, was 5,067, and the value
of the property stolen was £24,446 2s. 4d. From 1870 to 1879
the number of informations of thefts was 2,887, and the value of
the property stolen was 11,508 19s. 4d. Thus also in thefts committed
in brothels during the first period informations were
3,804, and property stolen £16,843 12s. 6d., but during the latter
period only 808 informations, with value of property, £3,077
1s. 11d.
The testimony of this intelligent, honest, and experiences Head
of Police is thus summarized :⁠—"Notwithstanding the frequently
expressed opinion of well-meaning people, who take as they
state, a philosophical view of prostitution and brothel-keeping,
and, from their mode of reasoning, arrive at the conclusion that
both are necessary evils, and incapable of being either eradicated
or greatly diminished, I consider myself justified in the opinion
that the results indicated above, and which have been brought
about by a steady and persistent application of the law by the
authorities, have been of very great advantage to this community.
Viewed from no higher standpoint than that of profit and
loss in property, the benefits are apparent and tangible ; but
when the social and moral advantages are taken into account, the
removal of seductive temptations from the youthful and thoughtless,
and not infrequently from the intoxicated and foolish adult ;
the results, though they cannot be expressed in figures, are far
more precious. While the reduction in the number of brothels
has been so considerable, and the streets have been to a great
extent cleared of abandoned women who used to frequent them,
I am to the present time without one single complaint from a
respectable citizen that prostitution has gone into more secret or
private channels, or that the repressive measures of the authorities
have inflicted the slightest hardship upon any one." (7433.) [*Caution about police*]40
The foregoing evidence from the experience of the great
City of Glasgow furnishes positive proof that the public manifestations 
of vice, and the evil results- disease and crime- may be 
effectually checked by methods which do not destroy the sense of 
right and wrong, and degrade womanhood.
Every municipality may thus learn the necessary steps to be 
taken by municipal regulation, and benevolent effort, to raise the 
moral character of the community.

1. Arouse public opinion to the necessity of checking
licentiousness, and see that the authorities enforce the execution
of wholesome regulations.
2. Provide free and sufficient medical treatment.
3. Found an active rescue mission.
4. Simplify legal procedure against brothels, so that the conscientious 
citizens may be encouraged to take the initiative in their
suppression; the support of the police being ordered, and a
magisterial search warrant granted, whenever necessary.
5. Suppress public solicitation to debauchery by man or 
women.
6. Note all the injustice of law between
the sexes that must be remedied.
(Only a little of this chapter need be 
retained. it had done its work of opposing 
C.D.A.-)
"At common law--"Every brothel is a nuisance liable to indictment"
"Every brothel keeper is liable to fine and imprisonment." "Solicitation in
the Streets is a legal offence in London as much as it is in Glasgow."
(W. Shaen.)


41
CHAPTER IV

THE REPRESSIVE SYSTEM, IN REFERENCE TO NATIONAL LAW.

The foregoing measures provide the necessary means of
checking social vice from the outside.* But the measure which
more than any other will attack the sources of evil, and produce
radical and permanent improvement, is the protection of the 
young.
This must be the work of National Law.
The protection of the young from corruption, destroys licentiousness 
itself. Whenever the young are educated in self-respect,
and into the true human strength of virtue, then the unimpaired
force of sexual passion remains as a powerful source of individual
vigour, until it flows into its legitimate channel of parentage.
Then the devastating disease of licentiousness gradually 
disappears. 
The first imperative duty of every community therefore, is 
to say, with authoritative command, to the vicious adult, "Hands
off our children," and to punish with the utmost severity any 
corruption of minors.
The obligation of a nation to protect inexperienced youth,
necessarily ignorant of the far-reaching effects of individual
action, has been widely recognised in past ages by the common
Law of all civilised countries. It is only the modern decline of
christian civilization which violates this dictum of Common Law.
According to French and other Continental Common Law, no 
minor boy or girl, up to the age of 21, can legally consent to his

*The religious educational and economic reforms, which can alone 
destroy the evil relation of the sexes, are not touched upon in this work. 
Cooperation, in its widest sense, includes the Land Question, and is the true
form of practical Christianity.
been42
or her own corruption, i.e., the adult who debauches is held
responsible, is subject to punishment, and cannot plead the consent
of the minor, as a fact in justification.
Notwithstanding the efforts always made under the Female
Regulation System, to evade the Common Law by municipal
ordinance, the Common Law exists, and it is owing to its existence
that some of the actors in the Brussels and Bordeaux infamies
were condemned to punishment.
But in England, at this day, a child of 13 years old, can give 
legal consent to debauchery. The vicious adults can plead this
consent, and escape punishment.

The necessity of bringing in new and efficient force to compel
wise legislation on this weighty subject, will be evident from
the following facts:-
In 1875, a Bill was introduced into Parliament to secure
legal protection to girls up to the age of fourteen. The bill was
cut down in Committee to the age of thirteen, and thus
mutilated, was accepted by Parliament. It will be observed that 
a law which protects up to the age of thirteen, only guards
children of twelve years of age. Children thirteen years old
are therefore capable of giving legal consent to corruption. 
The same mutilation of a Bill called " Assaults on Young
Persons' Bill," occurred again in 1880, a measure then introduced
to protect children until the age of fourteen, being again cut down
in Committee to the age of thirteen.
It is of the highest importance therefore, at the present
time, in relation to future action, to understand two points- first, 
what arguments were used by out representatives, -- English
Members of Parliament, to refuse protection to children up to the 
age of fourteen, when the Common Law of Continental nations 
nominally protects them to the age of twenty-one; secondly, in 
what way was this mutilation of the Bill originally introduced, 
accomplished?
The following record of facts and arguments, as seen in 
Hansard, will show that the thought and active interest of women,


43
must join with the efforts of enlightened men in guarding our
children:- 
Firstly.- These important bills were debated in the 
House of Commons. They were examined in the privacy of 
Committees, and run through in an almost empty House. At
the passing of the Bill of 1880 so little interest was felt in a
measure vitally affecting womanhood, viz., the protection of girls-
a Bill which, if enforced, would strike the most powerful possible
blow at licentiousness-- that of the 650 gentlemen who compose
the House of Commons, only 86 were present. The age of
protection was lowered from the age of 14 to 13 by a majority
of only 41 in this small House, and without debate.
Secondly.-- In examining the scanty record of the private
Committees in which these Bills were mutilated, it is seen that 
two arguments were used for lowering the age of protection. Let
women and men weigh these arguments. The first argument put 
forth, is the fear that fraudulent representation might trouble men. 
That is, that if a vicious man commits fornication with a young
girl, she may be, or may pretend to be, under the legal age of 14
and so try to extort hush money from him.
The second argument is this : that as a girl may legally marry
at 12, and as she may actually become a mother at 11 years of 
age, or under, that therefore, she can perfectly understand the
consequence of her actions, and should be held legally responsible
for consenting to debauchery. That thus marriage and fornication
should stand on the same footing in the eye of the law.

These appear to be the only argument used for lowering the 
age of protection.

Thus we find the Bill for protection to 14 , introduced
Ap. 14 1875, was lowered on the second reading to the age of 13
by a vote of 65 to 21. In the House of Lords, June 8th, Lord
Coleridge says it is lawful, by the Common Law of England, for 
a woman to marry at 12 years, and he uses this as an argument
for refusing protection against seduction at that age.44
The Lords finally reduced the age of protection to 12 years, 
but the Common restored it to the age of 13.
Aug. 6th, 1880. The Assaults on Young Persons Bill was
introduced to raise the age of protection from 12 to 13.
August 12th, in Committee. Mr. Hastings (Chairman of 
Quarter Sessions), " trusted that the age of ten would be inserted
instead of thirteen." " A child not quite twelve was actually
pregnant when she came into the witness-box." " It would be 
very hard that a charge of this kind should be brought by a girl
sufficiently developed in body to become pregnant, and that a
man should not be allowed to plead in his own defense, that the
act was done with her consent." "Again, a child of eleven had 
been a prostitute under training of her mother. Was a man to
be placed in peril by the evidence of such persons and prohibited
from pleading consent."  " He had had before him a number of
cases, in which the children concerned in the, were of an
exceedingly tender age.  In one case a child of six was concerned, 
and the counsel raised the defence that the child did not resist. 
He over-ruled the defence." --(But)-- " He was convinced that 
the limit of age in the Bill was fixed too high, and that the age
of ten would be quite as high as it ought to be." "His argument
was, that if children of eleven or twelve years of age were capable
of prostitution, they were capable of understanding the nature of 
the Act, and it was unreasonable that a man should not be 
allowed to plead the girl's consent."
Mr. Warton "felt it his duty to support the amendment."
"He was in favour of even a lower age than that named in the
amendment of the Member of East Worcestershire."  "He had
only obtained one acquittal." "It was scarcely possible to get an
acquittal when a little girl was in the witness-box. One reason
was that there were Societies maintained by bringing charges of 
this description. He believed that these Societies, under the
pretence of protecting women and children,wickedly tampered
with medical evidence." "Among the lower classes acts of 
indecency were very common, and children became familiarized
with those acts at a very tender age. He regarded the age of
thirteen as much too high."


45
Such are the arguments used in a Christian nation, by the
people's representatives in Parliament, to prevent the protection
of the law being given to poor, ignorant, exposed girlhood!"
Although the instinct of every affectionate parent will
instantly detect the cruel cynicism of the foregoing opinions,
yet it is necessary here to point out clearly the false physiology, 
as well as the destructive morality, on which these arguments are 
based.
First. -- The physiological statement, that mental capacity
corresponds with physical growth is entirely false.* The
true physiological doctrine is, that precocious physical 
development hinders moral development.
Consequently, the earlier the physical possibility of becoming
a parent in the boy or girl, the more carefully law and education
should protect this important parental function from early abuse
and ruinous exercise. This moral incapacity, to judge of the 
results of their own actions in relations to sexual intercourse, is not
only true of ignorant little girls of 13 and 14, who sell themselves
for the offer of a few shillings or a pretty dress, but such moral
incapacity belongs to all youth. From the ages of 16 to 18, thoughtless
ignorance, or the blind impulse of physical sex, are generally
stronger than the intellectual and moral faculties. Youth at that age
are quite unable to weigh or comprehend the very grave and 
powerful reasons, which make early debauchery so destructive to 
a nation. At that age they have not acquired habits of sexual
self-control, unless they have been surrounded early by exceptionally 
wise human influences. Our youth,until the age of 18,
most imperatively require the guardianship and help the law and 
custom. It is the most cruel injury that we can do to childhood
and youth to allow the vicious adult to trade upon impulsive
inexperience; or to suffer corrupt age to plead that ignorant
youth tempted it to evil. The physiological plea, urged in
opposition to the protection of the young girl, is false, for the 
physical woman is a moral child, in the great mass of minor girls.

*False physiology which strives to throw the blame of vice upon the
Creator, lies at the root of every evil system. This, however, is not the place
to call attention to the errors which abound in physiological and medical books
owing to imperfect observation of the facts of human nature.46
The second argument-viz., that fornicators must be protected
from fraud--is equally false. Law is made for the
protection of human beings in right-doing, not for the protection
of the vicious in wrong-doing. The argument that a fornicator
must be protected in his evil-doing against a young-girl who offers
to lead him astray, is the most cowardly instance of moral
obliquity, that can well be brought forward. 
  There are, alas! too many adults women ready to supply the 
demands of vice, making broad and easy the road for the unmanly
fornicator.  Such persons require no exceptional protection from
the law.  But our children we are bound to protect.  Christian society
is imperatively called on to demand that the young shall be
guarded by law -- the more defenceless the more carefully guarded
-- until age and experience give them the power of distinguishing
between good and evil.
  The future education of the young into respect for their own
human bodies, and into mutual reverence, can only be effectually
accomplished, when the vicious adult is prevented by heavy
punishment from corrupting minors -- boys equally with girls.
  The protection of minors is, therefore, the first and most
important of the legitimate functions of law, and the foundation
of every radical method of dealing with this tremendous evil.
[*to end here?*] 
 The efficient protection of minors from the corrupting
influence of vicious adults by just and severe law, and the
energetic execution of such law, will destroy the chief root
of licentiousness.  It will prove the true radical method which
Law should adopt for checking disorder and disease.  It is on
this central ground that the great fight between virtue and
vice must be fought out.  All the forces of evil will rise in
opposition to such protection, knowing well that the corruption
of youth is the stronghold of vice.  But in the defence of their
children the mothers of the race must be heard; their right
to act in such a cause in indisputable, and when women call
on men to support them in this sacred duty of motherhood -- the
guardianship of the young -- men will rally to their aid, and
no power of ancient or modern evil custom can withstand their
united energy.  


[*cut out these*]
47
  The great and urgent need of our civilisation is the united
action of men and women in the mighty contest with social
evil which is now beginning.  The conflict will be tremendous;
but this age is full of promise.
  A new force has appeared upon the scene of action.  Never
before in the world's history have women of trained intelligence,
large experience, and religious faith, broken through the bonds of
hypocrisy, and, in united and increasing numbers, recognised the
possibility, and maintained the necessity, of the great permanent
law of national progress, viz., the equal purity of men and
women.  This is the new force born into the world, and it
is hailed with joy by all far-sighted and large-hearted men.
  A great work is before our Anglo-Saxon race, which leads
the van of human progress.  The immediate practical step to be
taken is organisation.
  It must always be remembered that the law which introduces
a new code of morality into England -- teaching women that
disease, not vice, is a crime -- was made by a Liberal Government;
also that this same destructive law was accepted and confirmed by
a Conservative Government.  To neither of these parties, therefore,
can we look for just moral legislation.
  But it is not necessary to wait for the granting of the Parliamentary
Franchise, in order to carry on a strong moral warfare in
a practical shape.
  In the Municipal vote, women possess an aid whose power
they have not yet realised.  It is a power which, if organised into
a moral Municipal league, would prove more permanently efficient
than even the Parliamentary franchise, for the election of councilmen
is the first link in the great chain of free government.  It is
the first step taken in either a right or a wrong direction.  It is
the education of the Municipalities which will ultimately determine
the action of the general Government.  Free, enlightened,
representative Municipalities, furnish the elements out of which a
future wise state must be built up.  The future action of our
Municipalities, therefore, will decide whether the Government of
England shall grow into representation of a strong, free, and virtuous
nation, or sink into a corrupt, centralised, military despotism.

x emphasize48

We now observe that every year the strife of political parties
increases in bitterness and unscrupulousness.  Every Municipal
election is determined by party spirit, and candidates are recommended
because they are Conservatives or Liberals--not because
they are fitted by character and intelligence to govern a town
righteously.  Even School Board elections are beginning to share
in this false issue.
A grand opportunity is now presented to women.  They
have the power of rallying to the aid of those noble men who
have vainly sought to stem the flood of political passion and
prejudice.
At the next municipal election, let this lesson be enforced,
viz., that the first qualification we require from our candidates is
intelligent morality, not political partisanship.  Our Watch
Committees must be held to their duty.  Our Town Councils
must be taught that we hold them responsible for that moral
order of towns, which is the foundation of permanent material
prosperity.
In the little town of Hastings, for instance, there are 1,200
women voters.  These women may be enlightened on the
important issues to themselves, to their families, to youth of all
classes, which are involved in municipal government.  At present
the majority of these women do not vote.  Elections seem to
them to be political squabbles, with which they have nothing to
do.  But let them realise that the innocence of childhood, the
virtue of youth, the sanctity of marriage--even the honour or
degradation of our English flag as it is planted amongst poor weak
cowering races--are all influenced by the way in which they use
their one little apparently insignificant vote, and the poorest
lodging-house keeper, who has the spark of womanhood in her, will
respond to the appeal.  United, women would hold the balance of
power in the municipal elections.
An organisation of the constituencies of women throughout
the kingdom in a moral union higher than party strife, is a great
work before us.  It is a work in which large numbers of the best
men will gladly aid us; and I urge it upon every woman, for the
sake of the helpless little ones perishing in unutterable vice and
misery around us, for the sake of our country, and our God.


49

APPENDIX I.

The preceding pages have been devoted solely to the consideration
of civil laws and regulations.  The Contagious Diseases
Acts are Military Acts, designed exclusively for the physical
benefit of soldiers and sailors.  A full discussion of the conditions
of a celibate army, or of the duty of the military authorities
towards the women whom they consider it necessary to
regulate for its service, would be out of place in the present
work.  Military law, however, must be sternly rejected outside
the camp.  Great civil populations such as Plymouth, Southampton,
Portsmouth, must be freed from military subjection.
Any attempt to impose military regulations upon a civil population,
will be resisted to the death by any country which values its
civil freedom.
All that has been here shown, therefore, is the proof that
the principle upon which the timid English acts are based, is the
identical principle which boldly and logically carried out produces
the Brussels system.  The only check which prevents the
development of the English acts into the Brussels system (a
development now loudly called for by a portion of the public
Press), is the determined opposition of the just, or religious men
and women of the nation.  Let that opposition cease, and London
will become a Brussels or Hong Kong.
The following analysis will show the error of supposing that
there is any moral intention in the English acts.

PRINCIPAL ACT, 1866.

Heading.--An Act for the better Prevention of Contagious
Diseases at certain naval and military stations.
There are forty-two clauses.
The first fourteen relate to the establishment of hospitals for
disease prostitutes, with the way in which they shall be instituted,
[*and consequently a portion of the [?]*]50

and paid for by the Parliamentary grants to the military and
naval services.
The next eighteen clauses refer to the compulsory and
periodical examination of any woman, sick or well (within a radius
of 15 miles), whom the police believe to be a prostitute.  These 18
clauses refer to the details by which each woman is required to
subject herself to examination for one year; the time and place
for the examinations; the surgeons to carry them on; the 
hospital where any one found to be sick shall be detained in
legal custody; the punishment and imprisonment of every woman
well or ill, who refuses to be examined.
The next three clauses refer to the various formalities by which
a woman may endeavour to prove that she is not a prostitute and
be relieved from inspection.
The next six clauses announce penalties for harbouring a
disease woman, and the method of serving notices.
The last clause, No. 42, virtually prevents any woman from
obtaining redress, if she she has been unjustly accused or dealt
with by persons under the Acts.  Any woman must commence an
action within three months, giving one month's notice to defendant
(no matter whether she be detained in hospital or prison).  She
must place sufficient money to defray defendant's costs in Court
beforehand, and the defendant may always plead in defence, that
he intended to execute the provisions of the Act.
The sole object of the Act, in all its provisions for prostitutes,
is to keep them healthy.  They are in no way interfered with if
they show that they are physically healthy, as is the case with
the large majority.  The only reference to moral or religious
instruction is in clause 12, where the chaplain appointed to all STate
institutions is as usual provided.

It is an axiom in legislation, that a law is false in principle
which is open to great abuses, unless excessive care is exercised
in its application.


51.

APPENDIX II.

Correspondence relating to the working of the Contagious Diseases
Ordinances of the Colony of Hong Kong.  Price 9d.  August, 1881.

The correspondence relating to the abuses committed under
the Contagious Disease Acts in Hong Kong, illustrates as forcibly
the demoralisation produced on high officials, as on subordinates,
when the State undertakes to organise prostitution.
Sir J. Pope Hennessy, Governor of Hong Kong, shocked at
the death of two women, produced by cruelty and immorality
exercised under the ordinances, which were forced on the Chinese
by Sir Richard MacDonnell 1868, writes to Earl Carnarvon
Nov., 1877, and the investigations and correspondence continue
under Sir Michael Hicks Beach and Lord Kimberley.
It is painful to observe in this correspondence, that blame,
not praise, is the tone assumed in the despatches forwarded by
English Statesmen, to the humane Governor who is endeavouring
to protect poor heathen women subjected to British rule.
There is blame for exposing the wrong doing of the Hong Kong
agents; blame for the publication of intolerable evils; blame for
referring to the sale of children; and there is refusal to believe
the evidence of residents or natives, if it tells against the Government
regulations.
As the Hong Kong Acts were established for the physical 
benefit of "Her Majesty's naval and military forces stationed at,
or visiting Hong Kong," Sir Michael Hicks Beach (Colonial), on
learning the infamies perpetrated under these Acts, writes, in
1879, to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty for advice.
He tells them of such evils as employing paid informers to discover
prostitutes; seizing marked money in unlicensed houses; 
illegal practice or arresting, instead of issuing summonses, to
inmates of bad houses; the medical examination of women, not
prostitutes, &c.  To this appeal the Lords of the Admiralty reply52

that "they decline to criticise the Hong Kong ordinances, but trust
the Act will be continued in that Colony, where it has proved of
much benefit to Her Majesty's Navy."
The Admiralty being again urged to act, throw the whole
matter into the hands of an official working the Acts.
The correspondence continues during 1881.  Through the
whole of it, not a word is said about restraining men, not a hint
of appeal to the manliness of British seamen to show pity, or an
english sense of justice as from a superior race, to these poor
heathen women.  No suggestion of a law to prevent young girls
being sold into brothel slavery.  No warning that fines must not
be imposed upon women, whose only way of paying them is to
prostitute themselves or sell their children.
Lord Kimberley, in his final instructions for the guidance of
the Government of Hong Kong, sanctions the following principles:--
1. The registration of houses of ill-fame in consideration of
fees paid to the Government, naively remarking--"If the word
license is thought objectionable, it can be called a certificate of
registration."  (P. 59.)  2. The systematic medical examination of
women.  3. A great extension of the Act to poor women, boatwomen,
and washerwomen, to be considered as prostitutes (p. 56).
In order to force this corrupt system upon a weak, ignorant race,
unable to protect themselves against the crushing domination of
a stronger race, the employment of paid informers going about in
plain clothes is justified; and marked money may be paid to a 
woman for prostituting herself, in order that it may be used in
evidence against her (p. 57).
The words of Lord Kimberley, a statesman and Cabinet
Minister are as follows:--"The
detection of unlicensed houses was a duty cast upon the Registrar-General
and the officers of the Department, and the obloquy cast
on them for their efforts appears to me not to be entirely merited.
The use of plain clothes seems proper and natural; the use of
marked money is not necessarily reprehensible.  The acceptance
of money in consideration of a request for sexual intercourse is


53

evidence of the character of the recipient; and if the detective
or informer, after giving the money, leaves the house, its
discovery in the possession of the alleged recipient might be
given in proof of the charge."  (These are the words of an
English Cabinet Minister!)  Finally: "Men carefully selected
for the work should receive sufficient emolument from the funds
raised under the Ordinance to ensure trustworthy and competent
men, who must be looked for in this country if there is any
difficulty in finding them in the Colony."
That is, that a system which is proved by long experience in
Hong Kong, and in every country that has adopted it, to
demoralise the agents who enforce it, can only be carried out
safely, by agents who are not demoralised!Not to be re-published.
Of Chaps I. II & good deal con se
ersed.
Of Chaps III. IV- a very little only
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
"THE MORAL EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG IN RELATION
TO SEX."-Price Two Shillings.
"CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM" (An Easter Sermon.)-Threepence.
"RESCUE WORK."-Threepence.
"MEDICINE AND MORALITY."-Twopence.
"THE RELIGION OF HEALTH."-Twopence.Sep 18./93
D.N.

THE
CRIMINAL LAW AMENDMENT ACT.
IMPORTANT DEPARTURE.
At the Central Criminal Court on Saturday a novel
point was raised in an indictment arising out of a prosecution
before the magistrates under the Criminal Law
Amendment Act. A girl of 13 years of age named Jane
Tyrell was indicted for aiding and abetting and soliciting 
a boy of 16 years of age named Thos. Froud to
commit a certain offence. Mr. Arthur Hutton prosecuted, 
and Mr. W. Campbell defended.--The point in
question was raised in consequence of certain observations
made at the Chester Assizes by Mr. Justice 
Hawkins in favour of the prosecution of girls as well as
boys who were willing agents in such offences.--Mr. 
Campbell moved to quash the indictment, urging that
the Criminal Law Amendment Act was passed to protect
young girls and not for their punishment, and that
a person, in law, was not permitted to incriminate himself,
and that, in this instance, the girl having given
evidence and not having been cautioned against the
consequences, her admissions could not be used against
her. Such an indictment was contrary to the spirit and
intention of the Legislature, and if it were upheld a
serious blow would be struck at the effective working
of the Act in question, because young girls would be 
terrorised by the apprehension that they might themselves 
be punished if they gave information.--Mr. Commissioner 
Kerr admitted the importance of the point,
but held that the indictment was good. It was open,
of course, to the Legislature to amend the Act.--After
evidence had been given for the prosecution, Mr. Campbell 
proposed to call the girl herself to give evidence,
but the Commissioner held that he could not do so
whilst reserving the point.--The jury convicted the
girl and the lad. Froud pleaded guilty.--Mr. Commissioner
Kerr, in postponing sentence, said that the importance 
of the prosecution could not be over-estimated.
He had authority for stating, although he had not seen
it himself, that in places like Piccadilly young girls
were nightly in the habit of soliciting men and a perfect
hell upon earth existed. If the authorities had
any sincere desire to check what was a disgrace to 
civilization these prosecutions would be justified.SITUATIONS WANTED
GENTLEMAN can highly RECOMMEND his HOUSEKEEPER, age 30, very cheerful, thoroughly do-mesticated, excellent manager, good plain cook, to Widower, where young maid  is kept. Salary £24 - Miss Saw, Burton Lane, Ches-hunt, Herta. 
A LADY (middle-aged) seeks RE-ENGAGEMENT as HOUSEKEEPER or Companion. Musical. Well versed in household and social duties. Would not object to an invalid. Good refs.-R.S., 5, Offerton-road, Clapham.
HOUSEKEEPER or Charge of Offices. Own fur-niture. Seven years' reference,-G., 123, Queen-street, Hammersmith
RE-ENGAGEMENT as HOUSEKEEPER, Useful Help, or Companion, by young lady, age 27. References - E.M., 87, Peckham-rye, S.E.
LADY desires POSITION as HOUSEKEEPER or Secretary. Musical. Refined,-857 T, "Daily News" In-quiry Office, 67, Fleet-street, E.C.
LADY SUPERINTENDENT requires RE-EN-GAGEMENT, or as HOUSEKEEPER in gentleman's establishment. Highest references, - Address F.G., Stanesby's Library, 179, Sloane-street, S.W.
;ADY HOUSEKEEPER (musical) to a gentleman's household, with servant. - Miss C., 7, Deronda-road, Herne-hill, S.E.
WIDOW LADY (27) seeks an ENGAGEMENT as HOUSEKEEPER, where she can have her little boy (two years). - Address U.B., 31 Bury-road, Wood-green. 
AS WORKING HOUSEKEEPER to gentleman. Private or business house. Good references and plain cook-ing.-F., 41, Praed-street, Paddington.
WANTED SITUATION as WORKING HOUSEKEEPER. Age 26.-Mima, 7, Home-vills, Swanley-junction, Kent.
WIDOW and DAUGHTER - Widow as WORK-ING HOUSEKEEPER, daughter as NURSE or Useful Help. Ages 45-17.-C.S., Wittersham, Kent. 
AS HOUSEKEEPER or ATTENDANT on invalid lady. Four years' references. Elderly person.-Address E. A., Mann's Library, Elgin-avenue, W.
YOUNG LADY will give PART SERVICES as USEFUL HELP in return for a HOME in Westminster. Disengaged 11th October. - Miss Gibson, 32, Enys-rd,. Eastbourne.
RE-ENGAGMENT as HELP (domestically or with children) or as Housekeeper. Plain cooking and dress-making.-Miss Roe, S4, Auckland-rond, Upper Norwood, S.E.
AS MOTHER'S HELP, thoroughly domesticated, good needlewoman.-G., 13, Westbourne-terrace, Brighton. 
[*3804       100*]
[?              100]
[cleaner     100]


Just Published. Price Nine-pence.
Wrong and Right Methods of dealing 
with Social Evil;
AS SHEWN BY PARLIAMENTARY EVIDENCE. 
BY DR. ELIZABETH BLACKWELL.
DYER BROTHERS, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, London. 
D. WILLIAMS, The Library, 5, Claremont, Hastings.