XXXIV.
5.—“... his servitude ...”
“Villeins were not protected by Magna Charta. “Nullus liber homo capiatur vel imprisonetur,” &c., was cautiously expressed to exclude the poor villein, for, as Lord Coke tells us, the lord may beat his villein, and, if it be without cause, he cannot have any remedy. What a degraded condition for a being endued with reason!”—Edward Christian (“Note to Blackstone’s Commentaries,” Book II., Chap. VI.)
Mr. Christian’s exclamation of concern is doubtless meant to apply to the serf, yet was not the lord’s position equally despicable?
6.—“... in turn was master to a slave.”
This was, in fact, simply extending the spirit of the feudal system (with its serfdom as just pictured), a little further. Buckle exemplifies in ancient French society the servility descending from one grade to another in man:—“By virtue of which each class exercising great power over the one below it, the subordination and subserviency of the whole were completely maintained.... This, indeed, is but part of the old scheme to create distinctions for which Nature has given no warrant, to substitute a superiority which is conventional for that which is real, and thus try to raise little minds above the level of great ones. The utter failure, and, as society advances, the eventual cessation of all such attempts is certain.” But, meanwhile, evil accompaniments are apparent, as Buckle further instances by saying: “Le Vassor, who wrote late in the reign of Louis XIV., bitterly says: ‘Les Français accoutumés à l’esclavage, ne sentent plus la pesanteur de leurs chaînes.’”—(“History of Civilisation in England,” Vol. II, Chaps III., IV.)
That the foregoing habits or foibles are human rather than simply masculine, or that the imitation of them very naturally spreads to the other sex, would seem to be shown by such evidence as Letourneau gives:—
“In primitive countries the married woman—that is to say, the woman belonging to a man—has herself the conscience of being a thing, a property (it is proved to her often and severely enough), but she does not think of retaliating, especially in what concerns the conjugal relations. Moreover, as her condition is oftenest that of a slave overburdened with work, not only does she not resent the introduction of other women in the house of the master, but she desires it, for the work will be so much the less for herself. Thus among the Zulus the wife first purchased strives and works with ardour in the hope of furnishing her husband with means to acquire a second wife, a companion in misery over whom, by right of seniority, she will have the upper hand.”—(“The Evolution of Marriage,” Chap. VIII.)
Yet, in point of fact, this is not woman seeking to establish her own dominion, but rather to secure somewhat more of freedom for herself. As Alexandre Dumas fils tells us, concerning the Mormon women:—
“Non seulement elles donnent leur consentement à leurs maris, quand ils le leur demandent pour un nouveau mariage, mais elles sont quelquefois les premières à leur proposer une nouvelle femme qui a, disent-elles, des qualités nécessaires à la communauté, en réalité pour augmenter un peu la possession d’elles-mêmes, c’est-à-dire leur liberté.”—(“Les Femmes qui Tuent,” &c., p. 169.)
8.—“... vassalage to man.”
The Laureate Rowe makes his heroine bitterly but with reason exclaim:—
“How hard is the condition of our sex,
Through every state of life the slaves of man!
In all the dear delightful days of youth,
A rigid father dictates to our wills,
And deals out pleasure with a scanty hand:
To his, the tyrant husband’s reign succeeds;
Proud with opinions of superior reason,
He holds domestic business and devotion
All we are capable to know, and shuts us,
Like cloistered idiots, from the world’s acquaintance
And all the joys of freedom. Wherefore are we
Born with high souls, but to assert ourselves,
Shake off this vile obedience they exact,
And claim an equal empire o’er the world?”
—(“The Fair Penitent,” Act III. sc. i.)
Letourneau shows the state of feminine tutelage carried still further: “We shall find that in many civilisations relatively advanced, widowhood even does not gratify the woman with a liberty of which she is never thought worthy.” And later on he quotes from the code of Manu, Book V.:—“A little girl, a young woman, and an old woman ought never to do anything of their own will, even in their own house.... During her childhood a woman depends on her father; during her youth on her husband; her husband being dead, on her sons; if she has no sons, on the near relatives of her husband; or in default of them, on those of her father; if she has no paternal relatives, on the Sovereign. A woman ought never to have her own way.”—(“The Evolution of Marriage,” Chaps. VII., XII.)
Can a man be esteemed a human or even a rational being, who would accept or tolerate such terms for the life of his sister woman—the mother of the generations to come?
See also Note XVII., 8.