ABSTRACT
It has become highly desirable that some systematic and effectual organization should be added to the benevolent exertions of the public on behalf of the wives and families left behind by the soldiers of our expeditionary army. We cannot deny that the subject involves certain difficulties. The actual state of the case implies nothing less than this—that the regulations of our military service compel soldiers in the execution of their ordinary duty to leave their wives and children dependent upon public charity. It is of no avail to say that a soldier should not marry; for, not to mention that such a rule might be extremely injurious to the service, and would never be tolerated by public opinion, there are a great number of cases, including some of the most pitiable recently published, in which marriage was contracted by direct permission of the commanding officer. It appears, therefore, that a soldier of good character and frugal habits, though allowed to marry by the proper authorities, is nevertheless brought to such a position by the ordinary and natural incidents of his calling that his wife and family must needs be left with no resource expect that of public subscription to keep them from the workhouse. Perhaps it will be said that this, after all, is no such deplorable alternative, inasmuch as the workhouse represents the legal provision for contingencies of this description, and offers an available security against destitution or want. But this argument will no longer hold good since the Poor Laws have been placed on their present footing. The system of relief now maintained proceeds entirely on the presumption that no one really ought to apply for it, and that the assistance thus afforded should be rendered as little agreeable as possible. Pauperism, in short, is regarded as implying some degree of delinquency as well as misfortune, whereas it is evidently impossible to impute any such fault to those who have merely lost their husbands’ support through the more imperative calls of the public service. In point of fact, it might be shown by logical deduction that unless celibacy is to be enforced among British soldiers as well as among Romish priests, the position of a soldier should enable him to give his wife the same support whether he is abroad or at home.
