CRIMINAL LAW—ASSAULTS ON WOMEN.—RESOLUTION. (Hansard, 18 May 1874)

§ COLONEL LEIGH

, in rising to call attention to the very insufficient punishment awarded to men for violent attacks on women, and to move "That an increased punishment should be employed 397 in aggravated cases," said, a good deal was said about redressing women's rights, but he thought that the first duty of the Legislature was to redress women's wrongs. He had heard England called the Paradise of women, and it was in order to prevent it from becoming the Hell of women that he brought forward his Motion. He need not multiply instances, but they were continually hearing of outrageous and cowardly attacks upon women by men. Sometimes a woman who had only been married a fortnight appeared before a magistrate with two black eyes, inflicted in the first week of her marriage. Now, although it might have been the habit of Jezebel and of some modern women to blacken their own eyes, they were not likely to accept it as a proof of love on the part of their husband if he blacked their eyes for them. Sometimes men put their wives on the fire; sometimes they jumped upon them; at other times they were brought up for "purring" them, which meant "digging" the women with wooden clogs tipped and heeled with iron. Occasionally death ensued from these attacks, and sometimes a man got hanged. But it required a good deal of interest to be hanged now-a-days. The man might be punished by imprisonment, but the outrage often occasioned the death of the woman, for the broken rib penetrated the lung, or the violent blow sent the woman into the Cancer Hospital. It was a curious thing that the great difficulty in punishing these men came from the women themselves. Sometimes they pretended that they had injured themselves by falling down, and, generally speaking, there was no lie a woman was not ready to go through to save these rascals of men from punishment. In one case, where a woman's nose was much injured, she declared that she had bit it herself. There was usually no reason for these attacks, except that a woman had been "nagging" a little; but it should be remembered that a woman's only weapon of attack was her tongue. Besides, if a woman had been a little aggravating, that was no reason why, when she was within a few days of her confinement, perhaps, she should be knocked down, jumped upon, and treated worse than a dog in the streets. It was not the present generation only that was concerned; but 398 the sons of a man who beat his wife treated it as a matter of course, and became women-beaters when they grew up, and what the children in some families saw was enough to infernalize a whole generation. There was no sufficient punishment inflicted for such offences. A man might be sentenced to six months' imprisonment or a fine; but the punishment, whatever it might be, was not sufficient to prevent these aggravated attacks upon women. Garotting had been stopped by means of the "cat" in gaols, and he did not see why it should not be used against men who were in the habit of beating their wives. Some hon. Members were opposed to the "cat," because they believed it degraded humanity; but how was it possible to degrade it lower than those who continually maltreated unfortunate women? He proposed to give the Court a power to order flogging when it deemed it necessary, of adding to the number of lashes on the repetition of the offence, and, finally, of penal servitude. It might not succeed; but if it did, it would be a great thing to have put an end to a practice which was a disgrace to this country in the eyes of all Continental nations, who believed that if the English people could not sell their wives, they could boat them to death almost while they were alive. He would not trouble the House at any further length, because he felt sure that every hon. Member desired, if possible, to shield our countrywomen from the attacks which were so continually made upon them. He hoped they would excuse the weakness of the pleader, and only think of the strength of the appeal he made; and he was sure the women of England would not appeal in vain to the House of Commons. The hon. and gallant Member concluded by moving the Resolution of which he had given Notice.

§ MR. DISRAELI

I am sure, Sir, the House must have sympathized with the appeal of my hon. and gallant Friend, for it is a subject on which there cannot be any difference of opinion. Everyone must be disgusted with the accounts we frequently read of assaults committed upon women—upon the gentler—I will not say the feebler—sex. I hope my hon. and gallant Friend will feel that he has accomplished his object in directing the attention of the country to the subject, and that he will allow my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whose mind is now occupied with this and similar subjects, time to reflect as to the practical mode in which the feeling of the country upon this subject can be carried into effect. I trust, therefore, that he will not ask us at this moment to come to any decision upon this particular question, feeling satisfied that, after the address he has made, Her Majesty's Government will bear in mind what is evidently the opinion of the House.