Page:The Hardships of the English Laws in Relation to Wives. Bodleian copy.pdf/19

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Throne, to the Labourer that digs in the Mines.

'Tis true, ſhould a Wife be ſo audacious as to find Means to confine her Huſband, ſhe would be unpardonable; her Guilt would be aggravated by the Relation ſhe ſtands in to him, by the Reſpect and Deference ſhe owes him; it would be a kind of Petty Treaſon. But as it is impracticable, I can injure no Man by making the Suppoſition, which, as a Chriſtian, every Man who has any ſuch Deſigns upon his Wife, ought to make to himſelf: Though the Law allows him that Power, Conſcience does not. Our very Enemies, as ſoon as they fall into our Power, though involuntarily, have a Title to our Favour and Protection; all the Laws of Honour and Generoſity plead for their gentle Treatment; and ſhall a Huſband be called a Man of Honour, who treats his Wife harſhly for no Reaſon, bur becauſe ſhe is in his Power, and which Power he derived from her unbounded Confidence in him? She puts her whole Happineſs into his Hands, a Truſt for which no Man can give a ſufficient Security. She has from hence a Title to his Protection in every Diſtreſs: If ſo, how is a Huſband's Guilt aggravated, when he beats, confines, or murders his Wife?

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