Personal reminiscences of a great crusade / by Josephine E. Butler.

  • Josephine Butler
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Personal reminiscences of a great crusade / by Josephine E. Butler. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    that “ after giving the whole subject his best attention, he concurred with his predecessors in command of the army in believing that police measures of the kind in question could not be carried on without involving the certain degradation and oppression of many innocent women, and occasioning other evils which, in his opinion, would be very much greater than that which it was their object to reined}'’.” Ur. Grier- son (of the Indian Army) said that when the natives of India saw the authorities making such careful provision for the protection of immoral persons, and at the same time doing little for the good of the other classes, they were “ sorely perplexed.” General Jacob said : “ The proper and only wise method of dealing with this question is to improve the con- dition and moral well-being of the army. Coercion of any kind always increases the evil. Moral forces alone are of any value.” A third strong protest was that of the officers of the Rescue Society in London. They made a series of very strong efforts against the threatened introduction of the regulation system. The late Mr. Daniel Cooper, the well-known and respected Secretary of the Rescue Society, wrote to me in 1870: “ You ask me to tell you what the Rescue Society did to bring this infamous legislation under public notice. In 1868 we pub- lished a pamphlet and waited on the Home Secretary. With the pamphlet we presented a copy of a ‘ Memorandum of Objections ’ to this legislation. This Memorandum was cir- culated by thousands. We placed it in the hands of every member of both Houses of Parliament; we forwarded it to all the principal clergy of the Metropolis and other important towns in England, and also to the leading Nonconformist ministers. We spent more than £100 in the circulation of our papers, and with what result ? I am ashamed to say that very little effect was produced. The utmost apathy prevailed ; people would not believe our words and would not stir. The infamous Act of 1869 was passed in spite of all our efforts.
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