family should be permitted to visit her, thus showing proper regard for human feelings, but the station of concubine must be strictly preserved and no presumption on her part allowed. 9. The laws relating to marriage between the free-born and the slave should be expunged from the code. 11 Heretofore the laws defining the relationship of master and slave have been very strict, and in the list of crimes the marriage of the slave and free is mentioned as especially abhorrent. It cannot be maintained that the master is without responsibility in the matter, and therefore, if he is cognizant of the circumstances, he is made to share in the guilt. There are special statutes in the code which aim to guard against the loss of caste, great emphasis being laid upon the degradation of the free born to the condition of a slave or the fraudulent claim by the slave of a free-born status. For the free-born to take a place below the servile is to confuse the distinctions between them, which is held to be like the meeting of the waters of the Ching and the Wei, which will not mingle, or like a failure to distinguish the East from the West. The preservation of correct social status is the very beginning of social order. But while the law is severe upon the marriage of the free and the slave, as a matter of fact in such things men are controlled rather by custom and their natural inclinations, and the law adds nothing to that which has become habitual. At present, having prohibited all buying and selling of human beings, the use of the term "slave" must henceforth forever be abandoned. All are alike commoners and it would seem ought not any more to be divided into classes. We propose therefore that this law be expunged, and that the marriage of any hired servant with a free person be no longer forbidden, such marriage being no concern of the master. Such a course will show some measure of respect for our common human nature. We propose further that all the statutes referring to quarrels between the slave and the free, and to illicit intercourse between them, as well as all distinctions between the free and the slave contained in the fundamental laws and statutes be entirely expunged. 10. The prohibition of the purchase of free persons for use as prostitutes or catamites should be strictly enforced. Although male and female slaves constitute a menial class they nevertheless have a place in the ranks of human beings, but to descend to 11 As in the case of a free woman who marries a slave. prostitution, whether male or female, as a means of earning a livelihood is to sink beneath the vilest, to a depth of degradation from which there. is no return to virtue. Therefore the statute provides that the buying of free girls for prostitution, or of free boys for use as catamites, shall be punished with the cangue and the full period of banishment. But while this law has been in existence for a long time, officials have looked upon it as a dead letter. The prosecution of persons who buy free girls for prostitution may perhaps be heard of now and then, but from years end to years end the records show no accusation of the buying of a free boy for use as a catamite, nor does one ever hear of an official who has taken up such a case. Unless severe orders are issued prohibiting these offenses and energetic action taken in carrying out the orders, we may find that while it is easy to get rid of the name of slave the evils of prostitution are difficult to uproot, and that instead of male and female slaves, we have simply substituted the prostitute and catamite. We pray therefore that all the local magistrates may be charged with the responsibility of making a secret and thorough investigation, and that, should any case arise of the purchase of a free person for prostitution, such magistrate shall be required to apply the extreme penalty of the law without any show of leniency. |