--Kent, vol. 2, p. 33; Bishop on Divorce,
p. 492.

In New York and some other States, the wife of the guilty husband
can now sue for a divorce in her own name, and the costs come out
of the husband's estate; but, in the majority of the States, she
is still compelled to sue in the name of another, as she has no
means of paying costs, even though she may have brought her
thousands into the partnership. "The allowance to the innocent
wife of _ad interim_ alimony and money to sustain the suit, is
not regarded as strict right in her, but of sound discretion in
the court."--Bishop on Divorce, p. 581.

"Many jurists," says Kent, vol. 2, p. 88, "are of opinion that
the adultery of the husband ought not to be noticed or made
subject to the same animadversions as that of the wife, because
it is not evidence of such entire depravity, nor equally
injurious in its effects upon the morals, good order, and
happiness of domestic life. Montesquieu, Pothier, and Dr. Taylor
all insist that the cases of husband and wife ought to be
distinguished, and that the violation of the marriage vow, on the
part of the wife, is the most mischievous, and the prosecution
ought to be confined to the offense on her part.--"Esprit des
Loix," tom. 3, 186; "Traite du Contrat de Mariage," No. 516;
"Elements of Civil Law," p. 254.

Say you, "These are but the opinions of men"? On what else, I
ask, are the hundreds of women depending, who this hour demand in
our courts a release from burdensome contracts? Are not these
delicate matters left wholly to the discretion of courts? Are not
young women from the first families dragged into the public
courts--into assemblies of men exclusively--the judges all men,
the jurors all men?--no true woman there to shield them by her
presence from gross and impertinent questionings, to pity their
misfortunes, or to protest against their wrongs?

The administration of justice depends far more on the opinions of
eminent jurists, than on law alone, for law is powerless when at
variance with public sentiment.

Do not the above citations clearly prove inequality? Are not the
very letter and spirit of the marriage contract based on the idea
of the supremacy of man as the keeper of woman's virtue--her sole
protector and support? Out of marri