Page:The rights of women and the sexual relations.djvu/97

Rh 

marriage a relation which is or can be imposed by the State, by religion, by the police, by the clergy, by relatives, or by any other power?

Everybody will answer: It is the union of a man and a woman resulting from spontaneous affection. Therefore only each particular couple that enters into such a union carries the motive and the aim of the union within itself, and no power in the world has the right to control this motive or to stipulate what the aim shall be. Only liberty in entering into and liberty in dissolving marriage can secure its character, determine its moral nature, and guarantee the attainment of its end.

The chief end of marriage can be expressed in three words: Propagation, Love, Friendship.

We have seen in the chapter on Morality in what respect man differs from the animal in the gratification of his natural needs. This difference refers not only to the gratification of the sexual need, but also to its consequences: propagation. The animal propagates unconsciously, and separates itself from its young just as unconsciously as soon as they are able to provide their own