living without marriage, in open and utter disregard of the fundamental principle of morality as well as of social order? No, indeed, it could not be possible, and, as remarked, it is strange that the women of the North have not had misgivings of this kind, or have not mistrusted the assumed _facts_ of “negro slavery” in this respect. But before the actual facts involved are presented to the reader, it is necessary to clearly understand what marriage itself is. It may be defined as the pledge of two persons of different sex to live together for life—pledged to each other and to society, for the presence of witnesses to a marriage contract or a marriage ceremony has simply this meaning, and none other. With us marriage is a mere civil or legal contract. It is the same in France, and, to a certain extent, in England, but in other countries it is combined with religious considerations, and the Catholic church makes it a sacrament. This is marriage, as ordinarily understood, as the necessities of the social order compel us to accept and regard it. Nevertheless, every one’s instincts will assure him that marriage consists in reality of vastly more than this description of it. A man and woman may pledge themselves to each other and to society—all the legal and customary forms may be complete, and yet we know, or may know that there is no true marriage, for these parties may be entirely indifferent, or even objects of actual dislike to each other. The obligations or duty to society may be fulfilled, the interests of families provided for, the legal rights of the parties themselves properly protected, even the welfare of offspring appropriately guarded, nevertheless, if the parties are not united by affection, by those mysterious affinities with which God Himself has endowed them, and for this precise purpose, then there is no true marriage, and, abstractly considered, they are as entirely separate as if they stood on different sides of the Atlantic instead of at the altar where the ceremony is being performed. It is clear, therefore, that marriage, truly considered, involves vastly more than the mere external ceremony or legal formularies, which the universal interest demands, however, as an essential accompaniment. “Increase and multiply” is an ordinance of nature as well as the command of holy writ. All the innumerable tribes of inferior beings obey this command with a regularity, order and completeness that admit of no exception or interruption. They are all governed by instinct, by a wise necessity which impels them to fulfill this Divine decree and in modes adapted to their specific nature. Birds choose their mates, are faithful to them, share together, in some instances, the care and nurture of the common offspring, and all other animals of the higher order exhibit a tendency to form these temporary unions. But in addition to the natural instinct impelling us, in common with all other creatures, to fulfill the universal command to “multiply