[61] Since Ulrichs left off writing, Italy (by the "Nuovo Codice Penale"
of 1889) has adopted the principles of the Code Napoleon, and has placed
sexual inversion under the same legal limitations as the normal sexual
instinct.
[62] Dr. W. Ogle, on the 18th March, 1890, read a paper before the
Statistical Society upon "Marriage Rates and Ages." The conclusion he
arrived at, with regard to the rapidly-advancing over-population of
England, was that, in order to equalise the death-rate with the
birth-rate (or in other words, to maintain the population at its present
level), we must look forward either to (1) an increase of emigration
which would involve social revolution, or (2) to the advance of the
average age at which women marry to the point of thirty years, or (3) to
an exclusion of 45 per cent. of those who now marry from matrimony at
any period of life. In the face of these calculations, after admitting
their possible exaggeration, it seems illogical to punish with severe
legal penalties those members of the male sex who do not want to marry,
and who can satisfy their natural desires in ways which involve no
detriment to the State and no violation of the rights of individuals.
[63] Psych. Sex., p. 108. I have condensed the sense of four short
paragraphs, to translate which in full would have involved a
disagreeable use of medical language.
[64] Psych. Sex., p. 107.
[65] Studies in Literature, p. 119.
[66] In this relation it is curious to note what one of Casper-Liman's
correspondents says about the morals of North America (_op. cit._, vol.
i. p. 173). "Half a year after my return I went to North America, to try
my fortune. There the unnatural vice in question is more ordinary than
it is here; and I was able to indulge my passions with less fear of
punishment or persecution. The American's tastes in this matter resemble
my own; and I discovered, in the United States, that I was always
immediately recognised as a member of the confraternity." The date of
this man's visit to America was the year 1871-72. He had just returned
from serving as a volunteer in the great Franco-German war of 1870-71.
[67] Not included in the "Complete Poems and Prose." It will be found in
"Leaves of Grass," Boston, 1860-1861.
[68] The two last are from "Drum-Taps."
[69] This I cannot find in "Complete Poems and Prose." It is included in
the Boston edition, 1860-61, and the Camden edition, 1876.
[70] "Drum-Taps." Complete Poems, p. 247.
[71] _Ibid._, p, 238.
[72] "Leaves of Grass." Complete Poems, p. 107.
[73] Complete Poems, p. 109. Compare, "I hear it was charged against
me," _ibid._, p. 107.
[74] Complete Poems, p. 110.
[75] Camden edition, 1876, p. 127. Complete Poems, p. 99. Compare
"Democratic Vistas," Complete Prose, p. 247, note.
[76] These prose passages are taken from "Democratic Vistas," cited
above, p. 119, note.
[77] While these sheets were going through the press, I communicated
Whitman's reply to a judicious friend, whose remarks upon it express my
own opinion more clearly and succinctly than I have done above: "I do
not feel that this answer throws light on the really interesting
question; does the sentiment of 'Calamus' represent, in its own way, the
ideal which we should aim at impressing on passionate affections between
men, as certainly liable to take other objectionable forms? Is there
sufficient affinity between the actual and the ideal for this to be
practicable? That is what I have never felt sure about when we have
discussed these matters. But I do not feel that my doubts have been
resolved in any negative direction by Walt Whitman."
[78] Kelts, Scythians, Dorians, Tartars, Normans.
[79] It ought to be borne in mind that they are by no means invariably
complicated with abnormal sexuality, but quite as often with normal
sexuality in some extravagant shape, as well as with other kinds of
moral aberration.
[80] It may not be superfluous to recapitulate the main points of
English legislation on this topic. (1) Sodomy is a felony, defined as
the carnal knowledge (per anum) of any man or of any woman by a male
person; punishable with penal servitude for life as a maximum, for ten
years as a minimum. (2) The attempt to commit sodomy is punishable with
ten years' penal servitude as a maximum. (3) The commission, in public
or private, by any male person with another male person, of "any act of
gross indecency," is punishable with two years' imprisonment and hard
labour."