How to Observe Morals and Manners (1838)

The book opens with

An observer of another society should not generalize on the spot, however firmly they grasp particular facts

Their wordsThe traveller must not generalize on the spot, however true may be his apprehension—however firm his grasp, of one or more facts.

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Every claim below was made in this book, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The book prints chapter headings its extracted text does not preserve, so the claims below are in the book's order but not grouped. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
An observer of another society should not generalize on the spot, however firmly they grasp particular facts

Their wordsThe traveller must not generalize on the spot, however true may be his apprehension—however firm his grasp, of one or more facts.
Our reading
In judging a society, every consideration is subordinate to the relative amount of human happiness

Their wordsThe two considerations just mentioned must be subordinated to the grand one,—the only general one,—of the relative amount of human happiness. Every element of social life derives its importance from this great consideration.
Our reading
Judging one people by another misses the truth; judging a nation by the essentials of human happiness sees it as it is

Their wordsTo test one people by another, is to argue within a very small segment of a circle; and the observer can only pass backwards and forwards at an equal distance from the point of truth. To test the morals and manners of a nation by a reference to the essentials of human happiness, is to strike at once to the centre, and to see things as they are.
Our reading
How far women are degraded is as good a test as any of the state of domestic morals in a country

Their wordsThe traveller everywhere finds woman treated as the inferior party in a compact in which both parties have an equal interest. Any agreement thus formed is imperfect, and is liable to disturbance; and the danger is great in proportion to the degradation of the supposed weaker party. The degree of the degradation of woman is as good a test as the moralist can adopt for ascertaining the state of domestic morals in any country.
Our reading
Even in France, England and the United States women are half-educated, barred from most paid work, and bound by laws they cannot consent to

Their wordsFrom a condition of slavery like this, women are found rising to the highest condition in which they are at present seen, in France, England, and the United States,—where they are less than half-educated, precluded from earning a subsistence, except in a very few ill-paid employments, and prohibited from giving or withholding their assent to laws which they are yet bound by penalties to obey.
Our reading
Many women must support themselves without access to varied work or education, so they are raised to see marriage as their one object

Their wordsThe charge of their own maintenance is thrown upon large numbers of women, without the requisite variety of employments having been opened to them, or the needful education imparted. A natural consequence of this is, that women are educated to consider marriage the one object in life, and therefore to be extremely impatient to secure it.

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