[Gutenberg 47288] • The Queen's Daughters in India

This book was published in 1899.

Notes: The Contagious Diseases Acts were an attempt by the British government to license prostitutes and to control venereal diseases. This book attacks these Acts as applied in India, defining them as ineffective and as an outrage to women.

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From MRS. JOSEPHINE E. BUTLER.

I wish that every woman in the United Kingdom

could read this little book. It tells the truth, the terrible

truth, concerning the treatment of certain Indian women,

our fellow-citizens and sisters, by the British Govern-

ment. I believe if that truth were known throughout the

length and breadth of our land, it would become im-

possible for our rulers to continue to maintain the

cruel and wicked Regulations by which these Indian

women are enslaved and destroyed.

I am a loyal Englishwoman ; I love my country. It

is because of my great love for her that I mourn so

deeply over her dishonour in the promotion of such

legislation and practices as this book exposes, and that

I will not cease to denounce the crimes committed in

her name so long as I have life and breath.

I thank God that the writers of this book have been

raised up to plead the sacred cause of Justice and of

Womanhood ; and I rejoice to know that God has

bestowed on them a measure of the fearless spirit of the

faithful prophets and prophetesses of old, to rebuke

national sin and to preach repentance to the people.