The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-08-28 00:00:00

MARRYING AT THE LAST MOMENT

lalarrlages in •xlremiß are not nnfrequent in France. and
the piot of many novels tarns upon them. Tne validity of
an union of the kind at ,he very Ter moment is now await-
ing the tieciaion of the Civil Tribunal of Tottnerre. The fol-
lowing is an outline of the case :
A few montha ago the Procurenr-Tmperial of that
town was r.titsed no in the dead of night by a men on
hot seltack. who said he had ridden at full speed front
the conntry house of M. Humbert. who was at the
point of tlearn, desire Ito he mart MO immstliately, and
begged the Procurenr to allow the civil officer to cele-
brat, the marriage at him hed-aide without the
usual preliminary formalitiert. The Procnrenr an-
swered tint t.f his window that he could not do
what watt asked at the mere instigation .4 a
messenger whom he did no, know, but that if
a certificate were brought from the Mayor of
the village in which M. Humbert lived he would
grant the diepensation. The messenger "spared not
for apoiling of his h rue." dashed back, woke up the
mayor, returned to, Tonnerre, and was Co successfulty
tat-tire that before day-I Teak there were assembled in
the death-chamber a member of the municipal council.
elevated by the Mayor, to perform the civil mar-
riage, the coin, of the parish, and two wttneases.
Kneeling down by the side of the bed, in an agony if
grief and Hfloapen-p. was a lady who for eighteen years
had lived with M. Humbert pine of the wealthiest
landowners in the neighbourhood) an bia mistreaa.
A young girl, the iftille of the irrernlar union, was
also in the room, arid the object of the marriage
was to confer upon her the gaud of lazitintacy, as
the French, like the Scotch law, allows per nob. grulan
niceriMoniliM. The marriage was gone through
and two hours afterwards the husband expired. He
left behind him a fortune of Itoo,ooofr.. every son of
which will got t the widow and daughter if the marriage
be 101 l valid, Ps in all probahility it will be. The da-
appointed blood relations who had taken it for granted
that the inheritance would come to them, have brought
an action to have the marriage declared null and void.
M. Alton, for them, argued that the marriage WaS had,
first as clandestine ; and second, becanie M. Huntle-rt.
was too near death at the time to he ald,tr, give a valid
consent. M. Linehan I pleaded for the widow and child.
The Court at mice over-ruled the objection on the
ground of clanttentinity, holding that the dispensation
. if the Pritcnrem-Tmperial was nufficient,but it reserved
final judgment until after an enquiry as to whether at
the moment of the marriage M. Humbert had sufficient
consciousness to know what he was doing.

THE AGRICULTURAL LABOUPER
QUESTION.
At the meeting of the British Association at Exeter, on
ttoort.y, the above subject was discussed—Sir Stafford
Northcote in the chair.
The Rev. J. E. Thorold Rogers said that to doubt
that the wages of the agricultural labourer had fallen
within the last twenty or thirty years would be to fly
in the f Ice of facto. lii considering this question of
wages it was important to take into account the power
possessed by the agricultural labourer of purchasing
the secondary necetsaries of life--such as butter,
bacon, and cheese. This power had, he held, con-
siderably diminished within the last twenty years.
lie would put this question—why is butter Is. 6d. per
lb.? Twenty years ago butter in summer was
91. or 10th per lb. In towns the prices for these
secondary necesearies were more uniform than
in the country, and in this respect the agricul-
tural labourers suffered. Coming to the question of
improving the condition of the agricultural labourer,
he touched first on the proposal ti encourage emigra-
tion. He linnet confets that he hail looked with regret
on the fact that an exialoa hail been gcing on in Eng-
land, not amongst the poorest classes, but amcngst the
most enterprising. Long ago he ventured to predict
that the emigration system prevalent in Ireland would
be extended to England; but he did not think that the
remedy of emigration was likely to meet the Case. He
thought that farmers would find it advantageous to
give their labourers be :ter wages; the latter would then
have better food and grow stronger, and consequently
be able to do more work.
The Rev. Prebendary Sanders, Earl Nelson, and
Canon Girdlestone followed.
Earl Portent'e joined issue with Mr. Rogers on what
he bad taken as "undisputed facts." He Collifi not
allow that "secondary coinforta" had been raised in
price PO as to depress the condition of the agticultural
labourer lower than it was twenty years ago. His im-
pression was that it was improving, and that there was
a teridenCy to raise wages. Taking piece-work into
consideration, he knew from what he paid himself the
wages ran from 12s. to 13s. weekly. l'hen it must he
remembered that in this county the agricultural
labourers had a less number of hours' work than those
in other counties. He should not frolic his own ex-
perience be inclined to say that Devi nsliire labour was
cheap, though the rate of wages was c.rtainly below
that in some other districts. He thought that the build-
ing of cottages was a question of demand and supply.
He pointed out that the improvement in the sanitary
condition of the country during the last twenty years
had greatly diminished death-rates, and that bad
as
was tbe overcrowding aPcribed to the cottages of
a; ricirl- 'dal lab iurera. it wan hing to the systeinati
increasing overcrowding in the large manufacturicg
toWOI. 11 is lordship ref srred to the test of marring,
a' matures on the point of education, and showed that
its agricultural districts bore favourable comparison
o ith tietnauufacturing districts of Lancashire anti

elee—er bet e.
Lord II .lifax did not believe in the excess of agri-
cultural labour, and, regarding the wages, set them
ob we at 165., 155., and 14s. weekly. He submitted
that this question of wages would always depend upon
supply and demand. He did not think that "payment
I in kind" wm, as • rule, good thing ; still it was in