The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-11-26 00:00:00

the character of other legal enactments. And
there can be :little doubt that in this age of
"sweeping reforms," Ecclesiastical Courts stand
a very poor chance of a much longer existence.
The real permanent bond of matrimony is union
of will. All other unions are unnatural and
unblest, and therefore no marriage. Remove this
and the compulsory alliance of the sexes becomes
tyranny of the very worst description. To force
individuals to consort together under such circum-
stances is then nothing short of the most refined
cruelty. And any law that would sanction or oblige
thereto deserves to be reprobated. MILTON very
properly condemns the ignorance and iniquity of
the Canon-law in providing for the right of the
body in marriage, altogether overlooking the
wrongs and grievances of the mind. But there is
a powerful tendency among mankind to innovate
in legislation; and some people prefer being,
miserable according to law, than to be happy
without it. Have we not instances enough, and of
daily occurrence, too, where married persons of
dissimilar tendencies become guilty of the most
cruel acts towards one another. Feeling the bond
of marriage strong as death and intolerable as
Hell, husbands and wives take each other's lives.
in order to free themselves from the terrible

thraldom. No later than this very week one
wretched culprit expiated his crime on the gallows
for the murder of his wife ; and instances of
matrimonial cruelty, especially on the part of
husbands, have seldom been more numerous.
Indeed, the Press of London have deemed it a
duty to draw public attention to them in leading
articles, so serious an aspect have they assumed.
The Morning Chronicle proposes flagellation for
the male delinquents; but we much fear the cure

is as bad as the disease. Strangulation has been
tried, with no good effect, upon the community

—for such crimes have since both increased

in number and in aggravation. The remedy we
would propose is, to modify the inexorable
and inviolable bond of marriage ; and let the
plea of unsuitability of temper, or personal
cruelty, on the part of either husband or wife,
be a sufficient justification for the granting of a
divorce—placing in the hands of ordinary magis-
trates the jurisdiction to legislate summarily in
such cases. Nor is this a novel idea. It is neither
inconsonant with reason or justice, and has been
sanctioned by the wisest lawgivers of antiquity.
This practice very generally obtained amongst the
Jews ; and some of our best writers on Canon
Law, including PAULUS FAGIUS, are of opinion, that
divorces might as properly be permitted amongst
Christians. The express intent of allowing divorce
amongst the Jews was, according to the eminent
writer MAIMONIDES, " to preserve peace in marriage,
and quiet in the family." PALEY, however, takes a
different view of the case; and as he regards " love
to be neither general nor endurable," would have
the marriage compact to be indissoluble. He
observes : " If we trace the effects of such a rule
upon the general happiness of married life, we
shall perceive reasons of expediency, that abun.
dantly justify the policy of those laws which refuse
to the husband the power of divorce." He further
expresses an opinion that the marriage contract bein g
irrevocable, has a tendency to cause wedded parties
" to make the best of their bargain," albeit it is a bad
one, and to create mutual forbearance and good
will : —" Seeing they must either both be miserable,
or both share in the same happiness, neither can find
their own comfort but in promoting the pleasure of
the other." We are very sorry that experience
does not favor the argument of the learned theorist.
We believe the rather with MILTON, " that man
ought, even for love's sake and peace, to move di-
vorce upon good and liberal conditions to the di-
vorced ;" and " that it is less a breach of wedlock
to part with wise and quiet consent betimes, than
still to foil and profane that mystery of joy and
union with a polluting sadness and perpetual
distemper."

But some will say, Such a condition of the law

would lead to serious results, as facilities would

thereby be too easily afforded for parties upon
feigned, or slight pretences, to take improper
advantage thereof. We, for our part, do not
think so. We conceive, moreover, that the
same would have a most salutary tendency,
and powerfully tend to check that devilish
feeling which causes husbands and wives
to adopt systematic cruelty to each other; from
which, indeed, no class of society is at present
exempt. Persons not infrequently form matri-
monial alliances without consideration, urged
either by the impulse of passion, or from motives
of self-interest. By-and-by they disagree—their
tempers, tastes, habits, and dispositions, do not
coalesce—disappointment gives place to regret--
regret to passion—and passion but too frequently
gives itself vent in deeds of disgusting cruelty—
occasionally iu blood ! And yet those' parties are,
as the law now stands, man and wife ! " 0 per-
verseness !" 'Tis a gordian knot, indeed, the
marriage tie! Of course, in some cases, the wealthy
have their remedy; but the poor have no alter-
native but quietly to submit to their very
unenviable fate. How long is such an appalling
state of things to continue ? How long
until justice shall equally and equitably be acces-
sible to all classes without distinction ? Had this
been so, the wretch who lately paid the legal
penalty of his crime on the scaffold, would have
been saved to society ; and his children would
have been redeemed from the obloquy of carrying
the murderer's stain upon their brow We are per-
fectly sure that had VOLTAIRE lived in these evil
times, he would not say what once he did, that
"if the Manche were bridged over, all the women
of Europe would hurry to England as to the
paradise of wives 1"

Her Majesty held a Privy Council at Windsor
Castle at three o'clock yesterday.
Her Majesty will leave Windsor for Osborne
to-day. _

Dispatches were sent off last evening from the
Colonial office to the governors of the North Ame-
rican colonies.

EXTENSIVE FORGERY BY A LIVERPOOL GENTLEMAN.--
Durink the present week a discovery has been made that an
extensive forgery was committed on the Borough Bank of
this town by Mr. Wm.- M'Curtin, of the firm of M'Curtin
and Riley, provision merchants, Mathew-street, so far back
as the month of October. Mr. M'Curtin carried on an ex-
tensive trade, and until the discovery of the forgery to which
we allude, was supposed to be a man of probity, and pos-
sessed of considerable means. It would appear that on the
18th of October last a bill for £1540, drawn by Mr. M'Cur-
tin, and purporting to be accepted by Sir David Roache of
Limerick, who is extensively engaged in flour and corn opera-
tions in the south of Ireland, was cashed at the Borough
Bank. The bank authorities had not the slightest suspicion
that the acceptance was a forgery until, on the presentation
of the bill, Sir David Roache repudiated it, and denied hav-
ing any knowledge of the party by whom it was drawn. It
was accordingly returned protested, and then the fact that a
forgery had been committed by Mr. M'Curtin was clearly
established. The matter was then placed in the hands of
the police authorities, but up to the present Mr, ]'Curtin
has succeeded in eluding their vigilance. It is suspected
that this is not a solitary case ; but that several other
forgeries, and for considerable amounts, will now be dis-
covered to have been committed by Mr. M'Curtin, some of
whose private friends are also said to be likely to be heavy
losers on his account. A dissolution of partnership between
Mr. M'Curtin and his partner, Mr. Riley, who, we believe,
is also his father in-law, has been announced. We under-
stand that Mr, M'Curtin was in town on Tuesday, and that
he intimated to the solicitor for the bank that he would
meet the crisis he felt was coming. A reward of £lOO has
been offered for his apprehension.—From our Second Edition
of yesterday.