The Sun.
London, England, 1822-10-05 00:00:00

LITERARY NOTICE.

A LE 'TER addressed to the Right Hon. the Ea.rl of
ELDON, Lord High Chancellor, tir.t. &c. upon the- MAR;
RIAGE ACT AMENDMENT BILL. By JOHN
STOCKDALt 'HARDY, Depsity Registrar of the Coundis-
sary Court of Leicester.
(Concluded from Thuilday's Su x.)
The 10th section declares who are the persons capable of
administering the oaths required by the act. These are the
surrogates of the Archbishops and Bishops, or of Judges hold-
ing commissions under them. The section also inflicts the
punishment of perjury and felony on parties who wilfully swear
falsely in order to obtain a licence of marriage, or who are
privy to the procurement of any false instrument, &c. Had
the section stopped here, (though it is loosely worded and ter-
ribly severe in its operation, and though by the sentence of
transportation, which it pronounces, a sufficient quantum of
misery would have been occasioned), much perhaps 'Would not
have been said ; the concluding part of it, however, ,will, in
my view of the subject, be productive of great mischief. It is
this—" And if the person convicted of such offence (i. e. swear-
ing falsely or wilfully producing a false instrument) shall be
one of the persons who shall have contracted marriage by
means of such licence, such person shall forfeit and lose to the
King's Majesty all estate, right, title, interest, benefit, profit,
and advantage, which such person may derive from, or be en-
titled to, by virtue of such marriage ; and such forfeiture shall
and may be disposed of in such manner as to his Majesty
shall seem fit."
Let only a case be put upon this clause. A young woman of
fortune (a minor) is inveigled into a marriage with a' worthless
fellow, who does not scruple to perjure himself or assist in forg-
ing an instrument, in order to obtain a licence of marriage.—
The marriage is solemnized, and by that means the parties be-
come indissolubly bound to each other. The fortune of the
Lady, if it happen to bepersonal estate in possession, and out
of the reach of equity, becomes absolutely forfeited to the
Crown, in case the husband be prosecuted to conviction. The
woman is left without a shilling, and obliged to remain the wife
of a felon, liable to transportation for life, without her friends be-
inn able to take any step to reliote her ! Yes, my lord; she will be
obliged to remain the wife of a miscreant, whCl most likely
married her for her money, and who, upon finding himself
script of it by this clause, will, in all probability, enhance the
misery of the-unfortunate girl by his brutal conduct. Perhaps,
too, the parents of the female will have to be passive spectators
of the heart-rending scene, without being able to take any steps
to relieve their ill-fated child from so wretched a thraldom.!
What a picture of distress is here ! It is not, however, an ima-
ginary picture; the case will occur, and occur frequently, if the
act remain as it is—Many unfortunate women will, through
its operation, be torn from the station in society where birth
and fortune had placed them, to subsist on eleemosynary
aid—will be doomed to pass through life as the wives of
convicts—and to traverse amid thorns that path which they had
been led to suppose would have been strewn with flowers !
But to return. It is no argument in favour of the clause to say,
that the Crown will not retain the fortune of the female, but
apply it for her benefit, independent of the husband. There
is no doubt this would the case ; but this would not obviate
the unhappiness of the parties—this would not alleviate the
distress of her, who, seeing her prospects blighted—her patri-
mony gone, and her reputation assailed, before she could be said
to have entered upon life, must apply to the treasury for that
sustenance, which the exertions of her departed friends had
placed within her power, and which., when closing their eyes in
death, they had fondly hoped would have rendered her able to
meet the frowns of the world ! Surely, my lord, placing it
within due restraints, some power of interference on the part
of parents or guardians ought, in such cases as these, to be
reserved.
I shall probably be accused of looking at the question
only in one point of view, as far as the female is concerned.
But looking at it in another light does not improve it. How-
ever, let this be done. I will suppose a young man of fortune,
(for this was the case evidently to which the act was intended
more particularly to apply), I will suppose him to be entrap-
ped into a marriage with a worthless and abandoned woman, who
does not scruple to make a falSe affidavit, &c.--what then ?
Her claim of dower or thirds (supposing her entitled to any,
but which in many instances she would not be), becomes vest-
ed in the Crown. As to the confiscation of her individual pro-
perty, the chances are, that she has none to lose, and so she
may smile at the section, except as far as the punishment of
felony is concerned. The clause, my Lord, will most exten-
sively affect young women of fortune (chiefly minors) who may
be deceived into marriage by profligate and abandoned suitors.
It is here that the tear of sorrow will trickle down the cheek
where the smile of content was wont to beans ; it is here that
misery will penetrate into that dornestic circle where happiness,
used to be the presiding" Deity!
The 16th section of the act specifies the requisites which are
to attend publication of banns on and after the Ist of Septem-,
ber next. Nothing, my Lord, can be urged against the pre-
cautions which the act has attempted to provide in this parti-
cular ; but what can be said to the tremendous—the sweeping
confiscations of property which will attend any false statements
or affidavits leading -to the publication of banns ? These, I"
take it, will be far more numerous than those which will be,
produced by licence ; and, as precisely the same arguments ap-'
ply to them as to those connected with marriages by licence, I
forbear to dwell further on so painful a subject. 'With respect,
my LOrd, to this part of the Bill, I cannot resist observingthat:
the 19th section of the act, which establishes the validity .of
marriages by banns, though the publication were made under
false or -assumed names, appears to render the publica-
tion perfectly useless. Correctness as to names, both chris-
tian and sirname, has hitherto been considered as of the
" essence of publication';" and surely this is reasonable;.
for if false names are to be aflopted, how , can a parent or
guardian exercise his right of forbidding the marriage at
the time of the publication of the banns ? What a cruel si-
tuation will an affectionate parent or provident guardian be'
placed in,—to be incapable of forbidding the banns through a
want of knowledge of the assumed names of the parties, and
then, when too late, obliged to witness his darling child or fa-
vourite ward, the object of his most fervent affection, or most
intense solicitude, dashed upon the stones of adversity by an,
imprudent marriage ! Although the act does not exactly use
the term, yet I should conceive that a " false description" of
the parties, 'or an erroneous place of residence stated in the
affidavit; would not, after solemnization, vitiate a marriage.—
If this be so, and the false description be joined to the false or
assumed names, how 'will it be possible in large and populous
parishes (the ces Which 'will be invariably 'resorted to by
parties having clandestine purposes in view) for parents and
guardians to exercise their right of dissent ?

„ .
SUICIDE.--Yesterday morning a young woman,
who lodged at the'house of Mr. Tho Mas, grocer, in Carlton-hill,.
was found in her bed4oom' 'suspended to the tester of the bed.
She was discovered about 9 o'clock, and as the body was quite
cold when cut down, it is supposed that some considerable time
had elapsed since thefatal'ect Was committed. Although she
had resided 'there no less 'than five.months -the persons of the
house are ignorant who she is; and the only. knowledge which
they possess respectinc, her is derived from the superscription of
a letter- Which she hadb lately written to her sister, and which
she sent by a young woman to the Post-Office. We cannot
learn that there existed any immediate cause which may be sup-
posed to have led her to adopt the desperate resolution of de-
strOying herself ; but from 'circumstances which occurred on
the preceding day it appears' eviitent that her mind was disturbed.
The young woman was a dressmaker, and was about 22 years
of age. A Coroner's Inquest will be holden on the body this
day—(Prighton Gaz'ette; Oct: 4.)
AN ATTEMPT AT StficiDE.—A young woman,
at No. 2, Weller's-place, St. Pancras, last Wed-
nesday tried to put an 'end to her existence, by
taking a 'dose of poison (what the poison was
she will not tell, but it is supposed to have been
opium). She soon became 'insensible, and life-
less to all appearance. Mr. Davies, a neighbour-
ing surgeon, was sent for,'who immediately poured
dOwn some medicine, through a tube introduced
into the nostril (the teeth being completely
locked), which soon produced vomiting. By a
little more medical assistance, she gradually: re-
covered the' use of her senses, and is now nearly
well. This was the second time that she at-
tempted to destroy herself.
ROBBERY INI-IyuE-pAßK.—Wednesday night,
as Mr. J. Allcock, a hard working man residing in
one of the cottages in Gardner's-lane,. Edgware-
road,' was 'coming home "through the Park from
his work at' Kensington, .two fellows whom he
had SOtne time noticed skulking about, made
suddenly-up to him and demanded his money.
Mr. Ai ttirtled out his pockets to-'shew them he
had no money ;• but the ruffians' insisted on . a
search, 'and 'robbed him of .'aeold: Silver • watch.
They told him to' procded on quietly, or they
would'return and silence him. They disappeared
through a OtAmp. of trees,