The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-17 00:00:00

MARRIAGE WITH A DECEASED

WIFE'S SISTER.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Six,---The friends of the above Bill are now on the
alert, in the hope it will this session become the law
of the land. Your readers will recollect that, after

the most senseless opposition from the University of
Oxford and all the High Church bigots in the country,
who fought side by side to maintain the canons be-
queathed to us by the Roman Catholic Church, the
Bill passed the House of Commons with a large ma-
jority during the last session of Parliament.

It is rumoured that the Earl of St. Germans will

introduce the Bill early in this session to the House
of Lords. For the last two years this has been de-
layed until it was said to be too late. Why was it,
then, it was thus delayed ?—and Commonsense
answers that there was too much lukewarmness in some
of its supporters, whilst its enemies were more active
and united in throwing in every impediment against
it at every stage.
Who could have thought that Mr. Roebuck should
have been found fighting for the canons of the Roman
Catholic Church? Yet so it was. But with the aid
of the Liberal press, let us hope for the best. It will
at any rate be a curious thing to see, amidst the present
excitement, certain parties turn round to do battle for
the musty old canons of our Roman Catholic
ancestors.

Probably the present unpopularity of the Roman
Catholic priesthood may modify the fierce hatred of
the Universities against those persons who dare im-
pugn those remains of Popery which are left to us
as a legacy by the Romish Church! During the
discussions on this Bill, during the last year, it was
proved, over and over again, that there was not any
scriptural authority to prevent a man's marrying the
sister of his deceased wife.

Let us, then, hope for the best, and we shall soon
see the extent of the opposition against which we
shall have to contend; at any rate, the whole of the
Bench of Bishops are not opposed to the proposed new
Marriage Bill. There are two or three, perhaps the
most illustrious names amongst them, who will as-
suredly be its advocates in Parliament.
The canon law, according to Lord Coke, once
actually prohibited marriage between cousins, as
far as the seventh degree, and between spiritual re-
lations, such as sponsors and god-children, upon the
supposed authority of the Levitical code ; and to such
an extent was this error carried, that, according to
the same authority, a divorce might have been
obtained, on the ground that the husband had
stood godfather to his wife's cousin. Surely, then,
now is the proper time entirely to brush away these
furnish canons as mere cobwebs, and having nothing
whatever to do with the pure religion of the Gospel.
It is now, as I have before observed, generally
-known that marriage with a deceased wife's sister is
nowhere forbidden in the Scriptures; the words in
Leviticus which are referred to being—" Neither shalt
thou take a wife to her sister to vex her, to uncover
her nakedness, besides the other in her lifetime"
—(chap. xviii., v. 18); which, it must be understood,
expressly to confine the prohibition of such a mar-
riage to the lifetime of the wife; and, as there is no
consanguinity or blood relationship between the par-
ties, therefore there is no physical ground for the
prohibition.
It is well known that the similarity of person,
feelings, and habits frequently points out the sister as
the most natural successor of a deceased wife ; whilst
undoubtedly she is the fittest person to take charge of
the motherless children, who, under her care, are
rarely exposed to the proverbial harshness and injus-
tice of a stepmother.
The law as it now stands is producing the most
extensive demoralization among the lower classes; it
having become common, since the passing of the late
Act, for men to go through the ceremony of marriage
with a decelised wife's sister, and afterwards, when it
suits their purpose, to deny its legality and repudiate
s obligations.
The marriages thus prayed for are well known to
be tolerated, with or without dispensation, in almost
every other Protestant as well as Roman Catholic
country in Europe, and without producing any ill
effects, or diminishing in the slightest degree the
freedom of domestic intercourse, and therefore the
restrictions upon these marriages in our own statute-
book is a standing reproach upon the English nation ;
and proclaiming as it does to the whole world, that in
the opinion of the Legislature the people of this coun-
try are less under the control of religious and moral
principle than those of any other Christian country,
and need restraints upon their conduct which are
found to be unnecessary elsewhere.
These sentiments only require to be again circu-
lated prior to the approaching struggle in the House
of Lords to insure success, and the patient sufferers
under the prohibition will have then, I hope, to con-
gratulate each other that the new Marriage Bill is at
last become the law of the land.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
Regent's-park, Jan. 7, 1851. ALFRED.

Another fatal accident occurred on Tuesday morn-
ing at the railway station, Ingatestone, whereby John Wil-
son, an engine-driver of the company, unfortunately lost his
life. The driver of the goods-train got off his engine, it is
supposed to expedite the passing of the train, when, by some
extraordinary oversight, he got between the two trains. He
was giving some directions to the driver of the passenger-
train, when the engine of the goods-train caught him, and
jammed him between the trains, and, unfortunately crushed
him to death. Yesterday, at Ingatestone, an inquiry took
place respecting the death of the deceased, when the jury
announced, through their foreman, that they were of opinion
that the stoker of the goods engine was guilty of much blame
for moving his engine before he had the proper signals to
come on, and not seeing when he did so that the points were
clear. They, therefore, returned a verdict of " Manslaughter"
against Henry Hampshire.
EXPLOSION OF GAS.—Between twelve and one
o'clock yesterday, an explosion of gas took place, which was
nearly being attended with very serious consequences. It
appeared that the New Great Central Gas Company were
laying down some of their pipes in Moor-lane, City, when
through some accident, the gas was allowed to escape from
one of the mains. In the course of a short time, the back
premises of No. 20 were tilled with gas, which, being ig-
nited by some means as yet inexplicable, exploded with a
great noise. This explosion was immediately followed by
another in the shop of Mr. Bryant, a pork butcher, at No. 19,
which blew out nearly the whole of the shop front and win-
dow frames, as well as splintering the posts of the shop door.
Fortunately the shop and back premises were empty at the
time, so that no one received any injury.
The churchwardens of a parish in Yorkshire have
returned the following answer to the circular received by
them from the National Club;—" The churchwardens of
-- know their duty too well to require instructions how to
perform it from Lonikri clubs and preaching Dukes. There-
tore, after reading Mr. Bellamy's printed circular, they have
unanimously resolved to burn it, and have burnt it ac-
cordingly."
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every attempt at cure, although the first talent had been applied to,
and the most consummate skill had been exerted for that purpose, is
most satisfactorily shown in this report."—Preface.—Wertheim and
Co., Paternoster row ; Hughes, St. Martin-le-Grand ; and at the
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