The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-17 00:00:00

MARRIAGE WITH A DECEASED WIFE'S SISTER

To the gentlemen who want to marry their sisters-
in-law money is no object. They have occupied
one-half of a Page of the Daily Xews with an
advertisement setting forth various facts and
opinions which make for their view of the question.
Mr. Thomas Chambers is the hero of this reform,
but of late years he has not brought the matter for-
ward. In 1851,16 peers voted for the bill legalising
in 1856, ;in 1858, 22; and in 1859,
these marriages •
39, so that the learned member can boast of some
progress, whereas the opponents of the measure
remain stationary, having
numbered 50 in the first
the last.
year, and 49 in The bishops are credited
with the rejection of the bill, but there is hope even
of them, for whereas only 1 voted for the bill in
1851, 4 voted for it in 1859. Eight bishops (3 of
whom are now dead) have spoken for the bill—
Archbishops Tait, Whately, and Musgrave; Bishops
Thirlwall, Bickersteth, Villiers, Knox, and
Lord Auckland. The advocates also cite
Lord Palmerston, the late Lord Denman, Robert
Southey, Cardinals Bellarmine and Wiseman, the
Chief Rabbi of the Jews, Lord Herbert, Dr. Lush-
ington, Deans Hook and Cliampneys, Archdeacon
Dale and Miller, Mr. Binney, Dr.
Hare, Canons
Bunting, Dr. Adam Clarke, Sir D. Brewster, Dr. Tre-
gellis, and the States of Prussia, Russia, Saxony, and
Saxe-Coburg as witnesses in their favour. They
point, moreover, to the fact that, under the Legacy
Act, the-sister-in-law (or, as they prefer to call her,
the wife's sister) pays ten per cent, duty " becausesho
is a stranger in blood." By the way, how comes it
to pass that these reformers never seek to legalise
the marriage of a widow with a deceased husband's
brother ? What is sauce for the gander should
also be sauce for the goose.

FOREIGN NOTES.
SUCCESS OF THE CUBAN INSURRECTION.
The Moniteur has received a despatch from Madrid con.
firming the bad news from Cuba. The assistance furnished
by the United States is turning the scale. General Duke
has announced that all sailors found guilty of violating
the neutrality laws will be treated as pirates. If this edict
be strictly carried out, the Spanish Government will
soon get into trouble. The brig Mary Lowell, captured
by a Spanish war-ship, has been condemned as a prize,
notwithstanding the protests of the British Consul.

THE BELGIAN RAILWAY " DEADLOCK."
It is now certain that the French and Belgian Govern-
ments have not been able to come to terms respecting the
railway affair. We are in a position to state the precise
nature of this difference. The Belgian Government has
made a formal proposition to the effect that a simple ser-
vice convention be made between the East of France and
the two Belgian Companies. Questions of tariff, transit,
and material shall be regulated on mutually advantageous
terms. But the three companies are to remain separate,
and the treaties for leasing the Belgian lines to the French
company must fall through. The Etoidard acknowledges
that this is the Belgian proposition, but adds that itcannot
be accepted by France. Its terms must undergo " pro-
found modifications." A counter proposal will be put
forth by which the French Government will demand that
the leasing of the Belgian lines to the East of France
Company he permitted. The Emperor will, it seems,
persist in dictating to King Leopold on a question of
domestic policy, and Europe may probably witness another
disgraceful oppression of the weak by the strong.