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 News 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,
has not brought the matter for-
but of late years he
ward. In 1851, 10 peers voted for the bill legalising
these marriages • in 1856, 19 ; in 1858, 29; and in 1859,
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
year, and 49 in the last. 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 1 Villiers, Knox, and
Lord Auckland. The advocates also cite
Lord Palmerston, the late Lord Denman, Robert
Southey, Cardinals Bellarm ine and Wiseman, the
Chief Rabbi of the Jews, Lord Herbert, Dr. Lush-
ington, Deans nook and Champneys, Archdeacon
Hare, Canons Dale and Miller, Mr. Binney, Dr.
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 " becauseshe
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 OP THE CUBAN INSURRECTION.

The .I(foniteur 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 Dulce
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 szLau.N RAILWAY "rmADLocx.,,

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 Etendard 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 dencand that
the leasing of the Belgian lines to the East of France
Company be 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.

THE STRIKE IN BELGIUM.

The International Society of Workmen is accused of
being the cause of the strikes in Belgium, as well as those
in Switzerland. The Minister of the Interior, in a vague
speech delivered before the Brussels Legislature, has charged
the society with promoting the disturbances at Seraing.
But no proof of the society's agency has yet been pro-
duced. The ironworkers put forth too much work and
too little pay as their ostensible pleas, and the colliers
appear to have complained of similar grievances. Accord-
ing to the Indtpendance Beige, most of the men engaged
in the original strike have resumed work. No concession
whatever has been gained. The attempt has been a com-
plete failure. The fresh strike, announced by telegraph
as accompanied by a fatal riot, is a separate affair.

THE FAMINE IN EASTERN RUSSIA.

The terrible scarcity in Livonia and Ebthouia is still
. . . _