The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-22 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, MARCH 22, 1858.

To-morrow the subject of legalising marriage with
a deceased wife's sister is to come again before
Parliament; and this time it ought not to be in
vain. All reasons that have hitherto been so
frequently urged remain in full force, but at the
present moment they are reinforced by peculiar
circumstances.

The position of Lord Dssont's Ministry is such I
as to make it both expedient and fair that they
should support the liberal view of the question.
Law Reforms are what the country expects from
them ; and a reform like that demanded in the
present case, is just the one by which they could
prove that they were free from ecclesiastical
bigotry, and were willing to remedy a legal
injustice, which has been felt to be a grievance by
1110110 one in almost every circle. Few, indeed,
t►re the persons who do not know an individual
who has been unjustly deterred from selecting the
most natural second mother for his bereaved
children, or who has not done it in despite of law
at home, or, as he has conceived, by escaping the
tyranny of Ecclesiastical Courts in free England,
through resorting to some foreign land. The new
Uinistry would assuredly do not only a most
righteous deed, but one which would gain them
righteous approbation if they carried a law defi-
nitely legalising the marriages now held to be
illegal or at least doubtful. They would suffer
no injury with their High Church connections,
eitloo these last could not secure better friends by
*ejecting them, while they would gain incalculably
in the esteem of the country.

We may remind Lord DESBY also, that there
is a special reason why his Ministry should grant
the boon we demand. Amongst his appointments
is that of a Noble Duke to an honourable post,
who, but for the marriage of a parent with his
wife's sister would have had no existence, and
but for Lord LYNDMURST's Act, passed especially
in his favour, might have had but an illegitimate
existence. The presence of that Noble Duke in
high office under Lord DERBY ought to be a
pledge that the present Cabinet is prepared to ren-
der to all that justice which enables the Duke to
take his rightful position in society and in the
Administration. Will the Earl allow it to be
said that a Nobleman, born of such a marriage as
is now arbitrarily forbidden, shall be prominent
in the high places of the land, while all hence-
teeth born of similar marriages, even though sup-
posed by their parents to have been contracted
legally,-are to be stigmalised as the offspring of
illicit connection Will Lord CHELMSFORD or
any of his colleagues venture, in the presence of
the Noble Duke, to stigmatise such marriages as
Irreligious or impure, or even as dishonourable ?
Or, if they did, must they not expect that lie
will resent such conduct by resigning all connection
with the Administration ? The Nobleman in ques-
tion, too, and those who appointed him, must remem-
ber that it was on the occasion of an Act passed,
as was well known, to aecure his moral rights,
that all other Englishmen were for the future de-
prived by law of the same rights. We should
rather say it was intended to deprive them, since
we hold that the statutes of the land, interpreted
sr, we trust, they will be on an appeal to the
Rouse of Lords, leave Englishmen free to con-
tract the marriages in question.
to
th.
Duke's
that we should not advert
that theoble
rnsirrim,:is position, if we could conceive
held to be not mer:l7.lwhi, he sprung was not
and good" in the sight
" holy, just,
honourable and pure-minded in that of all
n.
such second marriages as amongst th We regard
"I°4 honour-
able which men and women can contract. The
two sacred elements of tender regard to the de-
parted, attracting our affections to those who
loved her, and of parental longing that our
offspring should be in the charge of one "who
would naturally care for them," are generally
the
fretmoving causes to such a union on one aide
and., ,on the other side, a tendency to love one who
loved and blessed a sister's life, and to feel a
nhothert's interest in a departed sister's children,
aro the natural and generous reciprocal feelings.
Such nsarsiages spring from those pure affections