The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-19 00:00:00

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sow, waiving for the present all consideration of
the general principles involved in this decision,
and of what are likely to be its practical effects,
thiS judgment appears-most-unjust -to the wife-uf
M. de X The father of this man knew that
he had gone to England to get married; the Son
himself positively asserted in 'his letters that the •
father consented- to . the match ; nay, all Pau
envied the good fortune of the successful Cheri,
and awaited injoyfullhiffer -Of expectation the
arrival of the wealthy Englisfr heiress. Both the
father and pon, too, were lawyers, and therefore
kuew what formalities were required by the French
law to make the marriage binding. Either, then,
we must suppose that the whole family of de
X---- had deliberately plotted to entrap this girl
into an illegal Marriage, in order that they might
rob her of the £4,000 they supposed she had, or -if
we acquit them of any intention to commit such an
act of villany, we must conclude that Messieurs de
X- thought enough had been done to coniply
with the provisions of the law, and that the plea
they afterwards set up only suggested itself to
their minds when they wanted a pretext to disem-
barrass themselves °flan impostor. Although, there-
fere, the law- may not have been strained by the
Court, it is evident that, whichever of these Buppo-
fAtionx is correct; the Englishwoman is grossly in-
jured by the judgment. It is impossible not to see
that the Court was -strongly influenced by the
history of the' deceit that had been practised
by the wife. But, if the civil tribunals of France
propose to themselves to dissolve all marriages
which are contracted on false pretences, they have
undertaken a work which Hercules himself might
despair of accomplishing. What are false pre-
tences ? Are false hair and false teeth included in
the category ? Will a mate who has married a
woniantebelieVes to be an -angel, Mid who finds -
out before-the honeymoon is over that she has got
a devil of a temper, be entitled to plead for a dis-
solution of marriage ? The preliminary step. of
neglecting to obtain the father's consent is easy ;
and in our opinion a husband has as much right to
complain that his wife has deceived him in regard
to her looks as that she has deceived him in regard
to her- fortune.
But this M. de X----- deserved the sympathst off
the Court no more than a thief does who has lad
his own pocket picked while he was attempting to
rob somebody else. It is difficult to tell whether
he is more ridiculous-on account of •his silly pride-
of family or on. account of his fortune-hunting pro-
pensities. He has both in full measure, and both
have been rightly punished. When one remembers
how often the English are reproached with their
exclusive habits and their reverence for aristocratic
distinctions, one is amused to find that even in
democratic France the grandmother of M. de
X-- thinks it necessary to inform his intended
wife that his family is a very old one, indeed
one of the best noble families in that part
of the country ;. his grandfather was physician
"
to. the King, and his uncle was an officer in the
body guard of Charles X. when he Was Monsieur
the, Brother -of the- King." ven; M. Brunier,
thetotel keeper, is
,of opinion that " from such an
ignoble class of society" as Miss B- belonged to,
" nothing but horrible ideas could emanate ;" and
E
Cheri himself sends his wife a " little book" to
make known to her all about his family, and suf.'.
fers almost as much: from the knowledge that lie..
has married a servant as from the loss of the pra-a
pert y. It is as a fortune hunter, however, that he
.excels., An excuse has been made -for- him that he.
loved. his wife -mbre• than her money because he
wrote her an affectionate letter when. he_wanted to
get out of prison ; but h's subsequent eondii-et ihows
hini in-his true colours.- The fact. is, he thought
MiSs B 's £4,006 would do nicely to clear off
the, inciimbtances on Ms little estate of £lOO a-
: year, and would help him to attain sooner than he
otherwise would that dignity of sub-prefect which
is the highest object- of his ambition. So he
plunged headlong into- matrimony with whom he
supposed to be an heiress, and found that lie had
caught a servant girl. But Miss Ellen B did
nothing more than turn his own guns upon the
enemy. We do not defend the morality of the
action ' • but we arc decidedly of opinion that it
seriedhim right,

The French court, -however, ought not to have
considered these circumstances at all ; the ques-
tion they had to deCide was-purely a legal one ;
awl we cannot but fear that their decision •in
this case will give rise to great abuses. It
is hard that when a Frenchman' enters into
what he knows to :be- an illegal marriage with
a foreigner, the innocent wife should suffer for
his act. Look what encouragement this
judgment gives to designing adventurers. Put the
ease that the young:Englishwoman had really been
possessed-of £4,000, and- that the husand, after
getting the money ints.his own hands, had come
before the oourt and pleaded that his fatherhad not
given his consent to the marriage. If his plea were
proved, It decree would necessarily be pronounced
in his favour. The hint, we hope, will be sufficient
to English parents, who have daughters likely to
be fascinated by interesting foreigners. It is, an.
Unpleasant predicament for a lady to be a wife ac-
cording to English law and a single woman accord-
ing to French law ; yet, unless precaution is taken,
many English girls may be placed in this position.
The high-minded and philosophic Brunier writes to
his friend M. de X . " after a residence of six-
teen vears in England, I have learned of what stuff
English parents and their marriageable daughters
are made. You cannot imagine what these two
sets of beings are capable of doing—the one for the
sake of money, and the otherto get hold of a hus-
band." It never occurred to M. Brunier to doubt
that it was perfectly honourable in his friend to
make a prey of any English heiress who should be
foolish enough to accept him. There are too many
foreigners like M. de X and M. Brunier; and
we trust that, whatever English ladies " are Capa-
ble of. doing," they will be on their guard in future
against such men, lust they share the fate, with
sharing, the follies, of Miss Alice, Ellen B