The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-30 00:00:00

MARRIAGE WITH A DECE SED WIFE' S

SISTER.

Much misapprehension prevails respecting the
moral and social estimation in which the thousands
of marriages with a deceased wife's sister existing
among us, ought to be held. Many persons, with-
out due consideration, confound an honourable mar-
riage, from which legal sanction is wrongfully with-
held, with the case of a man and woman who might
at any moment be lawfully married, but who evince
the immorality of their motives by living in illicit
intercourse without marriage. The two cases have
no resemblance whatever. The one has all the
essentials of holy matrimony as divinely instituted,
the other has none. An invalid marriage is not
necessarily a dishonourable one. Owing to the
confusion and uncertainty introduced into our mar-
riage law by ecclesiastical interference, circum-
stances have often occurred to deprive pure and
blameless matrimonial unions of the sanction of
law. in the reign of Henry VIM it was a capital
felony for a priest to marry ; yet priests did marry,
and Parliament afterwards made their marriages
good. Tho validity of the marriages of Quakers
and Jews in England before 1837 was so doubtful,
that an act was passed in 1818 to declare them
valid. Yet persons so married were not therefore
held in any the less esteem. And recent English
history, in the case of the late Duke of Sussex,
affords a still more notable example to the same
effect, showing that marriage may even be contrary
to the express words of an English statute, and
therefore indisputably null and void, and the issue
illegitimate by English law; it may be that all
who were present at the ceremony incurred the
severe penalties of aprcemunire, by which they were
liable to imprisonment, and the loss of all they pa-
sessed ; and yet, such marriage, no: being contrary
to the divine law, may, under the circumstances, be
allowable I it may be innocently and honourably
contracted"; sacredly binding on the parties; re-
ligiously observed; productive of domestic happi-
ness ; recognised as morally pure by virtuous so-
ciety ; esteemed worthy of the highest rank of
nobility by the Sovereign, the fountain of honour ;
and sanctioned without reserve by the most un-
blemished court in the world.

The Duke's case was this. By the 'Royal Mar-
riage Act (12 Geo. 111., c. 11), any marriage of a
member of the Royal Family, contracted without
the consent of the Sovereign, signified under the
great seal, and declared in council, is pronounced
null and void to all intents and purposes whatso-
ever, and all who may be present, or aiding and
abetting, are exposed to the severest penalties.
Under these circumstances, his Royal Highness
Augustus Frederick, the late Duke of Sussex, Earl
of Inverness, &c., without the required consent of
the then reigning Sovereign, married the Right
Hon. Lady Cecilia Letitia Underwood, eldest sur-
viving daughter of the second Earl of Arran, such
marriage being legally null and void.
This marriage, notwithstanding its manifest ille-
gality, was not condemned by the people of Eng-
land as immoral. It is unnecessary to say that his
Royal Highness, in an eminent degree, retained the
esteem and admiration of all classes, to the close of
a long life, and the following extracts from the
Court Circular will show the social estimation in
which this legally void marriage has been held :
March 30, 1840.—The Queen has been pleased to direct
letters patent to be passed under the great seal, granting the
dignity of a Duchess of the United Kingdom to the Right
Honourable Lady Cecilia Underwood (eldest surviving
daughter of Arthur Saunders, second Earl of Arran,
by Elizabeth, his third wife, daughter of Richard
Underwood, Esq., late of Dublin), by the title of Duehess
of Inverness. Thursday, April 9th, 1840.—Her Majesty
held a Drawing-room. Among the company were :
Duchesses : Inverness, Buccleuch, Somerset, Northumber-
land, Roxburghe, Dowager Roxburghe. Mondays April 13th
1840.—Lord and Lady Dinorben entertained at dinner his
Royal Highness the Duke:of Sussex and her Grace the
Duchess of Inverness. The parties invited to them were
their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Capua,
and many of the elite of the nobility. Monday, August
10th, 1840.—Her Majesty gave a dinner party in the even-
ing. The company consisted of their Majesties the King
and Queen of the Belgians, their Royal Highnesses the
Duchess of Kent, the Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of
Sussex, the Duke of Cambridge, and the Duchess of In-
verness. Wednesday, March 6th, 1861.—The Duchess of
Inverness entertained their Royal Highnesses the Duchess
of Cambridge and the Princess Mary at dinner, at Ken-
sington Palace. A select party were invited to meet ther
royal highnesses."
It is, therefore, matter of historical record, that
a union legally void may have the character of
honourable matrimony, and such is the verdict
which English society pronounces on the marriages
with a deceased wife's sister which are every day
taking place. The representatives of the nation
have thirty times voted them lawful, and prelates
and clergy hold them no disqualification for the
communion of the church.