The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-22 00:00:00

It is a Hindu pretext, but a Muhammadan motive.

That which has rendered the mutiny possible is the
separation between the European officers and the
Sepahis. Tue officers are better men, both morally and
intellectually, than they were forty years ago, and,
as a body, unrivalled for integrity and for both
military and administrative talent, for the simple
reason that our countrymen have nowhere such a
carriers ouverte aux talents as in India. Why,
then, have they less influence ? Why is the
army in • a worse condition than formerly ? Because
the Government have, Ist, by their abAird system of
centralization, deprived offloers of all power of reward
or punishment, so that even Sir Charles Napier, when
Governor in Sinde, could not punish a Bengal Sepal
under his orders : and 2ndly, by the pernicious inter•
ference of civilians, from the Goveraor-General down-
wards, in purely military affairs.
The officers lose all heart ; the Sepahi loses all re-
spect. If the Sepahis were again made dependent on
their officers, if the latter had the power of rewarding
and punishing, their old intercourse, influence, and
affection would revive. Personal influence is the only
sure hold we have on the Indian army, and this has of
late been systematically discouraged.

As regards the much-discussed question of inter-
ference with the prejudices of caste, she gives her
opinion that this pretext is made the most of by
the waives.

Great ignorance prevails among Europeans as to what
really constitutes and affects caste ; and consequently
they yield when they should be firm, and are incautious
and obstinate where should yield. A native will often
allege his caste as a pretest for not doing something
which he imagines contrary to his dignity.
Nothing affects a man's caste but eatini, drinking, or
smoking. Brahmans and Raj puts will and do dig, make
bricks, build, and perform any other manual labour;
but of course, if the plea is successful, his caste becomes
more and more delicate and exacting. If the objector's
services were Quietly ili.pensed with, no difficulty would
be made by his successor It is owing to this
ignorance that Bengal Sepahis have been allowed to
refuse any duty they had no fancy for, on the plea of
caste; and it was this which, on the occasion of the
above mutiny, led Lord Dalhousie solemnly to war❑ all
officers against "interfering with the religion of the
the natives," not understanding that it was a question of
police, not of religion.
As affording a glimpse into domeqic life in India
some years since, the work is an interesting nar-
rative, while recent events lend importance to
anything calculated to throw light on the national
characteristics. No doubt, its this cheap and com-
modious form, Mrs. Mackenzie's w'crk will have a
large circulation.

TIIE DIVORCE AND MATRIMONIAL
CAUSES BiLL.

We have received a copy of this important bill an
amended in committee of thewhole House of Commonr,

read a third time, and sent up yesterday evening for the
concurrence cf the House of Lords, in which assembly it
originated. The bill now contains 66 clauses. It puts
an end to the jurisdiction of all the ex sting ecclesiastical
courts, as regards questions of marriage (except as far
as relates to the granting of marriage licenses), and
enacts that all pending suits in causes and matters
matrimonial shall be transferred to, dealt with, and
decided by the new Court of Marriage and Divorce,
as if the same had been therein originally instituted.
The new " Court for Divorce and Matrimonial
Causes" (so styled by the bill) will be a court of re-
cord and court of the Lord High Chancellor, the Chief
Justices, and the Chief Baron of the three super
c,,urts of common law, and the judge of the Court of
Probate constituted by an Act of the present session.
Decrees of divorce a mensd et thoro will henceforwrrd
cease, and instead thereof, the new court will pronounce
I a sentence of "judicial separation," which will have
the same force and effect. The judge of the Court of
Probate will be styled the "Judge Ordinary" of the
New Court of Divorce, an f have full authority to Lear
all matters arising therein, by himself or with one or
more of the other judges, his colleagues, except petitions
for the dissolution or annulling of marriages, and
applications for new trials of questions or issues
before a jury, bills of exception, special verdicts and
special cases. Petitions for the dissolution of marriages,
and the other excepted cases, must be heard by
three judges at the least, of which the Judge Ordi-
nary to be one. The court will sit in such place in Lon-
don, or in the county of Middlesex, as the Queen in
Council may from time to time appoint. Advocates or
proctors now practising in the. ecclesiastical courts, and
all barristers, attorneys, and solicitors entitled to prac-
tise in the superior courts at Westminster, will be entitled
to practise in the new Court of Divorce and Matrimonial
Causes. A sentence of "judicial separation" (having the
effect of the old divorce from bed and board) may be ob-
tained under the bill, either by the husband or the wife,
on the ground of adultery, cruelty, or causeless desertion
for two years and upwards. Applications for such se-
parations are to be made by either party by petition to
the court, or to any judge of assize held in the
locality where the parties reside or last resided, or
to the Court of Quarter Session', or to the Recorder
of the city or borough in which the parties are or
were last resident. The local authorities thus pointed
out will have full power to receive such applications and
to decree a "judicial separation ;" they may also order
alimony for the wife. An appeal, however, will lie to
the Judge Ordinary of the regular central court from
the decrees of these local authorities, but no such appeal
will 'stay the interim, executi, n of the order for separa-
ration. Wives deserted by their husbands may at any
time apply to a police magistrate, or to the petty
sessions, for an order to protect property earned by
themselves, or of which they may have become possesbsedus•
since the secession of their husbands, against their
ara.
band or their husband's creditors. Decrees of
asoeP,
or
tion obtained during the absence of the housb
Wives
wife may be reversed on application and lq
consideredafezites soles
"judicially separated"
as regards questions of wpirlio
property,
for the temporary and
contract and suing.
muchmarried couples. But it is
ber y:,and for purposes of
conditional separation of
bill tbat petitions for an entire
further enacted by the.n
lwt
eer
yer
eort quote
of fromade theery
to the Court of Divorce,
and absolut e,dissolut o oohfnttsl it
hue
by
eget
rhroreui acngrdei
mtmheaaoytf
adultery,btheeprwe i
feen eaodar
forfeited her conjugal rights
guiltysinceeesntuous adultery, tthxatt
cominitted in the conjugal residence, or of bigamy with
coupled with such cruelty as, without adultery,
adultery, or of rape, or of sodomy, or of bestiality, or of
rhYave entitled the wife to a divorce a mensa et thoro,'
othfethheubsiblrofh‘a‘
oawrdououlfltceladultery, coupled with desertion without reasonable
excuse, for two years or upwards " " Incestuous adul-
tery will he taken:to mean adultery by a man with
a woman with whom, if his wife were dead, he could
not lawfully contract marriage by reason of her being
within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity oraffinity.
Adulterers may be, made co-respondents to petitions for
divorce, and contested matters of fact may be tried, if the
parties insist, by a jury. If the Court of Divorce be satis-
fied that there has been no collusion, condonation, or
connivance, and that the charge of the petitioner is proved,
the marriage will be absolutely and finally 4r dissolved,