The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-11 00:00:00

MARRIAGE BILL.

Mr. STUART WORTLEY presented a large number
of petitions from various parts of Scotland in favour of
this Bill.

lir. COBDEN presented similar petitions from dif-
ferent parts of the metropolis.
Major BERESFORD presented several petitions
from 51 rural parishes in Essex against the Bill.
Alderman SIDNEY presented a petition from the
City in favour ef the Bill.
Colonel THOMPSON presented several petitions from
various parts of the metropolis in favour of the Bill.
Mr. FOX MAULE presented a petition from Glasgow
against the Bill.
Sir G. CLERK presented a petition from the Free
Kirk against the Bill.
On toe motion that the Bill be read a third time,
Mr. WALPOLE said he thought the Bill was revolt-
ing in principle, and could not fail to be fatal in its
consequences. It had been viewed hitherto in two
points of view; the first was a religious, and the second a
social point oview view; and be could not help expressing his
regret that this Bill had not been first introduced in the
House where the religious bearing of the question could
be fairly disposed of. In the absence, however,
of any decision from that branch of the Legisla-
ture, the House was bound to grapple with
both points. Well, then, in his opinion there were great
religious objections which ought to preclude them from
passing this Bill. It was doubtful whether it would
produce much good, while it was no less certain
that it must encourage immorality, and the safest
course for the House to adopt was to throw
out this Bill altogether. The prohibitions which the
Bill referred to were founded upon principles of morality
and sanctioned by the Scriptures. True, holy writ
only contemplated the male in commanding that a man
should not marry his brother's widow, but according to
all ecclesiastical authorities the prohibition ap-
plied just as much to the female as the
male. And it was natural that it should
do so. He would not put it positively that these mar-
riages were prohibited by the Deity, but deal with it as
a matter of doubt. Now, how were they to solve that
doubt? Why, only by referring to the past. For 15
centuries, then, these marriages had been prohibited by
every Christian community. Look to the
west, north, or south, and they found that this prohibi-
tion had never been departed from till the time
of the infamous Pope and debauchie Alexander the Sixth,
who granted a dispensation to the King of Portugal to
enable him to marry his deceased wife's sister. It
was a cardinal rule to take that course which admitted
of no doubt, and as it was more than doubtful that
these marriages were forbidden by the Creator, the
House ought to reject this Bill upon religious grounds.
He came now to the social part of the question. It was
said that this prohibition interfered with the exercise of
civil liberty, but before they could enter upon that
branch of the controversy, they must first decide what
liberty was—to what extent it should go, because
if they were to pass this Bill upon the plea of
liberty, why should it not for the same reason extend to
other cases of prohibition? The liberty, however, which
could sanction such a measure as this was
vicious in the extreme, and he hoped no such argu-
ment as that would weigh with the House in
disposing of this measure. Another ground urged in
favour of this Bill was, that it would give orphan fa-
=Wee better protection than they now enjoyed. Let
the House pause before it was led away by such an ar-
gument as that; let it remember th 3 mischief and vices
that would be encouraged if the husband were
taught to look with longing eyes and evil
passions at his wife's sister, or, on the other hand, if the
wife's sister were inflamed with the hope that she might
one day become the wife of her sister's husband. As
for conferring benefit upon the children, every body
knew that the feeling of a step-mother for her husband's
offspricg was not always of the warmest or most af-
fectionate character, while the situation of an aunt
gave birth to a charitable and motherly solicitude for the
welfare of a sister's orphan children. The Bill, in fact,
was frangbt with danger, it could only benefit a selfish

few. Pass it, and there would b 3 no cud to the in-
roads that would be attempted upon the
established laws. At present the law was re-
spected ; it protected society f. oat frightful
abominations, but deny the Divine rule that man and
wife were one in blood, and who should say where the
injury would stop? As they valued the social and reli-
gious institution of marriage—as they wished to see
society uncontaminated with a frightful vice, he
begged and implored the House, even at this
stage to stop the further progress of this Bill, and in or-
der to give the House an opportunity of doing so, he
should move that the Bill be read a third time this day
six months.
Colonel THOMPSON deprecated dealing with this
question upon theological grounds ; it only led to con-
fusion, and never gave satisfaction. He took issue
with those who contended that these marriages were
prohibited by the Levitical law, though he did not dis-
pute that until political laws were established they were
not tolerated. The moment, however, that political
laws obtained force, so far from such marriages as
these being forbidden, a rich man was bound to
wed his deceased brother's widow, while, in the
time of the Great Author of Christianity, our
Saviour did not dispute the legality of such marriages
when he was asked if there was any hope of salvation
for a woman who bad married seven husbands. The
fact was, in disposing of this question upon theological
grounds, they were dealing with phantoms, for
he could call to mind ao passage in the Scriptures or in
Montesquieu which declared that there was affinity of
blood between a man and his wife's sister. It was there-
fore ridiculous to tell him that these marriages were
incestuous. According to his judgment they would
benefit rather than injure society, and he should cer-
tainly vote for the third reading of this all.
Mr. M'NEILL would not enter into the religious con•
troversy which had been raised by the previous speakers,
he would simply confine himself to expounding the feel-
ings of Scotland upon this measure. They be
lieved it to be opposed not only to civil
but religious law, and if the House passed this Bill it
would be tantamount to telling them that their construc-
tion of the Scriptures was false. But why should these
marriages be forced upon the people of Scotland because
some 1,500 violators of the present law in England re-
quired it to be passed? It was one c f the arti-
cles of religious profession that these marriages
were prohibited by Divine law, and in the
face of that fact it would be an act of cruelty to force a
Bill of this nature upon Scotland. He therefore pro •
tested against the passing of the Bill, which ought to be
resisted upon every ground of principle, morality, and
expediency.
Mr. STUART WORTLEY said the Bill bad already
undergone such 13ng and deep discussions that
it was hardly necessary for him to trespass at
any length upon the attention of the House, but after
what had fallen from Hon. Members to-day it would be
culpab!e negligence on his part, if he altogether re-
mained silent. Now, if they refused to pass this Bill,
how were they to deal with the disastrous state of
things which the existing law had produced?
Up to 1835 the legality of these marriages
had given rise to none of those abuses about
which they had heard so much, and he really thought
before the House suffered this Bill to be negatived in its
last stage, they should require its opponents to suggest
some other alternative for removing the evils of the
existing law. His Hon. and D arned Friend the
Member for Midhurst admitted that the Divine law
upon the subject of these marriages was doubtful. Well,
if it were so, would it not be impious in Parliament to
pronounce, through the medium of an Act, what were
the intentions of the Deity? In this admitted state of
doubt would it not rather be much better to leave the
matter to the consciences of men, or bodies of men,
or of churches? So much, then, for the religious
portion of the subject. With regard to the social part
of the question, he really could not understand how this
change should lead to so much vice and evil, when he
remembered that in America, where these marriages
were general, they produced no such results. Now he
did not believe that the English women were less moral
than those of America, and, therefore, so far from think-
ing that this Bill would be the pr.cursor of profligacy
and vice, be was convinced it would promote the happi-
ness and moral welfare of large masses of the community.
He was then called upon to pay respect to the leople of
.Scotland—he had ever done so, and if he thought the
measure was repugnant to their feelings, he would not
persevere with it. But what was the fact? Wby the whole
of the measure having been made known t that dis-
criminating people, petitions had loaded the table of the
House from Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other parts of
Scotland in favour of the measure. He was disposed to
pay every attention to the wishes of the people of Scot-
land, and if the old law with reference to marriage in
that country was still carried cut, he should be content
to exclude it from the provisions of this Bill.
Mr. F. MAULE could not allow this Bill to pass its
last stage without objecting to its provisions being ex-
tended to Scotland. He also objected to it
as far as it related to England, because he
believed its provisions would lead to the worst results,
and would be a great encouragement to bigamy. The
Right Hon. Gentleman, in his opinion, might as
well have brought in a Bill to repell the laws
with respect to bigamy, because old soldiers were in
the habit of marrying wives abroad, forgetting that they
had been previously married at home. His
countrymen, to a man, were against the measure,
he coincided entirely with their feelings, and he there-
fore felt bound to vote against the third reading cf the
Bill.
Mr. C. ANSTEY supported the third reading of the
Bill.
Mr. WE3THEAD supported the Bill.
After some observations from Mr. MOORE,
Strangers were then ordered to withdraw, and the
House divided, when there appeared—

For the amendment ... 134
Against it ... ... 144
bi..jority against the amendment —lO
The amendment was consequently lost, and tha Bill
was then read a third time.

On the question that the Bill do pass,
Mr. OSWALD moved the addition cf a clause, to
;he effect that the Bill should not extend to Scotland.

The House divided upon the introduction of the
clause, when there appeared— _ __

For the clause
Against it
Majority against the clause ... —7
It being past Six o'clock, the House adjourned without
the question of the passing of the Bill being put.

••• 130
.. ... 137

_MASSACRES AT THE SANDAL
WOOD ISLANDS.
(From the Hobart Town Herald.)
In the Herald of the 12th instant an account was
given of the voyage of the Elizabeth schooner to
New Caledonia, and the account brought by that
vessel, led to the supposition that not only had
the party at Mr. Fitzgerald's beche-la-mer fish-
ing establishment, at the north end of the island,
been driven away or massacred, but that the French
Mission establishment, at Yengin, or Beladeh, had
shared the same fate. The Mary Anne schooner,
which arrived yesterday, brought further accounts,
hich we regret to state are of a most melancholy
character. The superintendent of Mr. Fitzgerald's
establishment, Mr. David W. Miller, arrived by the
Mary Anne, and by him we have learned the follow-
ing particulars :
Feejee Islands, 1849.—0 n the 10th July we sailed
from Cantate Harbour in the Mary cutter, for Balade
Harbour, New Caledonia, in company with the
schooner Minerva and the Sir John Franklin. We
arrived there after a passage of 21 days. On the
12th September, the Mary returned to Balade to look
for the Sir John Franklin, which vessel she ex-
pected to find had returned there from Sydney. On
arriving there Capt. Roby, of the Mary, sent a boat
with Robert Hall, an American, and a native of
Rotumah to procure water. On getting up the river
they were attacked by natives and killed. After this,
two natives came on board the Mary, under pretence
of selling fish ; the cook went down into the hold to
bring up some yams to exchange for the fish, and the
captain's attention having been drawn to the fish in
the canoe belonging to the natives, they split his head
with a tomahawk; then they killed the cook as he
was coming out of the hold. The only man now left
alive o'3 board the Mary, was a Rotumah man, whom
the natives would not eat, because of a disease in his
eyes which rendered him almost blind.
They cooked the bodies of the captain and crew
ashore, and ate them, after which they burnt the
vessel to the water's edge. This is the statement of
the Rotumah man, who managed to make his escape
from the cannibals to Yengin, and who related the
in person, and
facts. to Mr. Miller, who now takes up the narrative
:—On the ewBrtihtes
Sept.,fr from rn. esta-
blishmentt.ihtzaleinrgaldh'esardof
the loss of the Mary, Mr. Fitzgeraldth sailed for Sydney,
I being left in chare of
John
ehbelpe-la-mer expedition.
—the party consisting
(an Ea't Indian)umaOh man,
Blake (an American),
nineteen Feejee men, one Rotumah and
.Abra-
hslempteSmilbveerr 20, the natives bro.ugvhetrnintefh;mmeorgnriasngs
for
friendly terms.
tassembled,k and
to our
thatching, and appeared on
About noon, from 300 to 400 of thyem
keepa
num-
ber em
rushed upon us with spears and clubs. We
arms, with which we were enabled to keep
off till about 4 P.M., and two being killed and
wounded, they retired, John Blake, the Ameri-
can, refusing to fight, and holding a correspondence
with the natives. I took his gun from him and gave it
to one of the Fejee men. The natives continued quiet
until the 11th of October, when a large body of 800
or 900 natives assembled and commenced an attack
on our settlement, which they maintained with
great determination from eleven in the morning
till sunset. One of the Feejee men was wounded
with a spear, and I had several very narrow escapes.
The natives had surrounded our but, and were
calling out to John Blake to set fire to it. Several
of the natives being killed and a number wounded,
we made a rush at them, and shot their principal
chief, on which they all ran away. On the follow-
ing day, finding that our Feejee natives had
lost heart, and were constantly crying, we
thought it was best to prepare to leave, as
we could not have stood another encounter
with the natives, our ammunition being nearly ex-
pended, and on the 14th of October we took the boats
and started for Yengin. Having yams and water we
pulled up the coast, followed by about 200 natives,
until we arrived at Balade. We then landed on a
sand bank to recruit, where the natives attacked and
obliged us to retake to the boats, one of which being
very leaky we left behind.

We then pulled to the south-east, the wind being
contrary and blowing strong; during the night I
missed one of the boats, and ran to the lee side of a
small island where there were no natives. We were
obliged to remain here for four days, it blowing and
raining very hard. The weather having moderated,
we pursued our course to Yengin, and during the pat-
sage picked up two natives from the missing boat the
others having most likely been cast ashore and taken
to the bush. _ _

On the 25th of October we arrived at Yengin, after
being eleven days in the boats, and were kindly re-
ceived by the French missionaries, and remained with
them until the arrival of the schooner Mary Anne,
when the Bishop granted us a passage to Anatam, from
which place Captain Padden was kind enough to give
me a passage to Sydney.
I do not think the natives would have attacked us
bad they not been encouraged to do so by the man
Blake, who stole a boat and deserted from the schooner
Vanguard a short time previously, and had been
living with the natives since.
COOK'S BAY, ERao➢iANGA.—Extract from the log
of the Rover's Bride, dated 11th December, 1849 :
Light breeze ; schooner Rosetta in company. At
7 A.M. lowered the boat, and sent the first and second
mate to trade for sandal wood at Mallaby and Bun-
kett, the vessel cruising between those places. At two
r.m. Mr. Banner, first mate of the Rosetta, came on
board, and stated that he had some suspicions that
one of my boats was taken by the natives, he having
been trading at Effoo, a place about two miles distant
from Bunkett, and that about noon the natives of
that place gave over trading, and informed him that
the Bunkett tribe had taken a boat and killed the
crew of five men. The Effoo natives then went in
the direction of Bunkett, taking with them their
tomahawks and other weapons. On which Mr. Banner
returned to the Rosetta, and informed Captain Ed-
wards. In the meantime Mr. Dill, who had been
trading at Bunkett, and had seen the Rover's Bride
there trading with the natives on very friendly terms,
went back to the Rosetta for more trade, and on his
return to Bunkett found no natives but two, who
brandished their spears, and said, "No wood
to-day.' The Rover's Bride's boat was gone, and
Mr. Dill having returned to the Rosetta, and in-
formed Captain Edwards of his trip, that gentleman
immediately sent Mr. Banner to inform Captain
Bell of the Rover's Bride: Captain Bell immedi-
ately made a signal to his other boat at Mallaby to
return to the ship, and on her arrival he dispatched her
with two extra hands, in company with the Rosetta's
boat, to ascertain the facts. On their return at 7 P.M.
they made the following statement:—When the boats
arrived at Bunkett the crews landed, leaving one
man in charge of each. O❑ examinig the beach they
found it strewed with portions of hair and patches of
blood; they then proceeded up the river as far
as possible in the boat, and, on landing,
discovered one ton of sandal wood besmeared
with blood, near which was the stump of a tree
literally covered with blood, portions of flesh,
hair, &c., and which from its appearance seemed to
have served the purpose of a block for this human
butchery. Near the stump was found a pistol belt and
canvas pistol-bag ; no natives were seen, and not a
vestige of the boat save the anchor-buoy. Finding
that nothing further could be ascertained they took
the sandal-wood and returned to the vessel. Captain
Bell then consulted with Captain Edwards, and it
was deemed best for the Rover's Bride to proceed to
Anatam, and the Rosetta to continue cruising about
Cook's Bay for five days, in case anything further
should transpire. On the Sunday prior to the mas •
nacre the ehief of the Bunkett tribe was on board the
Rover's Bride, received some presents, and appeared
on the most friendly terms. Bunkett is a small boat
harbour and creek, on the south entrance of Cook's
Bay, Erromanga. The following is a list of the
names of the men killed:—Mr.. Wm. Jordan, first
mate, of Berwick-on-Tweed; John Allen, of Liver-
pool ; Frederick Gardener, of London ; John Bur-
rows, of Glasgow; and Edward Ward, of Bristol,
seamen.