The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-05 00:00:00

PRESBYTERIAN MARRIAGES.

The very serious difficulties lately raised touching
the legality of marriages celebrated by ministers of
the Presbytery, in the north and other parts of Ire-
land, will probably be fresh in the recollection of our
readers. It having become necessary to test the va-
lidity of such marriages by an appeal to the Iri-h
Bench, the venerable judges of the sister kingdom--
(to the no small dismay of all persons comprised in
the Presbyterian connexion, and the surprise of most
people in England who had interested themselves in
the progress and decision of the question referred to
the arbitration of those learned persons)—concurred in
announcing their solemn judgment to be " that such
marriages, so performed by Presbyterian ministers,
would not be recognised as valid by the law of this
r9lm." A Bill, having for its object to remedy this
serious an'maly in our general Marriage Law in fu-
ture, and a Bill having retractive operation to validate
and confirm all de facto marriages of this nature
already celebrated, were the two measures which it
was judged necessary to propound, on this matter, for
the sanction of Parliament. There could be little
difficulty or hesitation in dealing with the latter,
which every principle of equity and policy appeared
equally to call for. The former measure, it was an-
ticipated, could not be devised without considerable
embarrassment as to the best methods of obviating
the recurrence of similar difficulties to those which
had just been brought under the consideration of our
Courts of Law, and, by appeal, under the review of
the House of Lords. These anticipations were fully
verified in the subsequent deliberations, long and con-
flicting as they were, of the Peers upon the Marriages
(Ireland) Bill. A copy of this Bill (as amended by
the Lords' Committee), entitled "An Act for Mar-
riages in Ireland ; and for registering such mar-
riages" (brought from the Lords on the 10th instant,
and ordered to be printed by the Commons on the
29th), is now before us.
This Bill consists of eighty-five clauses and seven
schedules. The preamble recites the expediency "of
amending the law of marriages in Ireland, and pro-
viding the means for a register of the marriages of
her Majesty's subjects," there. The want of a well-
digested, faithful, and carefully-preserved marriage
register is one of the most serious inconveniences
under which organised society at this time of day and
in this kingdom can labour. Such a register is
essential, as among the best authenticated documents
to govern the right descent of titles and honours, the
representation of property, &c., &c., in litigated cases.
Clauses 1 to 16 enact that after the 31st of March,
1845, all rules prescribed by the rubric concerning
the solemnisation of marriages shall continue to be
observed, except in the cases after provided for in this
Bill, by every person in holy orders of the United
Church of England and Ireland, who shall solemnize
any marriage in Ireland. The giving notice to the
registrar, and the issue of his certificate for
marriage without license, may be used, and shall
stand in lieu of publication of banns, to
all intents and purposes, wherein such publi-
cation shall have been made, provided the
marriage be solemnised within his district, by whom
the certificate is issued; seven days notice to be
given to the Surrogate before any license granted, not
being a special license, the new rights of the Arch-
bishop of ARMAGII and his successor, and his and their
proper officers to grant marriage licenses—and mar-
riages by any Roman Catholic priest which may be
now lawfully celebrated, nor the registration of any
Roman Catholic chapel being in any wise affected—
but remaining, on the contrary, unaltered by this
Bill. Marriages between parties, one or both of
them Presbyterians, may be solemnized in certified
meeting-houses between eight in the morning
and two in the afternoon, in presence of
two or more credible witnesses, and with
open doors, always provided there be no lawful im-
pediment in the way of such marriages—by license
from a Presbyterian minister or by banns. Where
both parties are Presbyterians, banns shall be pub-
lished in presence of a Presbyterian minister, in the
Presbyterian meeting-house, certified as above, fre-
quented by the congregation whereof the parties
are members; six days' previous notice, at the
least, to be given to the Presbyterian mi-
nisters before the publication of banns. Each
presbytery is to appoint a minister to certify
meeting-houses; such minister to send to the regis-
trar a certificate signed in duplicate by him of the
particulars of every such marriage (after a form in the
schedule) i the registrar will remit tb.rn n.,;—
trar-General, who shall cause such meeting-house to
be entered in a book, to be kept for this purpose, at
the general registry-office. Every minister so
appointed and approved is authorised to grant licenses
for marriages in any Presbyterian meeting-house so
certified, being within his presbytery after a certain
form presented in one of the schedules ; but he shall
previously to exercising the power give security to
the Registrar-General in 1001. for the due and faith-
ful execution of his office. Before any, such license
is granted by such minister, one of the two parties
to be married must appear before him to take an oath
in the usual forms required by the existing Marriage
Act (as to the absence of legal impediment by reason
of consanguinity or otherwise ; and, in cases
of minors, the written consent of parents or other
lawful guardians duly appointed, &c.) The
applicant for license to produce from the minister of
the congregation, whereof he or she is a member, a
certificate in the form set forth in Schedule D, which
certificate is to be in all cases fairly copied by the
officiating minister into his "Marriage Notice Book."
A caveat may be lodged with the minister against
grant of a license in any case, duly signed by party
entering the same. Marriages of Quakers and
Jews may continue to be solemnised after manner
respectively observed with regard to them under the
present
law. Notice of every intended marriage
must be given to the registrar of the district, who
will enter all such notices in a book, and afterwards
publish them, and after expiration of seven days, if
marriage is to be solemnised by license, or twenty-
one days, if without license, the registrar shall, on
demand, grant his certificate of notice, fee ls.
Clauses 17 to 32 regard the forms of the certificates
to be furnished, and state in what manner certificates
for marriage by license are to be distinguishable from
other certificates; when the issue of registrar's cer-
tificate may be forbidden; who shall give consent
where parties are under age, and who, in the case of
incapacity in such parties, every registrar empowered
to grant licenses for marriages, or any buildings re-
gistered within his particular district, but such license
shall not extend to marriages to be solemnised ac-
cording to the rites of the United Church of England
and Ireland in any church or chapel thereof. The
certificate of the applicant's appearance before regis-
trar to be produced before grant of license ; end no
marriage, except by license, to be solemnised until
twenty-one days after entry of notice; and where
such notice or license is not acted on for three months,
notice, &c., must be renewed. Forms to be observed

in delivery of such certificates, and solemnisation of
such marriages, in presence of a registrar and two
witnesses, and amount of fees payable to minister and
registrar. After any suck marriage shall have been
solemnised, proof of residence of parties, or of consent
of guardians, &c. (where one or both parties still
minors, shall not be necssary to establish validity of
such marriage.) —CI. 32.
This clause isone of the best, we think, in the whole
Bill. The true policy of the Legislature should be to
affirm that which our highest authorities in the canon
and spiritual law, in dealing with the law of marriage,
have held to be essential to the true interests of so-
ciety; namely, to keep up a broad and well-defined dis-
tinction between marriages void, and marriages
vcidable ; rigorously to -restrain within its pre.
sent limits, that class of marriages which from "law-
ful impediments" or other disqualifying circumstances
are, as it were, ipso facto, or ab initio, illegal and
void ; and jealously to discourage any attempt to mul-
tiply the cases in which, by appeal to the legal tribu-
nals of the country, marriages are sought to be ren-
dered void from informality, irregularities sanctioned
by custom, though not recognised by law, omissions or
oversights in personal description, or other accidents
and contingencies not affecting the moral status of,
nor necessarily implying in, the parties themselves
any guilty knowledge of, or connivance at, such in-

•
formality or irregularity (as the case may be).
Clauses 33 to 39 enact " that, in order to relieve the
inhabitants of populous districts remote from the

parish church, or any chapel wherein mar-

riages may be lawfully celebrated, according to
the rites and ceremonies of the United Church of

r England and Ireland," Bishops, with consent of
patrons and incumbents, may license chapels
fir the solemnisation of such marriages ; but
patron or incumbent may appeal to Archbishop
against such licenses ; notices of such license to be
affixed on walls of such chapels ; ceremonial to be the
same as that of our parish churches ; Bishop, with
consent of Archbishop, may revoke such licenses;
steps to be thereupon taken, &c. By clauses 43 to 47
persons on duly entering caveats are declared liable
to costs and damages ; persons making false declara-
tions, &c., are guilty of perjury ; persons unduly
solemnising marriages in Ireland, or any other place
than a church or chapel of the Church of England
and Ireland, or a Presbyterian meeting-house or
registered building certified under this Act, except
by special license from the Archbishop of Armagh,
or otherwise solemnising marriages, without publica-
tion of banns or license, or any registrars unduly
issuing certificates, shall each and all of them be
guilty of felony. By clause 51 it is enacted that in
cases of fraudulent marriages, the guilty party 8130
forfeit all property accruing frcm the marriage, as la
4 Geo. IV., c. 76. The other clauses of the Bill appear
to regard, principally, details of registration, salaries,
of officers, &c., penalties, and the means of receiving
them, for the falsification or wilful defacement of re-
gisters. The 83d clause comprehends the retroacting
confirmation, we have mentioned, of " certain mar-
riages that have, in divers instances, been bad, and
celebrated in Ireland by Presbyterian, and other
Protestant or Dissenting ministers or teachers, or
between persons of the same or different religious per-
suasions." It declares these to be valid "as if such
marriages had been solemnised by clergymen of the
United Church of England and Ireland."
Upon the whole, and with some few exceptions
only, we think this is a large and fair Bill, well cal-
culated to relieve the parties for whose benefit it
especially intended, from the effects of the anomalies
complained of in times past, and to protect them from
the recurrence of such vexations in times to come.

THE MINISTERIAL WHITE BAIT

DINNER.

On Saturday last her Majesty's Ministers had their
annual white bait dinner at the Crown and Sceptre,
Greenwich. The Waterman's steamer, No. 12, was
specially engaged for the occasion. The party em-
barked at llungerford about six o'clock, and pro-
ceeded down the river, receiving a salute on passing
the General Steam Navigation Company's-yard at
Deptford, and arrived at the tavern in twenty-eight
minutes, where an excellently arranged floating pier
led into the house, by which means landing Was
effected without inconvenience from the weather,
which was squally. There were present Lord
Hawarden, in the chair, Sir R. Peel, the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, Mr. Henry Baring, Mr. Pringle,
Mr. John Young, Secretary of the Treasury ; Lord
Arthur Lennox, Sir George Clerk, Sir Thomas Fre-
mantle, Sir James Graham, Hon. IL Manners Sutton,
Viscount Canning, Lord Stanley, Mr. George Hope,
Sir Geo. Cockburn, Hon. Captain Gordon, Admiral
Bowles, Right Hon. Henry Corry, Hon. Sydney
Herbert, Sir George Seymour, Colonel Peel, Captain
Boldero, Sir E. Knatchbull, Duke of Buccleueb, Earl
of Beverly, Earl Jermyn, Mr. Bonham, Sir Fred.
Trench, Earl of Dalhousie, Hon. Mr. B. Baring,
Mr. Emmerson Tennent, Mr. Gladstone, Lord Geo.
Somerset, Earl of Lincoln, Right Hon. John
Nichol!, Lord Eliot, the Attorney• General for Ire-
land, Sir Frederick Thesiger, Lord Ernest Bruce,
Right Hon. Col. Dawson Darner, Earl of Warwick,
Earl of Hardwicke, Viscount Hawarden, Captain
Meynell, Lord Redesdale, Sir A. C. Grant, MI.
Horace Twiss, Mr. Charles Ross, Mr. Holmes,
Viscount Castlereagh, Mr. Pemberton Leigh, Viscount
Sandon, Earl Bathurst, and Mr. Greene. The party re-
turned to town at half-past ten by the same con-
veyance.

INSOLVENT DEBTORS' ACT
AMENDMEN T BILL.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
would respectfully call your attention to
the above measure, which, although calculated to d°
a great deal of good in the cases of honest debtors, is
likely to work cruel injustice to creditors in cases of
dishonesty, for whilst the Act will offer every facility
to fraudulent debtors, it will afford no protection to
creditors.

"A debtor, if he acts fraudulently, may be indicted
for a misdemeanor, and, if convicted, be imprisoned
for three years." This would seem sufficient to pre-
vent fraud ; but will it have that effect ? Who will
indict ? Will there be found a creditor so ultra'
anxious to punish fraud in his debtor as to pnrsue
him into a criminal court, and at his own cost ? Every
one conversant with criminal proceedings knows hoW
diffilult it is to convict on an indictment for fraud;
;f ca ¢ra m that such an indictment succeeds from tile,
difficulty in proving the anunus of the defendant ; and
should the creditor fail in establishing guilt he would
not only be subject to his own costs of the proceed-
ings, but would expose himself to an action for 3
malicious prosecution at the suit of his debtor (e
pauper), and who, suing as a pauper, would protect
himself against the payment of any costs. On the
other hand, should he succeed, he will probably have
expended double the amount of his debt in purchasing
the " gratification" of punishing his debtor.
I again humbly submit that the constituting a
fraudulent debtor a criminal will afford no protection
to creditors, and henceforth roguish debtors will pass
unpunished, and, in many cases, retain, in defiance of
his creditors, a fund for his future maintenance.
Yours, obediently,
Aug. 3, 1844. A CREDITOR.

HER MAJESTY.—The accounts received in town
on Saturday state that her Majesty continues in the
enjoyment of excellent health.
THE PARLIAMENTARY SESSION.—It is now gener'
ally thought that the business in the House of Cora-
mons will be brought to a close on Thursday next, and
that the House will on that day adjourn for a short
time, to enable the Lords -to consider the Bills which
will be sent up to them. No prorogation, however, will
take place until judgment is given in the case of Mr.
Daniel O'Connell and the other traversers.
CABINET COUNCIL.—A Cabinet Council was held
at the Foreign-office on Saturday, at the hour of twelve
o'clock. The Council was attended by Sir Robert Peel,
the Duke of Wellington, Lord Stanley, the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, the Duke of Buccleugh, Mr. Glad"
stone, Sir Edward Knatchbull, the Earl of Haddingtou,
the Earl of Ripon, Lord Granville Somerset, Lord
Wharncliffe, Lord Aberdeen, and the Lord Chancellor.
Sir James Graham joined his colleagues immediately
after the adjournment of the House of Commons.
BRISTOL SUGAR MARKET, AUG. 2.—Our raw
sugar market has become quiet, and the trade continues
extremely cautious in their purchases, confining them'
selves to supplying their immediate wants only. The
sales since our last report are only 300 hhds. IV est In-
dia, chiefly the middling qualities, at former prices ;,a
small parcel of crystallised Demeraras, of large grate
and good complexion, at from 70s. to 745. About 600
bags of Bengals have changed hands at steady price?'"
but the demand for Mauritius is very dull. Rum Is
steady at the quotations.—Bristol Mercury.
The following distinguished personages have visited
the Royal Amphitheatre, Astley's, during the past week,
to witness the successful spectacle of the Chinese War,
Feast of Lanterns, Scenes of the Circle, and Great
Steeple Chase :—Earl Wilton, Earl Pembroke, Earl
Delawarr, Lord Templeton, Lord Ailesbury, Lord
Dalkeith, Lord Wicklow, Lord Sefton, Lord Campbell,
Lord Forester, Lord Wm. Paget, Lord M.Donald, Lord
Ingestre, Lord F. Pollard, General Meyriek, Lord sands;
Sir T. Lopes ; Lady Seymour, Lady Ailesbury, Lady
Taunton, Lady Theresa Lester, Lady Stratheden, LA'
Reid.

FUNERAL OF THE LATE SAMUEL PAYNTER, Egal.
OF RICHMOND, SURREY.—On Thursday last the remains of
the above lamented and much-esteemed gentleman were in-
terred in a vault of the parish Church of Richmond, and the
respect shown to his memory by the inhabitants of the tovfe,
in which he had so long resided and had discharged the dotlel
of a faithful and active magistrate, was of the most marked
and impressive character. The principal tradesmen closed
their shops, and at their own request attended as mourners.
They, on foot, preceded the funeral procession of one whom
they considered to have been the benefactor and the frieed
of the poor; and whom for a long series of veers they ion
known to be among the most constant and liberal supporter
of their various local charities. Mr. Pavnter died of paralYel".
with a serious attack of which he had been threatened for the
last eighteen months; he had experienced several slight pre-
ceding attacks before that which terminated in his death.
We are glad to see that at last the game-lawshal
excited a very general and strong feeling against them in all
parts of the country. It is seen that the supply of hares 2:
kept up, not for the landlord's sport, but for his profit, tbo
hares been fed at the expense of the tenant-farmer. FIN•
_
hares, it is well known, consume as much food as a sheep'
and we know of an instance in this county where tie
damage
done to one piece of wheat only is estimated at between
and 501.—Brighton Herald.

TERMINATION OF v TUB PITMEN'S STRIKE.'
DIIRIIAM, I.—(FROH A CORRESPONDENT.)—I 81111
exceedingly happy to inform you that since I last wrote tl!°
pitmens strike seems to be at an end. The men are goingg
in numbers, and I have no doubt, from what I hear, en„t
best authority, that in another week all the collieries 'win "
in full operation.—Shipping Gazette.
INTSNDED GRAND MILITARY REVIEW.--A gran
review of the whole of the household troops, including seve,td
cavalry regiments and regiments of the line, is contempt
the
to take place in Windsor Great Park, before the King of t
French, on the arrival of his Majesty in this country', on
visit to the Queen, in the early part of next month. Frith
Albert, who will take the command of his own regiment' '
Scots Fusilier Guards, now in garrison at Windsor, has het
it several times during
P the past fortnight, on the exercising
ground in Windsor Great ark, where his Royal liighlitiag
has been practiJing, giving the word of command and plea/
the regiment through various evolutions, so as to be Pnined
qualified to take the command of this excellently disciP and
corps, at the 'review, next month. The word of comrn._
is given by his Royal Highness in a distinct and soldier-1'
manner.