The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-09-04 00:00:00

A REFORMED MARRIAGE.
( From the Cambridge Chronicle of September 1.)
The first marriage at Cambridge unattended with
any religious ceremonial, took place at.the superin-
tendent registrar's office on Monday last. Several
persons had assembled outside the office by the ap-
pointed hour, a quarter past eight, and considerable
curiosity was manifested to learn what were the forms
used at the unusual proceeding about to take place,
and to see the couple who repudiated the sanctions of
religion on entering into the divinely-appointed state
of 'Nedlock.

At twenty minutes past eight the bride and bride-
groom made their appearance, though we hardly know
whether we are not guilty of some profanation in
using those appellations with reference to such an oc-
casion as this. The superintendant registrar briefly
reminded the parties that, although the law would cer-
tainly recognise the civil contract they were just going
to enter into as a legal marriage, however devoid it
was of outward ceremonial, they ought to regard the
ceremony as performed in the presence of God, and
not to consider it less binding on their consciences
than if performed at the altar; and he begged them
to reflect that, though he should make use of as few
words as the law permitted, God was present in that
place, a witness of all that passed.
The registrar then read forms similar to the follow-
ing, the man and woman repeating them after him :

'‘‘ 1, A B, do hereby declare thai' I know of no cause
or impediment why I should not take thee, C D, to
be my wife, to be joined together with me in holy
matrimony."
The woman then made a similar declaration.
" I, A B, do hereby declare that I take thee, C D,
to be ray wedded wife."

The ;roman made a like declaration.
" 1, A B, do give thee, C D, this ring, as a pledge
of my affection and fidelity !
" 1, C D, do accept it as such."
The man, and afterwards the woman, then severally
called upon the persons there pre4ent to bear witness
to the contract they had entered into.
The Registrar.—" The ceremony is ended."
The parties then signed the register, and left the
office, the whole business, from first to last, occupying
about five minutes.

On our minds the writing of the foregoing account
has left an unpleasant feeling, as the bare perusal of
it will upon the minds of the vast majority of our
readers. An uncomfortable feeling, almost amounting
to disgust, comes involuntarily over us at the idea of
two persons entering into the holy estate of matrimony
without begging the blessing of their
.Maker on the
alliance they are contracting. We can hardly con-
ceive how a virtuous woman could bring herself to re-
gard the solemn engagement she was entering into
with so little delicacy—we had well nigh said, with so
little decency—and perhaps the word would not have
been unaptly used. Who is not grieved to see two
persons going out of their way to avoid the sanction
of religious ceremonial, and putting themselves to in-
convenience, in order to do what ?—to make known to
the world that, in their opinion, matrimony is best
contracted with less solemnity than the very heathen,
who worship stocks and stones, have almost in every
age agreed to honour it ?
And is it not disgusting to see how little it is,—
what a very nothing almost,—the law requires in the
way of pledged truth and faith ;—of love and protec-
tion on the'one hand, and of respect and obedience on
the other ? It is the man alone that gives any pledge
at all; the woman engages neither to be affectionate,
nor faithful, nor obedient ! Can, then, this contract,
entered into at the registrar's office, with such cere-
monial, and in which at least one of the parties en-
gages to perform not one single duty, have any future
beneficial effect on the happiness of the parties them-
selves, or on the welfare of the community they are
members of?

We regard it as a circumstance telling well for our
our good taste, and most fortunate for the future peace
and happineis of domestic life among us, that the way
in which the occurrence of last Monday was regarded
by those who witnessed it (though there was nothing
approaching to unmannerly interruption or insult) was
not calculated to induce persons desirous of a little
evanescent notoriety to follow the example then set
them.

THE NEW DEMONSTRATION,
RADICALISM, POPERY, AND INFIDELITY.

(From the Morning Herald.)

" The New Demonstration," like that concocted in the
reign of Henry IV., by that furious young radical, the
valorous Hotspur, seems to have bad bad luck—as Master
Travers said to old Northumberland :

" Of a gentleman, almost forspeut with speed,
Who stopp'd by me to breathe his bloodied horse,
I did demand what news from Shrewsbury.
He told me that rebellion had ill luck,
And that young Harry Percy's spur was cold !"

And so in like manner say the messengers from Kidder-
minster—" the New Demonstration is out of luck entirely,
and deputations droop."
In Birmingham itself—the very focus of radicalism, popery,
and infidelity. with Messrs. Tom Attwood and morbid Muntz,
and Priest O'Donnell, and their subordinates to•stir up and
beat up, and agitate " the masses," the masses mustered
miserably—even though the muster-place was stored with
beer and tobacco and the day was Saint Monday, with fine
weather to boot. But at Kiddermister "the Demon-stra-
tionet•s" as the Birminghamites call them had still worse
luck, as the following account of their adventures in that
busy town will make manifest •
" On Monday last a public meeting of the inhabitants of
Kidderminster, was held in the Lion Field, for the purpose
of considering the propriety of adopting the national petition
passed lately by the Birmingham political unionists. To
ensure this object, and to make assurance doubly sure,' the
Whig-radicals of the borough invited a deputation from Bir-
mingham to attend and move the resolutions, which was to
he composed of Messrs- Muntz, Salt, and another whose
name was never announced to the meeting. It was stated
in the placards that the notorious Muntz would also form
one of the deputation ; but for reasons best known to the
faction he considered it prudent to absent himself.

"The exertions which were made by the unionists of this
town (even the Sunday being desecrated by a contemptible
knot of individuals canvassing the town of Bewdley, Stour-
port, Stourbridge, &c., for supporters) naturally set the con-
servative operatives in motion, and a committee was formed
and resolutions prepared in opposition to the absurd and ridi-
culous document yelept The National Petition.'
" Four o'clock was the hour oppointed for commencing the
business of the day, at which time the conservative party,
took possession of the hustings. The Birmingham deputa-
tion shortly afterwards arrived, and scared by the strong mus-
ter of the opposition party, and trembling with undisguised
dismay at the evident defeat which awaited them, their first
manoeuvre was to question the right of the conservative
party to be on the hustings. The body of gentlemen, how-
ever, refused to move one inch from the position they bad
taken up. The multitude (about 4(XO persons) met all the
advances which the unionists made to address them with
groans and cries of ' We want no Birmingham agitators
here.' Mr. J. Boycott, seeing the feeling of the meeting de-
cidedly in favour of the conservative party, immediately pro-
posed a resolution condemning the republican principles en-
tertained by the Birmingham unionists, and adopted a me-
morial to be presented to her Majesty to dismiss from her
councils her present advisers, requesting a repeal of the in-
human clauses of the poor law amendment act, and an
abridgment of the intolerable labour imposed upon the
children in our cotton factories; such memorial to be pre-
sented to her Majesty by Mr. R. Godson, the conservative
member for this borough. This resolution having been put
to the meeting, it was carried by an overwhelming majority.
"The unionists now became desperate, and, finding that
their favourite petition was rejected and repudiated by the
operatives of Kidderininster, immediately jumped from the
hustings, and, calling upon about one hundred of their atten-
dant ruffians, they began to pull the scaffolding from under
the feet of the conservative gentlemen. This was the signal,
of course, for a general riot. The blackguards who medi-
tated the mischief were beaten back by the multitude, and
Mr. Boycott and his friends were escorted to a window on
the opposite side, where he and the proprietor of the Ten
Towns' Messenger addressed the meeting, and again passed
the resolutions and memorial alluded to unanimously.
" Messrs. Douglas and Salt and their friends immediately
got into their hired carriage and fled from the field, amid the
groanings and execrations of the multitude. They afterwards
made an attempt to address a few individuals from the win-
dow of the Black Horse Inn, but here again they were met
by hootings and derision. The mayor of the town (and a
radical too, mark that!) immediately interfered, and informed
the unionists that unless they desisted from addressing the
multitude he would order them into custody. This had the
desired effect, and the unionists decamped from Kidder-
minster."

But though they have been kicked out of Kidderminster,
they intend it seems to try their luck in London; for we are
told in a radical evening paper that " The Working Men's
Association" have been making " active preparations" for
getting up" a " great metropolitan demonstration" in
Palace-yard, and that Master Smedley, the new high bailiff
of Westminster, has kindly and courteously promised to aid
and abet and assist them-therein; and has moreover ap-
pointed the 17th proximo for the grand event to " come off."
This is great news for the metropolis, and for all England.
indeed; and as the affair is to be got up by the " Working
Men's Association," it is fit that the world should know that
the Working Men's Association consists of some dozen and a
half of men who never work; but, having the gift of the gab,
they go about from public-house to public-house stirring up
those they find therein to lay down their pipes and quit their
pots and go a demonstrating. This "association of working
men" who never work is under the marshalling and manage-
ment of one Lovell or Lovatt, a second-floor lodger in Gray's
Inn-lane, and who calls himself their " secretary;" and-he
hDiNwit:Lrnsssseihrelisli;ofsLn,onder the marshalling and management, and in
the pay also, it is said, of Mr. Joseph Hume and his owner,
worshipful
Ineur,llNl
association"oElessqwo e,etaahnvederniwtboilteeh.sbsuttchhke e
ut
Andark occasionaldhaits
whose
sihdtohsoeel
request Mr Smedley smirkingly consents to kick up a radical
row !

1 The beautiful sample of Whittin,tor,i's new white wheat
l‘cviriies bz2lbr. John
has just been shown to us. It was o
Nichols, Posviek—stands six feet three in
up from twenty to thirty shoots, and the ears are from thsit owto
s
seven inches long. An ordinary crop of this most prolific
variety averages about thirty (brave an acre; and, almost in-
credible as it may appear. we are informed that the parcel of
which we have been speaking, will yield an average of 60.
The wheat may be seen at this moment upon the ground, and
must be an object of great interest to agriculturusts.— Wor-
cester Herald.
NOBLE INSTANCE OF INTEGRITY.—On Wednesday even-
ing last, the 22d instant, the friends and former creditors of
Willsam Henry, Esq., entertained him at dinner at the
Commercial Hotel, Belfast, on the occasion of presenting
him with a superb piece of plate, commemorative of his
having, of his own accord, discharged the balance of the en-
gagements of his house at the period of their having stopped
payment in the year 1820. This large sum, amounting to
upwards of £13,000, has been recently handed to the credi-
tors. or their survivors and representatives, by Mr. Henry—
one of those instances of high-minded justice and honour
which reflect distinction and credit upon the community
amongst whom they occur.
THE GREY MONUMENT.—The colossal statue of Earl
Grey, by E. H. Bailey, ILA., intended to be placed on the
pillar now nearly finished, at the top of Grey-street, arrived
in Newcattle on Monday morning, per the Halcyon, London
trader, and was removed by two waggons from the quay to
the site of the monument. It is expected to be raised in a
few days. The height of the pillar from the ground is 121
feet, and the statue, including the plinth, is 14 feet; when
placed in its proper position the mean height will be 135
feet.—Durham Chronicle.