New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-03-06
THE BARNS OF MARRIAGE.


States, has, We see, lately enacted law allowing
marriages to take place in that State without pre-
vious publication of intention Of marriage as hith
erto required 1t is, however, not in New-En-
Gland but in cur own legislation here in the Stats
of New. York that the original source of this evil is
to be found 1t is by initiating example; it is
by foolish ambition of disputiug with us the mo-
nopoly of hasty and unsuitable matches that the
New England States have been led of late years
into thi. foolish and pernicous change 10 their laws
On the subject Of marriage.
Itwould seem that, especially in those States
where divorce is not allowed, marriage ought only
TO be entered into in the most del berate manner,
and with perfect consciousness on both sides Of
the serious nature of the contract. Yet, as if de-
termined to run INTO extremes at bOh ends the
laws Of New.York, while sternly refusing the disco
luton of unsuitable matches even in the most cry
ing cases. have at the same time held out the great
est facilities for the hasty and thOughtless contract
inr Of an obligation loaded with such serious re-
spnslbiliiies. This state of things, so far as re-
lates to the precipitaney and thoughtessness with
which marriages are entered into, may be traced
back even to the old Dutch times. 1t is sufficient
to cite upon this point the testimony of the Rev.
j. hn Miller, "near three years resident in the
"proyince as Chaplain to his Maesty's forces,
given at time when Trinity Church was yet In
its earliest Infancy, when the rich endowment
which that corporation now possesses was still the
"Kiugs farm, and while the reverend Chaplain
of the forces was the sole EpiscOpalian clergyman
in the province that is to say, about hundred and
sky years ago. The old Dutchmen, however,
were at least entitled to the praise of consistency
If careless about contracting marriages, they also
had very easy way Of throwing off the burden
of oblgations which they found too heavy to be
comfortably carried. They were easily induced,
as that reverend gentleman Informs us, from the
cavalier manner in which marriage was contracted,
60 when they find themselves pinched by the con-
"iraet" "tO think il no marriage at all, and there
re "nc great matter to divorce themselves, az they
term it, and marry to others, 10 whom they can
" best, and according to their own liking.
But when finally the English Law came to be
firmly saddled on the Province, though all the
old.fashio1ed Dutch facility of getting married
was still retained, the facility Of unmarrying was
wholly taken away; and the married people of the
Province soon began to find themselves in posi-
ton in which We remain to this day, like mice in
trap into which the entry is perfectly facile, but
out of which it is impossible to get by any act or
cOptriyance whatsoever short of breach of the
law. Surely it would have been much wiser when
the right of free separation and re-marr age was
thus taken away, to have required that the relation
of marriage should be entered into with delbera-
ton ard caution in proportion to the indssolubility
affixed TO it. This, however, was not done, and
the consequence was that all the foolish boys and
girls of England, bent, against the wishes of
their friends and relations parents and guardians,
upon contracting an unreasonable and unsuitable
marriage, posted off to New York, where, without
a moments notice to any body, they might be made
man and wife--thus evading the laws at home,
W hich very wisely aud judiciOusly required pre-
yious public notice, technically called pub
lishment.
Nor did the evil stop here. The example Of
these silly boys aud girls began to be initiated by
good many others who had no reason for it, except
an indispostiOn to become the toWn-talk, or circle
talk, of a day--as though two people could get
married without passing through that ordeal, and
as though it made the least difference whether they
were talked about before marriage or AFTER. Many
such persons, to save their bushes aud escape the
Jokes of the malicious, enviOus or disappointed,
cheated the towD-clerk Of his punishment fees,
and evaded the law by assuming the character of
-...I -, 4
length this sort of fugitive marriage, perhaps from
the shadow Of romance in it, got to be kind Of
fashion, till the good clergymen Of the New-En-
gland States in alarm at the curtailment Of their
marriage fees-not an unimportaDt item Of their
small inccmes-began to insist upon the NewYck
privilege Of marrying everybody who asked them,
without previous notice given, or any certificate Of
intention declared; and hence that change in the
legislation of New England to which we have re-
ferred. 1t ia, however a change decidedly in the
wrong direction. 1t is New-York that ought to
have cbeneed, not New-England. Nor is it now
too late. The same Legislative Committee at
Albany, who have before them the bill to facili
tate divorce, might very reasonably insert clause
in it providing for something like deliberation in
entering into an engagement attended with such
serious and permanent consequences to the public
as well as to the individuals.
1t is often said BY those who grumble at the
publication laws that it is no consequence to others
whom man or woman marries-that their mar
rsge is their own affair, and not the affair Of any
body else. This however, is decided mistake
The very peculiarly in the law of marriage which
prevents its dissolution at the pleasure of the par
ties, like other contracts, is founded on the just
idea that not only the individual man aud woman