The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1860-01-20
Marriages of Consanguinity.
From the Cincinnati Gazette.

From the Cincinnati Gazette.
The messages of several of our Gov ern-
ors, the startling array of figures gathered
from the annual reports of asylums for the
idiotic and insane and the lamentable in
stances of physical and mental suffering that
meet the observation of all who ever think
of the subject, have of late aroused wide
spread repugnance to marriages between
persons of the same blood. The assertion
of Gov Magolfin that fifteen or twenty per
cent. of the deformed and imbecile of Ken
tucky are the offspring Of cousins is in
accordance with fact Bills have been
introduced into the State Legislature to
prohibit the marriage Of first cousins. There
is nothing new in the principles of these
prohibitions.
While the Egyptian Pharaohs espoused
their sisters, while incest even more horrible
prevailed among the ancient PerSlans, and
while even the enlightened Greeks permitted
the intermarriage of half brothers and sis
tiers, the Jews obeyed the law of Moses,
which forbade the nuptials of relatives more
nearly allied than cousins of the first degree
The statistics of many modern communities,
and of most of our States, have in this
respect been based upon the code of the
Hebrew Lawgiver. In Sweden, however,
uncle and niece are permitted to marry, as
will be seen by the works of Frederika
Bremen. Ii we are not mistaken, New
York is also an exception to the rule. Some
years since, a young uncle and niece elOped
from one of th New England States to
New Y ork, and there tied the nuptial knot.
I'd <bo;,
riage being voidable, and not void, as would
have been an incestuous union in the ascend.
ing or descending line of relationship.
The Canon law is even more rigid than
the Mosaic. By it, affinity, as well as
consanguinty, is bar. Thence was derived
the doctrine that has extended into some
Protestant denominations, that the relatives
OF mans wife are also his own. The
Roman Catholic Church, We believe, still
prohibits the marriage of all degrees nearer
than that of third cousin, except by special
dispensation, which, unfortunately, has too
frequently been granted. Phillip III, of
SPAIN and his grandson, Philip " married
their nieces. The child of the former, by
this unnatural connection, was that Philip
Ill, who, some historians tell US, would not,
Or fear of violating etiquette, move back
from an over heated brazier, until he was
made fatally i'll.
The offspring Of the latter was that mad
man, Charles ii, who lived life of misery,
in the belief that he was bewitched, and
dying without issue, ended the Spanish line
of the House of Hapsburg. The Spanish
nobility, it is well known, have intermarried
until they have become dwarfsh in body,
stupid in mind, and of no earthly use to
themselves or their country. Perhaps,
however, the most revolving cases of inces-
tuous alliances in modern times, were pre-.
sented 10 Portugal in the last century.
Joseph, the reigning monarch, had three
daughters, but no sons. 1t was contrary to
the law OF the realm for princess to marry
foreigner, without fOrieiting her right to
the succession a union with subject was
out of the question. Accordingly his eldest
daughter, Donna Maria, was married to her
uncle Pedro, and by him had, among other
children, John, subsequently the sixth SOW
ereign OF that name. But this was not all,
In l1U, when Joseph was on his death bed.
he called in his grand son. then boy of
flttee0, and caused him to be united to his
aunt Barbara a mature maiden of thirty
four. Happily this last match proved child.
less, and Barbara survived but few years.
Had sensible ecclesiastical law been strict
ly enforced, we should have been spared the
recital of such disgusting transactions as
the above.
We have thus alluded to a few instances
OF the infringement of an &c ecclesiastical law;
the evil results of the violation of the laws
OF mans nature, now demand our notice
Setting aside the consideration of the disor-
ders that would ensue to the family system
were very near relatives allowed to inter-
marry, there is a natural revolt of mans
reason against such union, for which phys
iologcal science affords abundant foundation
The raiser OF stock, OF poultry, or grain
and fruit even, knows that an occasionel
frost or engrafting is indispensable to pra-
serve them from degeneracy So it is with
man; the intermingling of the same vital
current creates physical and mental defects
by developing to excess every useful faculty
and agreeable feature, and magniies and
intensifes those already in existence. The
constantly concentrating re lationship OF the
reigning families of Europe, before the in
PRODUCTION of so much fresh blood, by the
revolutions of the early part of the present
century, had made them all look very much
alike-more so than they now do. Nearly
every monarch on the throne had a retreat
ing forehead, large nose and prominent
jaw it may be added, also, that the stand
ard regal brain was in precisely an inverse
ratio to the size of the features beneath it
Apparently conscious of these similarities
Mr.: Dickens alludes, in the opening chapter,
of his Two Cities, to the large jaw of the
king that ruled in England in l775, and to