The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-03-24

to me reputation, bear comparison with
that Of Jerome Bonaparte and his first
wife. II became the interest of Jerome, un-
der his altered fortunes, to repudiate his
marriage with Miss Patterson, and as King
of Westphalia to espouse the daughter Of
the Duke of Wurtemburg; and so Major yell
verton, after his marriage, or would-be sham
marriage, with Miss Longworth, who could not
pay his debts, thought it good policy to repu-
date her and marry come Lady who, it is to be
presumed, could pay them. We might enume-
rate many other cases in which the heirs to IT,
lies or estates have acted similarly, and left
their first wives to come forward before courts
Of law to prove that they were not women Of
dsreputable character, and, II possible, obtain
a. acknowledgment of their own and their
children's rights.
We have lately had prominent example
in this country of the grievances to which the
follies and mistakes Of parents expose their
children in after life, where lady had to per-
severe for years to prove that she was the law
ful child Of her parents, and so inherit the
property to which she was entitled. All this
elbows great moral laxity in society, and the
men are not always the cause of the evil. 1t
win be remembered that only few weeks ago
Mr. Quincy, wealthy banker and member of
thu British Parliament, appeared before the
Divorce Court to seek dissolution of his
marriage with the mother of his children, who
had eloped with one of her husbands footmen,
and with whom she left her splendid mansion
and all the elegancies of life to live in obscure
lodgings, in a humble neighborhood, and
afterwards set out for the Continent, where the
fugitive pair lived as man and wife. The Eng
lish criminal law does not apply to adultery;
otherwise this lackey ought to have been
suitably punished. Neither can the law of
divorce touch the settlements made upon q
woman at the time of her marriage; 80
that she may sin with impunity, SO
far as the possession of her money is con-
cerned. The pictures of undomestic life thus
presented lead us seriously to reflect upon the
habits and education of the young ladies of
the present day, both in this country and in
England, and to see the injurious tendency of
frivolity, Irritation and breaches of propriety.
1t is only natural, in the state of artificial life
in which we live, that the absence of strict
propriety, which is involved in the filtration
now SO much practised, especially by the fast
young ladies, must leave women liable to dis
regard the moralities when in after life any
pressing temptation comes in their way. Hence
the number of unhappy marriages that exist
and the faithlessness so frequently shown to the
marriage tie. "Woman's virtue is the noblest
invention Of man." is an old saying often ap-
piled and If women sometimes fail to respect
it, men ought never. But without going so far
as to say that woman's character will eventu-
ally be compromised by q partial neglect of
the pOprieties Of life, there Is no doubt what
ever that such neglect makes easy the way to
something worse. There is great deal of by
pocriy, also, among our young ladies of the
fast order. They are by no means always
blessed with graceful and retiring modesty;
yet they occasionally affect prudery they do
not feel, and which is all the more sickening
because Of its heartlessness.
If Miss Longworth had strictly regarded the
prsprietes in her relations with Major Yelver-
tor, she would not have consented to a secret
marriage with him, and, therefore, would have
avoided all the lifelong misery which has re-
suited from it; for, although she has succeeded
in indicating her honor, her happiness is des-
troyed. We do not put this forward in extenua-
tion of the base and cowardly conduct of the
man, but it conveys a wholesome lesson, by
showing that female propriety cannot always,
even in the slightest degree, be neglected with
IMMUNITY.