The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-07-26
DIVORCES AND DOMESTIC MORALS.


stereotyped reproach in the mouths O
New England puritans against the Southern
people has been their gross immortality
In vain, from year to year, have Northern
statistics been cited to refute those SLAM
ders; they are again and again circulated
as if, by dint of assertion, irrepressibl.
facts could be disproved. The latest au
thentic evidence bearing on this subjec
is found in a publication which will not b.
accused of distorting the truth, as it's pre-
objections are altogether of the New Eng
land stripe. We have reference to the
american Quarterly Church Revie,c for July
On the facts and figures there detailed, the
New York World of the 9Th inst. thus com.
ments
We print elsewhere the material portions
of an article on Frequent Divorces in
New England" which appears in the
american Quarterly Church Rerie,c for July
The statistics are from recent registration
reports in several of the New England
States, and these facts and figures, taken
in connection with the low grade of domes-
| tic morals, the general decay of public sen
timent in respect to religious matters, the
trightful spread Of fGticide, and the num-
Der of illegitimate births in that section OF
the country, are calculated, the writer in
the Reuie,c thinks, "to fill one with con-
sternation and dismay." To these social
evils is added the growings frequency of
divorces; and to show how widely prcva-
lent the divorce mania is, facts are selected
from the statistics of Vermont, which, by
its geographical position, is least affected by
foreign Immigration, marriages of mixed
nationalities, and is thought to be one of
the States most tenacious in maintaining
the traditions and social morals of the early
settlers. In this secluded, moral, and con-
vorces has steadily increased from year to
year, while the population has remained
nearly stationary. The year 1866 shows an
increase in divorces of seventy per cent.
beyond the year 1862; and in five years
there has been one divorce to every two
hundred and sixty six manageable persons;
while a comparison of the marriages and
divorces in the same period exhibits one
divorce in every nineteen marriages. Con-
nectlcut shows even q worse record, for in
that State the aggregate of five years. di-
refees- to five years. marriages is as one to
eleven, and in the last year, as one to ten.
Maine, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire
have not presented full statistics; but from
the partial returns there is no reason to
suppose that any one of these States can
show in this respect so good record as
Massachusetts,, where, during the last five
years, there has been one divorce to forty
four marriages, and in the last recorded
year one divorce to thirtrseven marriages.
The writer in the Rericr, however, fails
to mention that the comparatively less
number of divorces in Massachusetts is due
to the larger proportion of Irish and other
foreign born citizens in that State. DR.. Storcr
and other statisticians declare that the
present increase of population in Massachu-
sets is almost wholly attributable to the
1Oreign-born residents and their descend
ants, and frightful figures are given to show
how thoroughly devoted are the natives to
miscalled Malthusian doctrines and prac-
tices. How lightly divorces are regarded and
how loosely the marriage bond is tied, is in
stanced' in the surprise of two Virginians,
who are quoted as saying that in New Eng
land divorce Z" seems to be considered only
trifie, and to be almost as freely contem-
plated and resorted to as marriage" Promi-
nent among the causes for these frequent
divorces is the law, which is nearly identi-
cal in all the New England States, and
which, while granting divorces for reasons
other than adultery, ignores all distinction
between simple separation and absolute
divorce, by permitting persons divorced for
any reason to marry agaiasstlNs violating
Divine command on the SUBJECT, and actu-
ally legalizing adultery and polygamy
Now, unquestionably, marriage is, as the
Church considers it, an indissoluble bond,
or 1t Is, as the laws of New England and of
other States view it, merely a contract be-
tween parties which may be dissolved as
easily as it is made. The old theory that
marriage is Divinely appointed sacrament
is giving way in this country to the very
generalidea that individual sovereignty con-
trolls the matter, and that people may marry
and unmarry themselves. 1t is assumed to
be an affair that affects only those immedi-
ately concerned, though it reaches farther
to society generally. and certainly tO no
children of those who are married and are
afterward minated. But society, assisted
by State laws, is striding rapidly in this
country toward n greater disregard of rela=
lions which have heretofore been held, if
not as sacred, at least as essential to the
well-being of individuals and communities
The alarmed writer in the Rerie,r pro-
poses certain remedies MThe statute law