The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-07-09

DeRlnnluBj bue law BOeS on 10 m0uIlOu Luobe
other causes for which the Supreme Court Of
the county in which one or both of the parties
reside, may grant divorce, namely;-l.
Adultery in either party. 2. The sentence OF
either party to confinement in the State Prison
for three years or longer. 3. Intolerable
severity by either Of the parties. q. Wilful
deserticn for three consecutive years. b. Seven
years. unexplained and silent absence. g.
Neglect of the husband to support his wife,
he having sufficient pecuniary ability. All
libels based upon either OF these con-
ditons, and proved, must be granted by
the Court. And finally, section forty-two thus
declares:-"W marriage shall be
dissolved, pursuant to the provisions OF this
chapter, the parties shall be deemed single
and may lawfully marry again." Here, then,
the law ignores all distinction between sepsra-
tion menSd for the protection Of suffering sub
iects of the State, on the one hand, aud di-
vorce vinculo, on the other hand. The latter
is the only mode OF separation recognized in
these statutes as lawful and in this State, and
all the New England States excepting Massa-
chusetts, it is employed in all cases without
distinction. Thus while 1S4 bills of divorce
have been granted in Vermont for the last FIVE
years for the cause of adultery, 400 bills,
giving exactly the same freedom as to mar
riage, have been granted for various other
causes: as for wilful desertien 23S, intolerable
severity Exercised in some cases by the wife)
not mentioned 43. The law of Vermont allows
the parties to all these 400 bills, which are
granted for some other cause than adultery, to
marry again, as if there were no existing di-
vinely-apponted relations between them.
This estate of marriage is treated by the laws
of Vermont and other New England States as
if it were never in anywise under the control
of Christ's law; as if its ssnctity were a myth;
as if it were the sole creation aud ordinance Of
the State, and to be dealt with and rent
asunder as a simple affair of proletarian con-
veniance and policy; as if its solemn contract
was hardly so coercive as that which one
might make with his wood-sawyer; as il all
its vows, spoken and implied, were binding
only so long as the caprice and humOr of the
parties agreed, and then, to be put away with
slight formality, and a new contract with
another entered into, as one would cast Off
old garments, present them to a needy friend,
and reclothe himself in new apparel Upon
this ground, therefore, we declare the law
prevailing in New England as to divorces and
the practice under the law, to be treacherOus to
family union, contrary to Christian morals,
snare to the thOughtless and ignorant, an op-
portunity to the depTaved, an Odense and sin
| against the Divine law, and in short,
method of legalized pOlygamy. We cannot
attempt to dwell upon all the painful thoughts
to which this view of the subject gives rise.
The immortality threatens beautiful and
!
a cloud of moral evil, scandal, domestic strife,
and debauchery. Families become unsettled.
The relation of husband and wife assumes the
form OF a bare partnership in business. Chill
dren lose their just inheritance of BAPTISM of
home ties, of family name, and family honor.
The registration reports may record that the
number of illegitimste children in this State
average less than in England, but their num-
bers would be fearfully increased should we
apply the same laws here as there in respect
to matrimony and divorce. Legalzed divorce
is not known in England as it is here. There is
but one cause acknowledged there which
can dissolve the marriage tie. Our phi
lanthropistsand our demagogues may in
Weigh against Mormonism, or they may
! hold up to eXecraton that repulsve feature
of the old Southern slavery which
held as nothing the matrimonial bonds be-
tween the slaves; but here, in this free State,
the very same thing is done by freemen, and
| is legalized by the law of the State, and we
suppose there are men to be found who glory
in it, and view it as a sign OF progress. One
of our clergy, who was for several years chap
lain to New England State Prison, came to
suspect that men might easily be victims of a
conspiracy to thrust them into the State Pri-
son for three years or more that their wives
might marry preferred suitor. The dissolv-
ing of home ties amongst the people is some
times most bewildering. We lately heard of
an instance of divorce, in which one of two
daughters, after the father aud mother sepa-
rated, went to live with her mothers mother.
There she took her grandmother's surname.
Her mother afterwards married, and this
daughter then went to live with her, and took
the name of her mothers second husband by
which name she now desires to be known but
of course she is known by all the three names.
In the meantime her sister went to live with
her father, who also married again, and she is
known by her fathers name. How can chill
dren under such circumstances retain any re-
verence for home or domestic ties, or learn to
value them except upon merely mercenary
grounds The fact is, that although public
sentiment revolts at the simultaneous poly
gamy of the Mormons, yet, in New Eng land
the course of things appears to be tend
ing towards that which moralists and
juri5ts call successive polygamy. Can we re-
gard such things with patience Oaght they
to be allowed to poison our domestic and social
life Is not the law and practice under it
viewed by the light of the Christian law, i'm
moral and corrupt We pass to the third
point, the causes of this extraordinary fire.
! quency of divorce. These are not difficult to
describe. First, and before all, the cause
and provocatiOn to many divorces is the very
facility with which they are obtained. 1t is
! so easy on account of weaTiness incOmpati-
bility of temper, lOngings for forbidden plea
sures, unsatisfed vanity, covetousness, ca
! PRECIOUS likes and dislil1es, to obtain legal
divorce, that it is obtained. That license
which would hardly be thought Of if abso-
lutely prohibited, is readily seized, when
1t is thrust into the hand, pressed
upon the mind, proclaimed to the
ear, and assured to possession by compliance
II. IL 4