The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-12
UNIFORM uARRLAGEA DIVORCE
LAWS.


out the entire United Kingdom. At present
the English Scotch, and Irish laws on the
subject are all different, and the discrepan-
cies which exist are not only unjust in them
selves. but they afford a convenient opportu-
nifty for such scamps as Major Yelverton to
| be married or unmarried as may suit their
convenience. In England and Ireland the
marriage ceremony is impeded by legal re-
quirements that are so absurd that it would
scarcely seem possible that an enlightened
people would submit to them
in this age, and they are particularly onerous
to the Roman Catholics and the dissenters, for
whose annoyance they appear to be particu-
larly devised. In Scotland, on the contrary,
the marriage laws are as loose as they are
stringent in the other portions of the Queens
dominions, and this mixed state of affairs
has at length become such serious cause for
complaint that the present Liberal Ministry
has promised to take the subject in hand and
regulate it on liberal and unsectarian princi-
pies. We may therefore expect to see the
matter taken up at the next session of Par
lament, and the required reform will proba-
bly, be brought about without serious oppo-
ton.
In the mean time, our own marriage and
divorce laws are far from being satisfactory
and it would be well if the attention of our
statesmen could be turned to them, with a
view of producing little order and system
out of the existing chaos. By the Constitu-
ton of the United States, the regulation of
marriages and divorces is left with the seve-
raj States; but it is a question whether it
would not be better in every way if the mat
ter was placed in the hands of the General
Government. The Constitution, as it was
originally shaped, was an experiment. and it
was impossible for its trainers to provide for
all future contingencies Amendments have
been made, therefore, from time to time to
suit the various changes in the condition of
the country and the people, and there are
still others that experience dictates that might
be made with advantage.
In most of the States the marriage laws are
sufficiently liberal, and in many almost too
much SO. 1t is perfectly proper that the
marriage ceremony or contract should be i'm
peded as little as possible, but sufficient safe
guards should be thrown around it to protect
both parties in their rights and to give a
reasonable guarantee against fraud. In some
of the States these provisions are curious, and
even smack of a sort of mi-barbarism; as in
Delaware, for instance, every young man who
enters into matrimonial bonds is required to
give bonds in the sum of $500 that his wife
shall not become a burden on the public
But then Delaware still hugs the whipping
post to her bosom, and she is consequently
horl b, l,oo tl,o
common practice throughout the Union.
While there should he reasonable libe-
rality in the laws regulating the marriage
ceremony, those in relation to divorces
should be proportionately stringent. The
doctrines of some modern philosophers, and
particularly of some of the prominent
woman s-rights advocates, on this subject
have done incalculable injury to society
Abstractly, it may appear better that an ill-as-
! sorted couple should separate, but for the good
Of society tits better that few persons should
be bound in uncongenial union than that the
sanctity of the marriage relation, upon which
the whole framework of our modern social
organization depends, should be dis
regarded The facility with which
the marriage bonds can be dissolved
in Illinois is great scandal on that State, and
it has already produced incalculable misery
| The i'll effects of the divorce laws of that
State show the Importance of having uniform
regulations on the subject, and as the matter
is one that affects not the welfare and happi-
ness of the citizens of Illinois alone, it ought
to be in the hands of the central government.
Aresident of Illinois to-day may aweek hence.
take up his abode in Pennsylvania, and if he
has procured divorce there, no matter how
unjustly, our courts are obliged to concur in
spite Of our own laws on the subject. Now.
this is a great wrong that calls for
a remedy, and the remedy con-
sists in having uniform code of marriage
and divorce laws for the United States. The
evil complained of has not yet become so
great as to excite general public interest but
1t is increasing every day, and it is well to
take 1t in hand before its demoralizing influ-
ences extend further than they have
The subject is one that calls for the
thoughtful and earnest consideration of our
statesmen, clergy and all who are interested
IN the welfare of society and our national
prosperity, Those who would make marriage
nothing more than licensed concubinage,
existing only during the pleasure of the par
tles 10 the union, strike a blow at social
ORDER decency religion and national pros
perlty, the evil effects of which cannot rightly
oe estimated This is subject that good men
nT oil