North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1870-01-05
From the New York Citizen
Was Mr.. Beecher to Blame 2..The Law
Of Alien DivOrceS..The PrOtes.
tant and Catholic Views

from the New York Citizen
Was Mr.. Beecl,er to Blame ?..The Law
Of Alien DivOrces-.The PrOtes.
tant and Catholic Views
oft.
To blame Mr.. Beecher ia to blame not
him, but his church is to array Catholic
against Protestant to make Sectarian
issue. The feeling undoubtedly of the
community is averse to the decency of
such second nuptials; but the law, as the
highest expression Of that sentiment, al
lows them, and the Protestant church ap.
proves them. There is no proof showing
the ground of the Indiana divorce, or
that MIR. Beecher was informed that adult
terry was not alleged, but that it was not q
material point--if divorces are to be all
lowed, the courts and not the clergy are
the proper tribunals to pass upon their
validity and effect. If Mr.. Beecher is to
blame, the entire Protestant church is ir
error.
A great legal struggle has been going
on for many years in reference to the ef-
feet of extra territorial divorces. If q
man is married in country, and is there.
after divorced according to the laws of
that country, other nations will ordinarily
recognize the separation. But when the
marriage takes place in one nationality,
and the divorce is granted in another, the
first will not always accept it. Were q
man and wife to remove from Catholic
sovereignty to the State of New York and
be divorced here, and were either party to
remarry, that renarriage would be disre'
garded in the country of tho marriage,
the children would be pronounced illcgiti.
mate, and descent and inheritance would
be arranged regardless Of it. This would
seem to US a hardship, and yet it is pre-.
cisely what our courts decide in relation
to those in Indiana, and for going in OPP
position to it Mr.. Beecher has been some
what to blame. However, we must d.
our judges the justice to say that it not
SO much on the merits as on the question
of jurisdiction and on the effort to evade
our laws, that they have passed in pro-
nouncing foreign divorces null and void
while it is with the merits, the cause OF
the dissolution OF the contract, that our
people are most concerned.
An English gentleman, as respectable
as any in this city, an honorable and
wealthy man, having married in his own
country and been divorced abroad, re.
turned and was married for the second
time in England. Fearing that there
might be some impediment, he consulted
the highest legal authority, and was in
formed that divorce valid in one coun
try was valid in all, and that he was en-
tirely free to remarry. Nevert. eless, h,
was indicted for bigamy, was tried, con-
victed, condemned to two years imprison
ment at hard labor, and was compelled t
serve out his term without even a pardon
If even the clamor which has been raiset
against Mr.. Beecher is well founded, this
decision was just; if we arc to regard tn,
action of courts in our sister States, such
consequences must follow, and fill oul
State prisons with new class of con-
victs.
Recorder Ilackett has already distin
guished himself by suggesting such
theory in connection with Mr.. Beecher
and possibly our Catholic fellow-citizens
whom no doubt he wished to propitiat
might approve of the utmost severity i,
all such cases. Do the Protstants surren-
der the battle? Will they allow Nj
Beecher to fall in their cause without at
tempting to aid him?