Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1875-05-06
Mis ;fllaasoas.
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.
Discovery Of Important PaPers
Relating to Her Marriage.

London (1larcn lo) SOI. n. l. WIN
, The defenders of the memory and
character of Mary Queen of Scots will
now have occasion TO again gird on
their armor. Under the title OF "A Lost
Chanter in the History of Mary Queen
f,f Scets Recovered, DIR. John Stuart,
of Edinburg, has related new story
of the events connected with the mar
riage of Boutwell, with Lady Jane Cor
don: his divorce from that LADY and
his marriage with the queen, and the
subsequent life of his divorced wife
down to her death in 1929. After her
divorce. to which she was a conSenting
party, she married the Earl OF Suther-
land that DIR. Stuart discovered, after
if had been missing for three centuries,
the most important OF. the papers on
which his story is based-that is the
papal dispensation for the marriage oi
Boutwell, and Lady Jane Gordon, who
we're cousins. This dispensatiOn was
granted February II, 1856, by the
Archbishop of st. Andrews and sets
forth. that although the parties were
connected in double forth degrees OF
consanguinity, liberty was granted to
them to marry. Boutwell,, however,
by two other women-One a Danish
lady, and the other Janet Betoun, VINO
was afterwards the lady of Buccleugh.
However tie marriage was solemnlzed
on the 22d of February, 1861 at the
court, but. not by Roman Catk0llc
priest. The lady WAS Catholic. both-
well was a Protestant, and the dispen-
sation was needed only to satisfy the
scruples of the lady. II the queen
knew of the existence OF the dispensa-
tion, then she knew that the marriage
was a lawful one in the eye Of the
churcn and that her own subsequent
marriage with Boutwell, was illegal
and void. DR.. Stuart brings forward
many proofs to show that she must
have had this knowledge, The proofs
are strong but they are, perhaps, not
conclusive. However, in three weeks
after occurred the murder of Rizzio;
then Darnley was killed, and then
Boutwell, wished to marry the queen.
To do this it was necessary Tor him TO
get rid of his wife, and she was quite
willing, and it was arranged betW cen
them that each should get divorce
from the other. But trickery and con-
cealment now came into play, for the
Catholic went before Protestant court,
proved the adultery of her husband
with ono of her servant-maids, and OBJ
tanned her div orce, while the Protest
ant husband applied to a Catholic
tribunal, and concealing the fact that
the marriage had been Solemnized by
virtue of dispensation, obtained a di-
yorce dissOlVing it on tine ground of re-
lationship between the prohibited de-
grees. Affairs were in such confusion
In Scotland at this time that no record
seems to have been kept by the Cath
olic authorities, and everything went
by hap-hazard. The sentence declar-
ing the marriage null was pronounced
on May z, 1867 only a1ittle more than
a year after it had been celebrated
and the marriage between Boutwell,
and Mary Immediately followed. The
important point, as regards Mary, is
whether she knew of the dispensation,
and DR.. Stuart gives it as his opinion
that she was aware of it. But it is clear,
at least that Lady Jane Gordon did
know of it, as it was obtained at her
request. she was devOut Catholic,
and remained so until her death; but
she not only herself obtained divorce
from her husband on the ground of his
adultery, but married again during his
life. The truth seems to be that the
Catholics in Scotland at that time were
very much at sea-deprived to a great
extent of their religious guides-and
tempted in a thousand ways to make
compromises and shipwrecks of their
faith.