The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-09-12
THE WICKED FRENCH.
Gossip From Paris About Divorce
And Marriage.
[Lucy Hamilton Hooper's Letter.l

marriage laws of France are simply sean-
dalous. Not only is the act of getting
married fenced around and made compli-
Gated and diihculta and expensive in every
way, but it is now an actual impossibility
for any husband or wife who may possess
a spouse guilty of the grossest acts of inn
morality to get free from all responsible
ity in the matter. In this respect the de-
crees regarding a separation dc mensa ct
thoro, the nearest approach to a divorce
that is obtainable in France, weigh far
heavier on the husband than on the wife
The wife does indeed find far more diff
ficulty than the husband in getting a sep |
aration, but if she once has it and all pc
cuniary matters are satisfactorily set
tied, she is free from further molestalion.
Not so the mckless husband of wicked
Wife. After the separation ispronounced
he may go to live in Hong Kong while
she remains in Paris, but if five years at
ter such division OF residence she should
give birth to child, that child, by the
laws of France, is not only entitled to
bear her husbands name, but can claim
support from him during his lifetime, and
the share allotted to one of his legal heirs
after death. Can any more iniqultous or
unjust arrangement be imagined? But
it is chiefly OF the laws of France relat-
ing t, the marriage of French citizens
with aliens that would speak. Would
that my voice could sound trumpet
toned through The length and breadth OF
our land,
TO WARN OUR YOUNG GIRLS
who may contemplate matrimony with
Frenehmen to look wariiy to the cere-
mony and to their marriage lines. In
the first place, my advice to every Amer
lean girl who may think of marrying a
Frenchman is Punch's old counsel to
those contemplating matrlmony in gen
eraI, 'Don'tW They are not fit husbands
for American women. Their ways are
not our way; their ideas not our ideas.
They are almost invariably jealous
There are indeed model French husbands
as there are very bad American ones, but
they are the exception, not the rule. In
fact, the very training received by the
youthful Frenchman forbids him to be-
come very exemplary spouse. He is
taught that love has nothing whatever to
do with matrimony. Marriage is a busi-
ness arrangement that is to bring him in
certain sum of money and provide him
with housckeeper and some legitimate
children.
As to love as the Anglo-Saxon race un-
derstand the term, the noble, chivalrous
sentiment wherein passion is subordinate
to respectful and protecting tenderness,
he has not an idea of it. The man who
has chance TO seduce young girl aud
docs not seduce her, he sets down at once
as Il fool He is male Mrs. Potiphar
who does not believe in Josephines. His
opinion of the fair sex is very much that
OF Ouida, namely, that if woman re-
mains pure it is either from lack of at
tractiveness or from cold-blooded selfish
} ness. No Frenchman born ever really
did or could respect womaDhood per Sc.
There is not one man in all the nation,
from her proudest mobiles down to the
! street-sweepers, to whose care a mother
5 could confide her innocent daughter for
half an hour. She could place that
: daughter in the charge of nine out of ten
of our American men for a trip across
the continent, and that despite the demor-
alizing influence of
IMPORTED FOREIGN IDEAS.
But apart from the national character
istics of the French husband. the Ameri-
can wife must be very sure and certain
that her marriage is lawful in France.
/, The ignoring of the marriage laws OF
! other countries forms a painful feature
Of the French code. Witnes,
the unhappy position of the unfor
tunate Princess Bibesco who was di
. yorced from her first husband in Bel
4 gium, and afterwards married her pres
Il ent spouse, but who, by the laws OF
y France, is still considered the Princess dt
Bouffemont. So the American bride
must remember that what constitutes ;
i. legal marriage in the United States, b,
, no means makes of her lawful wife il
;, France. French laws make Of the eivi
y marriage sine qua non. The Frencl
: bridegroom and the American bride ma,
y be married with all the formality tina
~ religious rites may bestow, nay, with al
, the rites of the Roman Catholic Church
h but even should Cardinal McCloske,
= himself himself be the officiating priest
~ the marriage would be null and void il
! France if the pairwcre not united befor
w W the French Consul.
"a That act, and that alone, constitutes
~ legal marriage in France. One can read
~ lily perceive to what dire complication
d this rule, which is generally unknown il
d the United States may give rise. Not
.c year passes that some poor American gil
- does not come to some one of the Amer
a can lawyers in Paris to ask the heart
W W rending question, cam I, or am not, Ii
II gally married| Deserted by her Frenc
~ husband, too often with two or three Ii
~ ~ tie children on her hands to support, sh
' has been coolly informed by the ma
ID whom she espoused in the presence {
=. - her friends aud relatives and with a
" due formalties of priest and ring, tn.
NJ. she is not his wife at all. And on ht
legal adviser devolves the painful duty
telling her that in the eyes of the Frenc
law she is nothing but ooncubine an
her children are bastards. Happy is