The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1880-10-30
M0xGANATIC MARRIAGES.
Precedents Set for the Immoral Old
Gear OF Russia.

New York Times.
The morganatic ma rriage of the czsr o
Russia and the princess Dolgorouki, though
for some time anticipated, would seem t
have 70 lowed hard upon the czarinas death
But it can scarcely be considered hasty wher
it is remembered that rhe princess has beer
twelve years Aleyanlnr's mistress and is now
the mother of several of his children. Ht
certainly loves her far more passIonately
than prudently, rs many of his impolitiC
acts prompted by her Influence, and his
great desire to AXE her the partner of hi.
throne rs well as his heart abundantly At
test. His love for her has been of late. sc.
cordng to all accounts, the absorbing emo.
ton of mis- life, and his evident determination
to Indemnify her. SO for as practicable, for
the very unconventional past, is by no
means common with sovereigRs. He could
not easily have taken any step which would
have met with less approval in his own do
minions han have his
PECULIAR NUPrIALS
Just celebrated. But when love burns in the
breast of an emperor near 60 years old, pru.
dence is not to b expected. Morganatlc
MARI ges have for centuries been made by
German princes, and ps the Romanofls are
German by blood, it is natural enough that
their present head should follow his ancestral
custom, Neither the wife nor her children
are entitled usually, in union of this kind,
TO share the rank or possessions of the nus
band, the dowry being considered requtsl
for the loss of ordinary conuubial rights and
privileges. One of the most notea of such
alliance s was that Of Frederick William Ill,
of Prussia, with the Countess Auguste Won
HarrNch, who at the time of the wedding,
was made princess of Liegnitz. Out of the
usage has gradually arisena code OF malri-
monial law by which the union of princes
with members of the lower order in other
than morganatic form has been attended
with
VERY SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES,
mainly TO the women. The lovely and I'M
happy Agnes BernVuer, his ospoused, was
ssvageIy pu' to death in the fifteenth century
during the absence of her lord, on q charge
OF having bewtched him? In the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries the German
princes were in tho habit os taking a NOR.
gsnatic wife in addition to regular wife.
Landgrsve Phillip, of Hesse, set the exam
Pile, though not without the disapproval of
the leading reformers. During the past CEN
fury Anton Ulricb, duke of SAKE Meiningen,
tried hard to depart from the established
rule in an effort to obtain for his morcanat,c
wife the title of duchess, and for her chill.
dren the, right of succession. The emperor,
sustained by the highest nobility of the
realm, refused his suit, declaring that there
could be no compl to marriage in princely
families except between persons Of
equal birth, MorgNnatc marriages have
not decreased in Germany during the last
sixty or seventy yeqrs One of the most re.
markable instances was the mar iage of the
daughter of the postmaster of Aussee (Sty.
ria), afterward created countess of Meran, 10
the late Archduke John. These letthanded con-
nections are recognized and tolerated among
the higher aristocracy not less than among
princely lines, In Prussia even the inferior
gentry may, and often do, contract them.
Therese Ellslor, who visited this country we'll
nigh forty years ago on dancing tour with
her then renowned sister, Fanny, was NOR
gsnatically married ten years later to Prince
Adalbert, OF Prussia, and was ennobed AS
Frau Won Sarnem. The Romsn and the
Greek churches have virtually sanctioned
morganatic marriages, which are palpably
u Just TO women, to true domesticity, and TO
Inc test interests of morality.