The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1883-03-31

tian era, the principal nations of the
world allowed unlimited divorce, fire.
quently by the consent Of both husband
and wife, but principally at the will of
the husband. Such was the practice
among the Chinese, the ancient Britons,
the Jews, the Romans, and to some ex-
tent among the Greeks. Christianity,
however, re-enacting the Divine law, re-
stricted divorce to a single cause-adu!-
tery-the canon law under the Church
Of Rome subsequently becoming, as to
marriage and divorce, the law of Chris
tendon. Up to the time of the Reforma-
ton, absolute divorces were allowed for
causes existing before marriage only, and
which constituted it void al tnitto, a1ul-
terry and other causes subsequent to mar
riage being sufficient grounds for legal
separation of husband and wife. The
early reformers revolted against these
canonical restrictions of the Roman
Church, and from that day, in all coun-
tries where their religious views have
prevailed, the more liberal system has
been established, and the legal grounds
upon which divorce could be obtained
have been extended to questionable
lengths.
In this country, the varying statutory
regulations of the States have become so
inconsistent and confusing that they are
the despair of courts and the opprobriup
of the law, the only remedy in some
States for the preservation of the morals
of communities being the elevation of
sentiment in regard to the sanctity of
marriage, and the popular appreciation
State is the family, and whatever laws,
usages and practices are at war with the
peace, purity and permanence of the
family as the great and social institution
of our Christian civilization, are serious
perils to be averted. That the multi
plicity Of divorces, and the facility with
which they can be obtained, is great
public peril in this country, no intelli-
gent reader of divorce statistics will
pretend to deny.
In the United States, says DR.. Wool
sey, the number of divorces has been
long on the increase in some States,
while in others there may be tendency
to reach maximum aud remain station
airy. Blu. ratio like that in Connect
cut, of divorce to HOG marriages for
twenty -one years: or that in Vermont of
to l1.6 for nineteen years; or that in
Massachusetts, Of l to 35.S for the same
period, beginning with to $40, in 1860,
and ending, in 1878, with l to 81. 4, shows
no healthy condition of society. The
increase of divorces IN this latter State
is accompanied by an increase in the
number of the leading crimes against
chastity and infant life. What if the
disease does not appear in the better
classes of society, asks DR.. Weolsey, is
it not a terrible thing to have corrupt
lower class increasing in these old and
staid communities:
Nor, says he, can we believe that the
condition of things is any better in those
States which do not publish statistics,
if we may judge from single specimens.
In st. Louis, the number of divorces, in |
1879, was 400, Or as 20 700 inhabitants.
In San Francisco, the divorces were 1888,
in 1880, or about to 702 In one coun-
ty in Michigan (Wayne), containing
200, 900 inhabitants, there was ratio of |
divorce to 1856 of the population, and in
Kent county, in the same State. in six
teen months since January l., 1861, there
were 921 marriages recorded and 2O2 |
divorce suits commenced in population
of $1,000.
In Cook county, Illinois, which en-
braces the City of Chicago, and which,
in 1880, had 4 population of 607. 46s,
there were granted, in the year 1889, IA
divorces. OF these 655 were cases in
which no defense was offered During
that year there were 9,605 marriages.
This gives one marriage to every 632 of |
the population, and one divorce to every
1874 marriages, and one divorce to every |
$50 of the population.
OF the TIA divorces granted, els or A
per cent were for desertion; 142 or 10 per |
cent for adultery; 141 or 10 per cent for
cruelty, and 95 or 10 per cent for drunk
enness.
"These figures" says Judge Jameson,
who publishes these last statements in |
the same issue of the North American |
Recien, care undoubtedly painful ones,
but they are below those exhibited by |
some of the older States. Thus in |
Maine, in 1873, there was one divorce to |
every $40 inhabitants; and in Penobscot |
county, the seat of theological semi
nary. one to every SEQ inhabitants. In
the Western Reserve, district of Ohio |
originally settled by emigrants from New
England, there is said to have been, in |
1878 and 1879, one divorce to every 11.9 |
marriages; in Ashtabula county, one d.
vorce to every marriages; and in Lake
County, tuE dlSOtCo W every III mar |
riages. When it is considered that Yer
mont is an old State. with fixed popu- |
lation of nearly purely American descent,
the ratio Of one divorce to every fourteen
marriages, in 1878, indicates much
greater laxity in it's divorce laws than
prevails in Illinois, even if no credit be |
given to the assertion made by citizeus
familiar with the facts that in a certain
county of Vermont, out Of % divorces
granted at one term of court, 81 were
believed to be c0llusive.'
These figures remind us of the activity
of the French courts during the Revolu-
ton, when in the first three months of |
1898, there were, according to Burke,
562 divorces in Paris alone, being one to
every three marriages.
On the whole, there can be no ques-
ton that the ratio of divorces to mar
riages, in this country, exceeds that of
any country in the Christian world, a
fact which was painfully recognized by
the Congregational ministers of Chicago
who publicly announced their