The record-union., 1893-09-23

sors-Gretna Marriages Still in
vogue-A Grotesque Ceremony.
spsoiaI Correspondence of the RECORD
UNION. Copyright 1881
GRErNA, Scotland, September Z, 1898.
Tramping In many portions of every
shire of Scotland, where l have not found
beauty or grandeur in scenery there has
always been winsome antiquarian, his
toric or personal interest. Only one spot
has proven repulsive, squalid and for
lorn to such degree that its very beg
gardness is startling, its venality terocl-
GUS and its miserable folk and history so
uncanny and infamous, that place, folk
and history are weirdly fascinating alone
from their woebegone, vicious and out
rageous character. Such place, such
folk and such history remain in the an
cient noted, and still notorious, Scotland
court OF Hymen, Gretna Green.
In what may be termed the scandalOus
romantic literature Of Britain, no other
place has occupied such scandalous and
even worldwide notoriety. 1t has for
nearly $50 years trailed through every
form of romance and story; infested every
manner of newspaper traYesty; burdened
much of popular ballad and rhyme; OBJ
truded itself into noble as well as lOWly
society; stalked across the stage IN trag-
edy and comedy; engaged the pen OF as
great poet and satirist as Tom Aood IN
his well-knOWn elegy TO David LANG,
the closing lines Of which are
Had I command thou should'st have gone thy
ways
In chaise and pair-and lain in Pere la ChaIse
and it has even entered without reverence
the presence of grave chancellors to pur-
sue It's course of dishonor and disquiet III
the highest courts Of three kingdoms. In
fact, in the entire English-speaking world
the name of Gretna Green and the notion
of Gretna Green marriages are as familiar
to all classes as is the commonest nursery
rhyme.
Yet you will not find a score of people
either in America or in Britain who can
give the origin Of the commonest nursery
rhyme, what originally really made the
place famous or infamous, the conditions
continuing It's nOtOrlety, whether these
conditions have been removed, or wheth-
er Gretna Green itself is a real place with
geographical limitations, or an interest
ing myth growing out ofthe vagaries and
Witticisms OF marital literature. lllustra-
tive of this was the indignant assertion
made to me a short time since by most
eminent clergyman of Glasgow that Gret-
ma Green marriages were abolished by
law half century ago, and that probably
II OF an hundred couples were ever mar
ried at Gretna as alleged by popular ira
ditionl On the contrary, nearer 10000
couples have been married at Gretna
Green-Gretna Green marriages OF the
olden sort, with very slight modification,
are constantly being 'solemnlzed" at tue
present time, and, as | shall show, l hold
by the present Bishop of Gretna," Wm.
Laing, Postman.
No single clear and concise account can
-be found in the books comprising the
conditions and incidents leading to the
establishment Of the ancient notorious
marriage Mecca OF Gretna. Its origin
primarily was due to the rigors OF Eng
lish marital law about the middle of the
eighteenth century. Ancient English
law held that marriage was legal by civil
contract in the presence of TWO witnesses,
rendering the services of the priest merely
a matter of sentiment or religion. Decis
ions under this law, influenced by pow
erful ecclesiasticism, led to serious legal
entanglementS. A civil contract mar
riage was valid-to degree. In the mat
ter of descent Of real property TO the Off
spring of such marriage, IL was held to be
invalid. Rebellion against the ineXOra-
bility of the clerical influence in the
courts, rather than the law itself, resulted
In the clandestine marriages celebrated
by unprincipled clerics in orders, known
as Fleet marriages" and their consequent
scandals, century and a quarter ago in
London. To end this was passed the
English Marriage Act of Lord Chancellor
Hardwicke, in 1874 This prohibited all
clandestine and so-called irregular or
civil contract marriages, and made 1t
compulsory on all English subjects, eX-
f1f,o ol-a, Toty fr no r11a iaH ar
cording to the rites of the Church of Eng
land.
So unjust a measure was certain to meet
with evasion. Opportunity for this was
found in the necessarily Interchangeable
rule in the English courts that any mar
riage yalidly performed in the country in
which 1t had been contracted must be
held valid for all purposes in England.
Rebellious spirits and secretly painting
hearts naturally turned towards the near
est country offering relief. Thisone was
Scotland. At the time of Reformation
Scotland as well as England refused to
accept the provision OF the Council OF
Trent which rendered the solemnization
of marriage by priest necessary. Scot
lands ancient marriage law was the same
as that of ancient England. From time
1mmemorial all that has been requisite
for valid marriage in Scotland has been
an interchange of real and actual consent,
constituting at the time given, an unde-
niable intention and determination to
enter the relation of husband and wife,
with either contestible written evidences
of that fact, or evidences of witnesses be-
fore whom the same is declared. This
was ancient Scottish law. 1t was Scot
tish law when Gretna began to acquire
notoriety as a marriage resort for runa-
way English couples. And it is Scottish
law to-day.
There has never been in Scotland, nor
is there to-day, any bar to this form of
marriage save that of public senti-
ment. The people of Scotland, including
q large proportion of the clergy, ever
sturdily withstood the enactment of laws
by the Scottish Parliament, which might
annul this form of marriage, or tend to
cloud heirship under it. Strictest condi-
tions of registration have always been inn
posed, ana Scottish law has always pre-
scriped certain ceremonials for celebra-
ton of regular marriages, such as the
publication of bands and the officiating