The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-24
WAKEMAN'S WANDERINCS.
4 Visit to the Ancient and Famous
GTetna Green.

begone, Vicious and Outrageous
Charaoter-origin, Rise and Decay of
This Once Notorious Court of Hymen.
The First Bishop of Gretna" and
His Uncanny -Gretna
Marriages Still in VoEue-A Gro
tesque Ceremony.
Copyright, 1921
Gretna, Scotland, Sept. 7-Tramping
in many portious of every shire of Scot
land, where l have not found beauty or
grandeur in scenery there has always
been winsome antiquarian, historic or
personal interest. Only one spot has
proven repulsive, squalid and forlorn to
such degree that its very beggarliness is
startling, its venality ferOciOus and ITS
miserable folk and history so uncanny
and infamous, that place, folk and history
are weirdly fascinating alone from their
woebegone, vicious and outrageous char
acter. Such a place, such a folk and
such a history remain in the ancient
noted, and still notorious, Scottish court
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 travesty !;
burdened much of popular ballad and
rhyme; obtruded itself into noble as well
as lowly society; stalked across the stage
In tragedy and comedy; engaged the pen
of as great poet and satirist as Tom
Hood in his well-known elegy to David
Laing, the closing lines of which are,
Had command, thou should'st have gone thy
In chaise and pair-and lain in Pere la
Chaise!-
and it has ben entered without rever-
ence the presence of grave chancellors to
pursue its course of dishonor and dis
quiet in the highest courts of the 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 Britain who
can tell you, any more than they can
give the origin of the commonest nursery
rhyme, what originally really made the
place famous or infamous, the conditions
continuing its nOtOriety, whether these
conditions have been removed, or whether
Gretna Green itself is a real place with
geographical limitations, or an interest
ing myth growing out of the vagaries and
witticisms of marital literature Illus
trative of this was the indignant asser-
tiOn made to me short time since by a
most eminent clergyman Of Glasgow that
Gretna Green marriages were abolished
by law half century ago, and that prob
ably not an hundred couples were ever
married at Gretna as alleged by popular
tradition. On the contrary, nearer TO-,
900 couples have been married at Gretna
Green; Gretna Green marriages of the
olden sort, with very slight modification,
are constantly being 'sOlemnized" at the
present time; and, as | shall show, hold
a certificate of marriage of my own, is
sued by the present Bishop of Gretna, 4"
William Laing, postman.
No single clear and concise account can
be found in the books comprising the CON
ditiOns and incidents leading TO the estab-
lishment of the ancient notorious mar
riage Mecca of Gretna. Its origin prima-
rily was due to the rigOrs of English mar
ital law about the middle of the 18th cen
fury. 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 mat
ter of sentiment or religion. Decisions
under this law, influenced by powerful
ecclesiasticism, led to serious legal en-
tanglements. A civil contract marriage
was valid-to a degree. In the matter of
descent of real property to the offspring
of such marriage, 1t was held TO be in
valid. Rebellion against the inexorability
of the clerical influence in the courts,
rather than the law itself, resulted in the
clandestine marriages celebrated by un-
principled 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 Chancel-
lor Hardwicke, in 1854. This prohibited
all clandestine and so-called irregular
or ciyil-cOntract marriages, and made it
compulsory on all English subjects, ex-
cept Quakers and Jews, to be married &C
cOrding to the rites of the Church of
England.
So unjust a measure was certain to
meet with evasion. Opportunity for this
was found in the necessarily unchanged
BILE rule in the English courts that any
marriage validity performed in the coun-
try in which it had been contracted must
be held valid for all purposes in England
RebelliOus spirits and secretly painting
hearts naturally turned towards the
nearest country offering relief. This one
was Scotland. At the time of the refor-
nation Scotland as well as England re-
fused to accept the provision of the Conn
Gil of Trent, which rendered the solemni-
ZatiOn of marriage by priest necessary.
ScotlBnd's ancient marriage law was the
same as that of ancient England From
time immemOrial all that has been requi-
site for valid marriage in Scotland has
been an interchange of real and actual
consent, constituting at the time given an
undeniable intention and determination to
enter the relation of husband and wife,
with either incOntestible written evil
dences of that fact, or evidences of wit
nesses before whom the same is declared
This was ancient Scottish law 1t was
Scottish law when Gretna began to ac-
quire nOtOriety as marriage resort for
runaway 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 sentiment.
The people of Scotland, including 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
ship under it. Strictest conditions
of registration have always been imposed;
and Scottish law has always prescribed
certain ceremonials for celebration of
regular marriages, such as the publica-
ton Of banns ard the officiating by a
clergyman But the irregular mar
riage by witnessed civil contract has
never been successfully assailed and has