Morning journal and courier., 1893-09-23
wAKEMAN,s WANDKRINGs.

tions?
Murills-we don't. That's the whole
oode.-HaIpsr's Bansr.
wAKEMAN's wANDERINGs.
At Famous Gretna Green-A Place,
Folk and History Weirdly Fascfna-
ting Alone From Their Woebegone,
Vicious and Outrageous Character
Origin, ufse and Decay of This once
Notorious Court OF Hymen-The
First "Bishep OF Gretna'' and His
riaRes still In vogue-A Grotesque
Ceremony.
GRETNA, Scotland, Sept. z.
To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
Tramping in many portions of every
shire of Scotland, where lave 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 unoanny and
Infamous, that place, folk and history are
wisrdly fascinating alone from their woe
begone, vicious and outrageous character
Such place, such a folk and such q his
tory remain in the ancient noted, and still
notorious, Scottish court of Hymen, Gret-
ma 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 one hundred and ffty years trailed
through every form of roman ,e and story;
infested every manner of newspaper ira
vesty; 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 post and sstirist 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 1t has even entered without reverence
the presence of grave ohanoellors to par-
sue its course of dishonor and disquiet in
the highest courts of the three kingdoms.
In fact, in the entire English-spesking
| world the name of Gretna Green and the
notion of Grstna Green marriages. are as
familiar to all classes as Is the commonest
| nursery rhyme.
Yet you will not find q score of people
either ia America or in Britain who can
tell you, any more than they oan give the
origin of the commonest nursery rhyme,
what originally really made the place IA
| mous or infamous, the conditions eontlnr-
| ing its notoriety, whether these conditions
have been removed, or whether Gretns
Green itself is q real place with geographi-
cal limitations, or an interesting myth
growing out Of the vagaries and With
| oisms of marital literature. Illustrative
OF this was the indignant assertion made
to me short time since by q most emf
| nent clergyman of Glasgow that Gretns
Green marriages were abolished by law q
| half century ago, and that probably not
| an hundred couples were ever married at
Gretna as alleged by popular tradition!
On the contrary, nearer ten thousand
| couples have been married at Gretna
Green; Gretna Green marrisges of the
| olden sort, with very slight modification,
are constantly being "solemnized" at the
| present time; and, as 1 shall show, hold
certificate of marriage of my own, is-
sued by the present "Bishop Of Gretns,"
William Laing, postman.
| No single clear and concise account can
be found in the books comprising the con-
ditions and incidents leading to the estsb-
lishment of the ancient notorious marriage
| Mecca cf Gretns. Its origin primarily
was due to the rigors of English 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. Decisions under
this law, Influenced by powerful ecclesiss-
ticism, led to serious legal entauglements.
A civil contract marriage was va!id-to a
degree. In the matter of descent of real
property to the offspring Of such mar
| riage, 1t was held to be invalid. Rebellion
against the inexorsbility of the clerical in
fuence In the courts, rather than the law
Itself, resulted in the clsndestine marriages
celebrated by unprlneipled clerics In or
ders, known az "Fleet marriages" and
their consequent scandals, a century and 8
quarter ago in London. To end this was
passed the English marriage act cf Lord
Chancellor Hard wicke, In 1854. This pro-
hibited all clandestine and so-cslled sir
regular" or civil-contraet marriages, and
made It compulsory on all English cub
jeets, except Quekers and Jews, to be mar
ried according to the rites of the Church
of England.
So unjust measure Was certain to meet
with evasion. Opportunity for this va.
found in the necessary interchangeable rule
| in the English courts that any marriage
, validly performed in the country in which
1t had been contracted must be held valid
for all purposes in England. Rsbellioui
q spirits and secretly painting hearts natu
| rally turned towards the nearest country
1,zf
At the tine of the Reformation Scotland
as we'll as England refused to accept tn,
provision of the Council Of Trent, which
rendered the solemnization of marriage b.
a priest necessary. Scotland's anoien
marriage law was the same as that of an
r oient England. From time immemoris
all that has been requisite for valid mar
y riage in Scotland has besn an Interchange
J, of real and actual consent, constituting q
the time given an undeniable intention
= and determination to enter the relation o
K husband and wife, with either ineontesti
g BILE written evidences of that fact, or svl
dences of witnesses before whom the sam
4 is declared. This was ancient Scottisl
, law. II was Scottish law when Gretn
). began to acquire notoriety as marrisg
resort for runaway English couples. An
1t is Scottish law to-day.
- There has never been In Scotland, nor
!, there to-day, any bar to this form OF mai
,, riage save that of public sentiment Th
people of Scotland, including large pre-
portion of the clergy, ever sturdily with
a. stood the enactment of laws by the SEQ
ar tish parliament which might spnul thi
ut form of marriage, or tend to cloud he'll
- ship under 1t. StIictest conditions of res
istration have always been imposed; an
g. Scottish law has always prescribed certai
: csremonials for celebration of reguli
n. marriages, such as the publication of bsnI
q. and the officiating by q clergyman. Br
the tirregulsr" marriage by wltnesse
- civil contract has never besn successful
n, aesailsd, and has never been subject to b.
40 one ight modification. Through defe
), ence to English appeals for . check upc
~ the "Gretna" and "Coldstream" marIisg
of English people for the border Villa
of Ooldstream in Berwiekshire once pc
ssssed almost as unenviable q reputatit
d. as Gretna-,n 1856, by permission of Soc
'ss' tish representatives, an act was passed
y, the British parliament imposing the co
~ dition upon Scottish civil-contraet ml