New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-06-12
MARRIAGES WITH ALIENS.
WOmeH Not to Lose Their Nation
aLit4 bH Wedding Foreigners.

controversy IS a decision which. while 10 spe-
eiHcaly relates 10 a demand for compensation
Put forward by the Venezuelan born widow OF
a British subject. concerns every American girl
who has contracted one Of those marriages
known as international or who contemplates
eonrerrins her hand and her fortune upon some
European Of rank and distinction Until now
1t has always been held that when a woman
became the wife OF foreigner she ACQUIRED
tpso facto his nationality. losing. Of courqa
That OF the land Of her BIRTH since IL stands to
reason that q person cannot owe allegiance 10
more than one country at a time. 7 am not
aware II there is any American law explicitly
aulrmlns this. But the English code is very
emphatic In declaring that the marriage OF a
foreign woman with British citizen has the
enecr or naturalizing her into a subject OF the
English crown. and the Continental governments
on Europe have taken until now the same view.
Inc Judgment. however. Just given BIZ Frank
FlunIey, or Vermont. the arbitrator chosen bv
President Roosevelt. at the request Of the DOW
eTs concerned in the Venezuelan claims con-
troversy, to determine certain points r,on
which they had been unable TO agree. takes
d COMMERCIALLY opposite view. and by sustain
ing tne venezuelan contention that the venez-
ue4an born widow OF a British citizen cannot Ia
regarded as an English subject. or as anv4hfr-
else than a Venezuelan virtually decides thar
every American woman who weds a foraig,ar
remains an American, not mereIy-in the eyes OF
the United States. but also in those OF most az
the European governments For eleven powers
including Great Britain. Germany Italy. France
and the United States, are involved fn. the case
and have agreed to consider themselves bound
by the award OF the arbitrator. which there
fore becomes not merely a precedent b,,+ O.,
accepted principle, that is to say. a statute. Of
international law.
Thanks 70 this the American women with
allen husbands win henceforth be enabled p,
apply 10 the courts OF their native land vvbe,
necessary for the protection OF their pronsrrv
Ior redress when wronsed and for freedom
rom matrimonial bonds when the latter have
become IntolerabIe. with the knowledge that the
decree which they may obtain here will bs
treated with consideration by. and receive recog-
milton on the part Of, the authorities abroad. In
fact. they viii become infinitely more in1s-
pendent, and consequently happier
In Italy, for Instance divorce does not ae71r,
on the code Consequently. the American girl
who weds an Italian, and who until now. has
been regarded as having thereby acquired hts
nationality and lost her own. has been urabIa
TO secure dissolution OF the union. no r7s+-ar
how abominabe his conduct. unless he were
willing 10 be naturalized IN this or some other
country where divorce is permitted. True. she
could return 10 the United States. and br ann1,--
Ing to the courts here obtain a decree or divorce
against him. But it would have had no Iegal
value either in Italy or anywhere else abroad
and had the woman. on the strength OF this
American divorce. married again and gonA 40
Europe with her new husband. she would have
been everywhere exDossd-to the danger OF nun
tshreut for bigamy and. on the Continent AZ
any rate 70 arrest on the charge OF fsithless-
ness 70 her former husband.
- SRI
means too far fetched. I would only recall the
case OF William D Haggard. @ p. brother %
the novelist Rider Haggard, and now British
Minister Plenipotentia-y at Buenos Ayres. In
1870, when secretary OF legation q Washington.
ne married divorcee a Mrs. C. Kinney. daugh-
ter OF William Thomas Carroll OF washington
and Maryland Transferred shortly arrerva~d
to London ror duty a. the Foreign once.
Haggard ere long found life with his wife IN
oearanle, and one day, when their differences
had reached climax. he suddenly without
warning her. started OF TO Teheran TO ta.zs
the place OF one OF the secretaries there who
had either died or fallen very serf0lIslv III for
get which. Some three months later Mrs Fas-
gard, finding that her husband declined to an
swer any OF her letters or kilograms or TO -fvs
any sign OF life left England and returned 70
this country. where IN one Of the Western states
she secured a decree OF divorce against him on
the ground OF desertion and nou-support Sub
sequentIy she contracted a third marriage on
this side OF the Atlantic this time with an
American citizen Learning OF this, William
Haggard returned to London and instituted
proceedings for divorce against her naming
her third husband as correspondent. The Eng
lish courts granted q decree IN Ea-gard's favor
and against his wife. on the ground that. hav-
ms become an English woman by her second
marriage. the American tribunals were not com
petent TO dissolve the union without rhe
presence and legal domiciIs OF Haggard
in America. and his consent to submit TO their
Jurisdiction. and that. consequently. her third
marriage could be regarded only as invalid and
her association with her third husband as so
unlawful as to render him liable to damages as
land at that time with her third husband Il
would have been possible for Haggard TO have
instituted proceedings against her FOR bigamy-
that is to say, for wedding another man before
her marriage with him had been validity dis
solved by law. Lord Russell. IL may be re--enl-
bered. was sentenced by the House OF Lords To a
term Of imprisonment for biEauy only a coupls
OF years or so ago for marrying his present wife
in this country, on the strength OF divorce ike
wise obtained here, the House holding that mas
much the American courts were tncompetenr
20 grant him divorce from his first wife his
American decree must be looked upon as IN
valid. and his second marriage. therefore. as
act Of bigauy. American girIs married 10
Britons have been regarded until now as lust
much English subjects as Lord Russell and
therefore quite as disqualified as ne was from
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