The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-10-15
NO CHANGE IN
DIVORCE CANON
THE HOUSE OF DEPUTIES
REJECT THE AMENDMENT AFTEI:
FOUR DAYS DEBATE.

House of Bishops May Yet Act, Hus
II is Certain No Change Will Be
Made-SOuthern and Pacific States
Voted Against the Change, While
the Middle Western states Favor
ed the Amendments.
Boston, Oct. 1.-THE House of Dep
uties of the Episcopal General Con-
yention, at the close of four days
debate to-day rejected an amendment
10 the divorce canon, which sought to
prevent the remarriage of divorced
persons by clergymen of the denomi-
nation. While the House of Bishops
may vet act on the matter, it is Ger
tain that no change will be made by
the present convention.
The Present Law.
The present law of the church, which
has been in operation since 1859, al
lows the remarriage of the innocent
party to a divorce granted for infidei
ity. At several conventions attempts
have been made to repeal this law,
and when a vote was taken to-day by
the House of Deputies, sitting as Com
mittee of the Whole. on the question
of reporting the proposed amendmept
to the house itself, the reformers were
successful by vote of PA to 1871, and
this vote was regarded as represent
ing the actual strength of the con-
tending forces.
The final vote however, was taker
by dioceses and orders, and where
diocese was evenly divided in senti-
ment, it's strength was counted in the
negative. The vote by dioceses was:
Clerical for the amendment 80;
against, 81: divided. 10.
Lay vote, for, %; against, "a divid-
ed, 6.
High Churchmen for Change.
Practically the entire strength of the
Middle Western States, the stronghold
of the high church party, declared for
the proposed reform, but the Pacific
States and number of the Southern
States voted against a change Of the
present canon. The diocese of New
York opposed the amendment, while
that of Pennsylvania favored it. In
New England, Vermont New Hamp-
shire and Western Massachusetts, Vot-
ed for a change, as did the lay depu-
ties from. Rhode Island. The clerical
deputies from Maine favored the
amendment, but the votes of Connecti-
cut and Massachusetts were cast in the
negative. The issue was not party
one, although the whole strength OF
the high church forces was given TO
the reform movement. The president
of the House of Deputies, Rev. DR.. II.
II. McKim Of Washington, voted lor
the old canon, although the clerical
vote of his diocese supported the pro-
posed change.
Present Law the Better.
In the course of the debate Dew. DR..
William Il. Huntington of New York
said that all the delegates were agreed
as to the sanctty of matrimony and
the evils Of divorce, and declared that
the whole question was how the IN
tegrity of the family may best be pre-
served. He thought the present law
offered the solution.
The speaker said: while matrimony
Is an estate 1t is also a contract When
The contract is annulied the union is
broken. If the church wished to in
iuence the legislatures it must do 1t
IN conjunction with the Protestant de"
nominations. If the Episcopal church
took the proposed step 1t would be
placed outside of the interdenomina-
tona conference and the church's
influence would be nil"
Rev. DR.. Davenport of Memphis,
chairman Of the Committee on Canons,
made the concluding argument in
pref address for the amendment.
The house took an adjournment I'M
III Monday.