The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1910-10-15

think, is the chief among those cry
ing for correction. That you will cor
rect it have not the slightest doubt,
and you must.
"And when you get rid of divorce
you will get rid of certain other evils
which 20 hand in hand with it. Easy
divorce breeds looseness all along the
line, and with your mixed population
looseness is more dangerous even than
it is in other countries where the
blood is not so mixed. The non-Cath-
olics among your ignorant are doing
very badly by you"
Lord Northcliffe, visiting here re-
Gently, told me that we were the
White Chinese" l said, "basing his
strange characterization on what he
called our slavish worship of con-
ventionality."
II would not call you that" said
Cardinal Logue, and took the sting
out of his words by another of those
wondrous smiles. "He may have been
quite right in thinking that some OF
your ills come from the introduction
of so great foreign mixture-l do
not know about that; but l am not
certain he was right in calling you
the White Chinese for in marriage
and divorce laws China is ahead of
you.
THE Chinese people carry out their
ideas by tho light of reason, don't
you see? Divorce, as you have it in
America, does not exist there, l am
told, and they have an extremely wise
provision which you lack. There are
no marriages of relatives in China.
The Chinese man, am informed, can
not even marry girl from the village
he lives in. He must choose his bride
from some point distant from his
home. 1t prevents consequently in
marriages.; and even that, | am i'll
formed, is sometimes tolerated by
your civil laws and by certain of your
clergy. Not even third cousins can
be married in the Catholic church
without dispensation.
1.-THE habit of divorce, which has
become so common in America, will,
if it is not corrected, bar you, in the
course of time, from the right to claim
so high a title as the White Chin
esq., 1t is and must be destructive
to the morals of both husband and
wife; it makes the children prac-
tically Legitimate and robs them of
both parents. 1t, may be worse than
illegitimacy in effect; for illegitimacy
may teach child that sin must carry
with it punishment, which is a use
full lesson. On the contrary, under
the system which obtains here, the
child may we'll assume that sin does
not bring punishment, but is sane
toned. by the law and by the customs
of the country. Then what will be
that child's course later on in life? A
course of lawlessness, beyond a
doubt"
I asked the cardinal if there was
any tendency in Ireland or in England
toward easier divorce, and he un-
hesitatingly replied that there was
none. -.
There are few divorces in Eng
land" he went on, because divorce
there is so difficult and expensive
None but the very rich can possibly
afford this sin, and that is good
thing. In Ireland there are even less
There are practically no divorces
there at all. 1t requires a long and
costly litigation there to break the
bonds which should not ever be per.
mitted to be broken, except in cir.
circumstances so extremely rare that
they need scarcely be considered And
this discourages the thought Of break
ing them. AS long as this thought
does not commonly exist the happi
ness, the real integrity of homes, is
very much conserved.
ut is the knowledge that divorce is
easy that makes wives and husbands
prone to err. 1t puts temptation in
their way. They yield. Such is the
way of human nature. Where divorce
is easy immortality will spread in.
creasingly, inevitably.
Unfortunately, there is at present
a commission sitting in England which
has under consideration amendments
to the divorce laws; but We all hope
they will not make them less rigid
than they are now. 1t, would be a
great calamity to the whole kingdom
If they were to do So The opposi
ton to change is very strong, anI
is confined by no means to the Catho
1inc Evop Tho In uyynr,