The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1911-08-12

looking man, but somehow or other he
had about film certain air of futility
IN perhaps one thought 50 because Of the
we'll known fact in his domestic life
. =, that his wife had formed strong at
T. tachment for the Marquis of Harting-
sss Aon,s as; the Duke of Devonshire was
for so many years and that he had not
made any attempt to break up the
~, arrangement. Nor did society either.
This attachment was so open. so en-
during and apparently so devoted that
it was condoned; perhaps the condon-
alton was made the easier by the fact
~ that it concerned people so powerful
~ in rank and wealth. These compro-
misses have always been common in
the upper classes in England. This
IN state of affairs is largely due to Curl
Gus contradictions Of the marriage
law. In England it is impossible for
either the husband or the wife to be
divorced without the loss of social,
professional or political position; and
III this is penalty which few men and
@ especially when there are children and
:: the future of the children may be COM
promised as we'll as that Of the par
-. ents.
In Ireland divorce practically does
s: - not exist; all the law courts in that
,tit country can give is separation order
49, and to get full divorce the parties
- must have bill passed through the
two houses of parliament, process
80 which costs a great deal of money. In
~. one case, believe. the coat went up
,., to. as much as 100000. In Scotland
:, on. the other hand the process is cas-
=: Ter; and curiously enough. in spite of
its Puritanism the social consequences
- of divorce are not as calamitous as in
: England.
No Special Divorce Court
There is no special divorce court in
Scotland, marriage being civil con-
:. :. tract and the case is tried before an
,rn ordinary court like any other question
~ granted to a wife in England unless
.. she is able to prove both intidelity and
cruelty. while the husband has only
~g"' to prove infdelity. In Scotland the
law is equal between the two sexes,
infidelity being quite sufficient ground
for wife to get relief altogether
2. And even that need not be proved, de-
4 sertion for the space of three years
~. meeting the exigences of the situa
90, ton, and that means that all necessary
o. grounds are supplied if the wife or the
s''+ husband leave their native Scotland
and live in England not far away or in
any other place they choose. If a di-
vorce be granted on the comparatively
$. easy grounds, people do not take
much notice of it unless the parties
90, are very prominent and l have heard
" a In the divorce court, it does not form
"Se part Of the 'eelectioneering campaign
soe against him in Scotland that it UNI
- doubtedly would be in England or in
: Ireland. -
~, a, There was curious futter of sus-
Is pense when the Duke of Manchester
o1"died; and women especially held their
'o breaths to see whether the flckleness
they attribute to the average man, was
s% going to be once more proved. But
Lord Harrington rose to the occasion
;. and married the duchess after their
: long years of attachment and long af-
go ter she had a single remnant of the
- beauty that had intoxicated him in his
= romantic youth.