Year: 1876

Would more ulfneult process
for obtaining divorce decrease the
volume of matrimonial trouble?
is question asked by many
and answered as often one way
as the other. One thing is beyond
dispute, and that is, if the grounds on
which divorces are granted were more
circumscribed, and the process by
which legal separations are obtained
was made more diff, ,ult and conse-
quently more expensive, the number
of divorced men and wemen would
soon be considerably less than at pres
ent. But suppose this to be the case,
would there be fewer separations of
husbands. and wives? We are dis
posed to believe there would. Accord
ing to the tenets of the Roman Cath
Ollie Church there is no such thing as
legal divorce A marriage solem-
nized by this religion is a marriage for
life, and only the death of one gives
the Church-right of a second marriage
to the other. There are, we believe,
circumstances under which divorce
may be obtained with the sanction of
this Church, but they are exceedingly
exceptional departures from a very
general custom. We cannot, ,ofcourse,
assume that converts to the Roman
Catholic religion are granted an i'm
munity beyond others from the cares
and vexations which ruffie the surface
of the matrimonial sea ,and sometimes
wreck the voyagers thereon, but we
can assert that the proportion of final
separations among those whose mar
riage has been sanctified by this
Church is less than among those of
none or other religious faith. Perhaps
this fact is not due to the circum-
stance that it is next to impossible to
obtain the Church's sanction to di-
vorce, but the fact exists and we can
offer no other or better reason for Its
existence. If the law frowned down
and discountenanced divorce in like
degree that it is opposed by this relig.
ion, we may reasonably conclude that


the legal dissolving of the marriage
contract would be as rare an event as


it is now an every day occurrence. 1t
is true that instances of divorced
couple remarrying are far from COM
mon, but none of us will venture to
say that thousands of men and women
who have availed themselves. of the


easy facilities for obtaining divorce do
| not regret the hasty action and would,
could they do SO without sacrifice of
pride, wipe from existence the legal
decree which prevents the fulfilment
of their altar VOW. Society offers no


reliable evidence in support of the
theory that facility for divorce condu-
ces to the general happiness. Moral
status and average contentment are
neither higher nor greater IN com.
munity where the process of legal sep
aration is both cheap and easy than in
| one where it is expensive and diff
cult If the marriage contract is
worth anything, it is worth more than
the value at which it is held by too
many people of the present day.. The
rapid weakening of the matrimonial
bond during the last fifty years al
most authorizes the statement that a
decade or two hence marriage VOWS
will be as false as dicer's oaths, and
ere time las numbered the closing
years of the nineteenth century, legal
marriages will be few indeed, and in
stances of men and women remaining
true unto death will only be found in
the records of the past. God institu-
ted marriage; man invented divorce.


We are told marriages are made in
Heaven; we know the high and holy
compact is renderd null and void by a
court long ways below. We do not
hesitate to do what we can easily un-
do. We care little for responsibility
if the law relieves us of consequences.
Everything may be promised when
nothing need be redeemed. When
we know the contract is not binding
We are careless about conditions. The
knowledge that divorce is easy has no
doubt brought about many hasty and
ill-considered marriages. With the
right of men and women to marry
who they please, the law cannot inter-
fere, but it may say tothem if they do
marry they shall not separate for triv-
ial cause. The law of divorce in this
State, in fact in most of the States,
needs amending. AS it now stands it
makes marriage a shallow farce.
There are two bills now before the Leg
islature which should become laws.
One makes wife beating punishable


with the lash, and the other defines
infideiity as the only ground on which
divorce is obtainable.