CORRESPONDENCE.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT DIVORCE.

SIR, I have heard with intense satisfaction of the intended commencement of your periodical, and as you profess to open your pages to all comers, I beg a little space to call your attention to one of the evils of society that I think is worthy of your attention-I allude to the Laws of Divorce. Were the subject one entirely secular it would be most easily dealt with, but there is a theological phase which cannot so easily be managed. It really would be worth while to call the attention of the medical profession to what appears to be a species of opthalmia that attacks, and absolutely blinds, mankind in theological matters. Man, while engaged in his secular avocations, we find to be acute, logical, reflecting, patient, liberal, affectionate, and just. The same individual, when under ecclesiastical influence, becomes silly, unreflecting, illogical, impatient, illiberal, unjust, and bigoted; in fact, the only conclusion that can by possibility be arrived at is, that on theological subjects some men are insane. To return to divorce. Some little time since there was a case before that time-honoured institution, the Ecclesiastical Court, in which, as reported in the public prints, a man and his wife saw fit to change their religious views-it was from the episcopal to the Roman Catholic system: into the latter he wished to enter as a priest, but this office (whether wisely or no is not now the question) is forbidden to married men. He attempted, with the full consent of his wife, to obtain a divorce, but as neither had committed crime, the law forbade. They left the country, went to Rome, and there obtained a dispensation, the condition of which was perpetual chastity on her part, and of his to become a priest of his new faith. After a lapse of years, his wife had become a superior of a convent of nuns at Derby, but now the man, from some cause or reason unknown, wishes again to have possession of the woman who, in the eyes of some (the Catholics) was no longer his wife, and who, had divorce been free, would not, even in Protestant eyes, have been his wife; but though opposed by the woman who had not changed her views, the Ecclesiastical Court ruled that he was entitled to a restitution of conjugal rights; that is, that against the woman's will he can, under the sanction of law (ecclesiastical law), forcibly take possession and outrage the feelings of a woman who (however erroneous we may think such views) conscientiously believed she had devoted herself to her God, and that such cohabitation as the man claimed and the law granted him, was opposed to her ideas, wishes, theories, and probably involved, in her opinion, her eternal salvation. In some courts we hear custom is law; in others law is shelved, and equity is supposed to be the guiding principle; but in ecclesiastical courts, what is the principle on which

they act? Is it equity that its laws can only benefit those who leave the path of virtue ? The honest and upright who from any cause and after reflection require to be relieved from their vows, are denied the sanction of this law. But the blaster of the fair fame, corrupter of the pure heart, and desolator of the once happy home, of a fond and confiding woman, or those who, by collusion, allow themselves to be supposed, and, if need be, proved to be the transgressors of the laws of virtue, these can at once (always providing they have money enough) obtain a separation, and a binding one, too. So much for the human side of the question; but as for the scriptural, as before observed, this is a very different matter, but let us study that fairly in spite of our prejudices. It surely will not be attempted to be proved that, under what is called the Old Testament, divorce was not easy enough, and, if I might be so bold, I add, too easy for one side-that is the male side--for in that precious collection, which it is said is the foundation on which the New Testament is founded, women were about as free as slaves are now in Virginia. Now if we pretend to take scripture for a guide, there is no honesty in not taking it literally. Our law allows not of divorce till the commission of adultery. Scripture law ordained death to both man and woman for that crime. So Jewish law ordains death for the crime that in English law is the stepping stone to divorce from a hated or criminal partner. Having troubled you thus far, allow me to express a hope that in an early number you will review the subject of divorce. Wishing you every success,

REVIEW OF BOOKS.

Papers for the People. Vol. I. Edinburgh: W. and R. Chambers. 1850. In the first rank of enterprising men stand Messrs. Chambers; their efforts to produce cheap, but still solid, valuable, and practicable literature, have been uniformly persevering, and we trust to themselves as pecuniarily profitable as to the public it has been intellectually so. The book before us contains eight papers—the first one on that hackneyed subject the Bonaparte Family, which in their hands is still fresh and racy, but contains two sentences which, in our opinion, had better have been omitted-one conveying an imputation on Josephine, and making Napoleon a panderer to the dishonour of his betrothed; the other, a gratuitous insult to those who happen to think a republican form of government the most rational. The first is contained in the following sentence: in speaking of Josephine, they say, 'She was recommended to him by the inimitable graces of her person and manners, which were fascinating in a superlative degree, and probably also by considerations of a grosser nature. Society was very dissolute at this period; she had heretofore enjoyed an intimacy with Barras, which gave her great influence over him, and as this personage had been elected one of the new directors, he was now possessed of greater power than ever. Hence his favour was of material consequence, especially in the distribution of military coramands, and as Napoleon aspired to the very highest and most important in the service of the republic, it was politic in him to strengthen his pretensions by an alliance fortified with the most cogent and persuasive ties.' Now great as is our contempt for a man who, having the power to do so much, did in reality so little, yet we cannot but feel this is the extreme view of a writer who, bigoted to the belief of the hallowed sanctity of the powers, that be, has not mind enough to see any good whatever in those who fight their way to greatness from amongst the ranks of the people, this rancorous feeling is evidenced throughout. Napoleon is made to mix with the most depraved of society, and is only saved from self-destruction by the accident of providentially meeting an old friend who had in his pocket an improbably large sum of money, which he gave to him on the spot: but especially are the sentiments of the writer deducible from another quotation, which is as follows, and occurs while giving the views that actuated him in his Egyptian expedition : There was just sufficient of national advantage in it to cloke his personal desires, to which at all times of his life he was ready to sacrifice every consideration.' This idea of Napoleon makes of him a monster instead of a man, and is evidently not the truthful report of an historian, but the conclusions arrived at in the mind of a legitimist, who, after

the derelictions from principle that Napoleon undoubtedly made, thought it safe to ascribe to the Emperor the same base motives of action that his own would have been had he been placed in the same circumstances: that the author was at least no friend to republican principles is quite clear, when he says, in speaking of the sons of Jerome, 'Napoleon, the youngest, born in 1823, has been elected to sit in both the National Assemblies of France since the last revolution, and is known as a member of the discreditable party, called the Red Republicans.' We can tell the author and his publishers one thing, which is that success makes heroes, but want of it (discreditable) traitors. Abuse or want of success, or misrepresentation, does not alter a fact, and it is certain republican institutions are the only just, wise, and lasting ones for a nation; and it is the conspirators of the aristocracy of the purse that brand with infamy the advocates of that freedom that would put the workers intellectually, morally, and politically, on terms of equality with the non-producing class; and the time will be, and is even now, on the threshold, when those who are in prison, and in exile, will, with the unanimous acclamations of the freemen of the earth, be welcomed back to the soil that gave them birth, and then those most loud in terms of reproach and insult will be amongst the readiest to become, as they always have been, the panders to democratic powers, instead of the enunciatiors of freedom, irrespective of consequences. Thus much for this article: in the rest, except Valérie Duclos, the usually valuable information of Messrs. Chambers can be found in the fullest extent, especially the article on Myths; but to Duclos we feel bound to take some exception, because therein they make a sceptic necessarily a villain of the deepest die. The hero is tempting his wife to murder an innocent and sleeping young girl. She says, 'But oh! Pierre, if but a part of what used to be told us in the abolished churches should after all prove true, and this crime-purchased wealth become not a blessing, but a curse.' The husband is made to reply :- Mere superstitious folly, Marie; I hoped these dreams of a barbarous age had been banished from the minds of all reasonable beings. The journey of life is over a vast plain teeming with flowers and fruits for the delight and sustenance of the wayfarers, who, if they are wise, will gather and enjoy them as they may ;' and after murder, theft, and a life of splendid infamy, he is accidentally discovered, taken to prison, and, when near death, made to say, 'Can it be that the old creed of a superintending Providence is after all true? The grave has not indeed given up its dead to confront and convict me, and yet how strangely has vengeance, perhaps death, dogged at my heels, and at last surprised and clutched me. The reasoning seem hardly so clear now as it once did. There should be priests of unbelief appointed, salaried, professors of the creed of annihilation, to sustain and console their votaries in these cold, dark moments,' &c.

Now we can tell the author of this sketch, that priests may and do coolly go

to the bedside of a murderer and a villain, and tell him there is hope; but one of the class whose opinions are by a side-wind vituperated, would not so debase himself. Duclos was trained in a bad system, and to justify his villany he endeavoured, coward like, to saddle its commission on anything but his own base heart and villainous propensities. The fault lay with his early teachers, who gave him no foundation on which virtue could rest; and in his case, as in thousands of others in every-day life, where a belief in a vicarious system of merit is taught as the only means of attaining happiness here and hereafter, the theory is by no means strong enough to support any one under severe temptations. This is eminently exemplified in the tale before us: i is clear from his correct statement and use of the exact words and sentiments of theology that he had been educated in the system, consequently that system must be blamed for the derelictions from virtue of which he was guilty. As a whole, and viewed as an effort to produce a fair amount of intelligence for a sum within the means of the poor, the book itself and the publishers deserve approbation and support, and they may rest assured they would be safer in writing and publishing for the great body of the people, than in pandering to the prejudices of an interested, bigoted, and sectarian minority.

The Leicester Movement. Joseph Ayer, Leicester.

THIRTEEN numbers of the above penny weekly publication have been placed in our hands for perusal. To a London, or even a general reader, it is certain there will appear several matters with which he is acquainted from other sources; but in it is contained other information of a practical kind, especially as regards combination, wages, and the habits of the operatives in large provincial towns, that cannot fail to afford both amusement and instruction. This paper, if supported (and every working man, especially in the locality, should strain every nerve to support it), will bring to the fireside of the poor man that antidote to those nauseous doses that are imbibed thoughtlessly, by so many; and were the penny stamp removed, would form the nucleus of a respectable political instructor for the working men of Leicester.

The Logic of Death. Watson, Queen's Head Passage, Paternoster Row. THIS is a pamphlet that comes recommended to us, in consequence of a number of the Reasoner, in which it was first printed, having been burned by a rev. gentleman—that being his mode of replying to its arguments. This error in judgment has given a considerable impetus to its sale, independently of its merits; and the reverend gentleman will be taught (if open to conviction) that the men of England require to be convinced by the force of argument,' not 'the argument of force.' The edition before us is called Blandy's, that being the name of the logician alluded to; and the author doubtless feels under considerable obligations to him for his kindness, for it appears it has sold about seven thousand, with every prospect of selling seven thousand We are informed a large number have been circulated amongst the clergy through the country.

more.

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