H́nh ảnh trang
PDF
ePub

not a guardian appointed by the court of Chancery. In another, a daughter was deprived of her fortune, because the marriage of the mother, who was an illegitimate child, was liable to a similar objection. In a third, the father, having been absent for fifteen years, was supposed to be dead; and, accordingly, the mother consented to the licence; shortly afterwards, the father returned, and the marriage was void, for the want of his previous consent. In a fourth instance, the defect was, that the will, by which the consenting guardian was appointed, was attested only by one witness, instead of two. There was also a numerous class of cases, in which, the marriage having been celebrated by licence during the minority of the wife, the husband, after many years cohabitation, and the birth of a numerous family, had availed himself of his own perjury to free himself from the matrimonial tye, and to leave his injured partner with her numerous offspring, helpless and degraded, to the mercy of the world. Marriage act was, in fact, a sudden and violent innovation on the ancient law of the country; and though professing only to prevent clandestine marriages, and to protect infants from injudicious engagements, had, by the introduction and rigorous enforcement of forms, in no respect necessary to that useful purpose, involved many innocent and virtuous persons of both sexes, in irretrievable ruin, overturning marriages celebrated in the face of the church with the consent of parents and guardians, upon objections utterly unknown to the contracting parties, or to their re

The

lations consenting to the marriage. Some modification, it was said, of the existing law, was absolutely necessary. In its present state, any one might be deprived, in a moment, of his fortune and title, in consequence of the discovery of the accidental omission of some minute form of law, in the marriage of any of his ancestors within the last seventy years.

The chancellor objected to the bill generally, as being a total repeal of lord Hardwicke's Marriage act, and more especially, on account of its retrospective operation. It proposed to declare good and valid all marriages contracted since 1753, however illegal they might have been in point of fact, unless the parents or guardians of the parties (many of whom might have had no parents or guardians) interfered. It was a measure which, by taking away the privileges of legitimacy from those who were legitimate, in order to confer them upon illegitimate issue, was calculated to affect the whole mass of private property in the kingdom, both as to succession and as to possession. Lord Redesdale was no less strenuous in his opposition than the chancellor, and on the same grounds. There was much truth in his remark, that all the evils intended to be remedied, might be prevented by depriving parties of the right to marry by licence, and rendering the publication of banns, in every case, indispensable.

Lord Erskine supported the bill in a speech, which displayed some traces of the eloquence of his youth. It could not, he argued, disturb property; because it did not touch the rights of persons, which had already accrued from

the informality of marriages contracted innocently and in ignorance. Yet what were such possessions, when advantage was taken of the defects of such mar riages? Were they entitled to peculiar protection? In what re spect were they better, than the possession of thievesand highway men? And how could property be endangered, because some vultures, hovering over even living bodies, might, occasionally, be disappointed of their infamous prey? The proposed bill did not repeal the Marriage act; for it supported no clandestine marriages, made wilfully in evasion of the law, but only those which had been honestly contracted in ignorance of the facts that made them void. It did not even absolutely confirm the purest marriages, if from such accidents as have been mentioned, they were liable to any objection, but gave parents and guardians the power of commencing proceedings within six months, for the purpose of annulling them. Lord Hardwicke, in framing the existing law, had not sufficiently contemplated the danger of making the most solemn contract subject to extremely arbitrary regulations; and he was so blind to the imperfections, and such an enthusiastic believer in the advantages of his favourite statute, that he almost forgot himself, as a judge, when it came in question. The late lord Kenyon had mentioned, that, when one of the books of the Fleet marriages was offered in evidence in a cause in chancery, lord Hardwicke, not satisfied with rejecting it, tore the book, and stamped it under his feet.

Lord Liverpool contended, that the prospective and the retro

spective parts of the measure, even if they were severally liable to no objection, ought not to be blended together. They should each be brought before the House in a distinct bill. He admitted, that the law ought not to remain as it now was, but the proposed bill was not the proper cure for its defects. Parliament should

consider what ought to be the law on the subject of marriage, and then, by a process as simple as possible, make that the law.

In

The bill was committed. the committee it underwent so many amendments and alterations, that scarcely a single sentence remained as it originally stood. Upon the motion for recommitting it, there was a majority of twelve against it, the contents being thirteen, the non-coutents, twenty-five.

On the motion of lord Holland, a bill for the repeal of the Royal Marriage act, was brought in and read a first time on the 16th of June. That act, he argued, was a direct invasion of a natural right, hostile to morality, calculated to promote civil as well as foreign wars, and to render the marriages of descendants of Geo. II. unhappy. The inference which he drew from its alleged tendency, was of a very extraor dinary nature, when we consider the time when this subject was brought forward. The inference was, that since the tendency of the law was to render marriages contracted under it unhappy, the marriages of the royal family ought to be taken out of the predicament of ordinary marriages, and greater facility should be given to their dissolution. The measure was never carried further. As it could not have the least

chance of success, it is not easy to imagine what could have been lord Holland's intention in bringing it forward.

Several other bills were passed, calculated to improve our internal legislation. Among these, an act for facilitating the business of the Court of King's-bench, and another, to enable landlords to recover more speedily possession of farms, unlawfully held over by renants, ought to be particularly noticed. The attention of the public was likewise directed afresh to the defects of the administration of justice in Wales. A committee had been appointed to inquire into this subject in 1817, and had taken evidence upon it to a considerable extent; but, in consequence of the death of the chairman, the late Mr. Ponsonby, no report was ever made. A motion was now made for the

A

appointment of a committee, to consider the state of the courts of judicature in Wales, and the propriety of abolishing the same. very animated debate followed, which was enriched with much personal allusion and sarcasm, excited probably by the circumstance, that the office of chief justice of Chester was held by Mr. Charles Warren, who had formerly been an adherent of opposition. The general opinion of the more moderate part of the House of Commons, seemed to be, that, though the independent judicature of Wales ought not to be abolished, it admitted of considerable improvements. Accordingly, a select committee was appointed to inquire into the laws relating to the administration of justice in Wales, and to report their opinions thereon.

7

CHAP. VI.

Agricultural Distresses-Mr. H. Sumner's Motion for a Select Committee to inquire into the Agricultural Distresses of the Country-The different Grounds on which it was supported by Mr. Sumner and Mr. Gooch, Mr. Frankland Lewis, Mr. Curwen, Mr. Western, and Mr. Brougham-Opposed by Mr. Robinson, Mr. Huskisson, Mr. Baring, Mr. Ricardo-Mr. H. Sumner's Motion carried, contrary to expectation-Appointment of the Committee-Mr. Robinson's Motion for confining the Inquiries of the Committee to the Mode of ascertaining the AveragesMr. Maxwell's Motion for a Select Committee to inquire into the Distresses of the Cotton Weavers, &c.-Lord Stanhope's Motion on the Employment of the labouring Poor-Lord Liverpool's Answer-The Advantages of Machinery-Petitions for the Removal of the Restrictions on Foreign Trade-The Views of Mr. Baring and Mr. Kirkman Finlay on this Subject-Petitions of the Ship-Owners-Lord Lansdowne's Motion for the Appointment of a Committee to inquire into the Means of extending our Foreign Trade-Lord Liverpool's liberal Views of Foreign TradeRelaxation of the Navigation Laws-Transit Trade-Timber Trade-Importation of French Wines and Silks-Intercourse with the East Indies-Lord Milton's Motion for the Repeal of the Wool-Tax-Opposed by Mr. Western and Mr. Huskisson-Mr. Wallace brings up the Report of the Commons Committee on Foreign Trade-Proposed Alterations of our Commercial System Commercial Intercourse with Ireland-Great Distress in the South of Ireland.

FROM the commencement of

the session of parliament, numerous petitions on the subject of the existing Agricultural distress had been presented to the House, stating, in strong language, the extent of the evil, and imploring parliament to apply a remedy. The petitions generally insisted on two points; that the distress was, in a great measure, occasioned by the influx of foreign corn; and that, by imposing fresh restrictions on that importation, relief would, in some

degree, be gained. But the plan of policy which the agriculturists regarded with complacency, was by no means acceptable to the commercial and manufacturing classes. They, too, were labouring under embarrassment and distress; and that distress could not fail to be increased by any measures which raised the price of corn. They, therefore, viewed with a jealous eye the proceedings of the supporters of the schemes that were favoured by the landed interest; and sharp, though short, debates

curred more than once in the House of Commons, upon some of the agricultural petitions which were presented to it.

On the 30th of May, the subject was brought fully before parliament, by Mr. Holme Sumner, the member for Surrey, upon a motion, that the petitions relating to agricultural distresses be referred to a select committee, to consider the matter thereof, and report their opinion to the House. The motion was seconded by Mr. Gooch, member for Suffolk. The grounds which were advanced by the mover and seconder in support of it, were chiefly, the soundness of the principle, and the inefficacy of the provisions of the present law. Parliament, it was said, had determined, in 1815, that a remunerating price of 80s. per quarter should be secured to the farmer; but the bill, which was passed with that view, had not answered its intended purpose. Such was the inaccurate manner in which the averages under it were ascertained, that corn was made to appear to be at 80s. per quarter, at the very time when the farmer was actually getting only 72s. In some instances, these averages were taken in districts where little corn was grown, and where, of course, the price was enhanced by the expenses of carriage; in others, they were made up by persons, who, being themselves dealers in corn, had an interest in keeping up the apparent price. The farmers surely were entitled to have the provisions of the law of 1815 made effectual, so as not to be defeated by fraud or accident; and this was all that they demanded. They had a right to peculiar protection, be VOL. LXII.

cause they supported a larger proportion of the public burdens than the other classes of the community. The whole expense of the church establishment, the whole of the county rates, the whole expense of highways (except so far as they were defrayed by turnpikes), and the far greater portion of the poor-rates, were. borne by them. From the year 1806 to the year 1814 agriculture had prospered to an unexampled extent; from 1814, downwards, it had been in a course of rapid deterioration; and, unless something was done to stop the exhaustion of capital embarked in it, ruin of an irretrievable character must fall on those who were connected with it. It was not to attack the commercial or manufacturing interests, that the petitioners had applied to that House; on the contrary, they felt that the interests of all classes were so intimately and inseparably united, that not one of them could fall into decay without entailing inevitable destruction on the rest; and, for that very reason, they were convinced that protection afforded to the farmers was protection to the community at large. The doctrine, that we should buy our corn where we can get it cheapest, could not be listened to; for, if the manufacturer bought his bread in the foreign market, the farmer at home could not purchase his manufactures, and, finally, both would suffer.

The arguments, by which Mr. Frankland Lewis supported the motion for going into a committee, were of a different kind, and proceeded rather upon the necessity of revising the present law, than upon approbation of the [F]

« TrướcTiếp tục »