1 AUGUST 1829, Page 7

MORALITY OF THE DAY.

THE Morning Chronicle makes the following reflections on the occa- sion of a trial for (aim. con.

"Modes and fashions are certainly changing. Spanish jealousy was at one time proverbial, and now a Spanish husband is the least jealous of all hus. hands. The Italians were formerly so jealous, that they never suffered their wives to leave their homes, except either in their own company or that of a trusty friend. In process of time that trusty friend became, under the title cavalier servante or cecisbeo the authorized lover of the wife, by whom he is chosen and dismissed at will.

"Those who pretend to an acquaintance with fashionable life in England maintain, that, with respect to crim. con. a great change has taken place within the last fifteen years. At one time nothing was so rare as crim. cons. in the middle ranks. In this country there is a constant pressure from be- neath; and of late years the people who figure in crim. cons. in our courts are chiefly shopkeepers, half-pay captains, farmers, and occasionally clergy- men. The moment persons of this rank began to figure in courts of justice, the higher ranks became disgusted with the remedy - and if we are correctly informed, a man of fashion, even if injured in a tender point, would be con- sidefed as lowering himself by an exhibition in a court of law. Human na- ture is always the same, and it may be taken for granted, that in a given number of fashionable people, there are as many aberrations now as fifteen years ago. The difference is in the way of thinking. As it is since the Con- tinent was opened to our fashionable people that the change has taken place, perhaps the prevalinr> way of thinking at Florence, Rome, Naples, &.c., may not have been without its influence on our aristocracy."

We believe the facts to be as stated by our contemporary. We cannot take up a newspaper without seeing a report of some instance of infidelity, seduction, or breach of promise of marriage; and the parties almost uniformly belong to the middle classes. Such crimes have certainly multiplied of late in that order; but we doubt whether in proportion they yet exceed the frailties of their superiors; and are inclined to think with the Editor of the Chronicle, that the aristo- cracy only discreetly veil what the others bring to light for the sake of the comforting remedy held out by the law. Instances of seduction

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are notorious n high life ; but lords and dukes do not bring actions for the loss of their daughters' services. Tradesmen and farmers have not the same nicety, and the money has greater allurements than the exposure pain.i But the two classes are not on an equal footing as re- gards the matter of sentiment. A man with extensive connexions has not only his own feelings or those of his immediate family to consult. His kinsmen have claims on him ; and his name must be prese from the disgraces of an esclandre. The little people have fewer r gards, and are freer to act upon the dictates of their personal feelings, which are apt to seek the solace of every ill in gold. The law which offers this remedy, and so freely, has a pernicious tendency. Damages do not tempt gallants to make love to other men's wives ; but the prospect of them has, we fear, the effect of rendering many a husband careless to the progress of an amour. In the common instance o breaches of promise of marriage, we see an analogous result : these affairs are now quite a trade, thanks to the encourassement offered by law. There is scarcely. an example of the failure of such-I:is-flame-ding; and while there are men vain or weak enough to be Allured into ad- vances beyond the line of caution and prudence, there will always be. an abundant harvest of these proceedings. In low life, .again, a simi- lar speculation prevails ; and a premium is offered for frailty by the marriages commonly compelled by parish authorities, through the dread of punishment. It is the error of law to take cognizance of actions to the complete understanding of which it will not condescend. The law which takes cognizance of a breach of promise of marriage, ought in justice and policy to enter into an investigation of all the circumstances belonging to it, and to examine into points of prudence, points of temper, and all the other elements of such a question. But to this the law cannot con- descend ; and therefore we say, it ought not to arbitrate what it is be- neath it to completely understand.

In affairs of crim con. the legal remedy is spurned by one class, eagerly sought by the second, and refused to the third. For the first we have least concern, because we believe that matrimonial misconduct carries with it less pain there than in any other condition -of society. The great have many resources ; and if they fail to find happiness in one quarter, they seek it with maivellous philosophy in other provinces of enjoyment. By the custom of the world, husband and wife in high life are pretty nearly independent of each other as regards their plea- sums; and coldness, alienation, or a rupture between them, has seldom a very destructive effect on a happiness having, slight connexion with domestic union. There are noble patterns of connubial propriety, no doubt ; but they constitute exceptions. In middle life, again, a husband depends mainly on his wife for his comforts, his respectability, and the happiness of a home. To de- prive him of his wife, is to rob him of the luxuries of virtue ; and we think the legal mode of estimating such an injury, in money, is inade- quate with a view to prevention, and also prejudicial to morality in respect of the sordid character of the remedy. It is exactly here that we should desire to see punishment substituted for a pecuniary repa- ration. Many a man is to be deterred from the indulgence of criminal desires by the idea of a disgraceful imprisonment, who can endure the prospect of a sacrifice of money, or a comfortable confinement in the King's Bench prison, a durance to which the world attaches the least portion of disgrace.

It is for the lowest classes that pecuniary redress is most befitting ; and this is the class to which it is denied by the price of the law, and also the opinion of society. If a costermonger were to find his.way into the Court of King's Bench complaining of a matrimonial wrong, we are very sure his cause would be laughed out of court with hootings of derision. Nevertheless, such is the man who fairly claims the remedy of damages. The working man's wife is his assistant his ser- vant, his cook, his provider, his monitor generally, and best adviser. Without her his home is an unmanageable evil to him—a charge with- out a profit. Deprive him of her or of her kindly cares, and he must pay the price of a housekeeper for the supply of his coarse and daily wants. It is here alone that the pecuniary remedy is justly applicable, and here alone that it is never applied.

The case which called forth the strictures of the Chronicle, is one which brings under animadversion a common practice, that has cer- tainly no shred of sanction save that of usage. The frail lady was one of those articles of merchandise which are sent out to India on matri- monial speculation. There is a depraving coarseness about such ad- ventures, which prepares one for any subsequent conduct. The party makes her first bargain for price ; can we wonder if her second be for pleasure ? Many virtuous wives are made in the Indian market despite of such circumstances, as despite of all others ; for virtue is a hardy plant, and springs from all soils, and under all atmospheres : but the examples Will not justify the gross practice. Jewels have been found on dunghills, but nevertheless to dunghills we do not repair for orna- ments.