A conversation arose in the House of Lords on Thursday
on the point whether the Government intended to propose a revision of the Marriage Laws of the United Kingdom, in conformity with the recommendations of the Commission which reported on those laws in 1868. On some points, at least, it seems that there is hardly, as the 'Times says, a State nearer to us than Indiana which has a less distinct and intelligible marriage law than we have, and yet Lord Cairns replied not only that no Bill would be thought of by the Government for this Session, but that he would not give any pledge as to the future. Lord Selborne remarked that the Lord Chancellor's statement "left on his mind the impression that Government in this country had lapsed into a deplorable state of weakness and indecision, with regard to the largest social subjects and to their dealing with the most general interests of the com- munity." Lord Selborne has never delivered judgment with more judicial accuracy.
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