Mr. Stuart Wortley renews his endeavour to effect an amendment
in the new law which prevents the marriage of a widower with his wife's sister. We have received a number of documents relating to the present state of the question,—namely, "Letters of Several Distinguished Members of the Bench of Bishops"; a pamphlet on the Lawfulness of such Marriages, Scripturally considered, by the Reverend J. C. Goodhart; a paper setting forth the statistics of the question; and an abridgment of the blue book by the Royal Commissioners of Inquiry. All these are very interesting, and will place the grounds for Mr. Wortley's bill to alter and amend the act 5 and 6 Will. IV., c. 54, in the clearest light: Members will find them most useful. Among the ecclesiastical papers, is a very logical argument for the relaxation by the Archbishop of Dublin ; the statement of Dr. Adler, the Chief Rabbi, on the Hebrew authority is very cogent; the obstinate silence of the late Archbishop of Canterbury on the Scriptural point is very eloquent. But reason has little to do with the delay of the concession: prejudice, the dis- inclination to change when only a small and not a political section of the community suffers; mere slowness of conviction, are the great obstacles— yearly diminishing; while the number of marriages which society sanc- tions but to which the law denies legitimacy is yearly increasing.
The Morning Herald announces that meetings are about to be held in various parts of the country to agitate in favour of agricultural interests.
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