THE DIVORCE QUESTION IN FRANCE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 1760, 21 June 1877, Page 3

THE DIVORCE QUESTION IN FRANCE.

(From the Pall Mall Qaxette.)

The French advocates of divorce will find matter, for new dissertation! m the matrimonial suit which case before the French Courts the other day, and of which so much has been written and said. According to Frenoli law, the most the tribunals can do for a man and wife, however great the conjugal offence* of either of them may b«, is to decree a judicial separation, by which arrange-' ment the husband will still have it m bis power to make himself disagreeable to the wife, and the wife to ber husband. If the wife be suspected of leading an immoral life the husband can at any time pounce upon her and have her imprisoned for six months ; the wife can, tinder certain restrictions, return the compliment ; and if either of the parties go to a foreign country to mate himself or herself with a new consort under cover of more accommodating marriage laws, the step may give rise to all sorts ot unpleasant legal proceedings m respect of money. In the rase of the wife it would bar her right to alimony ; m the husband's, it might lead to his being saddled with a eonteil judidaire, m order that any property of which he was possessed on French, soil might be proteoted from being used for the benefit of children of the irregular marriage. In fact, the object of the French legislator has been to establish the pride iple that married couples who disagree mutt take the consequences. It is not bo easy to get married m France as m England. Marriage* have been purposely hedged m with formalities, which render hasty or clandestine alliances impossible. If, after the knot ia tied, the parties discover that they have made a mistake, they .cannot, at least, Slead that no time was given them for reection; and the law treat* them as perrons who being unhappy solely through their own fault, are entitled to little sympathy and to but a small dose of relief. . ■ ,

The customs of sooiety are as inexorable as the provisions of the law. To be sure, separated couples find it convenient to make sparing use of their rights to put each qtherin prison, and public opinion- lavishes a great deal of vague sympathy m the abstract oh persons whom the law condemns to choose between a life of impropriety and one of solitude. The audienoes who went to see B. Smile Augier'a telling oomedy, "Madame

Carerlet," were enlisted heart and soul m faror of the ill-used heroine. Bat this sort of thing will not do m real life. In so far as women are concerned, a decree of separation en' ails socwl blight ; it do«ms the disunited lady, if she would keep her name from stain, to lire m strict retirement, neither giving nor receiving hospitality, and, e»en if she conform unrelentingly to this Draconian edict, she must still expect that prying eyes will be fixed upon her, and evil teneues be always busy to prove her m fault. Let her be ever so good and prudent — granted that all the bUme of the separation attaches to her husband— granted that she has been the petitioner m the suit and has only been driven to the extremity of appealing to juetiee by the neceisity of protecting herself and her children against extravagance and cruelty — Frenchmen will still shrug their shoulders and say : "On doit larer son linge sale en famille." This is the conclusion of the whole matter m their eyes— that women should keep from brawling. They are accustomed to bear of io many irregularities being tolerated m family circlet from fear of scandal, they hold so worshipfuUy to the religion of outward decorum, and have such a well founded belief m the ability of any Frenchwoman of average sense and spirit to keep her husband m good order, that they condemn a separated wife as one of these silly, crooked tempered, or exctssirely sentimental persona who wou'd have made hertelf unhappy under any circumstances, and with whom it would be impossible for any man, not being a saint, to live at ease. Some few yean ago a noble defendant, who was compelled to listen m coarL to a feeling panegyric on his wife's nature, cut the eloquent counsel short by springing up and saying : " I admit all that. My wife is an angel ; and I trust it may be your fate to find another such ax gel, and to live with her for fire years." .The laughters were on his side, though he was not a man who deserved much goodwill ; but he had struck the key-not? to the popular tune of " Bad husband, foolish wife." On the other hand, let the petitioner m a suit or separation be a man, and that man one against whose conduct as a husband nothing it to be said — and lie stands m exactly the same position of ridicule and s-mi-odium as a yirtuous female petitioner. If lie come into Court with a harrowing tale of his wife's folly and wickedness, he simply excites amusement as a man who does not understand the management of women. It is a dismal thing to write, but, whatever tears may bo shed and sympathy bestowed on the unfortunate matrimonial heroes and heroines of fiction, they are not the sort of people who come out of the Courts of law with flying colours m France. The impediments to the passing of a Divorce Bill m France arise, therefore, not so much from the opposition of the clergy as from the apathy of the public, who do not de*ire such a measure. They may approve of it m theory, but practically they would rather stick to their notion that marriage is a^ partnership for better or worse, and that tbe'eontractors are bound to make it for the better, and not for the worse. Marriage is, moreover, a pecuniary partnership m a country where a wife usually brings her husband a dower equal to the capitalized value of his income ; and if sentimental considerations were allowed to prevail m breaking up these financial associations, an immense amount of confusion would ensue m business circles. In fine, if divorce existed m France, marriage would become an affair of inclination, and less one of calculation ; Frenchmen would have to give up their long cherished delusion that a man of forty and a girl of eighteen make a well assorted couple; rakish husbands and wanton wires would probably soon cease to be so indulgently tolerated : and the whole atmosphere of Frenoh society would be considerably purified. Bat there are reasons enough why so great an innovation should have very {ew sincere friends. Processes of purification are seldom very pleasant to the people who hove to be purified.