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    it must be admitted , without question , by all . . in . ouirers of candour and liberality , that a calamity so wholesale and so anomalous could never have been included in an actuary ' s calculation of probabilities . To have charged a premium for assurance against a revolt of the Sepoy army , and its atrocious results , would . bave been regarded a few years since . as a lunatic provision-on the part of directors , or as an unwarrantable extortion . But it may be fairly asked whether the losses of the society by this revolt are not justly chargeable upon the public exp ± § j b *« \ s -, ** vv j ** ** j ^ w «^» fmf -w «™ - — - —— ^^ r i

    ^ ^ chequer or the revenues of India * Had a parallel chain of events occurred at our own doors , can any ¦ doubt for one moment exist ttat ample restitution would have been obtainable from the State ? And , can it be imagined just , then , because it is a far cry to Lucknow and Delhi , to Meerut and Cawnpore , where these outbreaks arose against the common-• wealth , and where damages accrued to its members , that those members , whether individuals or copartners , should be deserted by the community for which they have suffered and will still suffer ?

    The logical and respectful letter of the Company in question to the commissioners for investigating Indian claims , and adopted , it is to be presumed , hj all Others interested , contains the following paragraph : — The directors submit that the policy already initiated toy Sir John Lawrence should be adopted all over India , and that each district should be made to pay for losses arising therein . The penalty of a pecuniary fine as the price of blood is a primal lavr and custom among

    Eastern nations . The infliction of such a fine on a town or a tribe Would at once be recognised by all nations of India as a just and proper punishment in the place where such a crime as murder had been perpetrated . On the ¦ other hand , if , -while the insurgent districts arc suffered to remain untaxed , the provident subscribers to this and similar institutions in this country are compelled to pay € or misdeeds committed therein , then it is no exaggeration to say that for the future a premium will be offered to the murder of Englishmen in India , and a penalty inflicted on their industry and frugality .

    This appeal demands more than ordinary attention at the hands of the authorities ; for not on sentimental or equitable grounds alone should the Government of India entertain this question . Sound policy demands of them to recognise their liabilities promptly and efficiently . The State canmot honestly leave upon the shoulders of offices losses that were never contemplated in the contracts between those bodies , and individuals , for which no extra premiums were ever paid or received , and to avoid Which no premium at all was ever paid by the

    State itself . . Aid were even the foregoing arguments of no avail , it must be remembered that life ^ assurance has now become so great a necessity to the Anglo-Indian that any blow struck at the stability of the insurance interest , and any discredit thrown upon it , will be felt throughout the peninsula . Unless Indian officials can insure—insure with confidence , and insure at reasonable peace " rates—the maintenance of both services at their present high level in point of education and social standing will be found a difficulty , unless Government itself either undertakes the business of

    assurance , or increases official salaries part passu with excessive and increasing premiums . In one or other shape , the rejection of tliese claims , as they arise , will surely entail anxiety upon the authorities who assume such a responsibility , and upon the Anglo-Indian community who will find themselves debarred , of , at all events , interfered with , in the enjoyment of one of the commonest advantages of civilised life . So important does this matter appear , that we shall watch its progress with much interest .

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    THOUGHTS , FACTS , AND SUGGESTIONS ON PARLIAMENTARY REFORM . No . III . Tjibee proposals may be said to bo fairly before the country for the extension of the franc '"* : JJ the measure of the Coalition Government »}[ j « u ! J * by Lord John Russell in March , 1854 , a (/ . rating was made the test of qualification in o ' . ?* ^ towns ; the noble lord »» d those who were then " 9 collooguoa have ncvoi- since inUmatod anv . '" f ° of opinion on this point , and as between ft 5 * . anu a 6 / . tost of fitness there would bo no difleroiico ot nrinmnin and hut . ft slifflit diA ' cronoo of degree , ii » between

    not worth while to dwell on the distinction them . This may be termed Bidding No . J .. The next proposal is that wluoh waa ( Us >>>« ° many years ago at the instance or urn or the nu pices of Mr . -Joseph Sturgo , of J 3 xrining ^ "• "S Lope of obviating some of the objoo ions onta j » oa bv the upper classes to what whs culled < -ho 0 Imi ° OWtism was founded on the demand for uiuyouj suffrage , and instead thereof Mr . ^ ° PIO |)? j' | l 0 to substitute registered manhood su " : » d « - Nc Northern Union ? having its hoad-quortois ftl *

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    too tall had their superfluous limbs lopped off till they were brought down to the conventional standard . With the common fate of prophets , Procrustes had no honour in his own age and country . He fell , indeed , a sacrifice to the force of popular ignorance embodied in the form of Theseus . The faith , however ,. , lias survived the teacher . The doctrine expressed by the allegorical symbol of the Procrustean bed 1 ms gained strength and flourished . The other gods

    and heroes ot heathendom are in exile and deposed , their faith discarded , their temples overthrown , and their worshippers dispersed ; old faiths have died out , new creeds have arisen , but the worship of Procrustes abides for ever . Theory is greater than fact , the form is more than the substance—such is the interpretation of his creed . To the present hour that creed reigns supreme . In art , in politics , and in religion we proclaim his doctrine and enforce his practice . ; We have one bed , and ilL-luck to those who arc too tall or too short to suit its

    dimensions . Great indeed is our god Procrustes , and marvellous are his works ! It is , however , upon . our matrimonial ' system that the stamp of the Procrustean creed is branded most indelibly . " Matrimony , " says the ritual of the Church of England , " was ordained for the mutual society , help , and comfort of husband and wife that the one Ought to have of the other , both in prosperity ana in adversity . " The doctrine is a beautiful one , and when fact and ¦ theory are coincident , the practice is most excellent . ' . Unfortunately . theory is at times not only inconsistent with , but antagonistic to 3 the facts . There are cases—not few nor far between—when the society of . husband

    characters , informed lier that she was kind truthful l 9 7 # > i - fi - ' ^ » ile he - W ^ uukind > harsVand unfaithful—the virtues in her case being com . terbalanced by the corresponding- Vices in hk The honeymoon was scarcely begun beforp the dream of ¦ . connubial bliss had vanished Though Mr . Marchmont had pleaded o-uiltv to every defect , and endowed his future \ viffe \ vith every merit , he was still of opinion that he was more competent than herself to manage their peeu niary concerns . Mi ' s . Marchmont , unfortunately " did not share in this impression— -she refused to part with the disposal of her own funds . This was the real point at issue . Given these facts and the position of the parties , any reader with a knowledg e of the world can predict the result without referring

    r s * v tIi ^* vV ^ fcV ^^ wvV n ' 1 * i \ «~ h . « t ** . k ^ * a m * a « 3 _ - .. _ _ _ _ 1 - ** ^ 7 to the reports . There were demands on the one side , and reproaches on the other—the husband was irritable , and the wife Mas exacting , Disputes led to ill blood , and ill bloodied to violence , Until the Marchmont household resembled that state of things which is described , graphically as well as poetically , as a hell on earth . Both parties longed for a separation , but could not agree as to terms : the husband wanted 25 , 000 / , as the price of his absencetiie wife considered that , great as was * the nuisance of bis presence , 10 , 000 / . was a long price to pay for this negative consideration . At hist things have gone to such a length , that Mrs . March mo \ it lias had to apply for a judicial separation in the courts of law .

    lhe immediate question , whether or not Mrs . Marclimput shall be allowed to live apart from her husband , concerns few except the parties ¦ to . the case . For our own part we arc unable to'feel much sympathy for cither plaintiff or defendant—for the prudent widow or the pastoral widower . The broad question for the public is , whether such cases arc not , a scandal and a shame I 'What conceivable object , either human or divine , is accomplished by two persons in the position of Mr . and Mrs . jtfarclinio ' nt remaining United by the name of matrimony ? ~ No power on earth can make them cither love or respect each other . As Thackeray words it-. — How

    can you love what is not lovable , or admire what is . not admirable ?" - On whichever side the fault may be , there is no human possibility that this illstarred partnership should ever be productive of aught but misery . Why then should you declare it indissoluble by law ? We shall , doubtless , be told that the interest of the children , demands the indissolubility of the marriage union . As fur as the moral interests , of the children are concerned , what course of education can possibly be worse than the daily spectacle of such home

    of domestic discord , than the life a as that of the Marchmonts ? For their temporal interests , the law can and ought to make provisions . We arc no advocates for a system of voluntary divorce . Matrimony is the most solemn ot all partnerships , and should not be dissolved without due notice and compensation . Divorce is at all times an evil , and no power can turn an evil nuo good . But of all evils , the most monstrous to our eyes is , that those who are separated in mind , ana heart , and soul , should be kept together by the force of law . The adherents of the Procrustean faith should bear in mind the fate of their tcacucr .

    and of wife , instead of being a mutual comfort and help , " is a mutual misery and a mutual degradation . For them , prosperity has no common source of pleasure , adversity has no common bond of suffer ^ ing . What is to happen then ? To this question there is no answer in our matrimonial law . -The teaching of Procrustes has prevailed . If the bed does not suit , the sleeper must be made to suit it . Society has decided in its wisdom that the contract made void in the spirit shall be performed in the letter . When the spirit is dead the letter shall keep alive . Those whom God hath joined let not man put asunder . We have reversed the law , and assert ^ hat those whom God ' s law of truth and fact have

    put asunder , man ' s law shall keep united . We have no wish to deny the popular belief . We are orthodox believers in the Procrustean creed . There are times ., however , when our orthodoxy is sorely tried . The case of Marchmont v . Marchmont , which throughout this week has filled the columns of the daily press , is we admit an obstacle in the path of implicit and undoubting faith . Into the details of tliat singular illustration of conjugal and domestic felicity we have no wish to enter . TJi . e rights and wrongs' of the Protestant husband and the Roman Catholic wife , the respective grounds of complaint between Mr . and Mrs . Marchmont , the question which of the pair was more sinned against

    than sinning , arc all matters for legal decision- Tlie interest that the case possesses for us consists in the curious lig ^ ht thrown by it upon our social life and in the singular illustration it affords of the manifold disadvantages of our marriage system . The facts with which , we aro concerned are unfortunately simple and commonplace enough . Mr . Marchmont was a dissenting minister of some little reputation . Whether through the fault of the shepherd or the stinginess of his flock , the ministry ot Mr . Marchmont does not appear to have boen profitable in the worldly sense of the word . The minister supplied the deficiencies of the chapel by labours of a literary oharacter . Commercially speaking , writing would appear to have been a better trade than preaching ; but still , after

    FAMILY DISUNION . It is high time that justice should be done to one of the most misrepresented teaohers of the human race . Ages have passed away since Procrustes expounded his doctrines , and enforced their practice on the Attic banks of the river Cephisus . In the symbolic language pf legendary lore , that great

    • silent prophet possessed one bed , and one bod alone , ¦ on which he compelled all passers-by to repose / symmetrically . The area of-the bed was constant : the dimensions of the travellers various . One bed « nust suit all bodies . This was the fundamental article of the Procrustean code . Given the bed , to lhake anybody suit it was the problem lie proposed to solve . Like all great discoveries , his solution woa eminently ^ imple : all travellers who wore too short were protracted to the requisite dimonflions by the application of the raok ; all who wore

    all , the ministry and the press are but procarious sources ot permanent iucoine . Mr . Marchmont , too , was a widower , with , four children . Such being the state of his temporal affairs , the Independent pastor appears to have como aoross a certain Mrs . Locket , the widow of a publican , the owner of fifty thousand pounds settled on herself , and a member of the lloman Catholic persuasion . There was some difference of ngo between the two —there was also some dift ' orenoe of fortune Witli all respeofc for literature-and . the ministry—it ia not often that fifty thousand pounds sterling settled in the funds is rqalisod by . either—Mr . Marohinont became enamoured of the widow , and wooed and won her . Hard-hearted , indeed , must have been the woman who could , resist a lover who , on being asked for a candid opinion of their respective

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    1290 THE Ii EAD EB . [ No . 453 , November 27 3 1858 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 27, 1858, page 1290, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2270/page/18/