progress in the Upper House, he spoke strongly in its favour; and he took occasion to express the same sentiments, when an unsuccessful attempt was afterwards made by the present Marquis of Buckingham, to introduce a clause into a private Divorce Bill, with a view of prohibiting the intermarriage of the

guilty

cannot be more strikingly exemplified than by a declaration made by Lord Auckland, that from the Reformation to the beginning of the present century, he could only find four instances of parliamentary divorces: but that in the present reign they had then increased to the enormous number of 198. If, however, any further proof were wanting, it would be the still more alarming growth of adultery within the last few years, and above all, the cool, deliberate, unblushing indifference with which it is committed. In a recent instance, more particularly, it seems to have been reduced into a system, and to have set at open defiance all decency and all law. Surely those, in whose hands the government of this country is placed, are bound, as they value the Divine blessing, to provide without delay some effectual barrier against the further spread of so much shameless iniquity.

guilty parties. His speech, on this last occasion. was as follows:

"After the very able manner in which the clause proposed has been now supported, I certainly do not mean to take up much of your Lordships time, in prolonging the discussion of it. But, on a question of such importance, in which the interests of morality and religion are so essentially concerned, it is impossible for me, in the situation which I have the honour to hold in the church, to give a silent vote. I therefore rise merely for the purpose of declaring publicly my entire concurrence in the clause proposed by the noble Marquis. I have on former occasions fully explained my sentiments on this subject, and every thing I have heard in the course of this day's debate confirms me in those sentiments. The clause, though it will certainly

certainly not go to the root of the evil, yet will surely be some check to adultery, at least on the part of the female. It will take away the encouragement at present given to that detestable crime, by the prospect of a future marriage of the adulteress with her seducer; which is in fact offering a reward to vice, and holding out a premium to adultery. This premium operates most forcibly on the female mind, and tends to destroy that connexion, which God and nature have established between guilt and disgrace; a constitution of things, much wiser, I apprehend, and much more conducive to the general welfare of mankind, than that very liberal system of modern ethics, which inculcates so much pity and tenderness and indulgence to crimes of the very worst complexion. I am aware, my Lords, that this clause is only a partial

L 4

a partial remedy. It does not go to the punishment of the seducer, who is, I confess, generally the most culpable of the two guilty parties. But this may be brought forward on some future occasion. In the mean time, let us do something; let us do what we can. To crush an evil of such magnitude, we must go on gradually, and proceed step by step. The hydra of adultery cannot be subdued all at once: but we may cut off the many heads of the monster one by one, till at last it may become a lifeless trunk.

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My Lords, I shall only detain your Lordships a few moments more, just to notice an argument, which has been very much relied upon by the Noble Lords, who object to the clause in question, and which appears to me wholly gratuitous and unfounded. They have always taken it for granted, and assumed it as a kind

of

of postulatum, that if the adulteress be not permitted to marry her seducer, she is necessarily and of course driven into prostitution for life. Now this I hold to be an assumption which cannot be maintained. Is there no alternative, no middle and better course between marriage with the seducer and a life of prostitution? Is it not possible, that the adulteress may be struck with horror, with contrition and remorse for her crime? May she not even wish to seclude herself for a time from the world; to withdraw herself from the observation of mankind, and endeavour to recover in the privacy of retirement those virtuous habits which she has unfortunately lost? Instances of this sort are undoubtedly to be found, especially amongst those, who have been educated in principles of virtue and religion, but in some unguarded hour