Untitled - Electric Scotland

CHAPTER X.
EARLV YEARS OF LONDON EPISCOPATE, 1856-60.
DIVORCE ACT RITUALISM CONFESSION-
ST. GEORGE S IN THE EAST.
THE Parliament of 1857 was signalised, among other
things, by the passing of the Act for the establishment of
the Divorce Court, and it has been not unusual to describe
Bishop Tait as one of the foremost promoters or sup
porters of the change. The facts do not bear out this
theory. Though the Bishop very early acquired an influ
ence in the House of Lords, and took part from the first
in its debates, the Law of Marriage was not a subject on
which he ever came prominently to the front. The
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Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Bill had now been
thrice introduced as a Government measure. A Royal
Commission had in 1853 reported with only one dissen
tient in favour of the substitution of a court of law for
the parliamentary discussion and vote which had hitherto
been the only legal means of procuring a divorce. The
cost of these special Acts of Parliament was enormous,
and the scandals incident to such a process had been long
a subject of complaint. It had become customary never
to refuse the divorce if sufficient cause could be shown,
and if the applicant were rich enough to pay the necessary
expenses of a special Act of Parliament. The principle
had thus been long admitted, but the relief was of neces
sity confined to the richest class of the community a
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