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From The Dublin Evening Post, Saturday, December 11, 1858

REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS

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We published a few days since a very carefully prepared report of a Committee of the Dublin Statistical Society, on the subject of the registration of births, marriages, and deaths in Ireland; and as we consider the subject one of paramount importance, we deem it right to offer a few observations upon it.

In the year 1854 there was an Act passed for the registration of marriages in this country; but the measure was of no practical utility, as it only provided for the marriages of Protestants and Dissenters. The exclusion of the great bulk of the population from the provisions of the Act was, the Committee believe, owing to the fact that "certain formalities are by the statute required to be observed in the case of every marriage falling within its purview, the omission of which formalities might be held to render a marriage legally invalid." And they add that "the imposition of such restrictions in the case of their marriages was considered objectionable by Roman Catholics."

Many people, who have given their attention to this matter, and who desire the establishment of a general system of registration, labour under the delusion that the Roman Catholics are opposed to it from sectarian motives; but nothing could be more erroneous than such an idea. The remnant of the Penal Code which renders a marriage invalid, celebrated by a Catholic clergyman, between a Protestant and a Roman Catholic, and renders it felony on the part of a priest to celebrate such a marriage, is the chief impediment to the establishment of a perfect registry of births, marriages, and deaths, the legislature being willing to make due provision for the system.

So long as the law on this subject remains in its present state - so long as a priest is liable to transportation for celebrating marriages between persons of different creeds, and so long as such marriages are held legally null and void - no efficient, practical, or complete system of registration can be established in this country. This, too, is the opinion of the Committee - and it is principally composed of Protestant gentlemen - who drew up the report for the Statistical Society. So long, they say, as the penalty alluded to exists, "a complete return by Roman Catholic clergymen of marriages celebrated by them could not be reasonably expected." And they are of opinion "that the disability and penalty above mentioned, in the case of Roman Catholic clergymen, should be repealed."

In this opinion every sensible and intelligent person in the country will fully concur; and not the least ardent in their efforts to do away with disabilities which prove a bar to the progress of social improvement, and the accumulation of the most valuable statistical information, would be the Liberal, enlightened and intelligent Protestants of Ireland. A Northern contemporary, the Londonderry Journal, which may be taken as representing the views of that numerous class of Irish Protestants, says that a law such as that affecting mixed marriages "is a disgrace to the statute book. It is utterly discreditable to a constitution in whose sight all men are equal, as respects religious belief. The law is felt to be a penal law, and indefensibly unjust. In effect it is useless. It is worse than useless, for it often leads to prosecutions whose usual effect is not to increase public respect for the law."

With the exception of the compliment to the constitution in this passage, the sentiments expressed in it are deserving of the respect and gratitude of Roman Catholics, whose disabilities are not yet completely removed, notwithstanding the rhodomontade of the English journals about the unqualified and impartial freedom which British subjects enjoy; and that CHARLES FORBES, COUNT DE MONTALEMBERT, could not discover the slightest taint of gall in the draughts of English liberty, which never fail to revive his moral constitution from the decline produced by the despotism of his native Government. But if the illustrious Count were to fall in love with an English Protestant lady, and to have his nuptials with her solemnised by the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, he would find that in England the lady would not be regarded as his wife; and that the Prelate who had pronounced the nuptial benediction, had subjected himself to the penalty of transportation, or to be reduced to the condition of a candidate for a "ticket of leave" in the expensive palace-prison of Pentonville!

But, as regards the registration of births, marriages, and deaths, the importance of preserving a perfect record of such events could not be too highly estimated; and a day should not be unnecessarily lost in removing every impediment to organising a system with that end in view. If the legislature will not remove the blemish from the record of its acts, for the sake of its own reputation, or of doing justice to those on whom the existing disability may press, let them wipe it out for the sake of accomplishing a great public good. There is no country in Europe that has not among its public institutions one for the registration of the numbers of the population who are born, get married, or die annually, with the solitary exception of our own; but the reproach of the defect does not attach to us. Its cause is a disgrace to our legislature, and a public injury. The statistics of this country, prepared under the superintendence of Colonel LARCOM, Mr. DONNELLY, Dr. WILDE, and other practical men, have been the most interesting and valuable that any country could well produce; and that branch of them which has engaged the attention and the labours of the Committee of our Statistical Society would be of still more importance and value than any that has yet been presented to the public. Protestant Europe refused for many years to recognise the radical improvement made by a Pope in computing the measure of the year, merely because a Pope effected the reform; but this is not the spirit that has prevented the establishment of the registration; though the impediment is really a remnant of the old intolerance, which carried its hostility so far that public benefit from Roman Catholics was discarded or looked upon in the light of an evil. We sincerely trust that the recommendations of the Statistical Society will be attended to, and carried out during the approaching session of Parliament.

The subject of the foregoing remarks has attracted attention at the other side of the Channel, and British Protestant journals have been no less vehement in denouncing the existing remnant of the penal laws than our Ulster contemporary. The Scottish Press says -

"Whether as interposing a hindrance in the way of mixed marriages, or as furnishing a loophole for the escape of the unprincipled, or as a badge and evidence of ecclesiastical serfdom, the time has arrived when this enactment ought not and cannot be tolerated in the sister country."

Our Scottish contemporary commends the efforts of the Dublin Statistical Society to establish the registration of births, marriages, and deaths, and adds -

"Any attempt to have a complete and authentic register of marriages is not to be expected so long as a penal and nullifying provision hangs over the heads of priests and people. The more the shame, seeing that no social or statutory difficulties can be interposed to prevent it. Ireland is rapidly rising in her moral and material interests, and not a session should be allowed to pass without having this great disideratum supplied."

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