Review And Telegraph

The Divorce Case.—We cannot refrain our surprise at the decision of the House of Assembly, upon the application of Mr. Frost for a divorce, and we trust the rejecting that application will be reconsidered. Not that under ordinary circumstances we would relax the settled policy of the state which requires great caution in sundering the marriage covenant; but we believe this case so peculiar in itself, and so little in danger of becoming a precedent, that we should not hesitate to award the relief prayed for by the petitioner.

The case we believe to be substantially this:—Mr. Frost we understand to be a respectable farmer, having an establishment, and needing a wife and house-keeper for his domestic comfort. With this view he paid his addresses to his refractory wife who received his attentions although affianced to another—a man named Shawls. The girl is of romantic turn, and not over-stocked with intellectuals. Shawls wished to rid himself of his engagement, and availed himself of the novel-reading propensities of the girl to accomplish his purpose.

The plan was to get up a little melo-drama.—The girl was to receive the addresses of Frost, and agree to marry him. The day and hour for the celebration of the nuptials were to be fixed—the parson and the friends invited, &c. The lady was to allow Mr. Frost to lead her to the altar, and just as the parson was opening his lips, Shawls was to rush wildly into the apartment, thrust Frost away, and seizing the hand of the trembling fair one, be married to her himself.

Thus was the affair arranged; the false engagement made with Frost, and all the marriage preparations made. But the silly girl, in attempting to play the fool with Frost, discovered, when too late, that she was the chief dupe herself. She took her stand at the altar, and the priest commenced the service. In vain she eyed the door, in the expectation of a romantic rescue from the arms of a man she did not love. There was no bursting of the panels, and no rushing forward of a frantic Adonis to snatch her from the icy embrace of Mr. Frost. But on the contrary, while she was standing in breathless expectation of such a romantic adventure, the affair proved a sad mis-venture and she was startled from her reverie by hearing herself pronounced Mrs. Frost.

The result is known. From that hour to the present she has obstinately refused to recognize Mr. Frost as her husband, and has no intercourse with him. Not only so, but in the silliness of her simplicity she has been engaged in an amatory correspondence with Shawls. Under these circumstances, we are fully of opinion that Mr. Frost, who has been the victim of a conspiracy, is entitled to relief. He is not, in fact, in the spirit and meaning of the law a married man.—N. Y. Com. Adv.