At that remote period, and in the absence of duly ordained
clergymen, it was customary for marriages to be performed
by the Governors of Districts and by commanding officers
of distant Forts, and these, perfectly legal, were
subsequently as inclination, or scruple of conscience
induced, celebrated in the usual manner. The early
marriages of British subjects in Canada, soon after its
conquest from the French, as well as many of those of
the colonies now known as the United States, took place
in this manner, and the custom had been continued until
increased population provided the means of securing that
spiritual comfort, which it must, of course, have been
impossible for one dressed in a red coat instead of a
black one, to impart.
But neither Maria Heywood or Ronayne stood much on this
punctilio. Provided the ceremony was legal, and according
to the customs of the country, it mattered little who
married them--the governor of a district--the commandant
of a garrison, or a Gretna Green blacksmith--had they
felt at all disposed to avail themselves of the services
of the latter.
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