Marriage & Divorce
Marriage & Divorce is a book written by A. Hamilton published on july 1913 by The Daily Chronicle (London) and including a preface written by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Preface by Arthur Conan Doyle
I have been asked, as President of the Divorce Law Reform Union, to preface with a few observations the work in which Mr. A. Hamilton has set forth the case for Reform, but that work must, I think, carry conviction in itself to anyone who reads it with an unprejudiced mind. The most that a preface-writer can do is, to implore the reader when he has perused the book and has assented to its arguments not to let the matter rest there, but to come forward and actively help those who are endeavouring to see a great wrong righted, and to bring light into lives which are now darkened by the shadow thrown by medieval conceptions and by the intrusion of ecclesiastical mysticism into the practical affairs of mankind.
It is interesting to recall the hubbub which was raised — and successfully raised for many years — against the marriage of a man with his dead wife's sister. There was nothing in blood relation or in common sense to forbid such a union, and yet, on the strength of a rubric of the Church, which might very well influence the conduct of churchmen, but has no relation at all to the general public, the law was most bitterly opposed by the priestly party, and dire prophecies uttered as to its effects if it were passed. Now it has been in operation for some time, with the result that a number of unhappy people have found comfort, unions which were irregular have been regularised, children who would have been illegitimate have had that stain removed, and the laws of the Empire have been made uniform. It is no longer possible for a woman who is a man's wife in Australia to find herself looked upon as his mistress in England. But it is one of the characteristics of a certain type of ecclesiastical mind that it never learns by experience, and that the human race has still to fight again at the next tenable or untenable position in the rear of that which has been captured.
The battle now is for a worthy cause and one which may well enlist the sympathies and the energy of every man and woman who wishes to see this world a purer and a better place. There are so many unavoidable evils to which the human race is subjected, the worries of business and the ills of the flesh, that it is the more deplorable that they should add man-made misery to their other troubles, and should go out of their way by senseless laws to make their existence more difficult. The law which at present binds a decent citizen to an habitual drunkard, which ties a pure-minded girl to a foul satyr, which chains a man or a woman to a lunatic or a criminal for life, is a wicked law — it is an abuse of the elementary right of every human being to lead a life which shall be tolerable, and it is in its secondary effects the fruitful mother of irregular unions. This proposition must be so evident to every normal mind that if it were not for theological obscurantism it could not fail to gain general acceptance. It is that theological obscurantism as typified in the Minority Report of the Royal Commission which we have now to fight.
The question is not whether we shall win the fight. Success is certain, for truth and progress always win in the end, and with such a weapon as the Majority report of the Royal Commission in our hands, we are sure of victory. The real question is, How long will it be before we win ? — a very poignant question to those unfortunate people who see year follow year with no relief to their miserable condition. The enemies of reform are bitter and energetic, and by their outcry make themselves appear to be more numerous and powerful than they are. We must sacrifice some time and trouble therefore for our convictions. If we do not do so, the matter will be hung up, or will end in some futile compromise which may lead to change rather than to reform. Personally, I am of opinion that the report of the Majority in the Commission covers the whole of our case, and embodies those reforms which the Union was founded to obtain. Let us obtain legislation upon those lines, and England will be no longer the rearguard of the civilised world in its advance towards the reasonable regulation of marriage.
Arthur Conan Doyle.
