The Edalji Case (letter 1 june 1907)
The Edalji Case is a letter written by Arthur Conan Doyle published in The Daily Telegraph on 1 june 1907.
The Edalji Case
Sir — I observe that Mr. Gladstone, in the House of Commons yesterday, waived away the question as to whether Mr. Edalji could be re-admitted to the roll of solicitors, by saying that it did not come within his department. This nay be an excellent debating point, but it must strike the public as the very essence of red tape. By a decision of the Home Office it has been decreed that Mr. Edalji has been wrongly condemned of maiming cattle, but rightly a having written abominable letters. It is evident that if he is guilty of the latter offence he is no fit member of an honourable profession. It follows, therefore, that as the direct consequence of the act of Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Edalji is condemned to ruin. What a quibble, then, to say that it is something outside the department!
As matters stand at present, Mr. Edalji has suffered three years' imprisonment in the past, and has to face ruin in the future, when the only thing which is still alleged against him has never been pronounced upon by judge or jury. Could any position be more illogical or unjust?
I have had, within the last few days, the opinion of the gentleman who exposed the forgery in the Dreyfus bordereau upon the Edalji papers. He says, without reserve, that Mr. Edalji did not write, and could not have written, the l903 letters. — Yours faithfully
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
Undershaw, Hindhead, Surrey, May 30.
