DIVORCE
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sm,—I am afraid that your correspondent, Claire Madden, has not read my article with sufficient care. Had she done so, she would have seen that I was not in the least concerned with the theory and practice of the Roman Church in them- selves. As a matter of fact, I take quite a languid interest in that Church, and only referred to it in the interests of my own Church, because it has influenced for evil the practice and theories that prevail in our English society. Of course, I am aware, as everybody else is, that the cast-iron system of the Roman Church does not permit of divorce. On the other hand, I am also aware that it is the consummation of the marriage which, according to Roman doctrine, constitutes the in- dissolubility of marriage. All I was concerned with, and all I had to say was, that that thesis sufficiently accounts for the practice in the English Divorce Court of granting a decree of divorce for adultery only. What the Roman Church says or does is no concern of ours, except in so far as it has influenced for good or for evil, our belief and conduct. —I am, Sir, &c., W. F. GEIKIF.-COBB, D.D. Chairman, Marriage Law Reform League. 13 Bedford Row, London, W.C. 1.
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