Musing on the Marlboroughs
Martindale, C. C.
~oo T H E C O M M O N W E AL February 16, I927 MUSING ON THE MARLBOROUGHS
By C. C. MARTINDALE T HE smoke-screens having by now been dissi-pated, the sea can be discerned as calm, though...
...If there had been duress, it "ought," says the Bishop, to have been proclaimed at once after the marriage, and the marriage repudiated...
...He did reflect, and agreed that it had always been so...
...People at the wedding, says Bishop Manning in his message read in church, saw no signs that Miss Vanderbilt was act-ing under compulsion...
...This incident is a sharp reminder to those who love freedom, of the importance of maintaining complete separation of Church and state...
...He will say: "My dear, you are as free as the air from our point of view...
...Unwarrantable intrusion l Imperti-nence l Assumption of jurisdiction l Let religious lib- erty be uncompromisingly defended...
...But we do so hate Rome--'a foreign court'--so much as having an opin- ion about anything we have done...
...People reminded him none too kindly of the origin of the Anglican episcopate: of the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent remarks con-cerning birth control, which amounted to a statement that when the occasion warranted the use of it, the use of it was warrantable: of the queer sort of opportu- nism displayed by a papal court that, apparently in order to salve the conscience of one French gentleman, the only Catholic in the case, engineered all this uproar...
...No, he will not say that...
...I said: "There is here no room for broad- or narrowmindedness...
...These Bolsheviksl" And quite right, too...
...Personally, I considered myself to have known for a long time the adducible evidence, and was wonderin~ how much of it had actually been adduced, or could, or would, be sworn to...
...It was interesting to watch the recognition of this principle dawning throughout the press...
...Assuming that she knew the plea could be lodged, still, why should she use it...
...No one now is being begged to cable the facts to New Zealand, to Australia, to Canada...
...Anyway, the papers dropped the topic of ducal influence at the Vatican like a hot coal...
...In that case, we have to assert that a woman can be married of[, willy-nilly, much in the same manner as cattle can be disposed of by their owners...
...It is only if Church and state are not separate that a decision made by the for- mer could perhaps clash awkwardly with a decision made by the courts of the latter...
...I take it that the Dean of Ripon himself felt awkward over his mention of Rome's "opportunism...
...It is, in fact, pos- sible to reckon things up a little, and the conclusion of our reckoning is that good has been done...
...According to my principles (which are those of all decent, nay, civi- lized men) your seeming marriage was not a real one...
...Anyway, the evidence was varied, corroborative, and overwhelming...
...Alas, my dearl Heaven forbid that I should unwarrantably intrude l I cannot, indeed I cannot, be guilty of such imperti- nence...
...Carry on...
...What will he say...
...If you reflect, you will see that the decisions always first invoked a principle...
...and what woman would proclaim it to the world, when she need not...
...The Bishop goes on to say that the whole proceeding is a discredit to the "Christian church" and has done more than any event for some years to weaken the sanctity of marriage...
...But do you see a girl of seven-teen, and a duke of but little more, fresh from the miles of roses over which the press had waxed pathetic, an-nouncing to the world at large that their alliance was a fake ? I take it that if a girl is forced into marriage, she makes the best of the situation, especially as she is not likely to know or even care much about legal im- pediments to contracts...
...that the decision in- volves no comment on any national civil law whatso- ever...
...Frankly, we are puzzled...
...That is just Rome's attitude in marriage cases...
...I am but a foreigner from the Russian point of view and national liberties must not be infringed...
...And suppose he hears that Russia de-clares his "plea" of monogamy to be "unreal"--his decision "preposterous"--his verdict a grave blow dealt to wise national methods for populating the country rapidly and well...
...Within a day or two, people were feeling sorry that they had announced that a duke had bought a nullity decree from Rome...
...oo T H E C O M M O N W E AL February 16, I927 MUSING ON THE MARLBOROUGHS By C. C. MARTINDALE T HE smoke-screens having by now been dissi-pated, the sea can be discerned as calm, though some wreckage strews the shores, and some jelly- fish lie there rapidly decomposing...
...A scene in the church...
...that she is making no special enactment, but applying to a given case rules that concern the making of any valid contract...
...That is all very possible...
...You must look after yourself so far as that angle of the matter goes.' " Yes, yes, insists the Bishop...
...What will he say...
...This entire topic was in its turn therefore dropped, but not before the whole nature of impediments had become far better known t.han probably it ever had been, far more reasonably approved of, and duly recognized in the case under dis- cussion...
...The principle in the recent case is most certainly now clear: it is, that coercion prevents contract...
...As a matter of fact, it is now seen that, supposing it had been a preconcerted plan (which it was not) to allow everyone first to put both feet most thoroughly into falsehood, and then having inch by inch to extri- cate them, it would have been a prudent plan, though slightly cynical...
...But the discredit has been done, not by the nullity decree, but by the original scandal in New York...
...Moreover, the impediment due to co.ercion was recognized as wholly on the side of marriage and its sanctity, and the humanity as well as the common sense of Rome was admitted by surprised persons to whom the thought had never occurred that rigid ad- herence to law was here in the interests of kindness to weak nature...
...Suppose a girl, forced into marriage, by Russian law, with a man who is already married, then escapes to America, falls in love with an American citizen, and asks the Bishop's opinion as to whether she is free to marry him...
...Very well,' I reply...
...My business is to an-swer someone who asks me if a coerced marriage is a valid marriage...
...that the evidence can only be attacked by one who is prepared to assert that a number of Prot- estants conspired to commit perjury and thus forced the hand of two Catholic courts...
...If the two are sep-arate, presumably decisions made by each remain side by side, without touching...
...What did they expect...
...But I see that Bishop Manning makes considerabIe play with the idea of Vatican interference with Ameri- can liberties...
...Very likely it ought...
...and that honor, justice, and mercy here have gone hand in hand with homage duly rendered to a gacrament...
...Along with the clear publication of this principle went, of course, the statement of other principles which underlie the "im- pediments" to valid or licit marriage, laid down by canon law...
...In the case that is under discussion here, she says : "I have no business whatsoever with the laws of the United States aside from my duty of urging all American citizens to obey them provided they do not conflict with conscience...
...I answer, 'Of course not.' She pro- ceeds to swear to evidence proving that her own alli-ance was coerced...
...I think, then, I can safely say that in England it is now recognized that neither position nor money bought anything from Rome...
...The Dean of Ripon did, in fact, of[er a fair display of what he sneered at, since he seized the opportunity of making his remarks, provided by a conference at which his remarks could not be discussed...
...that the Catholic Church is not deviating a hair's breadth from principles that should be known to all edu- cated men...
...Moreover, the only rebuttal takes the form February 16, I927 THE COMMONWEAL 4ol of recollections of the bride's "radiance...
...that the principle involved in the recent decree is one admitted by all courts, and by all decent men...
...Sentimental ministers talked of the "radiant bride," and Sunday papers invented whole interviews with various ladies in which the bliss of the New York wedding was extolled...
...A few categorical statements to the effect that no duke had either obtained or even asked for a decree of any sort, followed up by a solici- tors' letter, muzzled those mouths...
...Such cases involve a principle, and evidence...
...Why should she use a plea that would humili- ate her, when she had what was necessary to get her freedom and marry M. Balsan, by humiliating the Duke ? Bishop Manning says it is a "scandal" that a woman of middle age should be willing to swear that her parents sold her for worldly gain...
...Why any Protestant should derive satisfaction from such a suggestion, I cannot imagine...
...Why, then, did not the Duchess use this plea when suing for divorce...
...I think this remark is a slip, for it merely supports a "hush, hush" policy...
...What he means is, that it is a scandal that par- ents should sell a girl for a coronet, and so it is...
...If they have you up for bigamy or anything else accord- ing to your country's laws, I cannot help that...
...Pronouncing a marriage null that was celebrated in my diocese, along with two bishops and a rector of my communion l" Well, suppose that Russia, shall we say, announces that a man can have two wives, and makes this law...
...It "seems," continues the Bishop, less guardedly than he fancies, that the plea of forced consent occurred to no one till thirty-one years after the marriage...
...Wait, wait, wait," we invariably said to those who wrote anxiously from London, from Cardiff, from Stufiby- Near-the-Puddle, either crying that nothing else was being talked of--that people were saying: "It can't be fun to be a Catholic just now...
...From my point of view, you are now free to marry...
...That a principle was involved became clear in about a week...
...I reminded one paper (which loyally printed my letter) that some time ago one of the most eminent barristers of the kingdom congratulated me on the "broad-mindedness" of the present Pope, alleging certain marriage cases in which he had been involved...
...or shouting, "Rome has joined with the Bolsheviks to give the coup de gr~.ce to marriage...
...A marriage can then be ecclesiastically null, while civilly valid, and none can quarrel...
...If you deny it, you have to assert the opposite--that it does not...
...So the only chance a critic has now, is to assert that all the witnesses, not one of whom is a Catholic, entered into a conspiracy of perjury, so as to force the hand of a Catholic court, sworn to give verdict accord- ing to sworn evidence...
...Anglican dignitaries began to rake up cases where the impediment had caused unhappiness or had been invoked by unworthy persons, and at once other cases were forthcoming in which the civil law was seen as doing the same thing--as in what con-cerned domicile--and having the same or similar re-sults in this or that instance...
...However, till the evidence was published, people had a fairly good time...
...Less guardedly," I say, since if he has read the evidence and not merely who knows what synopsis in who knows what paper, he can see that the fact of forced consent was made known within a week or two, and in my opinion within a day or two, of the ceremony...
...Then the Acta Apostolicae Sedis appeared, and letters of apology began to find their way into the press, though I cannot pretend that my country's papers gave one-hundredth part of the prominence to the evidence (in ignorance of which it had done all its talking hitherto) that it gave to the verdict...
Vol. 5 • February 1927 • No. 15
