The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-03-17
BERKELEY SQUARE. W.

III, CHARLES ST,
BERKELEY SQUARE. W.
The Earl of Dalhousie presents his
compliments to the Editor and would
beg the favor of his publishing the en-
closed correspondence copy of which
has been addressed to the Governor of
each State.
10, CHARLES ST., BERKELEY SQUARE
LONDON, w.
February 18th, 1888
YOUR f yCELLENCY.
In the last session of the Parlia-
meut of Great Britain and Ireland q
bill for legalizing marriage with de-
ceased wife's sister was defeated in the
House of Lords by majority of 132-12S.
Ii | am rightly informed, these mar
'riages have now for many years been
legal in every part of the United States
of America, and you have therefore had
ample experience of their effect on social
and domestic life, and can say from
practical knowledge whether morality
has suffered from the fact that in the
state of Illinois marriage with deceased
wifes sister IS permitted by law.
The opponents of the legislation of
marriage with a deceased wife's sister
in the United Kingdom are fond of refer
ring to America as illustrating in a mark
ed degree the baneful evils which it is
alleged must follow if these marriages
are recognized as legal.
In order to give your Excellency an
example of the statements that are made,
| enclose letter quoted in an article
which has recently appeared in one of
our leding periodicals, The Church
Quarterly Review, which is being extern
sively circulated. | am anxious to ascert-
ain whether such assertions as those
contained in this letter are generally sup
ported by facts, or whether the writer
has drawn his startling differences from
ALI isolated case.
May | ask that your Excellency will
kindly honor me with such information
as you can conveniently give as 10 how
the law which permits Marriage with a
Deceased Wife's Sister has worked in the
State of Illinois. My reason for making
this request is, that hope to introduce
into the House of Lords again this year a
bill similar to the one which so nearly
became law during the last session of
Parliament and am naturally concerned
to have all the knowledge of the practical
working in America of law similar TO
the one which | am anxious to persuade
I trust. therefore. your Exceliency will
forgive me for troubling you in the
matter.
have the honor to be,
Your Excellency,
Very faithfully and obediently yours,
DALHOUSIE.
To.his excellency. the Governor of the
State of Illinois.
1T Is evident" writes an American
clergyman to those of us who are old
enough to remember the state of things
previous to these innovations, that a
change for the worse has been brought
about. | can well recoIIect when ladies
in the lifetime of their husbands used to
feel as if their brothers-in-law were their
own brothers, and to treat them accord
iDgly, in all the unreserve of domestic
intercourse; when brother-in-law, after
an absence, would kiss his brothers
wife in all purity as his own sister. and
she would confide in him without a
thought or evil, or feeling. of 'embar-
rassment and when, too, in case of a
wife dying, her sister would remain in
charge of her family, or would remove to
the bereaved home, to live with the wild
over, and take care of his children as a
thing of course, without whisper of
SANDER. or any occasion for it; when the
children, too, knowing that their aunt
could never he in any nearer relation to
them, loved and reverenced her, and con
fided in her, and yielded readily most
wholesome influence to her
But since such increased nearness of
connexion has been deemed not improper
and even desirable. there has grown up in
families perceptible and painful con-
straint; the children learning to look with
apprehension on their mothers sisters,
and the wives becoming jealous of their
influence with their husbands, while
famiiarities which formerly were thought
to be, and really were, innocent have
come to possess consciousness of evil
tendency which itself is of the nature OF
sin
i know of wife whose health was
gradually declining, a woman of the
world with husband as worldly as her
self, and in their house was young and
attractive sister of hers, between whom
and her husband there had grown up
gradually degree of affectionate inter
course which in the days of the wife's
health had been thought only natural.
But as her end drew near, it became on
his part more pointed, and drew to it her
attention agonizingly that it became
the one engrossing feeling of her soul for
the last few weeks of her life. exciting in
her an undisguised dread of what she
foresaw would, IL did. take place, and
absorbed hersas to shut out all thought
of religion. and make her miserable to
her verysdeath.