"BRITON" AND "BRITISHER."
[To ram EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—As the question of the use of the word " Briton" or "Britisher" as applied to our countrymen is frequently arising in the Press, it may be of interest to trace the origin of the word " Britisher," which is not synonymous with "Briton." I believe it to have been originally a sort of nick- name applied by British officials abroad to those who have a right to claim their protection as being British subjects, but who are obviously not Briton., true or otherwise. Such, for instance, are a full-blooded negro from the Gold Coast, inhabitants of Malta and other dependencies of the British Crown, many of whom do not speak English and have never seen the British Isles. It would be a misnomer to call such persons " Britons," but it was never intended that the word "Britisher," used as a substantive, should apply to them except as a shortened form of "British subject."—I am, Sir,
B.
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