11 JUNE 1942, Page 10

I have already mentioned some of the causes which have

led t a wave of anti-British sentiment in the United States. I receive' today a letter written by a typical American which has no diminished my apprehension. Some years ago I underwent a lectur tour in North America, and of the hundred and ten nights whic I spent in that continent, as many as sixty-two were passed in thos rambling doss-houses which the Americans employ as sleeping-car By the time I reached the Pacific coast my limbs ached with th heavy rumble of trains at night-time, my face had become muscle bound by a ceaseless smile of affability, and my nerves were amine beyond endurance by the effort to avoid those mistakes of manne or deportment which the lecturing Englishman (so I was assured invariably commits. Hollywood under such circumstances becam a spiritual impossibility, and I escaped to a small ranch in th desert which was kept by an Irish-American and his wife. It wa a delightful place, surrounded by hot sand and acres of flowerin verbena, and the few days that I spent there were among th happiest of my visit. My host, the Irish-American, seemed to m typical of all that is best in American life. We became friends an have corresponded since.