We shall be delighted to give Mr. Whitbread the fullest•
and amplest apology the moment we are quite certain of the ground he occupies. At present his letter leaves us in doubt as to his position. If he will tell us that as a matter of fact he is opposed to a million quarters-of potential foodstuffs being deprived of their food value and turned into intoxicants in a year of famine, then we have clearly wronged him, though unconsciously, and we shall gladly apologize. If he will not make a statement to that effect—will not, that is, say that he is against foodstuffs being used to make beer instead of to feed the people—we owe him no apology, oven though he should stand upon some verbal punctilio in regard to the way in which our statement was framed. Mr. Whitbread adds that as a brewer be has no intention of being thrown by this or any other Government to the wolves, makes a vague threat to throw the Government to the wolves, and ends darkly by say ing that Nature teaches beasts to know their friends.
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