THE MEMORIAL TO OUR DEAD: A PROTEST. [To THE EDITOR
OF THE " SPECTATOR.") Sra,—I do not know Sir Alfred Mond; but in the name of our million dead sons, and in the name of my own two young eons killed by the Huns, I write to ask the Spectator and its readers to do all in their power to prevent Sir Alfred Mond, or any other man with nothing but German blood in his veins, having any part whatever in arranging the National Memorial to our British dead who have died to save us from German lust for world dominion.—I am, Six, &e., R. B. 3Lta8rost. Surrey Lodge, Denmark Hill, S.E. 5.
P.S.—I do not write vindictively. Would the Huns let a man
of English blood get up their National Mouunient Even the super-Han Houston Chamberlain would say : "This is not work for me to undertake."—R. B. M.
[If Mr. Marston writes too warmly and too generally, as we think he does, it is difficult to blame him when the greatness of his suffer- ings is remembered. We do not hold that all men with nothing but German blood in their veins, if native-born and of naturalized parents, are suspect. We know that there are plenty of "persons of German extraction" who have become right English in heart and soul, and loathe the Hun and his ways as strongly as we do. But though we are obliged to put in this caveat, we are in full agreement with Mr. Marston in thinking that it is utterly in- appropriate that Sir Alfred Mond should be the Minister chosen to deal with the memorials to the noble dead, and with the English words that :hall recall the deathless story of deeds often as splendid and as enduring as Thermopylae or the Birkenhead.' The carelessness and indifference to good taste and good feeling shown by the appointment, whoever is responsible, are indeed beyond belief. As we have the strongest desire not to raise unjust prejudice in the minds of Englishmen against a fellow-citizen and a Minister representing the Crown and Nation man Office of great importance, we have made reference to Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, a work in which it is well known the details are sup- plied by the persons concerned. The following are the facts there stated in regard to Sir Alfred Mend's lineage. Sir Alfred Mond is the son of Mr. Ludwig Mond, his mother being Frida, "only child and heir of Adolph Meyer Lowenthal, of Cologne." Mr. Ludwig Mond was the eon of Meyer Baer Mond, of Ziegenhain, in Hesse Cassel, and of Henrietta Levineohn. Students of the new heraldry will be interested in the coat armour adopted by Sir Alfred Mond. Though we have not sufficient knowledge to say with what special characteristics of the Mond family the crest 0 "a demi bear, rampant, proper," is concerned, we cannot but be interested in the motto: "Make yourself necessary." Whether Sir Alfred Mond has succeeded in making himself necessary to Mr. Lloyd George and his Administration we are unable to say with certainty, but we presume that he must have done so. How else are we to account for his presence in the Government ? We are quite certain, however, that it will the opinion of the vast mass of English and English-speaking men and 7/0111011 that Sir Alfred Mond hae not made himself necessary as the Minister charged with the duty of arranging the memorials to our dead, or even with the duty of co-operating in the work. We are no vin- dictive haters of persons who are not of British blood, whether of European or of Asiatic descent, and honour many Jews for their patriotism and courage. These, however, would, we feel sure, be the first to allow a claim, surely one not in itself unreasonable or offensive, to be left alone with our dead.—ED. Spectator.]
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