[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR, —As your editorial footnote
to my letter published February 8th still suggests a doubt, may I mention that the " Centro Colonial," Lisbon, have now cabled confirming my disclaimer on their behalf P They would add that the editor, Le Mouvement Pacifiste, Berne, acknowledges the misquotation from Mr. Gaisford's despatch of 1909 as his, and has promised them an apology in his next issue. They have asked him to give the full context of the extract for the satisfaction of his readers. I am compelled to dissent from your view that no one would imagine the opinion expressed in the passage quoted to be from a Portuguese and not an English source. On the contrary, few Englishmen, except for purposes of literal translation, would, I think, use the pompous terms with which the extract bristles to describe a Colonial regulation inserted in a Government gazette. The quotation is from an Address to the Throne (in the time of King Carlos) by the Minister in charge of the Bill, as it then was, and though the translator has had to trim off some exuberances (e.g., the phrase " a Portugal conbe a glories de iniciar " had to part with its glory before appearing in English), the diction of the passage still betrays its Portuguese author. That being so, I incline to the view that no careful reader could have been deceived by what follows the words, " It goes on to state." Why not merely read into it a desire on the part of the " Centro Colonial" to limit their quotation to the words relevant to their con-
tention P—I am, Sir, &c., J. A. WYLLIE, Lieut.-Col.
Hon. Associate, Centro Colonial, Lisbon. 38 Hope Terrace, Edinburgh.
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