SIR,—Without any wish to dispute the opinion expressed by the
Dean d St. Paul's in last week's Spectator that ." the Archbishops have fallen into a confusion of thought," I respectfully-suggest that he in waY strengthens his argument by defining one ..of its principal te.rms in a manner which is not, I think, supported' ay English dictionaries, and would certainly not be accepted by thoughtful Pacificists in general. " A pacificist," he says, " is one who believes that no one in any circumstances (the italics, of course, are mine) should take part in war, and that to do so is always morally wrong."
In my edition of Webster, a ponderous volume of 1,845 pages, issued towards the end of the last century, the word does not appear ; but in the Pocket Edition of the Oxford Dictionary it is briefly, and, I think, accurately, defined as " An advocate of the abolition of war." In this sense I believe that the great majority of our sailors, soldiers, and airmen, whose unfailing courage, cheerfulness, and humanity have won the admiration of the world, are as fully convinced " pacificists " as I am myself.—I am, Sir, &c., WALTER CRICK.
Eastbourne.
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