21 APRIL 1939, Page 22

A MATTER OF VOCABULARY [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR]

SIR,—What exactly are the implications of Mr. G. M. Young's letter? Writing of "the rape of India," he suggests that the first man (Burke perhaps) who used that phrase was a fool. It would be interesting to know what term he would apply to the first man who spoke of "the rape of Czecho- Slovakia." Or is India a special case, and would the word " rape" not be foolish when used, for the first, or even for the hundredth time, of, say, the Transvaal or Hong-kong?—