22 APRIL 1905, Page 13

MR. CHAMBERLAIN'S POSITION.

(To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—" Apollo shrouds The God-like Trojan in a veil of clouds." The Homeric hero, when he was getting the worst of it in a fight, was accustomed to rely on the assistance of the god who happened to be his special backer, and who, at the critical moment, would pour around his protégé an impenetrable fog, under cover of which the hero escaped defeat. Can it be that Mr. Chamberlain is imitating these Homeric tactics, and is retreating into the nebulous generalities of the Balfourian utterances as a means of escape ? It is to be observed that the Homeric hero, when the retreat into the fog had served his purpose, resumed the fight as if nothing had happened.—I am, Sir, &e.,