23 JANUARY 1915, Page 2

By writing as we have done this week as to

the dangers ahead, we are well aware that we risk being accused of exaggeration even by our best friends. It is with the prospect of such an arraignment fully in mind that we have decided to take the responsibility of speaking out as we have spoken in our leading columns. We can say from the bottom of our heart that there is nothing in the whole world which those who are responsible for the production of the Spectator would feel to be more like the wound that can never heal than open hostility with America. For us, though we do not in the least dread the naval or military issues involved, it would be the ultimate woe. It would be civil war and nothing less.