23 SEPTEMBER 1911, Page 15

[To THE EDITOR OY THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR,—In connexion with the

passing away of Archbishop Alexander, may I bring to your notice—though they are probably well known to you—his noble lines on " War." So far as I know they have never been published.—I am, Sir, &c., The Manor House, A. NELSON (Major). Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey.

WAR, "They say that 'war is hell,' `the great accursed,' '1 he sin impossible to be forgiven' ; Yet I can look beyond it at its worst And still find blue in Heaven.

" And as I note how nobly Natures form Under the war's red vein, I deem it true That He who made the earthquake and the storm Perchance makes battles too.

"The life He loves is not the life of span Abbreviated by each passing breath; It is the true humanity of man Victorious over death."