THE DISMISSAL OF SIR E. CLARKE. [To THE EDITOR OP
THE "SPECTATOR:] Sin,—May I submit a criticism upon your article, "The Dis- missal of Sir E. Clarke," in the Spectator of February 17th? You say : "There may come a war which is neither wise nor just, and how, if Parliament is held bound to approve war because it is war, is that war to be resisted ? " The time for resistance to a war believed to be unwise or unjust is when it can still be averted. When once the country is actually engaged it is the duty of good citizens to abstain from saying or doing that which can only daunt and impede those who have to act and think for it, and encourage the enemy. It is, indeed, conceivable (though in England scarcely more than conceivable) that there might be a war so grossly and mani- festly nefarious as to establish an exception. But a man must be abnormally arrogant who would venture to maintain the present to be such a case in face of the vast mass of in- formed and disinterested opinion by which the goodness of our cause is approved.—I am, Sir, &c.,
A.
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