26 OCTOBER 1918, Page 14

AMERICA AND THE WAR.

[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] Sin,—In behalf of many of my brother-Olergymen I thank the Spectator for its encouragement from the first of the steadfast belief that the Teutonic tyranny could be overthrown. We welcome your distinguished fellow-citizens who by their presence and addresses here have seconded that belief. Mr. Balfour, the Archbishop of York, Gipsy Smith, Sir George Adam Smith, and, at the time of writing, the Bishop of Oxford and the Rev. A. T. Glittery have rendered splendid service to our common cause. Indeed, it is not too much to say that Mr. Balfour's mission marked a new era in the relations between the Motherland and the United States. Nor have we lacked advocates of our own, who from the beginning have insisted upon the righteousness of the Allied policy and our obligations to support it, not only sym- pathetically, but by force of arms. Ex-Senator Elihu Root, the late ex-Ambassador Joseph H. Choate, ex-President Roosevelt, and the Hon. J. M. Beck have been foremost in this contention. Among the clergy Dr. S. Parkes Cadman, pastor of Central Con- gregational Church, Brooklyn, New York City—one of the most influential churches in the nation—has devoted his great gifts to the same end. His unique position and influence as a leader among the clergy of all denominations, Roman and Protestant, have given him a wide opportunity for good which he has notably fulfilled, doing for the Allies a work comparable to •that of Henry Ward Beecher in the Civil War of 1861-65. When other clergy- men were silent, pacificist, or antagonistic, this Brooklyn minister visited nearly every State between New York and the Missouri River, and carried persuasion and conviction to the great audiences he addressed. Bishop McConnell, Dr. Eaton, Dr. Hillis, and numerous other clergymen followed suit, with the result that this nation will repudiate any peace with Berlin and Vienna unless it satisfies the terms proposed by Senator Lodge.—