- Is War Likely?
SIR.—In reply to Mr. Ensor, it is not mere " wishful thinking" that makes some of us refuse to regard war as inevitable, but the sense that, by adopting that attitude, we should actually be helping to make it so. In view of our common exp‘rience of what war means, even for the victors, it is hard to believe that even the Kremlin would contemplate starting a new war unless the) were convinced that it was bound to come anyway, and that their only chance was to get in the first blow at their own time. We must, of course, be prepared for this possibility; but we must equally try by all means to avert it ; and one important method of trying to avert it is to speak and act in such a way as to show that we have no desire for war, and no belief in its inevitability. If we despair, or seem to despair, of peace, we are encouraging those on the othet side to attack. We should, while strengthening our defences as rapidly as possible, proclaim insistently and incessantly our desire for peace aed our belief that it can yet be preserved.—Yours faithfully,
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