[To THE EDIT= OP THE "SPECTAT011.1 Sin,—Your correspondent, " Volunteer
Officer," in the Spectator of April 25th, asks that the Volunteer Force may be taken seriously, and I presume he wishes his own remarks to be taken equally seriously. I do not propose to deal with his views on the question which he raises, views which may or may not be of value; but there is one portion of his long letter which I, as an old Etonian, cannot allow to pass un- challenged. Commenting on the unreality of the " fair words used by inspecting officers of the past at the con- clusion of the Easter reviews," and the sneers of the Regulars at " Yeodogs," "drunken Militiamen," and "dog-shooters," he concludes with a paragraph that runs as follows :—" It is scarcely to be wondered, then, that the average sane English- man should have been led to believe that it was quite as use- ful and much more amusing, instead of playing at soldiers, to play at cricket. And there was always the comforting phrase about the playing-fields at Eton,—until the battlefields of South Africa were lost there." No doubt your corre- spondent speaks from personal experience of the South African battlefields. That any one, without an atom of proof, from behind the safe shelter of a pseudonym, should make such a statement almost passes comprehension; but in view of the fact that over fourteen hundred old Etonian, with Lord Roberts at their head, were engaged in South Africa, and that a hundred and twenty of them lost their lives in the service of their country, Etonians have no reason to be ashamed of their old schoolfellows, or of the record of their old school in South Africa or elsewhere.—I am, Sir, &o.,
[We did not agree with our correspondent, " Volunteer Officer." His letter was, in fact, a denunciation of our alleged snobbishness. But we cannot think his gibe at the conventional Playing-fields phrase calls for such strong language as that employed by Lord Dartmouth. We do not understand it to have been meant to apply specially to Etonian. As to the anonymity, unless a man makes a personal attack on another to condemn "the safe shelter of a pseudonym" is beside the mark. As, however, we have closed this correspondence and cannot allow " Volunteer Officer" to reply, we may state that " Volunteer Officer " holds a record for gallant service in South
Africa of which any man, Regular or Volunteer, Etonian or non-Etonian, might be proud.—En. Spectator.]
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