29 JUNE 1944, Page 14

MR. LUNN AND MR. LOW

SIR,-I am afraid that I must ask you to reopen once more the frequently terminated controversy between Mr. Lunn and Mr. Low, in order that I may defend myself against the latter's specific reference to myself as the inaccurate source of Mr. Lunn's quotations. It is true that I "gracefully apologised " to Mr. Low, because the quotations from Colonel Blimp in my book St. George or the Dragon were not complete. But only because any author who objects to an incomplete quotation from his works is entitled to an apology, certainly not because the quotations were " hashed and misleading versions " of the gallant Colonel's aphorisms. My point, in St. George or the Dragon, was merely that not infrequently Blimp was wiser about the future than his distinguished creator. I cannot ask you to reproduce my five quotations, but here are two typical ones, with the words omitted in italics. " Gad, Sir, Lord Blither is right. Be prepared with plenty of armaments and then there will be peace—just cs there was last time." (May, 5934). " Gad, Sir, Mr. Baldwin is right. To ensure peace we must have plenty of airplanes. Otherwise how are we going to drop messages of good will on the enemy?" (November,

5933). • The humorous additions, surely, do not alter the essential point—that