6 SEPTEMBER 1935, Page 6

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

THE remark t country hat any man of affairs in this countr must of necessity read The Times if only:for the sake• of its correspondence is a commonplace, but its truth has never been better .demonstrated,—never certainly since. 1914,—than in the past few weeks, when letters to the. Editor of The Times haVe formed a notable, impressive and significant index of public opinion on the halo- Abyssinian . question. Day after day men notable hi One walk of -life. Or anotherthe • Archbishop of York, the Archbishop of Westminster, Lord Cecil, Sir Abe Bailey,' Sir Owen Seaman (who most singularly discovers loyalty' to the League Covenant to be incompatible with loyalty to the Kellogg Pact), Lord Hardinge, are merely names. taken at . random—have expressed their view of Great. Britain's duty at this crisis. As a whole—and it is safe to assume that The Times has made a perfectly fair selection from the letters received—they represent an overwhelming balance of opinion in favour of the loyal Support by this country, of the League Covenant. Another national paper, by the way, • occupying a unique position, presents a curious contrast. The Observer, whose editor, Mr. Garvin,. has been writing week .after week Italophile articles with which at least half its readers must have violently disagreed, has published not a single letter on the crisis.

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