MR. CHURCHILL
SIR,—" Janus " merits our thanks for his comments (in The Spectator of December 31st) on the depth of public feeling displayed in recent days in regard to the Prime Minister's illness. As Commander King- Hall says in his article " Parties of Tomorrow," Mr. Churchill is indeed " a national leader of unprecedented reputation." The popular faith in his capacity to ride the storm draws its inspiration from Mr. Churchill's own belief in his destiny: this, in turn, derives from his insistence through all the vicissitudes of his long and varied career and in all his speeches and writings, that the Divine Providence watches unceasingly.
In My Early Life, Mr. Churchill's story of his escape from the Boers illustrates the point. At a stage when all seemed lost and his recapture unavoidable, " I realised with awful force that no exercise of my own feeble wit and strength could save me from my enemies, and that without the assistance of that High Power which interferes in the eternal sequence of causes and effects more often than we are always prone to admit, I could never succeed. I prayed long and earnestly for help and guidance. My prayer, as it seems to me, was swiftly and wonderfully answered."
That was as a young man, on the threshold of life, but this faith has found its expression on many occasions since: in fact, it is impossible to appraise Mr. Churchill's career in true perspective if this aspect of his character is neglected. Thus, as lately as October, 1942, in his speech at Westminster Central Hall to the Conference of Delegates of Coalowners and Miners, he said: " I sometimes have a feeling, in fact I have it very strongly, a feeling of interference. I want to stress that. I have a feeling sometimes that some guiding hand has interfered. I have the feeling that we have a guardian because we serve a great cause, and that we shall have that guardian so long as we serve that cause faithfully."
As we enter upon a year so fateful for human destiny. we shall do well with our incomparable leader. to place our trust in Almighty God and, in the words of President Roosevelt, "in His constant providence over us."
Yours faithfully, G. F. WARNE. 186 Old Lodge Lane, Purley, Surrey.
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