THE LLOYD GEORGE-ASQUITH CORRESPONDENCE. lTo THE ERROR or sun SPECTATOR
Soe,—In common doubtless with many readers of the Spec- tator, I have for years been a profound admirer of the mental agility displayed, on numerous occasions, by Mr. Asquith. In his letter to your issue of the 22nd, Captain Guest, quoting "a perfectly frank Statement " from the editor of the Atlantic Monthly, would appear to translate Mr. Asquith into a trans- cendental sphere of acrobatics. How is ono to construe the following " While Mr. Asquith did not, for obvious reasons, wish to be privy to the disclosures. he was entirely willing that they should be made." Although Count Smalltork would aver, with obvious truth, that the word "privy " " surprises by himself" more than one shade of meaning in the English tongue, it is difficult to understand how any man can, at one and the some time, be anxious not to be privy to a disclosure and quite willing that it should be made. Some one has said that we use words to conceal our thoughts, but in America the written word is apparently engaged in the expression of the impossible. .4u reale, Sir, I trust that your soft answer will suffice to turn away the wrath of Captain Guest. Your numerous readers will hardly charge you with deliberate unfairness as far as Mr. Lloyd George is concerned. The conclusion of the whole matter would appear to lie in a clear verdict of improper disclosures against some persons unknown; and perhaps de gustibus nen disputandum might, in some degree, apply.—I am, Sir, Ac., F. P. Wane... 56 Hans Place, S.W. I.
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