A BEAUTIFUL SOUL [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] Snt,—In

the early days of the crisis I was returning from the Balkans through Switzerland, where I happened to read the fol- lowing article. A few days ago it would have seemed too crude to publish, but it is interesting both as a familiar warning, and as an expression of war-hysteria.

Under the heading : " Confessions of a beautiful soul," it was as follows :

" The Berner Tagblatt has received from Berlin the following letter which we are printing as a cultural document : ' As a reporter, I am going to reply to your vulgar articles.

We shan't waste time on you damned scribblers, but one of these days we shall be even with you.

So that you and your foreign friends and swindlers may know something, for once, I will tell you this much :

s. We shall march into Czechoslovakia and destroy it.

2. Then Memel and Lithuania will be dealt with.

3. Then there will be a revolt in Polish Upper Silesia and we shall liberate it ; and the German portions of Roumania and Yugoslavia at the same time.

4. Then the road lies open for a general reckoning with Russia.

5. Then, together with Italy, we shall partition you Swiss people.

6. After which comes the great attack on London, which we shall completely destroy this time and raze to the ground.

7. Then, the reckoning with those marvellous French—Alsace- Lorraine its beautiful cathedral will return to us.

8. Finally, the Colonies will come to us quite of their own accord.

As for you and your splendid friends, we'll cut off your heads when we march into Switzerland in 1939. We'll teach you to mind your own business, and you'll sweat for us right enough—as the world's police, we'll deal with you soon.

So now you know, you dirty dago—your trash will soon have to stop and we shall get even with you gipsies. Now run to the English ambassador, who is just as big a fool as Runciman and that miserable old ruin Chamberlain ; he will get a kick in the pants. That's what I have to say to you, you swine, and our police will repeat it when they march in. There will be no further retreat—the map will be finally rearranged.

One who Knows More Than You ! " Berlin, September 16th, 1938.

As the editor of the paper noted, it is a remarkable cultural document. That its forecast is somewhat rrsh and improb- able is not the important thing. The real point is the warning to those who regard the whole German nation as essentially peace-loving. The style of the letter shows the writer not to have been unmoved by the speeches of the Fiihrer.—