QUOT HOMINES .
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR, I have been a regular reader of The Spectator for wet! over 4o years, and may claim that I have hardly missed a single number during the whole of that period. Until recent years I was proud to regard it as guide, philosopher and friend. On the whole it consistently maintained a " Left-Central - attitude making an appeal to men of moderate views of all parties.
But of late a change has come over its whole atmosphere. That which was " Central " in it has tended to become atrophied, while its " Left " characteristics have gravitated more and more to the Leftward.
Never have I felt so entirely out of sympathy with you as during the past few weeks. I give you, indeed, full credit for your generous tribute to Mr. Chamberlain in your issue of September 3oth. But while it is true that there are sundry signs of a modification of attitude on your part in your last issue of October 14th, yet in that of October 7th the whole atmosphere, including that of the overwhelming majority of letters to the Editor, is to some of us highly distressing. Take, for example, the "letter on " An American View," which you printed without any editorial' comment or criticism. Can anything be more unfair than the attitude there taken up ? As is so clearly pointed out by Dr. Fisher in his History of Europe, Czechoslovakia is far more a child of American than of British parentage. And Dr. Fisher, owing to his presence in Geneva in 192o as a British delegate to the Assembly of the League of Nations, was in an exceptionally favourable situation for obtaining accurate information on the subject. Yet your correspondent bitterly taunts our country with its betrayal of humanity and democracy. It may be easy for him, writing in perfect safety from Cleveland, Ohio, so to express himself. But were he, his own family, and his whole country exposed to the full horrors of modern warfare within 24 hours, it might have materially modified his point of view as to the respective responsibilities of Britain and America in this [Our columns are open for the free expression of various opinions ; it is not our practice to append an editorial note to a letter merely because we disagree with the views expressed in it.—En. The Spectator.]
Previous page
