" THE REVOLUTIONARY IDEA IN FRANCE.'
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—As your review of my book, The Revolutionary Idea in France, called forth not only a protest in your own columns from Lord Sydenham but a lengthy attack, engagingly mingled with personalities, in a journal called the Patriot, I should be most grateful if you would allow me to say a word in defence of your reviewer. Lord Sydenham and the Patriot are alike incensed that he should have suggested that I had disproved Mrs. Webster's theory that the French, and all other, revolutions were the work of secret societies, consisting principally of Jews and Germans ; and Lord Sydenham points out that I have made no attempt " to meet Mrs. Webster's exhaustive researches." This is perfectly true. My book is not an examination of Mrs. Webster's volumes ; indeed, I have been reproved elsewhere for making any reference to them at all. My purpose was to present as briefly as possible my own view of the nature of these revolu- tions ; and it would have been quite irrelevant to that purpose (even if I had possessed the necessary qualifications) to examine Mrs. Webster's researches into the activities of these Jewish and German conspirators.
On the other hand, it must be admitted that one way of showing that the French Revolutions were not caused by secret societies is to show that they were caused by something quite different. This I did to the best of my ability, and, in so far as what I wrote appeared to him to be reasonable, a reviewer would be justified in suggesting that it had disproved Mrs. Webster's theory. But I feel sure that your reviewer had not the least intention of disparaging Mrs. Webster's remark. able ability and erudition which, whatever one may think of her conclusions, no One who has read her books is likely to,
question. It might be some comfort to Lord Sydenham and the Patriot if they knew that my insignificant work suffered one other equally portentous onslaught, and that that was at the hands of the Daily Herald.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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