23 DECEMBER 1899, Page 15

[Owing to the great pressure on our correspondence columns we

have been obliged to hold over several letters, —among them one from the eminent American historian, Mr. J. F. Rhodes, challenging our statement in a notice of his last book that at the time of the Civil War "our Government substantially did the right thing." We fully admit that our statement was far too absolute, and that Mr. Rhodes proves his point. If, however, we had said that our Government sincerely meant to do the right thing, though they did not actually do it, we should not have greatly erred. No doubt Mr. Gladstone, though then Chancellor of the Exchequer, spoke in a way that deserved the strongest reprobation ; but Lord John Russell and the majority of his colleagues meant, we believe, to act properly.—ED. Spectator.]