THE LITE MR. URQUHART:
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR-"3 SIH,—In the article entitled " Science and War," in your issue of the 16th inst., you refer to my father, the late Mr: Urquhart, as the author of a novel in which he embodied the idea of war being stopped by the discovery of some means of wholesale slaughter. In this you were mistaken, as my father never wrote a novel; and the main object of his long life of work was to prevent unjust wars by the constitution of a special tribunal in each country, to whom alone the power of declaring war should be confided, such tribunal being so constituted as to remove it, as far as is humanly possible, from the influence of the passions and necessities of party government;
Such a tribunal already exists in our country; and, nominally at least, is the only body by whom war can be declared,—viz., the Privy Council ; and it was for the restoration of this body to its original functions that he always-strove, I cannot do better than conclude with words of his own, whichI have myself often heard him use :—" Not one of the-wars-in which this country has been engaged within the last fifty years could ever have taken place, if the grounds for them had previously teen submitted to five upright men."—I am, Sir, &c., DAVID URQUHART. 27 Carnpden Grove, Kensington, May 20th.
[The novel was anonymous, but we thought its authorship had been beyond doubt. Mr. Urquhart must know.—ED. Spectator.]
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