24 OCTOBER 1903, Page 18

FREEMAN, CHATHAM, AND THUCYDIDES.

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]

Sin,—May I be allowed in the interests of historical accuracy to correct a curious confusion into which the writer of the article upon Chatham in the Spectator of October 17th seems to have fallen? He attributes the characterisation of Thucydides as "the historian of our common humanity, the teacher of abstract political wisdom," to Chatham, instead of to its true author,—an eminent historian who flourished a century later. The observation is really made by Freeman at the beginning of his remarkable essay on "The Historians of Athens" ("Historical Essays," Second Series); and great as was Chatham's admiration for Thucydides, I know no reason to suppose that he anticipated it.—I am, Sir, &c.,