House of Commons. ELEANOR F. RATHBONE. SIR, —Critics of Lord Vansittart
are like that inevitable body of people which makes so much noise in times of peace when a murderer is brought to book. They sign petitions for reprieves, make eloquent speeches on behalf of the murderer, condemn capital punishment, but never give a thought to the victim. Today, this curious School of thought has much bigger business afoot in the defence of Germany. The trouble is that these people let their thoughts be governed not by logic but by emotion. They cannot grasp the fact that punishment is intended not for revenge, but for the protection of potential victims of the one punished. People of reason must see that if we have a duty it is surely to see that Germany will never be the dreadful menace to posterity that she has been to us. Whatever hardship this may inflict upon Germany and whatever incon- venience and expense upon the rest of the world is beside the point. It must be done if we intend that human progress is to continue, with mankind pursuing its path, however hard, as safe from a nation of megalomaniacs as it is from the common criminal.—Yours faithfully,
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