[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I suppose it is
too much to hope that we shall ever hear the last of the unfortunate conscientious objector with his ravished wife and tortured children, but if Mr. Bingham were to put his " supreme test question " to me personally I would answer : I am not willing to watch anything of the sort, neither- am I willing to wound or murder the mis- creant. I should do all in my power to restrain him but I should not think it necessary to kill as many of his country. men as possible on the assumption that they were all bent on the same course of action as he. By the way, this notion that the first aim of the military man is to ravish women and torture children doesn't say much for the "noble character of the Christian soldier." Which brings me to Mr. Fothering- ham. To whom I answer : I am not " willing to be protected by a soldier in jeopardy of his life " nor do I " reproach the defender." I merely ask him not to bother as he only provokes attack.
Whatever the ideals that inspired the Crusaders, their conduct is one of the blots on the history of Christianity. Their outcome and the fate of those who led them clearly show that they were unblessed by God (vide The Church and War, by Franziskus Stratmann, 0.P., p. 129).-1 am, Sir, &c., 203 Earls Court Road, S.W. 5.
W. LLEWELLYN REES.
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