2 OCTOBER 1926, Page 15

PEACE WITH HONOUR

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—May I point out that apparently neither Burke nor Gladstone originated the phrase or epigram of "Peace with Honour " ? According to the interesting and authentic A Life of Robert bet*, First Earl of Salisbury, by Mr. Algernon Cecil, published in 1915, it originated with his ancestor the 1st Earl temp. of James I. Mr. Cecil quotes one of Lord Salisbury's despatches in Winwood's Memorials : "To con- serve peace as long as he may with honour and safety "(p. 267). And at p. 391 he says that the phrase "Peace with Honour" was, in fact, Salisbury's own. Burke probably noticed it in

Winwood's Memorials.—I am, Sir, &c., G. B. M.