TOLERANCE OR CONCEIT
SIR,—Janus's comment in your issue of March 28th on the surprise of the Soviet delegation on finding a portrait of George Washington (a British traitor!) in the National Gallery can be, perhaps, surpassed by the surprise of a German international lawyer when I showed him, in 1936, the ex-Kaiser's full-length life-size portrait hanging in the card room of the principal Service club in London, where it had, in fact, hung throughout the war. "No other nation would leave hanging, particularly in a Service club, a portrait of their principal enemy," said the German. The ex-Kaiser was an honorary Admiral in the Royal Navy and his portrait still hangs in the club, although in a room no longer used by members. Can there be a better example of" the British characteristic of toleration "?
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