CIVIL SERVICE OFFICIALS.
(To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOZ."3 Szn,—In last week's issue of the Spectator I find a reference to "the specious arguments used by some Government officials in favour of their own exemption." Who are these Government officials, and where do their arguments appear? A few instances would be useful, and might remove the feeling, produced in some minds by your recent utterances, that the usually well-informed, courteous, and fair-minded editor of the Spectator is as ignorant of the work of the Civil Service during the war and as eager to fling charges of cowardice and selfishness against Government employees generally as the most irresponsible halfpenny paper. Again, you say : "We may assume that the same kind of Depart- mental difficulties which are constantly befalling our own Govern- ment are not absent in either France or Italy. Even a war for national existence will not prevent Government Departments from fighting with one another regardless of the public interests." Evidence, please! I do not think you ever brought this charge against the Civil Service until one of your correspondents supplied you with it a few weeks ago; and when on October 21st two corre- spondents ventured to deprecate it and other similar "railing accusations" against Government employees as a body, you promptly closed down the correspondence. But your own sense of justice should have prevented your repeating these little slanders if you wished to avoid publishing protests. I trust that same sense of justice will constrain you to publish this letter, and to supply something in the way of proof of your accusations; and if you find my tone rather heated, make allowances for the natural indignation of a man who sees his profession and his colleagues
daily and weekly exposed to this kind of stab in the back.—I am, Sir, &c., Civn. Smoker (Gnat Mitxrute Ace).
[We publish our correspondent's letter, but must adhere to our determination not to open our pages to correspondence on the subject. Our words, we admit, would have been more happily phrased had they run: "in favour of the exemption of their colleagues." Proof that Government Departments fight each other even during a war cannot be given without breaches of confidence. We must ask our readers to accept our word in this matter.—En. Spectator.]
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