[TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.")
SIR,—A man who writes a " warm" book must not complain if he is " warmly" reviewed. I do not complain, but I think your reviewer in the Spectator of September 21st is not "fair" when he suggests that I " escaped " a Court-Martial. You, Sir, I am sure, do not wish to be unfair. Your reviewer's suggestion I feel to be extremely "unfair." What are the facts ? For eight months I did my utmost in every con- ceivable way to obtain, and at last to compel, a Court-Martial. This your reviewer could not fail to see in the book itself, if be read it. Only because I was persistently denied a trial have I been compelled to write my book. Your reviewer does indeed suggest that it was in the "stress of the campaign" that I "escaped" trial. But is he aware that, in spite of the " stress of the campaign," no fewer than six hundred Courts- Martial were held during the eight months I was vainly striving to secure one ? I submit, Sir, that this fact is a sufficient answer to all your reviewer's severe, not to say "passionate," strictures, for if I am "fervent" on the one side, he is at least as " hot " on the other. I " wore the shoe," and I therefore know where and how much it " pinched." If your reviewer is, as I suspect, one of the young officers whom he praises so lavishly, it is quite on the cards that he himself may yet have to wear a "tight shoe" before he has done with the Army. Then, perhaps, if he has any " corns" and any courage, he will better understand, and take a juster view of the question he has undertaken to discuss. Your reviewer's own manifestly reluctant admissions on the subjects of " Military Law," "Disease in the Army," &c., &c., are more than a sufficient vindication of my book and of the just indignation which breathes from its pages. I suggest, Sir, that our country is Britain; and that, when it suits our purpose, all classes among us join in the refrain " Britons never, never, never shall he slaves." If this is " shoddy," I am not responsible either for its authorship or for its frequent use in high quarters. Let us all clear our minds of " cant."
Author of "John Bull's Army from Within." 9 Elm Grove, Hammersmith, W.
[We have every desire to be scrupulously fair to a man who believes himself to have suffered an .injustice. We have carefully reconsidered our review of Sergeant Edmond- son's book in the light of his letter, but we cannot see that be was unfairly treated by our reviewer. Possibly it would have been more correct to have said that Sergeant Edmondson escaped the consequences of a Court-Martial,,and was fortunate in so escaping, but we do not think that this is in any sense a material correction, or that Sergeant Edmondson was injured by the phrase originally used. Certainly we bad no intention to do him any injury or damage, but only to criticise his book in good faith and in the public interest. Instead of ordering Sergeant Edmondson to Court-Martial on a charge of " misbehaving and in- ducing others to misbehave before the enemy,". the punish- ment for which is death (Army Act, Section- IV., 7), the Commander-in-Chief exercised his perfect right. to deal with him under Section 183,—reduce him and send him out of the country. This was an act of leniency on Lord Roberts's part. We very much doubt whether any member of Colonel Grenfell's column, except the fourteen individuals who shared Sergeant Edmondson's action, takes the ex-Sergeant's view of his own behaviour, or hesitates to believe that he was lucky to escape without a Court-Martial.—ED. Spectator.)
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