[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Page exulted in the
unprecedented honour of the American flag flying over the British Houses of Parliament. You propose the equally unprecedented step of giving by Act of Parliament a monument in Westminster Abbey to an American citizen. I feel that you are fully warranted in your proposal. You say the obstacle is physical because the Abbey is crowded in every corner. That means that it lies in the reluctance of the Dean and Chapter to touch any existing monument. Admission to the Abbey is regarded as irre- vocable and we see the result. The Abbey is crowded with memorials, some of which would not have been admitted according to the present standards and others of a size out of proportion to their importance. Surely the judgment of posterity should be allowed its weight, and after the lapse, say of a century, the verdicts of public opinion might be reconsidered. We all know the storms that arise whenever an iconoclastic proposal is made, but I fee] that the Dean and Chapter who have the right of invitation could also be trusted with the right of revision.—I am, Sir, &c., 41 Drumeheugh Gardens, Edinburgh.
J. PARKER SMITE.
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