[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—I sincerely hope that the scheme for life membership' as outlined in your issue of the 10th inst. will not materialize in respect of the right of pre-emption. Nothing is more needed in journalism to-day than public spirit, and, while I appreciate most warmly the characteristic motives which have prompted your offer, I deprecate any change which may affect your independence.
I suggest, therefore, that you should hesitate before you saddle yourself or your successors with an obligation the future incidence and consequences of which it is impossible to foretell.
But, lest my criticism be wholly destructive, may I say how much I should welcome an annual or biennial meeting of your readers ? I • can imagine how interesting and instructive such meetings would be, both for the Editor and for " the crowd outside the window." And I for one should not require the inducement of life membership to compel me to come to such meetings, if only in order to tell you how profoundly I differ from you on many subjects.—I am,
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