" ENGLAND " INSTEAD OF "BRITAIN."
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR." J
Sin,—You must allow an Englishman to enter his protest against your capitulation to Lord Balfour of Burleigh as to the use of the word "English" in the opening paragraph of your issue of June 28th. The sentence is void of historical association if any other word than "English" is used. In .a. great English church the Primate of All England was to have crowned a King who is primarily King of England, to be known in English history as Edward VII., a purely English title, and he would have presented him as their King to men of many nationalities, but primarily to the people of England. Your reference to English history. and to the successor of Augustine, and your quotation of the phrase, " the undoubted King of this realm," lose their point if you substitute any other word than that which reminds us that whatever other titles belong to the King of England, belong to him because his first a,nd highest title is that which he derives from his English ancestors and the will of the
English people.—I am, Sir, &c., H. P. ALFORD. Woodbury Salterton.
[We cannot agree. At the Unions with Scotland and Ireland there was a distinct agreement to give up the use of the words " English " and " England " when the whole realm was intended, and though we regret that Scotchmen should find a cause of offence in the appellation of "English," which the majority of them are, at any rate in part, we cannot deny that their objection is strictly sound. The realm is British, not English.—En. Spectator.]
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