Sta,—In former days there sas a right which was called
the Privilege of Clergy. In the presmt day the clergy has a different kind of privilege, that of being the cockshy of a certain sort of layman, such as your correspondents George Burgess and E. Laird-Clowes. But there are other sorts with other opinions. May I quote two whose opinions I found in reports in The Times? The first is a General, of the name of Bernard Montgomery, not an unknown name in the Eighth Army and to the ends of the earth. He is reported to have said that his chaplains were worth a brigade to him. But then he is a clergyman's son, like Nelson. Maybe he is prejudiced, so I Will quote another witness—a Brigadier, I believe, in the other Great War and now a brilliant writer, Mr. Mottram, author of A Spanish Farm. He visited the Middle East, and in a speech, also reported in The Times, said : "Never have I seen a more splendid set of men than the chaplains at the front."
One more fact, taken, I think, from The Spectator, I venture to state. No branch of the Services has so high a casualty list in proportion to their number. Perhaps when your correspondents are throwing their bricks at the chaplains they will hold their hands when they recall this.—Yours
faithfully, W. H. G. HOLMES, Oxford Mission to Calcutta.
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