ON HATING AMERICA
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—It is with feelings akin to dismay that I have read the recent articles and letters hi the Speciator headed ". On Hating Ainerica." This alleged hatred has no place in my make-itp, nor, I believe, in that of thousands of Britons. On the other "hand, when one is privileged to, meet either at home or abroad the well-bred, well-educated American, one isooncious solely of a racial and social affinity that is productive of precisely the same feelings of fellowship and friendship which should, and generally do, draw Britons of the same status together.
Last year it was the good fortune of my wife and -myself to be able to shOw some small measure of hospitality to an American EpiScopalian Minister and his wife, who, in the evening of their lives, had been visiting England for the first time. Members of the State of Washington, they assured us that never before had they felt themielveS to be in' a homeland. one in which all were of the same race as themselves ; while their tour in this country they had regarded (to use their own words) in the light of a solemn pilgrimage. More delightfully simple and friendly or better-informed visitors we could not have wished to entertain, and my only regret is that ours had been the only English home that had opened its doors to them during a sojourn of many weeks in the country. They returned to Arderica next day. With the constant and ever-growing interchange of visitors between America and Great Britain, especially at this season, would it not be possible to arrange that, at any rate, some intending visitors from the one side might find a welcome awaiting them upon arrival on the other, elsewhere than in mere hotels ? Judging from my own experience, limited it is true, I cannot but feel that by tendering such hospitality to visiting Americans, many homes over here in town and country would be sensibly enriched otherwise than by the almighty dollar ; while, if British visitors to the United States could not, perhaps, confer equal benefits upon their American hosts, they would at any rate enjoy a " close-up " view of American home life and learn how insensate it is to continue writing, talking and reflecting " on hating America."—I am, Sir, &c., Dibden, Hampshire. H. W. KETTLEWELL, Lt.-Col.
[One of the first things for which the Spectator stands is Anglo-American friendship. We firmly believe that without it there will be no hope whatever of international confidence and peace. Our purpose in publishing the .correspondence to which Colonel Kettlewell objects is to disclose the reasons for the appreciable amount of mutual distrust or dislike which now exists. The best chance of removing any ill feeling is to understand its causes, most of which are unsubstantial and therefore remediable.--En. Spectator.]
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