THE GENTLEMANLY VIEW OF THE EASTERN QUESTION.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE"SPECTATOR."] Sra,—I am not a gentleman myself, but I often meet persons of that " persuasion," and I am sure that it will do you good to know the Gentlemanly view of the Eastern Question. In the first place, Sir, you must remember that you and your humane con- temporaries are not alone in the use of the word "brutes." But this potent term is applied by the gentlemanly politician not to impalers and unnatural sinners, but to the kind of voters who not only use the wrong sort of soap, but have, either by popular tradition or literary research, some memory of the time when this country was Christian, and the defender of the oppressed. They consider, Sir, that when these voters are interested in a subject, that subject at once sinks to the level of the Tichborne trial. Again, the gentlemanly politicians have heard that the man who first unveiled the conduct of our Turkish allies is either an Irishman or an American by birth, and that he does not write in the superfine style. It follows that he is, in gentlemanly eyes, "a damned Yankee news- paper fellow," and I assure you, Sir, that you must be cautious in adopting his statements. Indeed, Sir, if you will only once assimilate the gentlemanly conviction that all these oppressed fellows are brutes, don't you know—a sort of heathen Dissenters— much too well treated by their masters, you will be easier in your mind, and will be able to write in a much more pleasing and gentlemanly fashion, about matters of which we "hear so much." And I can assure you, Sir, that whatever may be the case in the mere towns, the country is gentlemanly to the core.—I am, Sir, Ike.,
A. L.
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