National Anthems
Sta,--You hold that the national anthem strikes a wrong note when the terms " victorious " and " glorious " are applied to a Queen for whom we all wish a reign of unbroken peace. The anthem is certainly hard to defend; but, if it is less " worthy," as you suggest, than the anthems of France and the United States, it is not because of its militant spirit. The " Marseillaise " is nothing but a war-song, and a very boastful and aggressive one at that. "The Star-Spangled Banner " is a triumphant song of battle, with its lurid picture of " the rockets' red glare, the shells bursdrig in air," and its clairit that America is specially favoured as being " the land of the free and the home of the brave."
In fact, both these anthems are far more open to the censure which you urge than is " God Save the Queen." The weakness of our anthem is that it is miserable doggerel; and I wish you luck in the enterprise of procuring for us something better.—Yours, etc.,
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