The New English Weekly, 4 (12 Apr 1934) 622-23
Sir, – Wishing to engross as little of your space as may be, I shall try to comment upon Mr. Pound’s observations (558) and your own notes (576) briefly in one letter. 1
First, I suggest to Mr. Pound that the review mentioned in the Observeris definitely below the level of “average London intelligence.” I do not know how to prove this. 2
Mr. Pound does not make clear to me what isthe peculiar malady of my logic. I should like to know. Naturally, ifmy diagnosis is wrong, my remedy is likely to be an irrelevance. 3
I had no intention of distracting my readers from the vital problem of economics; and Mr. Pound’s objection seems to depend upon the assumption that this is the onlyvital problem. 4
I still do not know whether Mr. Pound means, by “ecclesiastical bureaucrats,” the whole of the Anglican and Roman hierarchies, or not. Is the Pope, for instance, a bureaucrat according to Mr. Pound’s definition? 5
Mr. Pound has now re-written the paragraph which stands as the last but one on page 559, in such a way that I cannot only understand it but agree with what it asserts. I thought that this was what he meant; but only goodwill could supply the interpretation. 6
Now, Sir, as to your notes. 7 Our difficulties seem to turn primarily upon the use of words in different senses. As for (1) I apologise for having overlooked your previous comment upon the Archbishop of York’s letter. (2) I find that you mean by nativesomething like what I mean by eternal. I find it hard to dissociate the meaning of the adjective nativefrom the process of birth. A “Whitstable native” is surely an oyster which was born at or in the vicinity of Whitstable, even though of American parentage. 8 (3) As for the Atonement, Sir, you might consult, among others, the essay on the subject by Dr. Kirk in Essays Catholic and Critical. 9 (4) However admirable may be “a classless but functional society distinguished only by objective merits,” it seems to me only a meansto the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, not that Kingdom itself. (5) Again, we differ as to the possible meanings of the word mission. A mission is an errand. The extension of the meaning to cover what is actually accomplished should be made clear in its context. (6) I suspect that by “saving souls” you mean “creating a divine society of Man on Earth” (whatever you may mean by divine). In other words, where you put complementary, you mean identical?
t. s. eliot
