MR. EDITOR: Mr. Staunton either is, or is not, the chess champion of England, ready to defend his "belt" against all comers. If he _be_ the champion, he has _no right_ to plead "want of practice," "literary avocations," or such like excuses, for "_semper paratus_" must be a "champion's" motto. If he be _not_ the champion, why then did he hold himself out as such by inviting or accepting Mr. Morphy's challenge? Why did he not say at the first, "I _was_ the champion of England some years ago, but (_solve senescentem_) I am not so now; I am only a private gentleman, engaged in literary pursuits, and so forth." His true position would then have been clearly understood, and I am sure Mr. Morphy would never have sought to disturb his retirement. But will the English chess-playing public allow Mr. Staunton to put in this plea _after all that has passed_, and after all his declarations of willingness to play? I trust, sir, that, if such an excuse be allowed, at least we shall have the candor to acknowledge ourselves fairly vanquished, and not pretend that we have escaped defeat because we have "prudently" declined the contest. We must be on our guard for the future how we proclaim as our "champion" a gentleman who "retires into private life" the moment a formidable rival appears. Yours, &c., SCHACK. The week following the publication of the above letters, Mr. Staunton published in the _Illustrated London News_ PART of Mr. Morphy's communication, with the private answer sent a fortnight before. The paragraph in the former, relating to Mr. S.'s iniquitous statement of Morphy's arriving in Europe without funds, was entirely ignored, and that, too, in the face of its having been given _in extenso_ two weeks previously by four weekly London papers, and a copy sent to his editor-in-chief. _Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat_ was never more thoroughly exemplified, and the course pursued proves incontestably that Mr. Staunton possesses a certain kind of courage which does not stick at trifles. Was it presumable that a man of his experience would dare to commit such an unwarrantable act, or did he think that Mr. Morphy would pass over, in silence, such a suppression?