BRACERS Record Detail for 132514
To access the original letter, email the Ready Division.
On whether to employ counsel in his appeal.
In John Slater's papers (Slater MS Coll 583, box 2, file 248) concerning Ronald W. Clark's biography of BR, there is a photocopy of this handwritten letter by BR. The photocopy was copied by hand by K. Blackwell and the copy proofread against the photocopy. Clark quoted (p. 240) a sentence from it and credited the letter to Mrs. Renee Tickell, who was the daughter of the recipient, E.S.P. Haynes. There is a copy in the Russell Archives of another letter to Haynes, this time at the Harry Ransom Center, U. of Texas (record 56174 is a holograph copy of this letter).
BR TO E.S.P. HAYNES, 18 FEB. 1918
BRACERS 132514. ALS(X). U. of Toronto, Fisher Library; Slater papers
Proofread by K. Blackwell
57 Gordon Sq
W.C.1
18.2.18
Dear Mr. Haynes
Thank you for your very kind letter. I do not disagree with your view so much as you might suppose; in fact, I had completely withdrawn from pacifist agitation, and the authorities knew it. That, I imagine, is why they have prosecuted now, because they knew I should commit no more crimes, and therefore if they did not act at once I should escape them. I should have withdrawn long ago if I had been let alone, but I did not wish to seem to withdraw as the result of their threats, and so I found it difficult to get back to philosophy. And no sooner had I disentangled myself completely, than they sprung this prosecution upon me.
I would certainly employ counsel if there were any chance of getting off. But if you had followed prosecutions under DORA as closely as I have had to do, you would know that the greatest advocate that ever lived could not obtain any mitigation of the sentence. That being so, the only thing remaining is to make as good an impression as may be upon the general public; and for that purpose I am sure it is best to appear in my own defence.
Yours very truly
Bertrand Russell
