BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, [3 SEPT. 1917]
BRACERS 19206. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

<London>
Monday night.1^, 2^, 3

My Dearest Darling

It was a happiness to be with you again — I was a little quiet because I had just had the Comee.,4 but I was full of infinite joy to be together — I felt very very near to you last night when you began speaking about what a nervous C.O. would feel in that crowd,5 and about what you had felt coming back from the Brotherhood Church6 — It was because I felt so near to you that I expressed the despair I sometimes feel, but really, at bottom, I do not believe that the C.O. movement and the pacifist stand can fail to bear fruit, though it will probably not be quite in the way we had expected.

I dined with Ponsonby7 and Trevelyan8 tonight. They expect Morel9 to get 6 months. His trial is at Bow Street10 tomorrow morning. I should like to go — would you? It is open to the public.  I have a Comee. 11.30, but I dare say it will come on before that.

After dining we saw a cinema America Prepares,11 which was exhibited in U.S.A. while they were still neutral — it showed how they were induced to come in, and made one feel it must be quite 2 years before they are tired of it. I have thought for some time that if it didn’t stop this year we should have another two, and I still think so. The Russian outlook gets worse and worse.

I wrote about Morel for the Tribunal, and so did Boothroyd.12

Wednesday, Hatchett’s,13 one o’clock — it will be great fun looking for watches.14 Let us also get extra toilet things for me to keep there —

I do very seriously wish to get a cottage in the country in the spring, but I incline to being not at all far from London, so that you could come easily and often even if you were in London during the day — If I put off going back to philosophy much longer, I shall have grown too stale to take it up again.  And I no longer believe in the effectiveness of what I can do for peace, beyond writing books, which I should still do.

Goodnight my Angel, my sweetest Dear — I love you with all my soul.

B

• 1

  [document] Document 200186.

• 2

  [envelope] The Lady Constance Malleson | 6 Mecklenburgh Square | W.C.1. Pmk: LONDON.W.C | ?.15 AM | 4 SEP 17A

• 3

  [date] Colette wrote “3 Sept. / 17” on the letter.

• 4

  Comee. Presumably the National Committeeof the No-Conscription Fellowship.

• 5

  last night … what a nervous C.O. would feel in that crowd The angry mob at the Brotherhood Church on 28 July 1917.

• 6

  Brotherhood Church BR and Colette attended a meeting at the church in Southgate Road, Hackney, organized by the London and Home Counties District to found a Workers’ and Soldiers’ Council, inspired by events in Russia. It was broken up by an angry mob before the Council could be created. BR writes about this event in his Autobiography (2: 31, 32).

• 7

  Ponsonby Arthur Ponsonby (1871–1946), politician, one of the founders of the Union of Democratic Control.

• 8

  Trevelyan C.P. (Charles Philips) Trevelyan (1870–1958), politician.

• 9

  Morel E.D. Morel (1873–1924), journalist and internationalist; a founder of the Union of Democratic Control.

• 10

  Bow Street The Magistrates’ Court was located on Bow Street. It closed in 2006 and in 2021 re-opened as the NoMad hotel

• 11

  a cinema America PreparesAmerica Prepares, a documentary directed by William H. Kemble, was released in 1916 in the United States.

• 12

  about Morel for the Tribunal, and so did Boothroyd BR’s article, “Six Months for Spreading the Truth” (B&R C17.50) and B.J. Boothroyd’s article, “Stoning a Prophet”, appeared in The Tribunal of 6 September 1917. Bernard J. Boothroyd, a young Quaker, edited The Tribunal from July 1916 until 27 September 1917. His arrest was reported by Herbert Bryan, “Bernard J. Boothroyd”, The Herald, 27 Oct. 1917, p. 7. The article noted that he had also been the assistant editor of the Ploughshare.

• 13

  Hatchett’s A restaurant in Piccadilly Circus, London.

• 14

  watches BR had mentioned buying Colette a wristwatch in December 1916 (BRACERS 19095) but had been too busy to find one.