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Walton Manor, Epsom. [Mrs Neill Malcolm - written by Susan Tweedsmuir.] Nov.22.1906.
Dear Mr. Buchan, I waited to thank you for the book till I had read it properly, - first the end & then the whole, & it is rather a strenuous business! I like it enormously, I think you have succeeded wonderfully -
But first of all, I was so delighted to hear of your new
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work. I hope & think you will really like it. I think you will like the business part, administering & organizing, as well as the literary part, which must give power in the world of books. I'm sure Messrs. Nelson are lucky, & I hope that you are too, & that the way may be cleared for a career of "Piracy" which I've always looked forward to. The
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ideal of government by Pirates & Devolution may yet be realised, & I hope that two Pirates may go even further than a solitary one!
I think the end of the book is most illuminating - particularly Chap.tr XI - & XII - it could not fail to carry weight, because it does what one longs (generally in vain) for in discussion, it goes right to the root of true matter, shirks nothing, admits to all points of view & the truth
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of them, & yet [underlined] drives home its own gospel unmistakably. One feels inclined to say after one exposition "Yes, - but [underlined]..." - & then someone else breaks in & represents all that was coming after "but" - & one is quite satisfied! - I've a morbid taste for preaching, which is fed in a most attractive form, & I accept the doctrines of Imperialism as here set forth, in the spirit, I hope, of a fanatic, if there can be a timid one! They
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about amount to the substance of things hoped for. I love the African background, & the lion hunt; & the Duchess, Lady Flora & Mr. Wakefield are all delightful - so are the parodies! & some of the sayings & speeches are beautiful, I think. Of course it opens the way to endless discussions; & I look for
