2110-6-9-5

II SEATON 154 .

HONEY DITCHES, SEATON, DEVON .

12th November, 1934.

Dear Colonel Buchan, I have just read your "Oliver Cromwell" with immense interest and pleasure. The account of the trial and execution of Charles is as finely-phrased a piece of prose as I have read for some time, and I heartily congratulate you on a noble book.

There is one small point I want to raise . On page 82, you refer to Wentworth as "a simple man , with strong affections," who "wrote the most endearing letters to his children. " Cromwell, too , is described as an affectionate family man. Is there anything in this fact? Bertrand Russell , in his new book, "Organisation and Freedom, 1814-1914 " attributes affection for children and animals to Bismarck and to Karl Marx, and shows, at the same time, that Bismarck could be extraordinarily brutal, while Marx was a bitter-minded man of unpleasant character. Your description of Wentworth is almost exactly the same as Russell' s description of Bismarck. The two men appear to have had much in common. Russell explains the affectionate family nature of Bismarck and Karl Marx by saying that it was extended only to children and animals and unassertive women, to all who gave uncritical and unquestioning devotion to them. Any opposition roused a feeling of resentment that swelled into brutality. I only send yqu this comment because I find a curious tendency in many authors to excuse a man of ruthless character by saying that he was good to his mother or kind to dumb animals. Piggott, who forged the alleged Parnell letters was exceptionally devoted to his children, but he was one of the meanest men that ever lived. The really good man is surely gentle with his enemies. Anybody can be kind to those who do not oppose him. An Italian refugee once remarked that the English were a queer lot. When told of the persecutions authorised by Mussolini, they replied , "Oh, yes , but he has made the trains punctual!" If you wish to refer to the passages in Russell , you'll find his remarks on Bismarck on page 432 and on Marx on 216 . Let me thank you again for your book.

Yours sincerely, St John Ervine [ST - St. John Ervine writer of books and plays.]

- 2 SEATON 1154 .

HONEY DITCHES, SEATON, DEVON.

P. S. I've found only one misprint in the book . On page 342, the word "more " in the tenth line from the top of the page ought to be "mere", oughtn't it? Lloyd George, by the way, would appreciate your reference to the London Committee and the generals on page 195 .