CHURCHILL, Winston S. Autograph letter signed to [Ramsay] Collins (editor of the Natal Mercury), Bloemfontein, 13 April 1900, marked 'Private', four pages, 8vo, bifolium (upper right corner of f.1 excised, affecting one word of text).

CHURCHILL, Winston S. Autograph letter signed to [Ramsay] Collins (editor of the Natal Mercury), Bloemfontein, 13 April 1900, marked 'Private', four pages, 8vo, bifolium (upper right corner of f.1 excised, affecting one word of text).

'IT IS ... MY INSTINCT TO TRY TO SWIM UP STREAM'. Churchill thanks Collins for a frank critique of his advocacy of a policy of clemency towards the Boers, admitting he was perhaps lacking in diplomacy, and that it is premature to write of 'mercy and forgiveness'; he confesses however that he finds much to admire in the Afrikaners, and does not wish to be associated with any 'ebullition of racial animosity' by British colonists; he expresses regret for any upset caused to loyal Natalians ('Surely they are unreasonable'), reiterating his admiration for Natal and its inhabitants, though maintaining that his own stature depends on his disinclination to 'pander to the popular desire. It is moreover my instinct to try to swim up stream'.