800 Years of Women's Letters

by Olga Kenyon

  Chocolate being then brought, we adjourned to the dining-room. And here, Dr Johnson being taken from the books, entered freely and most cleverly into conversation; though it is remarkable that he never speaks at all, but when spoken to; nor does he ever start, though he admirably supports any topic.

  ED. A. DOBSON, THE DIARY AND LETTERS OF MME D’ARBLAY (1904)

  QUEEN VICTORIA AND HER GOVERNMENT

  Queen Victoria treated her uncle Leopold, King of the Belgians, as adviser, confidant and substitute father. In her inimitable childlike discourse she describes a government crisis. As Head of State she took her work of attending to parliamentary matters seriously.

  Buckingham Palace, 18th June 1844

  My Dearest Uncle, – . . . I can write to you with a light heart, thank goodness, to day, for the Government obtained a majority, which up to the last moment last night we feared they would not have, and we have been in sad trouble for the last four or five days about it. It is the more marvellous, as, if the Government asked for a Vote of Confidence, they would have a Majority of 100; but this very strength makes the supporters of the Government act in a most unjustifiable manner by continually acting and voting against them, not listening to the debates, but coming down and voting against the Government. So that we were generally in the greatest possible danger of having a resignation of the Government without knowing to whom to turn, and this from the recklessness of a handful of foolish half ‘Puseyite’ half ‘Young England’ people! I am sure you will agree with me that Peel’s resignation would not only be for us (for we cannot have a better and a safer Minister), but for the whole country, and for the peace of Europe – a great calamity. Our present people are all safe, and not led away by impulses and reckless passions. We must, however, take care and not get into another crisis; for I assure you we have been quite miserable and quite alarmed ever since Saturday.

  Since I last wrote to you, I spoke to Aberdeen (whom I should be equally sorry to lose, as he is so very fair, and has served us personally, so kindly and truly), and he told me that the Emperor has positively pledged himself to send a Minister to Brussels the moment those Poles are no longer employed; that he is quite aware of the importance of the measure, and would be disposed to make the arrangement easy, and that he spoke very kindly of you personally. Aberdeen says it is not necessary to disgrace them in any way, but only for the present de les éloigner. The Emperor has evidently some time ago made some strong declaration on the subject which he feels he cannot get over, and, as I said before, he will not give up what he has once pledged his word to. Then, no one on earth can move him. Au fond, it is a fine trait, but he carries it too far. He wrote me a very kind and affectionate letter from the Hague.

  ED. J. RAYMOND, QUEEN VICTORIA’S EARLY LETTERS (1963)

  She wrote to politicians in slightly less personal discourse.

  To Sir Robert Peel

  Pavilion, 18th February 1845

  The Queen has received Sir Robert Peel’s letter, and is glad that the progress in the House of Commons was so satisfactory.

  The Queen was much hurt at Mr Borthwick’s most impertinent manner of putting the question with respect to the title of King Consort, and much satisfied with Sir Robert’s answer. The title of King is open assuredly to many difficulties, and would perhaps be no real advantage to the Prince, but the Queen is positive that something must at once be done to place the Prince’s position on a constitutionally recognised footing, and to give him a title adequate to that position. How and when, are difficult questions. . . .

  ED. A.C. BENSON, LETTERS OF QUEEN VICTORIA (1907)

  To the King of the Belgians

  Windsor Castle, 25th March 1845

  . . . I copied what you wrote me about Peel in a letter I wrote him, which I am sure will please him much, and a Minister in these days does require a little encouragement, for the abuse and difficulties they have to contend with are dreadful. Peel works so hard and has so much to do, that sometimes he says he does not know how he is to get through it all!

  You will, I am sure, be pleased to hear that we have succeeded in purchasing Osborne in the Isle of Wight, and if we can manage it, we shall probably run down there before we return to Town, for three nights. It sounds so snug and nice to have a place of one’s own, quiet and retired, and free from all Woods and Forests, and other charming Departments who really are the plague of one’s life.

  Now, dearest Uncle, adieu. Ever your truly devoted Niece,

  Victoria R.

  ED. A.C. BENSON (1907)

  WOMEN WORKERS PETITION FOR BETTER TREATMENT

  These two letters are from groups of women workers seeking improved conditions, the first written during the Revolution of 1848, the second during the American Civil War. Both groups are composed of mothers attempting to support their children; their efforts have been undermined by employers undercutting their already meagre wages. Their language in both cases is forceful, their bravery notable in signing their names and addresses.

  Parisian garment workers

  Gentlemen: August 1848

  Please consider the request of some poor working women. The convents and the prisons take all our work away from us; they do it for such a low price that we can’t compete with them. Almost all of us are mothers of families. We have our keep, our nourishment and our lodgings to pay for and we are not able to make enough to cover these expenses. The employers also wrong us by sending their garment-making orders out of Paris; thus we can find no work and are nearly reduced to begging. Therefore, gentlemen, we urge you to put an end to these injustices. All we want is work.

  We hope, Gentlemen, that you will be good enough to consider our request. We salute you with respect.

  [Signed by seven women, with their addresses]

  EDS. E.O. HELLERSTEIN ET AL., VICTORIAN WOMEN (1981)

  Philadelphia seamstresses July 1862

  We the undersigned formerly doing sewing for the United States Arsenal at Philadelphia most respectfully remonstrate against the action of Col. Crossman in taking the work from us and giving it to contractors who will not pay wages on which we can live – many of us have husbands, fathers, sons & brothers now in the army and from whom we derived our support. Deprived of that as we are our only mode of living was by sewing and we were able by unceasing exertions to barely live at the prices paid by the Arsenal. The Contractors who are speculators offer about fifty per cent of the prices paid heretofore by the Arsenal – we respectfully ask your attention to our case. We have all given satisfaction in the work we have done. Then why should the government money be taken from the families of the poor to enrich the wealthy speculator without any gain to the government.

  Very Respy Yours &c

  Anna Long Widow 5 children 121 Mois St.

  Louisa Bastian 124 Mirris St.

  Mary Hamelton 1673 Front St. Husband at war

  [Some 100 signatures followed these – many with the indication that the women were widows with children or had husbands or sons in the army.]

  EDS. E.O. HELLERSTEIN ET AL. (1981)

  WORK OF MEN – AND ADVICE ON IT

  George Sand, the novelist, writes to Edmond Planchot, a youngish admirer of her work. He was an enthusiastic botanist.

  Nohant, 11 April 1857

  I envy your youth and wonderful journeys interwoven, no doubt, with dangers, sufferings and disasters, which are so grandly compensated for, by the vast spectacles of nature and the riches of all Creation. I expect that you take a great many notes and that you keep a journal which will help you to give a full account of your travels.

  These vast excursions, however we may look upon them (and the best thing to do is to look at them from all quarters at once) always hold a powerful interest and you will find many resources of your future in them. Take an interest in natural history; even if you are not very well up in it, your collections and observations would have their own usefulness. Please bring me back some butterflies and insects; the humblest and most paltry would mean riche
s to me; and as I know some collectors, I could introduce you to some interesting people when you come back.

  The best way of bringing back butterflies and insects is to put off setting them up. When the butterfly has been killed and has a long pin through its body its wings close up and it dries in that position. One can thus bring back a number; set side by side in a small box, and if they are securely packed and are not touching each other there is no risk of damage. On arrival they can be softened, opened and spread out by very simple processes, which I will undertake. You must stick a little piece of camphor at each end of your box. You can also bring back chrysalises of butterflies and insects in bran. A good number of them die or fail to hatch out on the journey, but there are always a few which can be hatched out here by artificial heat and produce superb specimens.

  But I am far more bent on news of you, than butterflies, and if I can be useful to you in any way whatsoever, please remember me. Adieu monsieur. My best wishes go with you, and I pray God that they may still bring you good luck.

  Yours sincerely,

  George Sand

  G. SAND, LETTRES D’UN VOYAGEUR (1987)

  ‘THE MAIDEN WARRIOR’ IN FULL FLOW

  In March 1912 as, under her leadership, the tactics of the WSPU (Women’s Social and Political Union) entered a more militant phase (window-smashing, setting fire to or bombing churches, piers, pavilions, letter boxes etc.) Christabel, the eldest of Emmeline Pankhurst’s three daughters, fled to Paris to avoid arrest. From there, with the help of couriers who took her orders and inflammatory Suffragette copy back to London, she continued – some thought with a reckless disregard for political realities and for the prison/forcible feeding ordeals of her dwindling band of hardcore devotees – to direct the Votes for Women campaign. Several would-be male supporters travelled to Paris to urge her to follow her sister Sylvia’s example in making a close alliance with the militant Labour movement and its newspaper the Daily Herald. She was not to be moved, and in August 1913 one of these envoys, Henry Harben, a wealthy Liberal turned socialist, was warned off in two remarkable letters which show ‘the Maiden Warrior’ in full radical feminist flow:

  My view of the situation is this. The Daily Herald can help us if it will be attacking the Government: firstly on account of the refusal to give votes to women, and secondly on account of the policy of coercion. Between the WSPU and the Daily Herald League and Movement there can be no connection. Ours is a Woman’s Movement and the Herald League is primarily a Man’s Movement or at any rate a mixed Movement. . . . The great need of the time is for women to learn to stand and act alone. . . . No men, even the best of men, ever view the Suffrage question from quite the same standpoint as women. You speak of the Herald Movement and the WSPU as being akin . . . but there are great psychological differences. . . . The women’s rebellion has been in preparation for centuries. It is expressing something deeper and bigger than anything expressed by present-day unrest among men. Women are beginning to realise that they must grow their own backbone before they can be any use to themselves or to humanity as a whole. It is helpful and it is good for men themselves when they try to promote women’s emancipation; but they have to do it from the outside, and the really important thing is that women are working out their own salvation . . . and are able to do it, even if not a living man takes any part in bringing it about.

  Another fundamental difference, is that the Herald League tends to be a Class Movement. Ours is not a Class Movement at all. We take in everybody – the highest and the lowest, the richest and the poorest. The bond is Womanhood! If women, with their greater altruism, had had their due influence from the beginning they might have been able to prevent the existence of abuses which men socialists are now trying to get rid of. [Though she fully agreed that the Parliamentary Labour Party had been a miserable failure, she was not at all sure that workers’ control was the answer to the nation’s ills.] If it turned out that Britain could only be governed by riot and violence I am game for that sort of thing. But I mean to try at the other thing first – when the vote is won! Not that we value it only or chiefly for its political value. We want it far more for its symbolic value – the recognition of our human equality that it will make. This may sound very old-fashioned and nineteenth century, but women have a lot of leeway to make up. When we have done that, then we will help the men to solve the problems of the twentieth century. Plainly they can’t settle them without us. But for the time being it comes to this. The men must paddle their canoe and we must paddle ours.

  EDS. DAVID MITCHELL, QUEEN CHRISTABEL: A BIOGRAPHY OF CHRISTABEL PANKHURST (1977) (The originals can be found in the Harben-Tuke papers, British Library Dept. of Manuscripts, Add MSS 58226)

  ARABIC CEREMONY

  Freya Stark reveals a gentler vein of female humour, analysing the politics of Arabic manners, in this letter to Venetia Buddicom written on her first visit to the Middle East.

  Brumana

  4 January 1928

  Dearest Venetia,

  I have just been taking a rest from perpetual Arabic, looking into Graves’ book on Lawrence. Save us from our friends! I begin to feel the man almost unbearable. This attitude of continually saying ‘I would like to be modest if only I could’ is ridiculous and probably not at all true to the poor man. If only I can get to Baghdad, I have a letter to Mr Woolley who worked with him on the Euphrates and should be full of interesting information. I see with pleasure that it took four years in the country to teach him Arabic: it makes me feel less painfully stupid. I now begin to follow the drift of conversations and to attempt ambitious subjects like Doughty’s Arabian travels in my efforts with Miss Audi at lunch. There is plenty of practice: every afternoon we pay a lengthy call (about two hours) and sit on a divan talking gossip interspersed with one of the sixteen formulas of politeness which I have collected so far. After a while a large tray is brought in with all sorts of delicious sweetmeats, wine, tea; we take a little of each – (fearfully bad for my inside) – and say ‘May this continue’ as we put down the cup; and the hosts say ‘May your life also continue’, and then we leave. I believe there is no feeling of class in this country at all: you are divided by religions, and as you see nothing practically of any religion but your own, you never have the unpleasant feeling of being surrounded by people who are hostile and yet bound to mix up their lives with yours.

  I am very popular here – the one and only person who has ever come to learn Arabic for pleasure.

  Your loving

  Freya

  EDS. C. AND L. MOOREHEAD, THE LETTERS OF FREYA STARK (1974–82)

  ANAIS NÏN ADVISES A HOMOSEXUAL FRIEND

  In this letter, Anaïs Nin argues for honesty in wartime at the beginning of the Second World War.

  To Robert 1939

  You refuse to free yourself from serving in the Army by declaring your homosexuality. And by this you will live a double lie, for you are also against war. At the same time you feel burdened with guilt. Our only prison is that of guilt. Guilt is the negative aspect of religion. We lost our religion but we kept the guilt. We all have guilt. Even Henry [Miller, the novelist] has it, who seems the freest of all. Only domestic animals have guilt. We train them so. Animals in the jungle do not have it.

  Everything negative should die. Jealousy as the negative form of love, fear the negative form of life.

  You speak of suffering, of withdrawal, retreat. Face this suffering, for all the real suffering can save us from unreality. Real pain is human and deepening. Without real pain you will remain the child forever. The legend of Ondine tells of how she acquired a human soul the day she wept over a human love. You were caught in a web of unreality. You choose suffering in order to be awakened from your dreams, as I did. You are no longer the sleeping prince of neurosis. Don’t run away from it now. If you run away from it without conquering it (I say accept the homosexuality, live it out proudly, declare it), then you will remain asleep and enchanted in a lifeless neurosis.

  ANAÏS NIN, JOURNAL
S (1970)

  A MOTHER AND A COMMUNIST

  La Pasionaria, who fought in the Spanish Civil War, links the personal and political in this letter, written a few weeks after the death of her son Ruben, to the young workers at Krasnoiarsk, who had named their brigade after him.

  Dear Friends and Comrades: September 1942

  As both a mother and a communist, I was moved when I was told that a Brigade which has named itself after my son is working on the construction of the great Krasnoiarsk Hydroelectric Power Station. It’s difficult to convey what this means to me. My son Ruben is still alive in your dreams, in your hopes and in your heroic work, the construction of the biggest hydroelectric power station in the Soviet Union!

  Even as a child in Spain he was used to hard work and struggle. He always helped us in the difficult life of a worker’s family. He distributed banned Party literature and newspapers with us. He took part in demonstrations where workers were attacked more than once! When I was arrested, the leaders of our Party decided to send my two sons to Russia, to let me devote myself to the revolutionary activities of our Party, in the tough living conditions we were facing in Spain, without having the constant worry of leaving them to fend for themselves.

  In the Soviet Union, Ruben worked in the Lijachov factory and during the Spanish war he returned to fight alongside his countrymen in the ranks of the People’s Army.

  When the Spanish Republic was defeated, he was interned by the French government, like thousands of other Republican soldiers, in a French concentration camp – which he was allowed to leave to go back to the Soviet Union, his second homeland. He attended the Military Academy, and joined the Soviet Army to go on to fight from the very first day against the Nazi aggressors. He was gravely wounded while defending Bielorusia, and was awarded the Order of the Red Flag for bravery. His wounds had not fully healed when he took up arms again, to be killed heroically in the defence of Stalingrad. He was given the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.