WCP3192

Letter (WCP3192.3160)

[1]1

Alpine Lodge

Worplesdon

Surrey

Jan[uary] 6th 1900

Dear Dr Wallace

You may remember me as the son of Mr Frederick Slous2, at whose house in Gloucester Road, Regents Park you often used to visit more than thirty 30[sic] years ago. In 1871 I went to South Africa, and the knowledge I gained of that country and the people living in it during the following [2] 25 years has made me regard the present war, as not only unjust, but likely to be disastrous — sooner or later to British supremacy in South Africa. I have therefore formed the Executive Council of a Committee called the "South Africa Conciliation Committee"3 the objects of which you will see set forth in the enclosed paper. We are shortly about to make the existence of this [3] Committee and its objects public, and wish to get as many men of influence to join us as possible, and as we know your sentiments in regards to this war we hope you will be able to give us the weight of your name. If you will do so will you kindly write a line to "Frederic Mackarness4 Esq; 6 Crown Office Road Temple London E.C., [4] telling him that you are willing to have your name added to those already on our Commitee. I trust that you will see your way to doing this and am

Yours very truly | F.C. Selous5 [signature]

Written in the top left of the page in an unidentified hand is "Answ[ere]d".
Slous was the original spelling of Selous' family name.
The South Africa Conciliation Commitee was a British anti-war organisation opposed to the Second Boer War.
Mackarness, Frederic Michael Coleridge (1854-1920). British barrister, judge and Liberal politician and Member of Parliament for the Newbury constituency.
British Museum stamp underneath.

Please cite as “WCP3192,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 24 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3192