"Wicked mad diplomacy, lying & darkness" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | T120 (M722): W.T. Stead Papers/61- pages 235-8 |
| Archive | National Archives Depot, Pretoria |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | After Start: 14 March 1904 ; Before End: 31 March 1904 |
| Address From | 6 Tamboerskloof Road, Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | William Thomas Stead |
| Other Versions | |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to the National Archives Repository, Pretoria, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Micofilm Collections. Content shows that this letter was written at the end of Stead’s 1904 visit to South Africa and when Schreiner was staying in Tamboerskloof Road; thus the date provided and the address it was written from.
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1Dear Friend
2
3I write in great haste. Many thanks for your letter. I do hope your
4time in South Africa has been a good one to you in all ways. Please
5remember that all I wrote & said to you was in confidence as a friend,
6& not as a public journalist. For instance if you mentioned the
7Wolfaard Case; you have a perfect write to tell the story as a whole
8because it was in all the papers about myself & te Water &c, but what
9his wife said to he said to her is of course private.
10
11Every one knows what that his life was offered him if he would inform
12against us, but n & that he was shot after f signing the paper, in
13spite of all promises. But no one can know what he said when he was
14dying ^going to be executed^ to his wife & friends with out breaking
15confidence if they make it public. In a country situated as this is no
16one can be too careful. Now they use people’s names & information. It
17is not childsplay & journalism. I It is life & death. I think myself
18this is the time for a “great silence” on the part of all South
19Africans. There is a time for silence & a time for speech. I am
20sending this via a friend as the letter is likely to be detained &
21nearly sure to be opened if addressed by me to you. How idiotic they
22are. I would write long letters to the man William Stead, if I was quite
23
24^sure he would never let the journalist get hold of them.^
25
26Give my love to your daughter & tell her I am so sorry I could not
27reach her to wish her goodbye in person. I hope we shall see you both
28here again soon
29
30Olive Schreiner
31
2
3I write in great haste. Many thanks for your letter. I do hope your
4time in South Africa has been a good one to you in all ways. Please
5remember that all I wrote & said to you was in confidence as a friend,
6& not as a public journalist. For instance if you mentioned the
7Wolfaard Case; you have a perfect write to tell the story as a whole
8because it was in all the papers about myself & te Water &c, but what
9his wife said to he said to her is of course private.
10
11Every one knows what that his life was offered him if he would inform
12against us, but n & that he was shot after f signing the paper, in
13spite of all promises. But no one can know what he said when he was
14dying ^going to be executed^ to his wife & friends with out breaking
15confidence if they make it public. In a country situated as this is no
16one can be too careful. Now they use people’s names & information. It
17is not childsplay & journalism. I It is life & death. I think myself
18this is the time for a “great silence” on the part of all South
19Africans. There is a time for silence & a time for speech. I am
20sending this via a friend as the letter is likely to be detained &
21nearly sure to be opened if addressed by me to you. How idiotic they
22are. I would write long letters to the man William Stead, if I was quite
23
24^sure he would never let the journalist get hold of them.^
25
26Give my love to your daughter & tell her I am so sorry I could not
27reach her to wish her goodbye in person. I hope we shall see you both
28here again soon
29
30Olive Schreiner
31