Draft TLS signed in red ink “W. S. C.,” including two endorsement signatures, one page, 7.5 x 9.5, embossed War Office, Whitehall letterhead, May 17, 1919. As Secretary of State for War, Churchill writes, in full: “I am in full agreement with the memorandum of the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the subject of the employment of persons in the Government service not of British or allied parentage. I cannot conceive how we can now turn out into the streets (Churchill adds in red ink, “on ground of parentage”) men whom we trusted in positions of responsibility during the whole of the war.” Light creasing, some trivial soiling, a small punch hole to the top left corner, a small tear to the right edge, and two pencil notations, otherwise fine condition.
Churchill was alarmed by the treatment of returning colonial troops who had valiantly fought in World War I as members of the empire, but were treated as second-class citizens upon their return. Here he observes, "I cannot conceive how we can now turn out into the streets on ground of parentage men whom we trusted in positions of responsibility during the whole of the war.” The British Indian Army was greeted with the passing of the Rowlatt Act in which the colonial government could arrest any suspect without a warrant and imprison them without the benefit of trial or conviction. Gandhi had previously recruited many men in the mistaken belief that he could secure a promise of home rule but the deaths of over 114,000 Indian soldiers would be in vain. As restrictions on foreign nationals increased, he called for nonviolent protests; the British responded by mowing down over a thousand protesters including women and children on July 13, 1919. Known as the Jalianwala Bagh Massacre, it sparked the civil disobedience movement in India advocated by Gandhi and led to a plan to slowly Indianize the government, the first step towards home rule.
As World War I came to a close, the British struggled with unemployment and immigration problems at home, resulting in restrictions on foreign populations. Foreign nationals who already were required to register with police and subject to deportation, under the Alien Act of 1919 had their employment restricted, affecting Indian, Asian, and black seamen serving on British merchant ships and foreign nationals working as civil servants and jurists. The act fueled racism as whites preyed on the returning colonial veterans and other colored foreign nationals, calling them ‘The Black Peril,’ fearing that English white women were increasingly attracted to the aliens and contaminating their race. During the summer, unrest and violence broke out at British ports, increasing racial hostility and spreading to other parts of the empire including Jamaica and South Africa. The disturbances led to even greater restrictions on aliens in the 1920s. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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