Florence NIGHTINGALE- Autograph Letter SIGNED (To Sir Thomas Longmore). 8 pages,

35, South Street, Grosvenor Square, W. Feb 14, (18)67, Marked "Private", &"Burn". "My dear Sir, That is a desperate blunder indeed concerning which you have kindly lent me a copy of Dr. Smith's paper. I have written about it, without mentioning my (?) on Dr. Smith's case, which you say, has gone in to the Acting D.G.; - [but I have, as you know, small faith in anything that can be said or written now]. However we shall se what comes of it. About the other matter:- The Ladies' Committee for the relief of the sick & wounded- it had entirely slipped my memory. But it does not alter the substance of what I said. For that Committee had no more to do with the International Society (of Geneva) for Wounded- than it had to do with the London Bridge Railway Terminus- also: It lasted just one fortnight" goes on to page the top part of page seven: "Please burn", and " The moral of the tale is the only part worth having;- and this is, that, having seen a good deal of the "dessous des cartes" during the late war- I am more than ever convinced that governments should be made responsible for their own sick and wounded- That they should not decline to ..." and on page eight, SIGNED in full: "Florence Nightingale", and after that: You have enlightened me very much. For I now see that the heaps of papers I have received..." The whole letter is written in pencil and on one side of the page only, hence it is 8 pages long and with 8 blank pages.

Provenance:

From the Sir Thomas Longmore Library.