Autograph Letter Signed ('Philip Fothergill') from the Yorkshire textile magnate Charles Philip Fothergill to Mark Bonham Carter, discussing the 'sudden crisis' that may follow the defeat of the Liberal Party at the next general electi

4pp., 4to. 75 lines of neatly-written text. On creased aged paper, with a few closed tears (one of them 11cm long). He begins by praising Bonham-Carters 'objective & informed comments on American opinion' ('I hope you will feel encouraged to publish more of your findings'). 'But gratitude & a thirst for information & about American politics are not my only reason [sic] for writing. I wish you were in England, for I would very much enjoy an exchange of views with you about the position of the Party. [...] every now & again I have an uneasy feeling that things may come to a sudden crisis, either within or outside this Party [...] This is one of my periods of anxiety.' Regarding the coming General Election he writes: 'it is being argued that in order to save the Party from another serious defeat we ought to give a pro-Labour or a pro-Tory emphasis to our strategy.' He attempts to explain 'the division of opinion', which is 'almost geographical, with the industrial north tending to anti socialism & the agricultural west remaining mainly anti tory [...] Dingle's [i.e. Dingle Foot's] transfer from Dundee to North Cornwall may affect the balance of power, although of course, he, Byers & the rest of us continue to sit firmly if painfully on the fence, concealing with the utmost care any private preferences we may have.' He is himself 'suspected of being in the "right" camp', because of his 'Middlesbrough interest'. He continues by discussing 'present tatctics' and the possibility of 'an ugly split'