Item 286 - Letter from R. C. Trevelyan to Edward Marsh

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A subscription is being got up to pay for Bertie [Russell]'s appeal [against a prison sentence for publicly lecturing against inviting the US to enter the First World War]. He is being defended by [Edmund] Tindal Atkinson K.C.; a hundred and fifty pounds of the approximate four hundred and twenty pounds total costs is required at once; Bertie will not be able to pay anything himself as he is 'very hard up'. His friends are afraid that if the six months hard labour is confirmed, he may 'break down mentally'. Gilbert Murray has talked to Asquith about it, who is 'very strong that kind of offence is properly punished by a fine, and not imprisonment'. They hope at least for a reduction of the sentence. Eddie should send any contributions to F. W. Hirst at "Common Sense", who is organising the subscription; Bob and Goldie [Dickinson] are writing to friends of Bertie.