| Description | Letters from Neville Chamberlain to Arthur Chamberlain. A letter to Helen Chamberlain, Arthur's wife, is also included.
The following list gives details of some of the main topics in the letters:
/14: Thanking Arthur for his congratulations on Neville's appointment as Postmaster General; says it 'looks to me as if' the Liberal Party 'were going to be saddled with Ll[oyd] G[eorge] now and you will have Winston [Churchill] and Mond too!'. 2 November 1922.
/15: Neville's biography of Norman Chamberlain; Neville's views of the First World War being not that 'the war would make an end of wars' but was 'fought to defeat the aggressive military spirit of Germany...and it succeeded'; his 'hopes that the League of Nations may develop into something practical yet'; letters of Joseph Chamberlain; George Kenrick [Neville's uncle]. 12 May 1923.
/16: Letter to Helen Chamberlain: thanking for her congratulations on Neville's appointment as Chancellor of the Exchequer and about him having 'infinitely preferred to stop where I was' [as Minister of Health]; holiday at Loubcroy. 30 August 1923.
/17: The 'disagreeable' election for Neville 'as my opponent is a liar and a cad'; Neville's annoyance at an statement in a Birmingham newspaper that Arthur had written a pamphlet against protection [protectionist trade tariffs]; Neville expecting his party will be out-of-office; the Government's foreign policy having 'not been over successful but that is apt to be the case when the other fellow has the big stick and both of you know it'. 18 January 1924.
/18: Neville becoming Conservative Party Chairman and about him feeling 'very uncomfortable to be indispensable, and I am not looking forward to the job I have undertaken; but...it was time something was done, if the Party was to be saved from destruction'; the 'Bankers' Resolution'; Neville's businesses doing poorly. 4 July 1930.
/19: Neville not moving to 11 Downing Street; Neville not finding a problem with having a coalition 'National Government' rather than Conservative Government 'since I have got just as much out of the present composite team as I wanted; and, if I had owed my support to our extreme right wing, I might have found them much more difficult to control; the 'new arrangement' in the Government and about Herbert Samuel and other Liberals in the Government; the balance of trade and suggests 'you will not see a return to free imports in your lifetime'; trade with Russia; Lloyd George being 'finished as a force in the country, though no doubt he can still do a certain amount of mischief'; world conditions and the effect of internal legislation; life being 'hard and often anxious in this Government' but it being 'much the most interesting Government of which I have been a member'. 11 February 1932.
/20: Aston's proposal; the world financial situation with Neville commenting 'even tariffs...can hardly do much for us until the world situation improves'. 21 March 1932.
/21: Neville's remarks rejecting demands for public works and predicting continued high levels of unemployment having not been made accidentally but deliberately as people need 'a sharp jab'; hopes for successful conversations with President Roosevelt for co-operation on economic policy with the United States; Neville's disagreement with Arthur's idea of reducing tariffs. 20 February 1933.
/22: Arthur 'talking the same old stuff that you used to do years ago' in a speech in Aston but Neville says Arthur's audience 'know better and will not have been corrupted by your plausible but unpractical idealism'; the forthcoming World Economic Conference and suggesting the only chance for success if if 'it will get into such a mess that someone will have to do something'. 30 May 1933.
/23: Problems caused by the United States for the World Economic Conference; Russia being 'completely in the wrong' after Russia had imprisoned two men for military espionage and plant wrecking; Neville feeling Russia is nearly bankrupt and that Britain should no longer trade with them on credit. 20 June 1933.
/24: Disagrees with Arthur regarding the Russian prisoners after Arthur thought Britain had behaved improperly to Russia over the affair, suggesting his judgment has been distorted by his trading relations with the Russians; regarding the embargo placed on Russian imports; and the credit of Russia. 27 June 1933.
/25: Russia and about trade negotiations with Russia; Neville passing on Arthur's statement regarding Fraser not being appointed to a post at the British Embassy in Moscow to the Foreign Office. This is a reply to NC7/6/36. 15 January 1934.
/26: Neville being 'not at all disposed to mend my ways' in response to critics; Lloyd George's document not being 'a plan at all; it it simply an election manifesto' and about Chamberlain plan 'to be very cautious in dealing with him'; good trade figures; stabilization of the economy, and about difficulties caused by the USA. 12 April 1935.
/27: Declining Arthur's offer of financial support saying he does not need it; and regarding Neville's financial situation. 20 October 1937.
/28: Davies' attacks on Neville; and says that 'getting 'Powers' to act together is like sheep dog trials' - 'you have no idea of the jealousies and antipathies till you get close to them and Russia seems the greatest bug bear'. 1 April 1939.
/29: Hitler's psychology being 'enough to baffle anybody' which Neville feels is because 'there is no continuity about him'; Neville feeling it is 'very possible' that Hitler thought at Munich in September 1938 that Britain was not concerned with the East 'hence his fury and bewilderment on finding that this was not the case'; Hitler's 'blunders' in allowing France to mobilise and the British Expeditionary Force to go to France, and agreement with Russia; Neville not being able to go for a shooting trip and instead must spend his weekend holidays at Chequers due to its proximity to London. 25 October 1939.
/30: Russia and about their agreement with Germany having alienated Italian Fascists; preparations for air raids having 'proved to be over-cumbersome and too complicated for the actual conditions' and about action to reduce the severity of the controls introduced. 2 November 1939.
/31: Difficulties of Arthur's proposition regarding countries near Germany as Neville says they are 'extremely shy of openly committing themselves to any kind of agreement which Germany could represent as being directed against her'. 24 March 1939.
/32: Neville not expecting his 'critics will do me justice or even recognise realities' and says 'the impartial historian will see that I took the only course open to me in September and that, by avoiding war then, I made it unlikely that war would come at all'; rejecting Arthur's suggestion of transferring shares in Hoskins to Lloyds nominees; and regarding accusations that Neville had conducted his foreign policy in a way to increase his dividends from the German holdings of ICI. 24 May 1939.
/33: The 'human tragedy' of Neville's fall from office and collapse in health not being realised by journalists; his health; his look back at his life including the policy of appeasement; accepting Arthur's offer 'en principe'; possible future work; his financial situation. 12 October 1940.
/34: Arthur's ill health; the Ottawa Conference and Neville feeling 'a good deal more' was achieved than was expected; extended length of credit to Russia and about Neville feeling Russia is 'a suspicious character'. 24 October 1932. |