"N'y changez rien. Relisez-en vous même et vous seul l'épreuve"

Autograph letter signed by George Sand addressed to François Buloz. One page in black ink on a single sheet.
Fold marks, sheet reinforced with paper on verso.
Published in her correspondence (ed. Georges Lubin), vol. IV, pp. 331-332.
Exasperated by the attitude of the Revue des deux mondes of her friend Buloz, George Sand decides to defend the progressive thinker Félicité Lammenais, targeted by a scathing critique published in the review. She takes up her pen here and orders Buloz to publish her response article, without changing a single line.

Mon cher Buloz, voici la lettre à M. Lerminier n'y changez rien. Relisez-en vous même et vous seul l'épreuve. Corrigez les fautes de typographie. Veuillez à la ponctuation et aux guillemets. Il va sans dire que les blancs de mon manuscrits sont le résultat de coupures et de transcriptions que j'ai faites, et ne demandent que de simples alinéas.
Bonjour et amitié,
George ("My dear Buloz, here is the letter to M. Lerminier change nothing. Proofread it yourself and yourself alone. Correct the typographical errors. Mind the punctuation and quotation marks. It goes without saying that the blanks in my manuscript are the result of cuts and transcriptions I have made, and require only simple paragraphs.
Good day and friendship,
George")

This letter perfectly illustrates the stormy yet fruitful collaboration that united François Buloz and George Sand. The latter gave Sand for many years a platform and a means to live by her pen. She published in the Review a great number of masterpieces, including Lettres d'un voyageur (1834-1836), Mauprat (1837), Spiridion (1839), Gabriel (1839), Mademoiselle La Quintinie (1863), Césanne Dietrich (1870). Through his mediation, she also actively participated in the political debates of her time. In 1838, Buloz was the great orchestrator of an ideological duel when Sand "decided to take on the critic Lerminier, who had just made a very critical analysis of the Livre du peuple in the review. Buloz, out of desire for publicity, allowed his two collaborators to publicly exchange blows in the review. Through Lerminier and his superior tone, the review then revealed its rather misogynistic vision of literature and philosophy: 'the time has come for you to give your philosophical opinions more consistency and scope because you are entering a new phase of life and talent. Inspiration and fantasy have raised you to a height where they would not suffice to maintain you. Draw now, madam, new strength from reflection and science'" (Marie-Eve Thérenty, George Sand, François Buloz et la Revue des Deux Mondes).
Sand reacted immediately and sent her response article accompanied by this peremptory missive, ordering Buloz to publish her text as it stood. Lamennais was very touched by her gesture: "I shall always count among the happy circumstances of my life, where I don't count many, to have been defended by you. In publishing my last book, I knew well that it would shock almost everyone, legitimists, juste-milieu, Catholics, even republicans, those at least who want neither God nor liberty, and their number is great, and they have a terrible faith in themselves. I have hoped only in the people who do not make systems, and who, under the influence of primitive and imperishable human instincts, judge by the heart, and judge alone infallibly. Without them I don't know what would become of liberty on earth. M. Lerminier and many others imagine that I speak at random, according to whatever idea of the moment occurs to me. They are mistaken" (Yves Chastagnaret, George Sand, Lerminier et le Livre du Peuple de Félicité Lamennais).

Flying to the rescue of a defender of the people, Sand writes this scathing missive at a key moment in her tumultuous relationship with Buloz.