Manchester, 18 December 1868? 

Dear Hermann, 

F. Ris in Mittléden set himself up as N. Durst Sdhne (sons of 
the Cologner), and moved from there to Zurich. I believe he was 
formerly with Diirst, and young Diirst, who was here at the time, 
spoke quite well of him. According to bank information from 
Glarus, Ris is good for credit of 10,000 frs. 

E. Burghardt is the nephew and son-in-law of the Burghardt of 
Burghardt, Krenels & Co. (former associé of Burghardt, 
Aders & Co.), whom you will know. He set himself up here and 
went bankrupt certainly once, if not twice, and virtually nothing 
came of it. Many years ago I sometimes met him at an inn in the 
evening; since he married I have scarcely seen him at all, and I 
know absolutely nothing of what he has been doing since then. 
But what do you want an agent in Munich for? 

Tell Mother I still haven’t received the draft contract from 
G. Ermen; he blames the lawyers.’ The point is that he would like 
to have me withdraw large sums of money from the business at 
this moment; then he would have me at his mercy, but we are not 
as green in the eye as that. 

Be so kind as to send me my current account in the course of 
January, since 1 would like to pay off the sum owed as soon as I 
am clear with G. Ermen. You could also say whether I should 
remit to Funke or there. 

If I had wished to drive things with G. Ermen to extremes, that 
is, risk a breach, and had then had to start something else, I think 
I could have squeezed out about £750 more. But I had 
absolutely no interest in being tied to jolly old commerce for about 
another 10 years—and it wouldn’t have been worth starting a new 
business again for a shorter period. 

Enclosed —a pile of photographs, of which you could send 2 to 
Engelskirchen and distribute the remainder there. One of each 
sort is intended for Mother.