[Draft] 
[Cologne, before 15 April 1849] 

To Colonel Engels, Commandant 
Sir, 

Being convinced that Royal Prussian non-commissioned officers * 
would not deny words spoken in private, I did not call in any 
witnesses to the conversation in question.” As to my alleged remark 
that ‘the courts, as has recently been seen, can do nothing to me’,?* even 
my political opponents will concede that, were I to harbour such a 
foolish thought, I would not express it before a third party. And 
do not the non-commissioned officers themselves admit that I 
explained to them that things below the line are no concern of mine 
and that in any case I am responsible only for the section of the 
paper signed by me? Hence there was absolutely no reason to 
speak of my position vis-a-vis the courts. 

I am all the happier to refrain from pressing for a further 
inquiry as it was my concern, not that the non-commissioned 
officers should be punished, but simply that they should be 
reminded, from the lips of their superiors, of the limits of their 
duties. 

As for the kind remark with which you conclude, the Neue 
Rheinische Zeitung has demonstrated, by its silence over the recent 
friction among the military themselves, how great is its considera- 
tion for the prevailing mood of unrest.