ENGELS TO ERNST DRONKE” 

(Draft] 
{London,] 1 November 1876 
Dear Dronke, 

I am writing today to tell you what I was on the point of telling 
you last Friday” when you categorically refused to let me intervene 
in any way. 

I am not in a position to lose the sum of £150, still less £200, 

a Grazhdanin (Citizen) - > 27 October 

nor, by the same token, to gamble with it. If I were still in 
business,”!° when any loss incurred could be made good in the 
course of time, that would be a rather different matter. Hence, 
even if I were on a different footing with Gétz, whom I barely 
know by sight, and even if I didn’t find the whole transaction 
highly unpleasant, in that it can’t be carried out without the prior 
knowledge of Kyllmann, and therefore of Dr Borchardt, I would, 
under no circumstances, undertake a guarantee of the kind you 
want. 

Even if I were still in business, I obviously couldn’t consider 
gaily staking, for old friendship’s sake, the sum of £150 on a 
business about whose standing I know absolutely nothing. But all 
the same I could have gone further than I can now when it’s no 
longer possible for me simply to write off a loss of this order. On 
the other hand, I should be glad to help you so long as it’s simply 
a question of making funds available to you for a stated period 
without my incurring a risk of this kind. 

You had offered my brother-in-law* a roticy amounting to £300 
as collateral security. I told him that if he was willing to agree to 
your proposal I would pay him the £150 in the event of your not 
having paid it at the end of 6 months.” I could have raised the 
sum by then, which I was unable to do at that moment, and he 
would then have held the poticy as security for myself. But he 
refused so much as to entertain the thing. Had you then made me 
exactly the same offer as you made my brother-in-law, I should 
not, it is true, have been in a position to advance you the £150 
immediately, but no doubt something might have been arranged. 
Now, however, the latest American drawing has brought me a 
5/20 bonus, the result being that I am in a position to make 
available over £150; it is at your disposal for a period of 6 months, 
provided you give me the poticy as security. It will in any case be as 
safe with me as with anyone else, if not safer. 

I have told you in all frankness how I see the matter and how 
far I’m able to go. Maybe you have other proposals to make, in 
which case I shall be glad to consider them. Just one final word: 
Whatever we may arrange, let it be arranged strictly between 
ourselves, with no third party, giving of guarantees,etc.; it's much 
simpler.