[Draft]

[London, about 11 September 1886]

Dear Sirs,

I must categorically reject the insinuation in your favour of the
9th inst.

Even had it occurred to Kautsky and, via him, to Dietz, to bring
out a similar collection of excerpts simply as a result of the proposal
you made me, you could have no cause for complaint, since in your
postcard of 15 May you told me:

'We must frankly admit that without you we shall not be able to bring our
idea to fruition.'

When you withdrew, they were fully entitled to step in. And why
I should be considered in any way blameworthy in this matter is
utterly incomprehensible to me.

However the above assumption is not even correct. The need for
such a collection has long been discussed in socialist circles and pre-
parations to bring one into being have often been all but completed.
I know that Dietz, in particular, has had this in mind ever since he
started his firm. When I spoke to Kautsky about your proposal, one
of the reasons he gave for his refusing was that he was already corre-
sponding with Dietz about a very similar offer and had committed him-
self to Dietz to the extent of being unable to entertain any proposition of
a similar nature from elsewhere. I intimated as much when replying
to you, in so far as it was permissible for me to do so; I was not entitled to
say more. In fact the matter had by then progressed so far that, at the
time you wrote to me, Kautsky had already been engaged for several
weeks in finishing off the first instalments (on Marx) and hence
needed no prompting from you.

Moreover, the appearance of Dietz's advertisement at this precise
moment is in no way the result of your letter to me, of which Dietz, so
far as I know, is not even aware. It is solely the result of the fact that
Dietz, following his conviction in Freiberg, feels impelled to get
various schemes of his to a stage at which they can go ahead without
his supervision during his six months' detention.

When I was in business I grew accustomed to hearing overhasty
criticisms based on insufficient information. It is one of those philis-
tine German customs which make it virtually impossible for Germans
to play a really prominent role in the world of business. But I must
confess I am somewhat surprised that a firm of your repute could be
capable of this sort of thing.

Yours faithfully