* In No. 36 of this paper we reported a rumour circulating in Paris, according to which George Sand was supposed to be in possession of papers presenting the Russian refugee Bakunin as an agent of the Emperor Nicholas. We reported this rumour as it reached us from two correspondents unknown to each other. In so doing we fulfilled the duty of the press to keep a strict watch over public figures, and at the same time gave Mr. Bakunin an opportunity to dispel a suspicion which had indeed been cast upon him in certain circles in Paris. We published with equal readiness Mr. Bakunin’s counter-statement and his letter to Madame George Sand from the *Allgemeinen Oder-Zeitung*, even before Mr. Bakunin had requested us to do so by letter. We now publish a letter addressed to the editors of the *Neue Rheinische Zeitung* by George Sand, in verbatim translation, by which this matter is completely settled:

“Mr. Editor! Under the date Paris, 3 July, you publish in your journal the following article (here follows the translation of the correspondence in question). – The facts communicated by your correspondent are completely false and have not even the slightest appearance of truth. I have never possessed the slightest proof of the insinuations which you seek to accredit against Mr. Bakunin, whom the fallen monarchy expelled from France. I have therefore never been authorised to cast the slightest doubt upon the loyalty of his character and the frankness of his opinion.

Accept, etc. George Sand.

P.S. I appeal to your honour and to your conscientiousness to grant the immediate insertion of this letter in your journal.

La Châtre (Departement der Indre), 20 July 1848.”