London, 22 March 1873 

My dear Sir, 

You would much oblige me in giving me some information on the 
views of Tschitscherin, relating to the historical development of 
communal property in Russia; and on his polemics on that subject 
with Bjeljajew. The way in which that form of property was 
founded (historically) in Russia, is of course a secondary question, 
and has nothing whatever to do with the value of that institution. 
Still, the German reactionists like Professor A. Wagner in Berlin, 
etc., use that weapon put in their hands by Tschitscherin.™ At the 
same time all historical analogy speaks against Tschitscherin. How 
should it have come to happen that in Russia the same institution 
had been simply introduced as a fiscal measure, as a concomitant 
incident of serfdom, while everywhere else it was of spontaneous 
growth and marked a necessary phase of development of free 
peoples? 

Yours most truly, 
A. Williams *