| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 15 November 1889 |
ENGELS TO J. H. JOHNSON, J. JOHNSON AND G. B. ELLIS
IN LONDON
[London, 15 November 1889] [Draft]
Dear Sirs,
I have received and considered your letter of the 7th inst.[1] It strikes me as rather peculiar that you expect me to treat your enquiries as 'confi- dential', but never offer to extend the same treatment to my reply. Of course I cannot undertake such one-sided engagements.
If I understand you rightly, I am to report to you and eventually name the author of any reports I may have heard on board, from passengers, officers, or sailors, as far as they may have been disrespectful towards the circulating pumps of the City of New York. Such communications, if any, could only be made to me in the expectation that I would treat them after the manner of gentlemen, and not bring their authors into difficul- ties even supposed they had used an unguarded word or two. To act otherwise, would in my opinion be to turn common informer. Unless I misinterpret what seems to me the clear meaning of your proposal, that is what it amounts to; and in that case it is of a naivete equalled only by its refreshing coolness.
Anyhow, to set your minds at rest, I will tell you that I don't recol- lect that anybody in my presence, cast the slightest slur upon the immac- ulate circulating pumps which you have the honour to represent and that I neither know nor care who made them.
I will not condescend to ask you to treat this letter as confidential. A perusal of this correspondence by a Continental or American lawyer or man of business might lead to some valuable hints as to the manner of conducting similar enquiries.