Letter to George Moore, March 26, 1874

MARX TO GEORGE MOORE

IN LONDON [Draft]

London, 26 March 1874
1 Maitland Park Road, N. W.

Dear Sir,

It is quite understood that you are welcome to take your time in order to decide upon your course of action in regard to your private settlement with me.

But there was another item in my letter^[1] of which you have taken no notice. In order to save expense, always caused by lawyers' letters, I had called upon you to send me the £2. 15s. due by Mr Lester Collier to the firm, and which, according to the award, are to be paid to me like all the rest of the outstanding debts.

Now to-day some incidents have come to my knowledge which give to the whole transaction with respect to the collecting of the outstanding debts a very ugly look.

Messrs Merriman, Powell, et Co. had, as I told you in my last letter, written to the different firms (except Mr L. Collier) in order to call in the sums due by them. To-day, at their offices, they showed me three letters till then received in reply.

The first letter is from Mr Dickes (dated 25 March). He states therein that he 'paid his debt on 31st January 1874' and that the receipt he holds is signed 'Received for Moore and Le Moussu. L. Rocher'.

The second letter is from the
Gardeners' Chronicle
(dated 25 March), and, according to it, 'they have paid all up on February 26'. The last letter (dated 25 March) is from Mr Turner (Dover). He states that he 'holds receipt from Messrs Le Moussu and Moore'.

I suppose that the other letters still to drop in will be cut upon the same pattern.

However that may be, the three cases already certified give cause not only for actions before a County Court, but, I am afraid, for actions for embezzlement.— This is at least the opinions expressed by Messrs Merriman, Powell, et Co., considering 1) that this money has been taken up not only after the dissolution of partnership, but while the lawsuit was pending,and after a notice of warning sent by Messrs M., P., and Co. to Mr Shaen on 22nd January; 2) that the fact of the drawing in the money was kept not only secret with regard to myself, but before the judge, Mr Harrison, when he was in presence of the three partners scrutinising every single item of the list drawn up originally by you of the outstanding debts, a fact which Mr Harrison, when summoned as a witness, will have to confirm; 3) that after the award had been communicated to the parties concerned the appropriation of the money was still withheld from my knowledge.

I must now request you to write me at once as how far you have acted in common with Mr Le Moussu in every single case. The moment my final instructions are once in the hands of my solicitors—and you understand that I am not at all inclined to be bothered with this affair longer than is strictly necessary—it will be no more in my power to stop such disagreeable proceedings as these 'very ugly facts' may give rise to.

Yours truly,

Karl Marx