"I accept your proposal, that the matter at issue between us should be
submitted to Mr. Samuel Rogers, for decision, with this modification,
that Mr. James Russell, of Stanton, be associated with him. If they
have any difficulty in coming to an agreement, let us empower them to
select a third person.
"I will present my statement at any time that suits your and their
convenience.
"Permit me, however, to suggest that it is just as much work for me to
prepare my case for two or three persons as it is for two or three
thousand; and, after all, nobody can know it better than you. You know
precisely what I want,--simply ten per cent. And you know also on what
grounds I base my claims. Would it not be less troublesome to you,
as well as infinitely less disagreeable to me, for you to decide the
matter yourselves at once, rather than refer it to others, who, after
the most careful study, can only learn what we already know? We shall
also thereby avoid a publicity which is utterly distasteful to me,
which can hardly be attractive to you, and which, beginning with two,
will end, no one knows where."