very least that a gentleman
would do under the circumstances. You cannot object to this proposal
on account of its 'form'; if either you or he objects to it at all,
it must be on account of its substance. Certainly you cannot affect to
consider it as other than 'pacific.' I shall await your answer to it
as to the only 'pacific step on my part' which remains possible to
me."

In reply to this letter, on July 24, Mr. Warner wrote: "I forwarded
your letter of July 11 to Dr. Royce, and he has written a reply to me
which I think it best to enclose as he wrote it." In this enclosed
letter, dated July 14, Dr. Royce first re-affirmed, in substance, the
truth of his false and ridiculous accusation of plagiarism from Hegel,
and then wrote as follows: "Now as to my feeling concerning what was
regrettable in my article. I repeat once more--regrettable, in my
eyes, was the manner of the article in so far as it actually gave
unnecessary pain to Dr. Abbot. And I regard any pain as unnecessary
that may have been due, _not_ to my objectively justified opinion of
Dr. Abbot's work (an opinion which I cannot alter in the least), but
to any severity of expression that may not have been absolutely
needful to give form to this opinion itself. Dr. Abbot's reply has
shown him to be not merely alive to the strong difference of opinion
that separates us, but personally offended by an attack that was
intended to be indeed severe, but directed wholly to matters of
professional, but not of personal concern. This attitude of Dr.
Abbot's I regret, and, in so far as I am to blame for it, I am willing
to express my regret publicly."

This letter of Dr. Royce is, in effect, a deliberate and unqualified
re-affirmation of every fact as alleged, and every inference as drawn,
in his original libel--a deliberate and contemptuous re-affirmation of
the whole system of elaborate misrepresentation which constitutes it
one tissue of libel from beginning to end. Nothing whatever in the
substance of his article is retracted or regretted; nothing is
"regrettable" even in its form, except vaguely, hypothetically, and
conditionally; the only thing Dr. Royce "regrets," as a fact, is that
his "objectively justified" and "intentionally severe attack" should
have given needless "personal offence" and "unnecessary pain" to its
object! This deliberate and contemptuous refusal to recall, to modify,
or to apologize for any of the false accusations he has made against
me is