230
DOC. 316
DECEMBER
1911
316.
From Hendrik
A.
Lorentz
Leiden, 6
December
1911
Dear
Colleague:
After what
you
said in
your
last letter,
you
have
already
concluded
from
the
circumstance that
I have
not
yet
answered
it,
that,
as
far
as
I'm
concerned,
the
turn
of
events in
the Utrecht
business did not
cast
the
slightest
shadow
on our
mutual
relationship.[1]
Still,
I would like to
say
it
emphatically
again.
I
am
firmly
convinced
that
you
have
chosen what
you
had
to
consider
to
be
the
right
road,
and
there
can
be
no
talk
of
your having
caused
me
any
distress.
This does not
mean
that
the
result of
your
negotiations
with the
Utrecht
faculty
does
not
really
sadden
me greatly
but
you are
not to
be
blamed
for
it;
fate
this
one
time did
not
wish
to
be kind to
us.
If
only
I
had written
to
you
at
the
very beginning.
But this
was
not
possible,
for
the
people
in
Utrecht
were very tight-lipped,
which
is
in
general
the
right way
to
go
about
such
things.
As
a
result,
I
only
assumed,
but
did not
really
know,
that
they
had
contacted
you.
It
was
precisely
because
I
made
this
assumption
that,
the
day
before
I left for
Brussels,
I told Julius
(we
saw
each other
at
the
meeting
of
the
Academy)
that
I will
meet
with
you
in
Brussels.[2]
In this
way
I
hoped
to
obtain
permission-which
was given
to
me
immediately-to
talk
with
you
about the offer
from
Utrecht,
with
the
intention,
of
course,
of
helping
to persuade
you
to accept it.
Had
I
then succeeded
in
expressing myself
more
clearly
to
you,
or
had I heard
something
about
your
concerns
thereafter,
before
it
was
too
late,
I
could
at
least
have
tried
to
allay
them.[3]
But
I
shall
not
continue
with
these
"if
only"
and
"had
I";
this
is
of
no
help
to
us
at
all.
As I
already said, I
will console
myself
with
the
thought
that
you
can
achieve
great
things
in
Zurich
too.[4]
Pursue
your
new
job
with
cheer
and in
good
spirits.
As for
myself,
I
hope
with all
my
heart that
you
and
your family
will be
very
happy
in Zurich,
and it will be
one
of
my
greatest
joys
if
you
open
new
vistas in
our
science. But
what
I
would
especially
like
is to
engage
in
a
good
discussion with
you
once
again,
whether
in
your
home
or ours.
With
cordial
greetings
to
you
and Mrs.
Einstein
from
both of
us,
your
devoted
H. A.
Lorentz
I
caught you
in
a
mathematical
error.[5] 25
francs
=
12
Dutch
fl.,
and
you
sent
me
15.09
fl. I
am
therefore
returning 3
fl to
you.
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