On his second journey abroad Leo N. Tolstoi took the opportunity of making the acquaintance of Alexander Hertzen. He spent two or three weeks in London and saw him very much.

Literature, however, has very few data about their meeting, and thus the letters published here, more or less fill this gap. They had been preserved in that part of Hertzen' archives which his children in the beginning of the year 1880 gave to Professor M. Dragomanow for publication. Together with the latter's other papers, they are now to be found in the Russian Historical Archives in Prague.

The letters are of the greatest importance to Tolstoi's biographers, and definitely allow of the exact time being fixed when Tolstoi decided to write a novel entitled; Die Dekabristen, which however, has remained unfinished.

This happened in the late autumn of the year 1860 in Florence, where Tolstoi met Prince S. G. Volkonksy who may be regarded as the prototype of Peter Labasov out of the first version of “Die Dekabristen”.

Although Hertzen was very keen on Tolstoi's writing this book, he himself unintentionally side-tracked him from the Dekabrists by introducing him to Proudhon. The latter at this time was engaged on his book Der Krieg und der Frieden. Immediately after meeting Proudhon, Tolstoi put aside “Die Dekabristen” and-started his War and Peace.

The published letters, moreover, give an explanation of Tolstoi's standpoint towards the mainfesto of 19th February 1861, announcing the liberation of the peasants.