[London,] 5 March 1870 

Dear Fred, 

Last week we received the news that the youngest Lafargue 
child has died.°” The extraordinary coldness in Paris contributed 
to this. The child was srinrep FROM THE BEGINNING. 

In the meantime, all sorts of things have happened in Fenian 
arrairs. A letter I wrote to the Internationale’in Brussels, censuring 
the Frencu Repusticans for their narrow-minded nationalist tenden- 
cy, has been printed, and the editors have announced that they 
will publish their remarks this week.* You should know that, in 
the letter of the Central Council to the Genevans‘—which was 
communicated to the Brussels people‘ and the main International 
centres in France—I propounded, in detail, the importance of the 
Irish question for the working-class movement in general (owing 
to its repercussions in England). 

A short while later, Jennychen flew into a rage at that disgusting 
article in The Daily News, the private organ of Gladstone’s ministry, 

a Londoner Deutsche Post - > See this volume, p. 266. - © Elard Biscamp - 4 The end 
of the letter is missing. - © K. Marx, The General Council to the Federal Council of 
Romance Switzerland. - = See this volume, pp. 406, 411-15, 430. 

in which this wretched rag addresses itself to its ‘liberal’ brothers 
in France, and warns them not to lump the casgs or Rochefort and 
O’Donovan Rossa together. The Marseillaise really fell into the 
trap, saying The Daily News was right, and in addition published a 
wretched article by that prattler Talandier, exprocureur de la 
République now a teacher of French at the military school in 
Woolwich (and also ex-private tutor at Herzen’s, about whom he 
wrote a glowing obituary); in this article he attacks the Irish 
because of their Catholicism, and accuses them of causing Odger’s 
defeat— because of his participation on the Garibaldi committee. 
Besides, he adds, they still support Mitchel although he has sided 
with the slaveholders, as though Odger did not continue to side 
with Gladstone, despite his much more important support for the 
SLAVEHOLDERS “°°! 

Jennychen— ira facit poetam*—therefore wrote, in addition to a 
private letter, an article for Marseillaise. which was printed? And 
she received, from the rédacteur de la rédaction, a letter, a copy of 
which I enclose. Today she’ll be sending another letter to the 
Marseillaise which, referring to Gladstone’s reply (this week) to 
questions about the treatment of the prisoners, contains extracts 
from O’Donovan Rossa’s letter (see The Irishman, Feb. 5, 70). 
According to Rossa’s letter Gladstone is here presented to the French 
as a monster (insofar as Gladstone is, In ract, responsible for the 
entire treatment of the prisoners, under the Tories, too) and also as a 
ridiculous hypocrite, as author of the Prayers, The Propagation of the 
Gospel, The Functions of Laymen in the Church, and Ecce Homo. 

With these two papers—the Internationale and Marseillaise—on 
the Continent we shall now unmask the English. If you should 
happen, one Day OR THE OTHER, to find something suitable for one of 
these papers, you, too, should take part in our good work. 

The state of my health has not permitted me to take part in the 
meetings of the CenTrat Councit 3 so far. But I shall, next Tuesday,° if 
it doesn’t rain. The discussions in the American House or 
Representatives about the Fenran prisoners ©? have, as far as I could see, 
been most carefully suppressed by the English press. 

Mr W. Liebknecht displays himself this time in his full glory. 
First, he is in a great hurry to have your Peasant War. Now 
procrastination and, instead, he. prints, in No. 17 of the Volksstaat, 
de dato’ Hamburg, an article against the idea of ‘class’ differences, 
which comes from Heinzen’s propaganda clique. 

@ ire makes a poet (Juvenal, Satirae, I) - > 8 March - © dated from 

Quant a Meissner and the 18th Brumaire, il observe un silence 

significatif? 
Salut 
Your 
K. M.