[London,] 5 July 1870 

Dear Fred, 

You must excuse the interruption in our correspondence since 
my return to London.? THere was sO MUCH INTERNATIONAL AND OTHER 
BUSINESS PRESSING UPON ME. 

Dupont, whose one child (easy) is, for the time being, staying 
with his brother-in-law, the second with Serraillier, the third with 
him*—all small girls—has in the meantime received two orders as 
sort of MANAGER or chief overlooker (in wind-music-instrument 
factories), one in Paris, the other in Manchester. I advised against 
No. I, since there he would not only soon be arrested, but also 
become completely absorbed in quarrels with the various cliques. I 
strongly advised, on the other hand, No. II, despite his aversion 
to it. He has, therefore, accepted the offer of J. Higham, 131 
Strangeways, Manchester (Brass Musica Instruments). 

The difficulty is that he will have to take one child, No. II, with 
him immediately, and will have the two others follow him in a few 
weeks, so he needs a little house in Manchester, and some sort of 
reliable female person to look after the children and for domestic 
MANAGEMENT. His income for a start will be £3 weekly. Could Lizzy do 
something directly or indirectly on this matter? 

Dupont is politically a character, but privatim enormously weak. 
D’abord” he can stand very little liquor without getting very excite. 
Secondly he is easily dominated and exploited by his company. 

He will perhaps go to Manchester in the course of this week. In 
any case, I shall write in advance about his day of arrival. 

From the enclosed letter from Meissner? you will see how 
things are there. I had a pressing letter from Kugelmann, who will 
be leaving for Karlsbad‘ on 12 August, and is waiting for my 
declaration before renting accommodation, to which I replied with 
Meissner’s letter. I reminded him that Meissner had spoken in his 
presence of certain prospects for a second edition,* and payment 
for the Easter Fair; and I added that, UNDER PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES, I 

a See this volume, p. 487. - > Firstly - © Karlovy Vary - 4 of the first volume of 
Capital; see also the previous letter. 

could not say either when I would go to Karlsbad, or whether I 
would go at all. Hence his enclosed letter. I have not yet replied, 
since we are still awaiting an answer from Dublin concerning 
O’Donovan Rossa’s photograph. 

Lafargue had notified me that a young Russian, Lopatin, would 
bring a letter of introduction from him. Lopatin called on 
Saturday*; I invited him for Sunday (he was with us from 10 
o'clock until 12 at night),%° and he returned on Monday to 
Brighton, where he is living. 

He is still very young, was two years in the lock-up, after this 8 
months fortress confinement in the Caucasus, from which he 
escaped. He is the son of an impoverished nobleman, and had to 
earn his living at the University of St Petersburg by private tutoring. 
Today is living very meagrely from translations for Russia. Lives 
in Brighton, since there he can bathe in the sea 2-3 times a day, 
gratis, at a certain distance from the official bathing beach. 

A very wide-awake critical brain, cheerful character, stoical, like 
a Russian peasant who simply accepts what he gets. Weak point: 
Poland. Here he talks just like an Englishman—say an English 
Chartist OF THE OLD school-——does about Ireland. 

He told me the whole story about Heyaess” (23 years) is an 
abominable lie. Heaaesy has never been in a Russian prison; the 
Russian Government never undertook an assassinat against him, 
etc. 

The story is this. Heyaepp (one of Bakunin’s few agents in 
Russia) belonged to a secret society. Another young man, X,° rich 
and enthusiastic, supported this society with money via Heyaerns. 
One FINE Morning X tells Heuaesp that he will not give another 
kopeck, since he does not know what is being done with the 
money. Whereupon, Mr Heuyaes suggested to his secret society 
(perhaps because he could not account for the money) that X be 
murdered, since he might change his views at a future date, and 
could become a traitor. He really did murder him. He is thus sought 
by the government simply as a murderer vulgaris. 

In Geneva, Lopatin d’abord took Heuaepp personally to task 
(about his lies), and he excused himself with the sensational 
political usefulness for the so-called cause. Lopatin then told the 
story to Bakunin, who told him that as a ‘bon vieillard’* he had 
believed it all. Bakunin then challenged Lopatin to repeat the 
story in the presence of Heaaess. Lopatin immediately went with 
Bakunin to Heuaest where the scene was repeated. Heyaesp 

a 2 July - © S. G. Nechayev - © Ivan Ivanov - 4 ‘good old man’ 

remained silent. All the time Lopatin was in Geneva, Heyaeps 
remained very unobtrusive, no longer saying a word. Scarcely had 
Lopatin left for Paris, and the whole buffoonery started again. 
Shortly after this, Lopatin received an insulting letter from 
Bakunin about the affair. He replied in even more insulting terms. 
Result: Bakunin wrote a Pater-peccavi* letter (in Lopatin’s posses- 
sion here), but— il est un bon vieillard crédule”! (En passant:° Lopatin 
says that whole sentences written by Borkheim are completely 
unintelligible and make complete nonsense in Russian, not only 
grammatically wrong but ‘nothing at all’! And that fool Borkheim 
has, in the meantime, as he told me before my meeting with 
Lopatin, sent his bungling work through our friend Eichhoff in 
Berlin to a German there—who is used by the Berlin police as a 
Russian interpreter—in order to obtain from him a certificate that 
he can write Russian. The talent of our Gaudissart for unconscious 
comedy is really unrivalled!) 

Yepuenuescxiit,’ I learned from Lopatin, was sentenced in 1864 to 
8 years travaux forcés in the Siberian mines; so he still has two years 
to slave. The first court was decent enough to declare that there was 
absolutely nothing against him, and that the alleged intriguing, 
plotting secret letters were obvious forgeries (which they were). But 
the Senate, on the Tsar’s orders, most graciously reversed this verdict, 
and sent off to Siberia this cunning man who, as the judgement said 
‘was so clever that he cast his writing in a legally unexceptionable 
form, but nevertheless publicly dispensed poison therein’. Voila la 
justice russe.‘ 

Flerovsky is in a better situation. He is only in administrative 
exile in a miserable little hole between Moscow and Petersburg! 

You suspected rightly that Flerovsky is a pseudonym. But Lopatin 
says that the name, although not originally Russian, occurs quite 
frequently amongst Russian clerics (namely monks, who think it is 
the Russian translation of Fleury, and who are just as keen on 
sweet-scented names as are the German Jews). Lopatin was 
originally a naturalist by professional training. He has also been 
concerned in commercial business, and it would be a good thing if 
one could find something for him in this line. I shall speak about 
it with Borkheim and Pohl. About Paris, etc., very soon. 

Your 
Moor 

a Father, I have sinned - > he is a credulous good old man -< by the way - 
d N. G. Chernyshevsky - ¢ forced labour - f Such is Russian justice. - § See this 

volume, p. 535. 

Apropos. Jennychen would like to know whether she should not 
rather name you as the author of the norer.* 

And—she is very obstinate—she will not allow me to change a 
few words in the manuscript without your special permission! 

My Best compliments TO Mrs Lizzy. 

[Postscript by Marx’s daughter Jenny] 
5 July 1870 

DEAR Engels, 

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR LETTER AND THE MOST INTERESTING NOTES. 1 
ONLY HOPE Mr Rissé WOULD INTERLARD THEM WITH THE Judenkirschen> OF WHICH HE 
SEEMS TO HAVE A PLENTIFUL STOCK ON HAND. For O’Donovan Rossa’s PORTRAIT I HAVE 
WRITTEN TO Pigott. IN CASE A GOOD PHOTOGRAPH IS NOT TO BE HAD, OF COURSE, I CAN 
AS YOU SAY, SEND Kugelmann THE PRINT WHICH APPEARED IN THE IRISHMAN. 

WITH MANY THANKS, I REMAIN 

AFFECTIONATELY YOURS 

Jenny