{Manchester,] 5 February 1865 
Mornington St[reet] 

Dear Moor, 

I fully agree about the statement.? But you will have to do it 
yourself, or I shall never get the military article” done. I fear the 
thing is getting to be so long that it will only be feasible in 
pamphlet form. I and II are finished (except for revision), IIT not 
yet. I have had a lot of interruptions, Blank was here, etc., etc. So, 
you do the statement. The exceptional law also includes the 
restriction on the right of association and assembly, all the 
legislation concerning journeymen’s road books'** and finally Article 
100 of the penal code: Incitement of citizens to hatred and 
contempt (another Napoleonic legacy). Then, if you can work it in, 
some indication that in a predominantly agricultural country like 
Prussia it is despicable to attack only the bourgeoisie in the name 
of the industrial proletariat, without even mentioning the brutal 
patriarchal exploitation of the rural proletariat by the big feudal 
aristocracy. It is less important to say anything about the military 
question, but the budget question should be given prominence: what 
use is it to the workers to have a parliament elected by universal 
suffrage, if it is as powerless as Bismarck wants to make the 

4 See previous letter. - > F. Engels, The Prussian Military Question and the German 
Workers’ Party. 

present bourgeois parliament—whose successor it would after all 
be? And if it cannot even reject new taxation? 

Those are my thoughts ad hoc? So, get going and sent the thing 
to me straightaway. 

Meissner. So rar so Goon. You should go there yourself, of course. 
Conto a meta” has its advantages if you reserve the contractual 
right to inspect the books and documents and if Meissner is 
prepared to make you an interest-free advance equal to */; of the 
fee you are claiming anyway. Strohn’s letter seems to suggest that 
Meissner WOULD RATHER NOT PART WITH ANY MONEY IF HE COULD HELP rr, At all 
events, you must go there yourself with the manuscript‘ and settle 
it. 

Moreover, get on with it quickly now. The time is really ripe for 
the book, and our names again command respect in the public 
eye. You know how fashionable it is to procrastinate in publishing 
in Germany. So, do not miss the moment—it may make an 
enormous difference to the impact it produces. 

Siebold. I have told you before that lads like that are not to be 
trusted and I was sure from the beginning that he would call on 
Blind in London. The assumption that he had picked up some 
odd remarks ad portam Gumperti is quite unnecessary. The fellow 
has always done that and will always do so. But it is a good thing 
we have our eye on him ‘all ready’. 

I gather from Siebel’s letter,"’? which I am keeping here, that 
the Lassalle Association’ will very soon be ruined, thanks to its 
officers’ roguish tricks and embezzlement, and a very good thing 
too that it ‘will have turned out thus’. The beastly old girl and her 
cliques will do the rest. The less we concern ourselves about the 
whole filthy business, the better. Ler iv rot AND BE DAMD TO IT. 

I find the Social-Demokratchen' more repugnant with every 
passing day. That shitty Hess, who is, in relation to us, really 
acting like a secret employee of Lassalle, with his protectorial airs; 
Mr Schweitzer’s bloody pretentious articles on the encyclical and 
Bismarck, flirting with every kind of trash and only scolding the 
bourgeoisie,’ the complete lack of sparkle and talent, and the 
absence even of any common sense, with just a few exceptions, it 
is all a bit too much for me. Lassalle-worship three times a week, 

@ on the subject - > a joint account -¢ of Capital -4 at Gumpert’s door (see this 
volume, p. 72)-¢€ Sophie von Hatzfeldt -! Literally: Little Social-Demokrat - 
& Engels is referring to the following articles by Schweitzer published as leaders in Der 
Social-Demokrat (Nos. 5, 6 and 14; 6, 8 and 27 January 1865): ‘Das Kirchenthum und 
die moderne Civilisation’, ‘Das Ministerium Bismarck und die .Regierungen der 
Mittel- und Kleinstaaten’ and ‘Das Ministerium Bismarck. I.