[London,] 25 January 1854 
28 Dean Street, Soho 

Dear Frederic, 

Enclosed note for Lupus, who has written to me.* Absolution.” 

As to the war, there will now be some snags, unless ‘Misunder- 
STANDINGS’ occur that have nothing to do with, or run counter to, 
diplomacy. Reshid Pasha’s Note *” spells total surrender To Russia. It 
even contains more concessions than the original Vienna NOTE as a 
result of which Turkey declared war.*” Palmerston has not 
returned to office in vain.© On the other hand, the demonstration 
in the Black Sea would seem to be a nonce, specially contrived 
for the mererinc of Parliament: if Russia accepts her own con- 
ditions incorporated in Reshid’s Note and obtains everything 
she has demanded, she will appear to have bowed to force 
supérieure. That, in any case, is the plan. Otherwise, would it not 
be absurd to inform Nicholas of the entry of the United fleets 
before he had, or could have, pronounced upon the last Vienna 
Note? Now only an accident of war could bring about a warlike 
solution. By prior agreement the Czar, far from objecting to the 
ENTRANCE OF THE Unirep Squadron, showed considerable -Temper’.*”” 
However, there’s no vouching for -misunderstandings’. They ARE EVER 
PROBABLE. 

Today’s Times contains a further report from the Wanderer on 
The Battle of Citatea.? I expect your observations. The advance the 

a Postscript in a childish hand. - b See this volume, p. 386. - © ibid., 
p- 409. - 4 ‘Krajova, Lesser Wallachia. Jan. 11’, The Times, No. 21647, 25 January 
1854. 

Russians are said to have made simultaneously at Matchin, 
Giurgevo and Kalafat and, indeed, the capture of Silistria, would 
seem MERE HUMBUG, Apropos, one more thing: your opinion, written 
in English. According to the French newspapers, the Turks intend 
to fortify Constantinople on the landward side.* Would this not be 
a major blow for Russia? The more so as Constantinople will 
always be able to communicate by sea with the Asiatic and 
European coasts of its Empire and thus cannot be cut off from its 
supplies of men and materials? Large-scale fortifications would 
now seem to be the antidote to large-scale warfare a la Napoleon. 
May this not bring about a reversion to small-scale warfare? 

It is scandalous that Berlin is not being fortified. 

My brother-in-law, le ministre, has written to my mother-in-law 
warning her that now, in her ripe old age, she is about to go 
through the same experience as in the days of Napoleon I.” He 
believes, then, that there’ll be war. 

Cobden, the “umspte’ and ‘Homely MAN’ made a considerable ass of 
himself in his last speech. He demonstrates that neither he nor the 
“UMBLE MEN’ who applaud him, are competent to govern England. 
The Quaker Bright will hear of nothing but the war within. 
Cobden’s discovery that the social structure of England and Russia 
are analogous because there are Demidovs there and Derbys here, 
is worthy of a Palatinate revolutionary philistine from Neustadt.*” 

On Saturday Mr Pieper went to visit Meyer in Brighton. 
Unwelcome though he is to the latter, he is overstaying the time 
allotted him by Troupeau, because the ‘sea air’ suits him, and has, 
it seems, written the bourgeois a fatuous letter. The silly lad 
mistakes his lack of principles for genial high spirits. From Cluss’ 
letter *” you will see that this same ‘genial’ youth wanted to obtain 
an American passport to Constantinople, probably in the hope of 
becoming a kennelboy there. It’s triste’ that the lad should be so 
thoroughly pleased with himself as to do one silly thing after 
another and make a laughing-stock of himself. 

On Tuesday“ Bischoffsheim will be paying me another bill 
through Freiligrath. In the meantime I can’t raise a penny, having 
exhausted the possibilities of the pawnbrokers, as is regularly the 
case. So if you could lay your hands on £1, it would be nicuty 
desirable. Moreover, 100 copies of the ‘noble consciousness’* will be 

a {Report from Constantinople of 2 January 1854,] La Patrie, No. 19, 19 January 
1854. - » See this volume, p. 409. - © sad - ¢ 31 January - © K. Marx, ‘The Knight 
of the Noble Consciousness’. 

arriving on Friday and I haven’t the means to pay the postage, since 
I shan’t be getting any money until Tuesday. 

Apropos. I am negotiating with Tucker. The next pamphlet is 
to be about Unkiar-Skelessi. So correct the stuff you’ve got 
(Nos. IV and V).**° I shall then make sundry additions and send 
back the alterations for you to look through. 

I have received through Dana an offer from a magazine in New 
York, £12 per sheet, for articles on the history of German phi- 
losophy from Kant tu now.’ But they must: 1. be sarcastic and 
amusing; 2. contain nothing Against THE RELIGIOUS FEELINGS OF THE 
country. How to set about it? Now, if we 2 were together—books 
would be needed besides—we could quickly earn £50-£60. I 
wouldn’t dare attempt the work on my own. 

Your 
K. M.