Karl Marx/Friedrich Engels
Ankündigung der „Neuen Rheinischen Zeitung.
Politisch-ökonomische Revue"

Im Januar 1850 erscheint:

Neue Rheinische Zeitung

politisch-ökonomische Revue

redigirt von

Karl Marx.

Die Zeitschrift führt den Titel der Zeitung, als deren Fortsetzung sie zu
betrachten ist. Eine ihrer Aufgaben wird darin bestehen, auf die Epoche, die
seit der Unterdrückung der „Neuen Rheinischen Zeitung" verflossen ist, in
nachträglichen Schilderungen zurückzukommen.

Das größte Interesse einer Zeitung, ihr tägliches Eingreifen in die Bewegung und unmittelbares Sprechen aus der Bewegung heraus, die Wiederspiegelung der Tagesgeschichte in ihrer ganzen Fülle, die fortlaufende leidenschaftliche Wechselwirkung zwischen dem Volke und der Tagespresse
des Volkes, — dies Interesse geht nothwendig bei einer Revue verloren. Die
Revue gewährt dagegen den Vortheil, die Ereignisse in größern Umrissen
zu fassen und nur bei dem Wichtigeren verweilen zu müssen. Sie gestattet
ein ausführliches und wissenschaftliches Eingehen in die ökonomischen
Verhältnisse, welche die Grundlage der ganzen politischen Bewegung bilden.

Eine Zeit des scheinbaren Stillstandes, wie die jetzige, muß eben benutzt
werden, um über die durchlebte Periode der Revolution aufzuklären, über
den Charakter der ringenden Parteien, über die gesellschaftlichen Verhältnisse, welche das Dasein und den Kampf dieser Parteien bedingen.

Die Revue erscheint in monatlichen Heften von wenigstens fünf Bogen
zum Abonnementspreis von 25 Sgr. pr. Vierteljahr, zahlbar bei Ablieferung
des ersten Heftes. Einzelne Hefte 10 Sgr. Den buchhändlerischen Vertrieb
übernehmen die Herren Schuberth u. Comp, in Hamburg.

Die Freunde der „Neuen Rheinischen Zeitung" werden gebeten, Abonnementslisten in ihren resp. Lokalitäten zirkuliren zu lassen und dieselben
baldigst an den Unterzeichneten zur Beförderung einzusenden. Literarische
Beiträge, ebenso Nova zur Besprechung in der Revue werden blos franko

angenommen.
London, 15. Dezember 1849.

C. Schramm,
Gerant der N. Rhein. Ztg.
4. Andersonstreet, Kingsroad. Chelsea.

Friedrich Engels
Letter from Germany I

The political situation in Germany —
The quarrel for supremacy between Prussia and Austria

Letter from Germany.

(From our own Correspondent)

Cologne, Dec. 18th, 1849.

"Order reigns in Germany." Such is the present great motto of our rulers,
be they princes, aristocrats, bourgeois, or any other fraction of that recently
formed party which you might call in English the party of Order-mongers.
"Order reigns in Germany;" and yet never was there, not even under the
"Holy Roman Empire" of yore, such a confusion in Germany as there is at
present under the reign of "Order."

Under the old system, before the revolution of 1848, we knew at least who
governed us. The old Federal Diet of Frankfort made itself felt laws against
the liberty of the press, by exceptional courts of law, by checks imposed even
upon the mock constitutions with which certain German populations were

allowed to delude themselves. But now! We hardly know, ourselves, how
many Central Governments we have got in this country. There is, firstly, the
Vicar of the Empire, instituted by the dispersed National Assembly, and who,
although without any power, sticks to his post with the greatest obstinacy.
There is secondly the "Interim," a sort of thing—nobody knows exactly
what—but something like a revival of the old Diet, got up under the old
prevalent influence of Prussia, and which "Interim" is poking at the old Vicar
(who more or less represents the Austrian interest), to resign his place into
their hands. In the meantime neither has the slightest power. Thirdly, there

is the "Regency of the Empire," elected in Stuttgardt by the National Assembly during the latter days of its existence, and the remains of that
Assembly, the "Decided Left" and the "Extreme Left," which two Lefts,
along with the "Regency," represent the "moderate and philosophical"
Democrats and Shopocrats of Germany. This "Imperial" government holds
its sittings in a public house in Berne in Switzerland, and has about as much
power as the two preceding. Fourthly, there is what is called the Three-
Kings'-League, or the "Confined (or Refined, I don't know which) Federal
State," got up for the purpose of making the King of Prussia Emperor over
all the lesser states of Germany. It is called the "Three-Kings'-League," be-

cause all kings, with the exception of the King of Prussia, are opposed to
it! and it calls itself the "Confined Federal State," because, although travailing in birth ever since the 28th of May last, there is no hope of its ever
producing anything likely to live!! There are, fifthly, the Four Kings, of
Hanover, Saxony, Bavaria, and Wurtemberg, who are determined to do as

they like themselves, and not to submit to any of the above "Central Impotencies;" and lastly, there is Austria, trying every means to keep up her
supremacy in Germany, and supporting, therefore, the Four Kings in their
efforts for independence from Prussian ascendancy. The real governments,
in the meantime, those who hold the power, are Austria and Prussia. They

rule Germany by military despotism, and make and unmake laws at their
liking. Between their dominions and dependencies lie, as quasi-neutral ground,
the four kingdoms, and it will be upon this ground, and particularly in Saxony,
that the pretensions of the two great powers will meet each other. There is,
however, no chance of a serious conflict between them. Austria and Prussia,

both, know too well that their forces must remain united if they want to keep
down the revolutionary spirit spread all over Germany, Hungary, and those
parts of Poland belonging to the powers in question. In case of need, besides,
"our beloved brother-in-law," the orthodox Czar of all the Russians, would
step in and forbid his lords-lieutenant of Austria and Prussia to quarrel any

more amongst themselves.

This never equalled confusion of governments, of pretensions, of claims,
of German Federal Law, has, however, one enormous advantage. The
German Republicans were, up to this time, divided into Federalists and
Unitarians; the first having their principal force in the south. The confusion
ensuing upon every attempt to re-organise Germany into a Federative State,
must make it evident that any such plan will prove abortive, impracticable,
and foolish, and that Germany is too advanced in civilisation to be governable
under any form but THE GERMAN REPUBLIC, ONE AND INDIVISIBLE,
DEMOCRATIC AND SOCIAL.

I should have liked to have said a few words on the acquittal of Waldeck

and Jacoby, but want of room prevents me doing so. Suffice it to say, that
for at least some months to come it will be quite impossible for the government in Prussia to obtain in political trials a verdict of guilty, excepting,
perhaps, in some remote corners where the jury-class are as fanaticised

as the Orangemen of Ulster.

Friedrich Engels
Letter from France I

The excise on potable liquors

Letter from France.

(From our own Correspondent.)

Paris, December 20th, 1849.

The great question of the day is the excise upon "potable liquors," now under
discussion in the National Legislative Assembly. This question is of such
importance, and contains, in fact, in itself, so much of the whole present
situation, that it will not be amiss to devote to it the whole of this letter.
The tax on potable liquors is of very old date. It formed one of the principal
features of the financial system under the monarchy of the eighteenth century, and one of the main grievances of the people at the time of the first
revolution. It was done away with by that revolution. But Napoleon restored
it in a somewhat modified shape about the year 1808, at a time when, forgetting his revolutionary origin, he made the establishment of his dynasty,
in the midst of the ancient European royal families, his principal aim. The
tax was so exceedingly obnoxious to the people, that at the downfall of
Napoleon, the Bourbon family promised its immediate repeal, and Napoleon
himself, at St. Helena, declared it had been that tax more than anything else
which caused his fall, by setting against him the whole ofthe South of France.
The Bourbons, however, never thought of redeeming their promise, and the
tax remained as before up to the revolution of 1830, when, again, its abolition
was held out to the country. This promise was no more fulfilled than the
preceding one; and thus the excise existed when the revolution of 1848 broke
out. The provisional government, instead of immediately repealing it and
substituting for it a heavy income-tax upon the large capitalists and landed
proprietors, only promised either its repeal, or at least its revision; the
Constituent Assembly even went so far as to continue the tax altogether. It

was only in the last days of its existence, when royalism was rif er than ever,
thatthe "honest" and "moderate" members ofthat assembly voted the repeal
of the tax on potable liquors, to take effect from the Ist of January, 1850.

It is clear that the tax in question belongs essentially to the monarchical

traditions of France. Repealed as soon as the mass of the people got the upper

hand, it was restored as soon as either the aristocracy or the Bourgeoisie,
represented by a Louis XVIII. or a Louis Philippe, held the reins of government. Even Napoleon, though in many points opposed to both aristocracy
and Bourgeoisie, and overthrown by the conspiracy of both — even the great
Emperor thought himself obliged to re-establish this feature of the ancient
traditions of Monarchical France.

The tax in itself weighs very unequally upon the different classes of the
nation. It is a grievous burden upon the poor, while upon therich the pressure
is exceedingly light. There are about twelve millions of wine producers in
France; these pay nothing upon their consumption of wine, it being of their
own growing: there are, further, eighteen millions of people inhabiting villages and towns under 4,000 inhabitants, and paying a tax from 66 centimes
to 1 fr. 32 centimes per 100 litres of wine; and there are, finally, some five
millions inhabiting towns of more than 4,000 inhabitants, and paying upon
their wine the droit d'octroi, levied at the gate of the town, and varying in
the different localities, but at all events incomparably higher than what is
paid by the preceding class. The tax, further, falls quite as heavy upon the
most inferior as upon the higher-priced wines; the hectolitre which sells
at 2, 3, 4 francs, and the one sold at 12 to 1,500 fr., both pay the same tax;

and thus, while the rich consumer of choice champagne, claret, and Burgundy, pays almost nothing, the working man pays to the government upon
his inferior wine a tax of 50, 100, and, in some cases, 500 or 1,000 per cent,
upon the original value. Of the revenue derived by this tax, 51 millions of
francs are paid by the poorer classes, and 25 millions only by the wealthier
citizens. There cannot, under such circumstances, exist the slightest doubt
that this tax is exceedingly injurious to the production of wine in France.
The principal markets for this produce, the towns, are to the wine-producer
so many foreign countries where he has to pay, before bringing his produce
to sale, aregular Custom-house duty of from 50 to 1,000 per cent, ad valorem.
The other part of the market, the open country, is at least subject to a duty
of from 20 to 50 per cent, of the original value. The inevitable consequence
of this is the ruin of the wine-growing parts of the country. It is true the
production of wine has been augmenting in spite of the tax, but the population
has outgrown this augmentation at a far quicker rate.

Why, then, has it been possible to keep up under the middle class government such an obnoxious tax as this? In England, you will say, even Cobden

and Bright would have swept it away long ago. And so they would. Butin
France, the manufacturers never found a Cobden or a Bright who stood up
for their interests with invincible tenacity, nor a Peel to give way to their
claims. The French financial system, although so much vaunted by the
majority ofthe Assembly, is the most confused and artificial, mixtum compositum, that ever was imagined. None of the reforms carried in England since
1842 were attempted in France under Louis Philippe. Postage-Reform was
considered almost as blasphemy in the blessed time of Guizot. The tariff was,
and is now, neither a free-trade nor a mere revenue, nor a protectionist, nor
a prohibitive tariff, but contains something of all, except freetrade. Old
prohibitions and high duties, that for many years have been to no purpose,
nay, that are decidedly injurious to trade, are to be found in all parts of the
tariff. Yet no one dared touch them. Local taxation, in all towns of more than
1,000 inhabitants, is indirect, and collected upon the produce brought into
town. Thus the freedom of trade even in the interior is interrupted every ten
or fifteen miles by a sort of inland-custom-house.

This state of things, disgraceful even to a middle-class government, remained untouched from different causes. With all this oppressive taxation,
with receipts of 1,400 or 1,500 millions of francs, there was a deficit at the
end of every year, and a loan after every fourth of fifth year. The stockjobbers of the Paris Bourse found an inexhaustible source of profit-making,
jobbing, and peddling in this low state of the Public Exchequer. They and
their associates formed the majority in the two Chambers, and were thus the
real dominators of the state, and always demanding fresh supplies of money.
Financial Reform, besides, could not have been effected without sweeping
measures, which would have brought the budget to its equilibre, changed the
allotment of taxes, and, besides taxing these stockjobbers themselves, given
a greater political weight to other fractions of the middle classes. And what
consequences such a change would have had under the worm-eaten government of Louis Philippe you may judge, from the comparatively trifling
pretext which led to the revolution of February.

That revolution brought into office no man able to reform the financial
system of France. The gentlemen of the National, who took possession of
that department, felt themselves borne down by the weight of the deficit.
Many attemps were made at bit-by-bit reform; all proved abortive,
excepting the abolition of the tax upon salt and the Postage Reform. At last,
in a fit of despair, the Constituent Assembly voted the repeal of the wine
tax, and now the "honest" and "moderate" men of order in the present
precious Assembly restore it! Nay, more: the Minister intends restoring the

salt tax, and re-augmenting the Postage; so that the old f inanciersy stem, with

its eternal deficiencies and difficulties, and consequent absolute sway of the

Paris Bourse, with its jobbing, peddling, and profitmongering, will very
shortly be restored in France.

The people, however, do not seem likely to submit quietly to a measure
which restores a heavy tax upon an article of prime necessity for the poor,
while it almost exempts the rich. Social democracy has spread wonderfully
over the agricultural districts of France; and this measure will convert the
remainder of the millions who, twelve months ago, voted for that ambitious
blockhead, Louis Napoleon. The country once won for social democracy,
there will be very few months, nay, weeks, indeed, ere the Red Flag floats
from the Tuileries and the Elysée National. Then only will it be possible to
radically upset the old, oppressive financial system, by at one stroke doing
away with the National Debt, by introducing a system of direct, progressive
taxation, and by other measures of a similarly energetic character.

Friedrich Engels
Letter from Germany II
Curious revelations concerning the despots of Germany —

Intended war against France—The coming revolution

Letter from Germany.

(From our own Correspondent.)

Curious revelations concerning the despots of Germany-
Intended war against France—The coming revolution.

Cologne, Jan. 20th, 1850.

The day after I sent you my last, news reached here of the "settlement of
the question" who was to rule over all Germany. The "Interim," consisting
of two Austrian and two Prussian delegates, have at last prevailed upon old
Archduke John to retire from business. They have consequently taken the
reins of a power which, however, will not be of long duration. It expires in
the month of May next, and there is good reason to expect that even before
that term certain "untoward events" will sweep away these four provisional
rulers of Germany. The names of these four satellites of military despotism
are very significant. Austria has sent M. Kubeck, minister of finance under
Metternich, and General Schonhals, the right hand of the butcher Radetzki.
Prussia is represented by General Radowitz, member of the Jesuit order,
favourite of the king, and principal inventor of all those plots by which
Prussia has succeeded, for the moment, in putting down the German revolution; and by M. Botticher, governor, before the revolution, of the province of Eastern Prussia, where he is fondly (?) remembered as a "putter down" of public meetings and organiser of the spy system. What the
doings of such a lot of rogues will be you will not need to be told. I will name
one instance only. The Wurtemberg government, forced by the revolution,
had contracted with the Prince of Thurn and Taxis — who, you know, has
the monopoly of forwarding letters by post and of conveying passengers in

a large part of Germany, to the exclusion of the governments—the Wurtemberg government, I say, had contracted with this robber on a national scale
to part, for ahandsome sum, with his monopoly in favour of the said government. Times having got better for those who live upon national plunder,
Prince Thurn and Taxis values his monopoly higher than the sum contracted
for, and won't part with it. The Wurtemberg government, freed from the
pressure from without, find this change of opinion quite reasonable; andboth
parties apply—the prince publicly, the government aforesaid secretly—to
the "Interim," which, taking for pretext an article of the old act of 1815,
declares the contract void and unlawful. This is all right. It is far better that
M. Thurn and Taxis keeps his privilege a few months longer; the people,
when they finish with the whole lot of privileges, will take it not only from
him without giving him anything, but will, on the contrary, make him give
up even the money he has robbed them of up to this time.

The military despotism in Austria is getting more intolerable every day.
The press almost reduced to annihilation, all public liberties destroyed, the
whole country swarming with spies—imprisonments, courts-martial, floggings in every part of the country—this is the practical meaning of those
provincial constitutions which the government publish from time to time, and
which they do not care a straw about breaking in the very moment of publication. There is, however, an end to everything, even to states of siege
and the rule of the sword. Armies cost money, and money is a thing which
even the mightiest emperor cannot create at his will. The Austrian government have, up to this time, managed to keep their finances afloat by tre-

mendous issues of paper money. But there is an end to this, too; and, in spite
of that Prussian lieutenant who once would challenge me to a duel because
I told him a king or emperor could not make as many paper dollars as he
liked—in spite of that profound political economist, the Emperor of Austria
sees his paper money, though inconvertible, at the discount of from twenty
to thirty per cent, against silver, and almost fifty per cent, against gold. The
foreign loan he intended has dropped to the ground through the exertions
of Mr. Cobden. Foreign capitalists have subscribed to the amount of
£500,000 only, and he wants fifteen times that sum; while his exhausted
country cannot afford to lend him anything. The deficit, fifteen millions and
a half at the end of September last, will, by this time, have reached from
twenty to twenty-four millions—the greater part of the Hungarian war
expenses being payable in the last quarter of 1849. Thus there is only one
alternative for Austria: either bankruptcy, or a foreign war to make the army
pay itself, and to reconquer commercial credit by battles gained, provinces
conquered, and war contributions imposed. Thus Mr. Cobden, in opposing
the Austrian and Russian loans on the plea of the preservation of peace, has

more than any one else contributed—for Russia is in the same awkward state
as Austria—to hasten that coalesced campaign against the French Republic
which cannot, under any circumstances, be long delayed.

In Prussia, we assist at another act of "royal conscientiousness." You
know that Frederic William IV., the man who never broke his word, in
November, 1848, dispersed by force the national representation, and forced
upon his people a constitution after his own heart; that he agreed that
this beautiful piece of workmanship was to be revised by the first parliament
to be assembled; that in this parliament the Second Chamber (House of
Commons) was, even before they got to the revising business, dissolved,
another electoral reform forced upon the people, by which universal suffrage
was very nicely done away with, and a majority of landed nobility, of government officials, and of bourgeois, was secured. This Chamber, to vote for the
election of which every democrat refused, so that it has been elected by
one-fifth or one-sixth of the whole number of voters—this Chamber, in
conjunction with the old First Chamber, set about revising the Constitution,
and made it, of course, even more agreeable to the king than he himself had
made it originally. They have now almost done with it. Now, you think, his
Majesty will please to accept this amended Constitution, and take the oath
prescribed in it? Not he, indeed. He sends his faithful parliament a royal
message, stating that he is very much pleased with what his two Chambers
have made of his Constitution, but that, before his "royal conscientiousness"
permits him to take the oath aforesaid, his own Constitution must be altered
in about a dozen points. And what are these points? Why, his Majesty is
modest enough not to require any more than the following trifles. 1. The First
Chamber, now elected by the large landed proprietors and capitalists, to be
a complete House of Lords, containing the royal princes, about one hundred
hereditary peers chosen by his Majesty, sixty peers elected by the large
landed proprietors, thirty by the large monied interests, sixby the universities.

2. Ministers to be responsible to the king and country, not to the parliament.
3. All taxes now upon the budget to be levied for ever, without power of
parliament to refuse. 4. A "Star Chamber," or High Court of Justice, to try
political off ences—no mention being made of juries. 5. A special law to define
and restrain the powers of the Second Chamber of parliament, etc. Now what
do you think of this? His Majesty forces upon the good Prussians a new
Constitution, to be amended by parliament. His parliament amends it by
striking out everything like a remnant of popular rights. And the king, not
content with that, declares that his "royal conscientiousness" forbids him
to accept his own Constitution, amended in his own interest, without the
above further modifications. Verily this is a truly "royal" sort of conscientiousness! There is little chance of even this present mock parliament

bowing to such impudence. The consequence will be dissolution, and the end
of all parliaments for the moment in Prussia. The secret of all this is the
anticipation of the great coalition war, mentioned above. The "conscientious" gentleman on the throne of Prussia expects to have his rebellious
country overrun by the month of March or April, by a million of Asiatic
barbarians, to march, along with "his own glorious army," against Paris, to
conquer that fair country which produces his heart-cherished champagne.
And the Republic once done away with, the scion of Saint Louis restored
to the throne of France, what then would be the use of constitutions and

parliaments at home?

In the meantime the revolutionary spirit is rapidly reviving all over Germany. The most inveterate ex-Liberal who, after March, 1848, joined the king
to combat the people, now sees that—as the saying is in Germany—although
he gave to the devil only the end of his little finger, that gentleman has since

seized the whole hand. The incessant acquittals by juries in political trials
are the best proofs of this. Every day brings a new fact in this way. Thus,
a few days ago, the Mülheim workpeople—who, in May, 1849, tore up the
railway, in order to stop the sending of troops to insurged Elberfeld—
have been acquitted here at Cologne. In the south of Germany, financial
difficulties and increased taxation show to every bourgeois that this present
state cannot last. In Baden the very same bourgeois who betrayed the last
insurrection, and hailed the arrival of the Prussians, are punished and driven
to madness by these very same Prussians and by the government, which
under their protection drives them to ruin and despair. And the working
people and peasantry everywhere are on the qui vive, waiting for the signal
of an insurrection which, this time, will not subside until the political dominion and social progress of the proletarians shall have been secured. And
this revolution is drawing nigh.

Friedrich Engels
Letter from France II
Striking proofs of the glorious progress
of Red Republicanism!

Letter from France.

(From our own Correspondent.)

Striking Proofs of the Glorious Progress
of Red Republicanism!

Paris, January 21st, 1850.

A great many important events have occurred since my last, but as the
generality of readers will have been informed of them from the daily and
weekly papers, I shall refrain from going over the same ground from beginning to end, and instead shall limit this letter t0 some general observations
on the state of the country.

During the last twelve or fifteen months, the revolutionary spirit has made
immense progress throughout France. A class, which by its social position
was kept apart, as much as possible in civilised society, from taking an
interest in public business, which by the old monarchical legislation was shut
out from all political rights, which never read a newspaper, and which,
nevertheless, forms the vast majority of Frenchmen—this class, at last, is
rapidly coming to its senses. This class is the small peasantry, numbering
about twenty-eight millions of men, women, and children, counting amongst
its ranks from eight to nine millions of small landed proprietors, who possess,
in the shape of freehold property, at least four-fifths of the soil of France.
This class has been oppressed by all governments since 1815, not excepting
the provisional government, which imposed on it the tax of 45 additional
centimes upon every franc of the land tax, which in France is very heavy.
This class, borne down also by a band of usurers to whom their property
almost without exception is mortgaged at extraordinary high interest, is at

last beginning to see that no government, except one acting in the interest
of the working men of the towns, will free them from the misery and starvation into which, notwithstanding their land-allotments, they are falling
deeper and deeper every day. This class, which in a great measure forced
the revolution of 1789, and which formed the basement upon which arose
the vast empire of Napoleon, has now, in its immense majority, joined the
revolutionary party and the working men of Paris, Lyons, Rouen, and the
other large towns of France. The tillers of the soil now see clearly enough
how they have been cheated by Louis Napoleon, to whose presidential
majority they at least furnished six millions of votes, and who has repaid
them with the re-imposition of the wine and brandy tax. And thus, the vast
majority of the French people are now united to overthrow, as soon as a
proper occasion shall present itself, the insolent sway of the capitalist class,
which, hurled down by the storm of February, has again seized the helm of
government, and exercises its rule far more arrogantly than ever it did under
its own well-beloved Louis Philippe.

The history of the last months affords innumerable proofs of this most
important fact. Take the circular of Minister D'Hautpoul to the gendarmerie,
by which espionage is carried into the very heart of the most obscure village;

take the law against the schoolmasters, who, in French villages, are generally

the best expression of the public opinion of their localities, and who are now
to be placed at the mercy of government, because they now almost all profess
social-democratic opinions; and many other facts. But one of the most
striking proofs is to be found in the election which has just taken place in
the department du Gard. This department is known as the most ancient
stronghold of the "Whites"—the legitimists. It was the scene of the most
horrid outrages against the republicans in 1794 and '95, after the
downfall of Robespierre; it was the central seat of the "White terrorism" in
1815, when Protestants and Liberals were publicly murdered, and outrages
of the most horrible nature were committed on the wives, daughters, and
sisters of those victims by legitimist mobs, headed by the renowned Trestaillon, and protected by the government of legitimate Louis XVIII. Well, this
department had to elect a deputy, in the place of a legitimist, deceased; and
the result was, a great majority for a thoroughly Red candidate, while the
two legitimist candidates were in a signal minority.

Another proof of the rapid progress of this alliance of the working men
in the towns and the peasantry of the country, is the new law on public
education. The most inveterate Voltairians of the bourgeoisie, even
M. Thiers, see there is no way left to oppose that progress but by surrendering

their old theories and principles, and by prostrating public education at the
feet of the priesthood!

Again. There is, now, a general rush of all public papers and public characters, that are not exactly reactionaries, to claim the once despised title of
"Socialist." The oldest enemies of Socialism now proclaim themselves
Socialists. The National, even the Siecle, monarchist under Louis Philippe,
declare they are Socialists. Even Marrast, the infamous traitor of 1848, now
hopes, though in vain, to get elected by proclaiming himself a Socialist. The
people, however, are not thus to be duped, and the rope to hang that vagabond
is ready, and only waiting for the occasion.

To-day they discuss in the National Assembly the law for killing the
remaining 468 prisoners of the June insurrection, by transporting them to,
and setting them to work in the most unhealthy parts of Algeria. No doubt
the law will pass by an immense majority. But before the unfortunate heroes
of that grand battle of labour can reach the shore destined to bury them, there
is little doubt but another popular storm will have swept away the voters of
this law of murder, and carry, perhaps, to that land of banishment, those of
the present majority who may have escaped a prompter, more radical, and
most righteous revenge on the part of the people.