Dear Fred,

The carbuncle has luckily disappeared of its own accord again. But I have had, and still have, to pay heavily for it with my liver in this hot weather. With all that, the work is making good progress and will continue to do so if the present state of affairs persists. It is, of course, painful to me to have to press you again, but, as you will see from the enclosed slip (which you must return to me), there is periculum in mora. With difficulty I have obtained a respite until next Tuesday. From your last remittance I am uncertain whether you are in Manchester. I have also stopped receiving the *Manchester Guardian*. Or has nothing further of yours appeared in it? One must suspend all judgment on the present situation until there is news either of an armistice or of a decisive battle before Vienna. In any event, the course of events has proved the extraordinary rottenness of the Austrian system. Our Englishmen meanwhile pay homage, as always, to success. Even the great Arnold Ruge has made his pronunciamento for Prussia for the last fortnight, as the great Kinkel did even earlier. If the Prussians are victorious to the end, what a rush of place-hunters and saviours of the fatherland will surge towards Frankfurt! The “homme prestige”, “Jupiter Scapin”, grotesque providence of Europe is in any case shaken and even almost outdone by Bismarck. That is a consolation. Here the Vth Report of the Children’s Employment Commission has appeared a few days ago. It concludes the inquiry into the manufactories, and only a supplement on the “organised gangs” of women and children sporadically employed in agriculture is still to appear. Bourgeois optimism since 1850 could have received no more terrible blow than from these 5 Blue Books. In addition, the VIII Report of the Board of Health has been issued a few days ago, containing, in particular, a very detailed inquiry into the housing conditions of the proletariat. Salut D KM