Manchester, 13 March 1867 

Dear Moor, 

The reason I have not written to you is in part that all manner 
of things have prevented me, but in part also it was deliberate, as I 
wanted to let the date pass when ‘the book’? was due to be 
completed, and now I hope that it is ready. So, when will you be 
going to see Mr Meissner? When you do, I will give you an 
authorisation to collect the fee for my last pamphlet.‘ 

Apropos the latter, by now the Lassallean gentlemen will have 
had time enough to convince themselves how right I was about the 
effect of universal suffrage and the power it would give the 
aristocracy in the countryside.‘ The Lassallean gentlemen failed to 
get 2 men through; the two Saxon workers’ candidates* who did 
get through are very dubious and appear to be rather of Wuttke’s 
ilk. As a whole, incidentally, the elections did show that in 
Germany they are not remotely susceptible to the kinds of 
pressure that can be applied to them in France, and that is already 
to the good.** I am also convinced that the more bureaucratic 
meddling there is, the worse each fresh election in Germany will 

4 Le faiseur - > the first volume of Capital - ¢ F. Engels, The Prussian Military Question 
and the German Workers’ Party - 4 See present edition, Vol. 20, pp. 74-75. - © A. Bebel 
and R. Schraps 

turn out for the government, and that 15 years of government- 
controlled elections such as we have had in France are impossible 
in our country. 

But what a fine lot we have in the noble House, *” to be sure! 
They may pull a wry face but they won’t offer much protest as 
they are bartering away the few lousy safeguards still contained in 
the Prussian constitution for the indirect annexation of the 
6 million people in the little states, who have de facto already been 
annexed and mediatised without any constitution at all.” Au 
fond, it is quite immaterial what nonsense the fellows contrive; 
with the philistines in their present mood of Bismarckolatry, they 
represent bourgeois public opinion and will only do what the latter 
wants. The worthy burgher seems determined to avoid any 
further ‘conflict’. The movement—both at home, where it is now 
bestirring itself once more, and in Europe—will soon enough 
leave all this ordure behind and turn to the real issues of the day. 

Scoundrel Schweitzer offered himself for election here, there 
and everywhere, but got nowhere. I have been sent 2 pamphlets 
about him from Barmen, of which one enclosed and the other, 
shorter one, to follow; I do not have it with me. The enclosed 
obviously bears the mark of the Hatzfeldt lot. 

Stieber is again creating in the Volks-Zeitung over Eichhoff’s 
pieces in the Hermann, Koller is also mentioned. See Hermann.*! 

The moderate result of universal suffrage in Germany has, in 
any case, contributed to the sudden popularity of Household suffrage 
in official circles here. It would be splendid if HouseHoip suffrage got 
through as a result, there would soon be a good many changes 
here and the movement would get going. 

Trave Here is still stagnant to an exceeding degree. India and 
China have been swamped by the consignments~ from the 
manufacturers, 20,000 people are on strike in Stockport, short TIME 
is spreading and, if this does not change soon, in May we shall 
have a superb crisis of overproduction. That can only benefit the 
radical reform movement. 

The Diplomatic Review is excellent this time.? Provided old 
D. Urquhart gets hold of facts, he is all right; but Beust’s curious 
manoeuvres had already aroused my suspicions. Notwithstanding 
the fact that the Saxons (vide’ Mr von Seebach in the Crimean 
War?*!') have always been in cahoots with the Russians, notwith- 
standing the fact that Beust sent that ostentatiously rude despatch 

409 

@ At bottom - 6 D. Urquhart, ‘Fall of Austria, and Its Consequences to the World’, 
The Diplomatic Review, Vol. XV, No. 3, 6 March 1867. - © see 

to the Russians during the Danish war,’ I do, nevertheless, find it 
difficult to decide whether the Russians have actually bought the 
fellow or whether they have got him gratis and without being 
aware of it. It almost seems to me that the boundless vanity of 
that litthe Saxon shit suffices to explain the whole affair—the 
Russians naturally know How TO IMPROVE THE OCCASION. 

As an exercise in vulgar democracy, I have recently...*