Hanover, 24 April 1867 

Dear Frep, 

I have been here as Dr Kugelmann’s guest for a week now. I 
was obliged to stay in Hamburg or right near Hamburg on 
account of the printing.” Things stand as follows. Meissner wants 
to have the whole undertaking complete in 4-5 weeks, but cannot 
get the printing done in Hamburg, both because there are not 
enough printers, and because the proof-readers are insufficiently 
learned. He is therefore having the printing done at Otto 
Wigand’s (or ratuer his son’s,‘ as that puffed-up old cur only has a 
nominal share in the business now). He sent the manuscript to 
Leipzig a week ago. He now wants to have me to hand to check the 
first 2 proof-sheets and at the same time to decide whether it is 
‘possible’ to print quickly with a single proof-reading on my part. In 
this case, the whole undertaking would be complete in 4-5 weeks. 
However, Easter week is now holding it up. Wigand Jr wrote to 
Meissner that he cannot start until the end of this week. At 
Kugelmann’s pressing invitation, I therefore came here (which also 

a Entirely yours - > of the first volume of Capital - © Hugo Wigand 

has economic advantages) for the interim. Before I say anything 
about ‘local’ affairs, I must not forget to tell you: Meissner would 
appreciate it, and asks me to pass on the request to you, if you 
would write a warning concerning Russia, for the benefit of the 
Germans and the French simultaneously. If you do undertake it, 
he wishes it done quickly. He would, however, prefer you to write 
at some length rather than more briefly, as small pamphlets do not 
sell well. You could discuss conditions when you send him the 
manuscript, as he says the two of you would not fall out over the 
matter. You could write with ‘no holds barred’, as Meissner 
considers that there is no need whatever to be concerned about 
considerations. 

Regarding Hanover, then. 

Kugelmann is a doctor of great eminence in his special field, 
which is gynaecology. He is in correspondence with Virchow and 
the other authorities (including one Meyer in Berlin) and formerly 
with von Siebold in Géttingen and with Semmelweis in Vienna, 
before he went mad. Whenever there is a difficult case in this field 
over here, he is always brought in as consultant. As an instance of 
the professional jealousy and stupidity of the locals, he told me he 
had initially been blackballed, i.e., not admitted to the doctors’ 
association here, because ‘gynaecology’ is a ‘cesspit of immorality’. 
Kugelmann is very talented technically, too. He has invented a 
mass of new instruments in this field. 

Kugelmann is secondly a fanatical supporter (and for my taste 
excessively Westphalian in his admiration) of our ideas and the 
two of us personally. He sometimes bores me with his enthusiasm, 
which is at odds with the detachment he displays as a doctor. But 
he understands, and he is a really excellent man, unaffected by 
qualms, capable of making sacrifices, and, most important of all, 
convinced. He has a charming little wife and an 8-year old 
daughter who is positively sweet.* He has in his possession a far 
better collection of our works than the two of us together. I even 
came across The Holy Family again here, which he presented to me 
and of which he will be sending you a copy. I was pleasantly 
surprised to find that we have no need to feel ashamed of the 
piece, although the Feuerbach cult now makes a most comical 
impression upon one. The ordinary people, and in the capital, 
Hanover, even the bourgeoisie, are extremely hostile to the 
Prussians (ditto in Electoral Hesse) and miss no opportunity of 
expressing their sentiments. They openly proclaim their longing— 

a Gertruda and Franziska Kugelmann 

for the French. If one remarks to them that this is unpatriotic, they 
say, “The Prussians did just the same thing. When they marched 
through here, they were boasting, the officers first and foremost 
among them, that the French would come to their aid—if need 
be.’ Wehner’s father is much respected here and is considered a 
Guelph.*”” Bismarck sent one of his satraps, the advocate 
Warnebold, to see me yesterday (keep this under your hat). He 
wishes to ‘make use of me and my great talents in the interests of 
the German people’. Von Benningsen will be paying ‘meah’? his 
respects tomorrow. 

The standing the two of us enjoy in Germany, particularly 
among the ‘educated’ officials, is of an altogether different order 
from what we imagined. Thus, e.g., the director of the statistical 
bureau here, Merkel, visited me and told me, he had been 
studying questions of money for years to no avail, and I had 
immediately clarified the matter once and for all. “Your Dioscurus 
Engels,’ he told me, ‘was recently acknowledged by my colleague 
Engel before the royal family in Berlin.’ These are trifling things, 
but they are important for us. We have more influence on these 
officials than on the louts. 

I was also invited to attend the society of ‘Europeans’, as they 
call the anti-Prussian, North-Germanic members of the National 
Association '* here. What jackasses! 

I also received an invitation from the head (head-in-chief, as 
Stieber calls it**') of the railway here. I went along, he provided 
some good herb wine, his wife was ‘delaighted’, and as I was 
leaving, he thanked me ‘for doing him such an honour’. 

I have a debt of honour—f£ 10—to settle with Mr Wheeler, a 
member of our Counci.? and manacer of the Empire Insurance 
Corporation. You would oblige me greatly if you would send him 
the money on my behalf: ‘G. Wheeler, Esq., 27 Gresham Street, 
E.C. Private (London). I am also very much afraid that my family 
in London may be ‘in profundis’.© This grieves me the more 
particularly because poor good little Jenny’s birthday is May Ist. I 
have cast out nets with a view to making a monetary haul. With 
what success remains to be seen. 

My health is extraordinarily improved. No trace of the old 
complaint. What is more, in good spirits, despite all adversity, and 
no liver trouble. 

a In the original the South-German dialect here: ‘mur’. - > General Council of the 
International Working Men’s Association - ¢ in dire straits 

Do please write me a few lines by return (address: 
Dr Kugelmann, Hanover). Salut to Mrs Burns. 

Your 
Moor 

Freiligrath is making a fool of himself by his public beggary in 
Germany.*” Meissner tells me he has disappeared without trace in 
North Germany.