12 Sept. 1867. Dear Fred,

The delay of Meißner is very fatal. At the Lausanne Congress he could have got rid of several copies. The book would also have been discussed there as an event. I cannot grasp such asininity. Next Saturday it will be four weeks since I sent the last proof to Leipzig! Your plan to attack the book from the bourgeois standpoint is the best method of warfare. Once the thing is out, however, I think it better to have this done by Siebel, or Rittershaus, rather than by Meißner. One must not let even the best publishers see too deeply into the cards. On the other hand, you must write a few instructions to Kugelmann, who is back, about the positive sides he has to emphasise. Otherwise he will make nonsense of it, since it cannot be done with enthusiasm here. I myself, of course, cannot do that as unconstrainedly as you. I entirely share your opinion quoad Eccarius. A worker, especially one of Eccarius’s critical dryness, lacks diplomatic skill. He writes to the Times as if he were writing for the “N.Rh.Z. Revü”.

However,
the thing does no harm. Here in London they say: The Inter. Assoc. etc must be very strong, because the Times reports on it specially. Eccarius’s sneers count as Times sneers. The lousy French Swiss, very strongly represented, gave the Parisian babblers free scope. Old Becker made the main blunder. He first broke down our agenda programme, in order to blurt out his freedom proposal. The Parisians thus had the opportunity to remove all bounds and limits. Yet all that matters little. The main thing is the holding of the Congress, not what happens there. In our General Report we shall thoroughly mock the Parisian wiseacres. Much to the chagrin of the same, the resolution has been pushed through that whoever does not pay (and the Parisians have not paid a farthing) cannot delegate in future. The thing is to bring 20 English and 30 Germans to Brussels next time. As to the Belgians themselves, they can only delegate 1 man per 500 and will therefore not be very numerous. Besides, they are quite rebellious against the Parisians. N.B. The bad thing is that we don’t have a single person in Paris who could get in touch with the workers’ sections hostile to the Proudhonists (and they form the majority!). If Dupont were in Paris for a couple of weeks, everything would be in order, but the police keep a sharp eye on him. I shall give Vermorel a thrashing bit by bit in private letters for his asininities about German politics. I must proceed gradatim, and therefore intentionally began with the United States, Russia and Turkey, because this is “neutral” territory between Germans and French. Laura and Lafargue are just translating part of the preface for the Courrier Français.
Salut D KM