Dear Jenny,

I congratulate you on your well-deserved success. That Mr. Bruce had to stammer apologies in yesterday’s *Daily News* is priceless. It will now be necessary to expose their hollowness, and that is not difficult. Here is some material, as I do not know whether you still have a copy of Pollock & Knox Report and of *Things not generally known*. Bruce says: *With reference to the complaint that he was compelled to bathe in uncleanly baths, the Commissioners, after full inquiry into the practice of the prison, say “it would be idle to dwell upon such absurdities.”* What do the Commissioners say? Page 23: *At bathing hours, he stood No. 1 of a party of 30, he was not called first to the bath. It turned out that the warder in charge on one occasion began with No. 1, next week with No. 30; the 3rd week he took No. 16 & 17 first & worked round to the flanks so as to give each his priority, without which there would have been universal discontent. It would be idle to dwell on such absurdities.* Thus, the absurdity does not consist in the assertion that Rossa had to bathe in the criminals’ dirty water. No, but in the fact that he complains about it. The matter, admitted by the Commissioners, is twisted by Bruce into the claim that they treated it ‘as an absurdity’. That is how Bruce treats the truth. As to the matter itself, the Clonmel convict states, *Things not generally known*, p. 9: *It is not generally known that we had to bathe in the same water in which several of these criminals bathed or were bathing in the same room at the time.* I might further note that penal servitude is equivalent to the French *travaux forcés* or so-called *galères*, a convict prison of this sort = the French *bagne*, and convict = *galérien*. The enclosed cutting is a leader from the local paper, John Bright’s. The *Manchester Guardian* also has a leader on it, a rehash of yesterday’s *Times*, but with the remark that political prisoners might after all lay claim to some consideration. *Nota bene*, if you do not have the above-mentioned report and the *Things* etc., I can send them to you straight away. You should see the joy my wife takes in this whole affair. She is endlessly grateful to you for having brought these infamies to light and sends you herewith a sprig of shamrock, because today is St Patrick’s Day and we do not know whether you have any there. I am also enclosing a shamrock for Tussy. Give my warm regards to Mohr, your Mama, Tussy and Ellen.

Yours,
F. Engels