Manchester, 10 August 1870 

Dear Moor, 

Today is = August. Can the Parisians have forgotten it 
completely? T © dodge from this evening’s Pall Mall Gazette, it 
would seem The bas empire looks like dissolving in a fart. 
Badinguet* is cabin from the army and has to hand it over to 
Bazaine (!!) who is now the best man among those left undefeated. 
This means in reality that he is abdicating altogether. It seems that 
people are to have the revolution made very easy for them; 
everything is falling to pieces entirely of its own accord, as was to 
be expected. The next few days will surely decide the matter. 

I think that without the army the Orleanists are not strong 
enough to risk a restoration immediately. Since they are now the 
only possible dynasty left, it is conceivable that they might 
themselves prefer a republican interregnum again. In that event 
would the ex-Marseillaise? come to power? 

I believe that faced with a republic the Prussians would agree to 
a peace on terms that would be honourable on the whole. It 
cannot be in their interest to stir up 1793 and 1794 all over again. 
The whole tenor of the King’s? speech suggested that they were 
reckoning with a revolution and were unwilling to let things go to 
extremes. It is true that, against this, there has been since then the 
great national mania in Germany and the universal cry for 
Alsace-Lorraine. Nor can William be relied upon. But for the 
moment I still believe that they will settle for less. France will 
doubtless have to cede some territory. And for the élan of 1793 to 
be reborn, and effectively reborn—that calls for the enemies of 
1793 and, as you rightly say, it also calls for somewhat different 
Frenchmen than those who have just come from the bas empire. 

Incidentally, I would surmise that the Prussians have already 
held discussions with the Orléans. 

That Bismarck was in Vienna sounds like a local stock-market 
rumour to me. There is a lot of that about in Vienna. 

a A derisive nickname of Louis Bonaparte (Napoleon III) who, in 1846, fled from 
prison in Ham in the clothes of a mason by the name of Badinguet. - » i.e. William I’s 

What you say about the Russians is my opinion exactly.* And it 
won't be long before matters come to a head. I am convinced that 
in that event Bismarck will arrange things with the French in 
advance. 

On Badinguet’s strategy there were articles yesterday (LEADER) 
and this evening in The Pall Mall Gazette” Since then still more 
follies discovered. The 7th Corps of Félix Douay only left Belfort 
on | August and began a leisurely march towards Altkirch. But 
now that the line Strasbourg-Nancy is, or is about to be, taken by 
the Germans near Zabern,° the corps will have to be sent to Metz 
or Chalons via Vesoul and Chaumont. Such a mess is unheard of. 
It is excellent that it should be the Germans to expose the whole 
swindle at a stroke! 

The letters published in the Temps since Sunday by Captain 
Jeannerod% give the best idea of the conception of thé enemy 
prevailing in the French army. The good man was taken prisoner 
in Saarbrücken and saw the 8th Corps (our Rhinelanders). The 
fellow’s amazement is enough to make you die laughing. The very 
first glimpse of the Prussian camp impressed him enormously. 
‘Une belle et bonne armée, une nation fortement organisée pour la 
guerre’*—that is what he perceives in everything down to the 
Prussian N.C. oe whose ‘valeur moralé is ‘malheureusement digne d’étre 
enviée par nous.’ And he is one of the most intelligent of them and 
can himself speak good German! He admits, moreover, that the 
Prussians shoot far better than the French. 

The Germans now have 1'/, million men under arms, so that 
even 100,000-200,000 Italians (=half that number of Frenchmen) 
make little difference. Austria risks a revolution in Vienna if she 
makes a move. Russia will doubtless feel sare until peace is 
concluded, or a revolutionary government has been established in 
Paris which cannot be relied on to enter into any double-dealing. 
Everyone will take good care not to irritate the enraged German 
simpleton stili further. However, you can see how right I was in 
my belief that the Prussian military organisation contained 
tremendous power, a power completely invincible in a national 
war like this. 

Official accounts now refer to the Ist, 2nd, 3rd German army. 

a See previous letter, p. 38. - > F. Engels, Notes on the War, V and VI. - © French 
name: Saverne.- 4 G. Jeannerod, ‘La guerre. Correspondances particuliéres du 
Temps’, Le Temps, No. 3448, 7 August 1870. See also F. Engels, Notes on the 
War. VI. - © ‘An excellent army, a nation highly organised for war’ - £ ‘moral value’ 
is, ‘regrettably, worthy of being envied by us’ 

I just want to go down to the Schiller Institute™ to see the latest 
telegrams. Best greetings to you all. 

Your 
F. E. 

Have still not heard anything about the house. In the 
circumstances it might perhaps be better not to commit myself for 
3'/2 years. I shall wait another few days before writing to the 
fellow.”