London, 13 October 1877 

Dear Hermann, 

It will be quite all right if the sum is made payable to me here in 
the manner described, but on the 30th.? It must go through my 
bank, you see, and won't be credited there until the relevant 
cheque has actually been received by the Clearing House in the 
afternoon; but by then the bank will be closed and I shan’t be able 
to make use of it until the following day. Would you also be good 
enough to advise me which banker in Barmen is placing the 
money at my disposal, so that I can establish my identity; 

a See this volume, p. 279. 

otherwise, if one no longer represents a firm, one frequently runs 
into difficulties in a case like this. 

The collapse of the Russian army’s organisations, command, 
staff, ammunition supply, rations, clothing, camp administration, 
etc., becomes daily ever more complete, a mighty debacle entailing 
the sacrifice of some 100,000 men. During the last fortnight in 
September and the first week in October the Russians are said to 
have lost 15,000 dead (i.e. those who died of wounds and sickness) 
and, since the beginning of the war, 47,000 dead alone. If they 
stay before Plevna*”’ and on the Lom for another three weeks, it 
could be that the entire army will disintegrate. 

Best wishes. 

Your 
Friedrich 

There has in fact been a bit of frost here too, but the geraniums 
are still flowering a little outside. In Scotland, however, the entire 
harvest is done for; on 20 September, near Edinburgh, I noticed 
that the corn was still quite green.*”