Ryde, 25 August 1892 

Dear August, 

Your letter dated 23, St Gallen, arrived this morning. I know per- 
fectly well that the Prussians cannot do me any serious harm, but bet- 
ter safe than sorry and one never knows what chicanery those gents 
may not get up to. Some bright busybody of a policeman might at 
any time take it into his head to make things awkward for me under 
some bogus pretext or other and, perhaps, improve the shining hour 
by getting hold of certain letters from Miquel to Marx.* And, as 
you know, the Prussians make it a rule not to humiliate in public 
any official who commits a blunder, but at most quietly to haul 
him over the coals after having publicly whitewashed what he has 
done. 

By the by, my projected journey is once more very much in the air. 
During the last day or two I have once or twice ambled along to the 
nearest post office some three hundred paces from the house and this 
trial of strength has again resulted in a total if temporary inability to 
walk more than a few steps, extraordinary sensitivity to pressure from 
the bandage in the inguinal region, etc.— which means that Pm 
laid up again. Today there is some improvement as a result of my 
having rested, but whether, in the 13 days between now and 
the 7th, things will have improved enough for me to be able to 
undertake the trip is, I think, very questionable. Well, we shall 
see. 

No further news from Louise. On the other hand, I was delighted to 
hear from Dietz that, at your request, he had paid the second instal- 
ment of the fee for the Condition,” namely 500 M., to Victor.‘ At the 
beginning of September there is going to be something else of mine in 
the Neue Zeit,“ the fee for which will be paid to Victor, and I have like- 

* See Marx’s letter to E.S. Beesly of 12 June 1871 (present edition, Vol. 44).-° second 
German edition (1892) of The Condition of the Working-Class in England - 
* Adler-¢ F, Engels, ‘Introduction to the English Edition (1892) of Socialism: Utopian 
and Scientific’ . 

wise instructed Dietz to pay him all balances accruing to me with 
his firm. I have got to finish the third volume of Capital this winter 
and then, having rid myself of that burden, I shall be able to earn 
some more money again. 

You are perfectly right about it’s being sheer madness for the gov- 
ernment to make the military estimates an occasion for dissolving the 
Reichstag, should the two year period of military service be turned 
down.* Nevertheless we cannot exclude the possibility that some- 
thing of the kind may happen —- considering the nature of the ‘deter- 
mining’ factors in the German Empire today. 

That Russia cannot go to war in Europe is evident from her activi- 
ties in Central Asia — the other horn of her dilemma. °5* And there 
she is being very foolish. It will not intimidate the British but arouse 
their wrath and make it impossible for Mr Gladstone to give free rein 
to his Russophilia. While Gladstone might be prepared to sacrifice 
Constantinople, he could in no circumstances tolerate a threat to In- 
dia; that would never do. 

To me, the Isle of Wight seems intolerably boring when I think of 
you setting out alone on the journey on which I should have accom- 
panied you. And then Louise goes and imagines I’m only shamming 
sick! Instead of sending this letter to Lunz, I should a thousand times 
rather have come in person. Today is the 15th day I have been con- 
fined to this little house and garden as to a prison, having in the last 
four days only made three excursions of three hundred paces down 
the road—with the result that I am again under the most. strin- 
gent house and garden arrest. Today there is a flower show on the 
pier and tomorrow a regatta, and all the Pumpses will be going, 
while I shall have to stick at home— what a thrill! The only thing I 
am really glad about is that this trouble didn’t come upon me 
while I was on my travels—that really would have been a pretty 
kettle of fish. 

Well, give my regards to Victor and to his wife” and children; like- 
wise to the Witch who will, I presume, have written to me in the 
meantime, and tell them all how very sorry I am not to be able to 

" See this volume, p. 504.-> Emma Adler 

come out and join you. But next year, if I am still alive, I shall as- 
suredly come. 

Your 
F.E.