Stuttgart, 1913 and in full in MEGA, yee ee nen ave 
Abt. III, Bd. 3, Berlin, 1930 ; 

279 

_[London,] 24 March 1863 

Dear Frederick, 

You must know that for the past few weeks eye trouble has 
almost entirely prevented me from reading or writing. Hence the 
need to make up for lost time by some hard slogging. Hinc* my 
silence. 

Dronke has sent me £50. 

The enclosed letter from Dr Kugelmann, which kindly return, 
will show you what muddle-headed fellows these German ‘party 
members’ are. My work on economics *"° ‘isn’t opportune’ and yet I 
am expected, for the sake of the cause, to carry on with the whole 
business after this volume has appeared, merely for the theoretical 
satisfaction of a few high-minded souls. What I am expected to 
live on while engaged in my ‘inopportune works’ is not, of course, 
a question these gentry worry their heads about for ‘one 
moment.”"” 

The Langiewicz affair is disgusting.”’° But I am hoping that it 
won’t put paid to the business yet, even temporarily. Meanwhile, I 
am deferring the work on Poland” so as to be able to see events 
when they have reached a rather more advanced stage. , 

Politically, the view I have reached is this: that Vincke and 
Bismarck do, in fact, accurately represent the principle of the 
Prussian State; that the ‘State’ of Prussia (a very different creature 
from Germany) cannot exist either without Russia as she is, or with 

« Hence 

18* 

an independent Poland. The whole history of Prussia leads one to 
this conclusion which was drawn long since by Messrs Hohenzol- 
lern (Frederick II included). This princely consciousness is 
infinitely superior to the limited mentality of the subject that 
marks your Prussian liberal. Since, therefore, the existence of 
Poland is necessary to Germany and completely incompatible with 
the State of Prussia, the State of Prussia must be erased from the 
map. Or the Polish question simply provides further occasion for 
proving that it is impossible to prosecute German interests so long 
as the Hohenzollerns’ own state continues to exist. Down with 
Russian hegemony over Germany means just the same as away 
with mischief, with the old sodomite’s brood.’ 

What strikes me as very significant about the latest turn of 
events in America is the fact that they are again proposing to hand 
out letters of marque.’ Quoad England, this will put an entirely 
different complexion on the matter and may, UNDER FAVOURABLE 
circumstances, lead to war with England, so that self-satisfied John 
Bull will find not only his corron but also his corn wiruprawn from 
under his nose. At the beginning of the civit war Seward had, off 
his own bat, had the presumption to accept the resolutions of the 
1856 Congress of Paris as provisionally valid for America, too. 
(This came to light with the publication of the despatches 
concerning the Trent affair.)°'> In Washington, Congress and 
Lincoln, enraged at the ourrirrinc or Soutuern pirates in Liverpool, 
etc., have now put an end to the lark. This has greatly alarmed the 
Stock Exchange here, though the faithful hounds of the press are 
obeying orders, of course, and not mentioning the affair in the 
papers. 

You will doubtless have noted with satisfaction how Pam, the old 
scoundrel, is playing precisely the same game as in 1830/31°'° (I 
have compared his speeches) and likewise getting The Times to 
play it. This time the progress of the affair is so rar coop. Louis 
Bonaparte is about to find himself in the soup (when this 
happened to the luckless Louis Philippe in 1831 the whole of 
Europe suffered) and in a very UGLY DILEMMA WITH HIS OWN ARMY. 
Mexico*'! and those genuflections before the Tsar in the Moniteur 
(into which Boustrapa was pushed by Pam) might well cost him 
his neck. So great was his alarm that he ordered the publication of 
the despatches demonstrating that his good will had been thwarted 

4 An allusion to the Prussian Hohenzallerns. See also Heinrich Heine’s Schlof- 
legende. - » Concerning - © This refers to a leading article in The Times, No. 24514, 
24 March 1863. ‘ 

by Pam alone. (Although his casr was identical, the luckless 
Louis Philippe went so far as to allow the impudent Pam to claim 
in Parliament that *‘if it were not for the perfidy of the French and 
the intervention of Prussia, Poland would still exist’*.) He believes 
that he will thereby influence pusuic opinion in England, as though 
the latter were not satisfied with Pam’s sop to the effect that 
Bonaparte wanted to reach the Rhine! And as though Pam did not 
manufacture three-quarters of this puszic opinion himself! The 
wretched Plon-Plon hadn’t the courage to say that Pam was 
working for Russia; rather, he maintains that wicked Russia is 
seeking to foment discord between France and England!°” Here 
once again I recognise the‘ very image of my homme du Bas 
Empire*°°' the wretched fellow who never dares stage his coups 
d'état au dela des frontiéres without the permission of Europe’s Supreme 
Authority. Had the wretched fellow the courage to tell the 
unvarnished truth about Pam (or simply threaten to do so), he 
could saunter up to the Rhine undisturbed. But now he has bound 
himself hand and foot, thus delivering himself completely into 
Pam’s power, as did Louis Philippe before him. Much good may it 
do him. 

The goings-on in Staleybridge and Ashton are very cheering.”! 
So the double chins and pot-bellies have at last ceased to ‘respect’ 
the prolétaires. Edmund Potter‘ makes a great fool of himself today 
in The Times‘ which, faced with the unpopularity it now enjoys in 
such large measure, pounces upon THAT Ass in order to catch a 
ha’pennyworth of popularity. 

Salut. 

Your 
K. M.