IN ZALT-BOMMEL
London, 25 June 1864 
1 Modena Villas, Maitland Park, 
Haverstock Hill
first time
Dear Uncle,
Very many thanks for your detailed letter. I know how onerous 
writing is for you on account of your eyes and, indeed, the last 
thing I expect is that you should answer every one of my letters. I 
was glad to see from what you wrote that you are physically fit, 
and that your equanimity has not been shaken by the revelations 
of Prof. Dozy.* However, since Darwin demonstrated that we are 
all descended from the apes, there is scarcely any  shock  whatever  
that could shake ‘our ancestral pride’. That the Pentateuch6 was 
concocted only after the return of the Jews from Babylonian 
captivity had already been pointed out by Spinoza in his Tractatus 
theologico-politicus.
In the enclosed note Eleanor herself thanks you for your 
photogram, which is as good as such shadow pictures can ever
; See this volume, p. 541,- b the first five books of the Old Testament (Genesis, 
F.xodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy)

543
hope to be. The child had already placed ‘her letter’ on my desk 
some 3 or 4 days ago.
I have had a recurrence of furuncles  and only got rid of them a 
fortnight ago. Since my work was greatly impeded by this tiresome 
complaint—and, in addition, the doctor’s orders precluded 
strenuous or prolonged mental work—I have, which will surprise 
you not a little, been speculating—partly in American funds , but 
more especially in English stocks, which are springing up like 
mushrooms this year (in furtherance of every imaginable and 
unimaginable joint stock enterprise), are forced up to a quite 
unreasonable level and then, for the most part, collapse. In this 
way, I have made over £400 and, now that the complexity of the 
political situation affords greater scope, I shall begin all over 
again. It’s a type of operation that makes small demands on one’s 
time, and it’s worth while running some risk in order to relieve the 
enemy of his money.
All is well, on the whole, with my family. The doctor wishes little 
Jenny to have achange  o f  air  and, unless you or fate have any 
objection, I and my 3 daughters will descend upon you towards 
the end of the summer.
By now the fruitless outcome of the conference 577 will have been 
made known all  over  Europe  by telegraph. The only people in this 
diplomatic tragi-comedy who are imperturbably pursuing their 
former aims and playing a masterly game are les russes.d On the 
one hand, they are reviving the Holy Alliance,5" chivvying the 
German oxen into war, and thus diverting the eyes of Europe 
from their own colossal successes in Poland and Circassia; on the 
other, they are inciting Denmark to resist and will, thanks to Mr 
Palmerston, eventually succeed in getting England to declare war 
in support of the Protocol of 1852580 which, as documentary 
evidence has now shown, was dictated by Russia620! The English, 
who did not go to war for Poland although pledged to do so by 
the treaties of 1815 and who did not go to war for Circassia 
despite the fact that possession of the Caucasus assures Russian 
hegemony in Asia, are to go to war and— Ithink  i t  probable—will 
go to war, for a treaty dictated by Russia, while that same Russia 
officially sides with the opponents of that very treaty! C’est 
incroyable !b There’s not a vestige of sympathy for Denmark 
amongst the English people (although, needless to say, antipathy 
and to spare for Prussia and Austria); it proved impossible to hold 
one  single  public  meeting  in support of the Danes; the fund started by
■' the Russians - b It is unbelievable!

544
a few aristocrats for the Danish wounded proved  a  complete  failure ; 
but the English people have no more say in their foreign policy 
than the man in the moon. The publ ic , opinion  advanced in The 
Times, etc., is ‘prescribed’ by the wishes of old  Pam himself.
Between 19 and 21 June Copenhagen was on the brink of 
revolution. The king3 had received a Russian despatch advising 
him to declare himself in favour of a personal union of the 
Duchies with 
the  Danish  Crown . The king, a creature of the 
Russians (who placed his sonb in Athens, his daughterc in 
England, and himself on the Danish throne), came out in favour 
of the Russian proposal, which was opposed by his minister, 
Monrad. Only after a two-day debate, Monrad’s resignation and 
demonstrations in  the  streets  o f  Copenhagen , did the brand-new king  
draw in his horns, but  in  this  way  Russia  has  again  shown  the  cloven  foot . 
Quite apart, by the by, from its being in Russia’s specific interest 
that the war should continue and spread, it is in her general 
interest that the peoples of Europe, of whom she is the common 
foe, should bloody each other’s heads. The 
airs  Prussia gives 
herself—handsome William as W
illiam  the  Conqueror — are comical. 
This pomp and circumstance will come to a sudden and sticky 
end.
To give you an idea of what the good  Palmerston is like, I enclose 
with The Morning Post (Palmerston’s private monitor) a cutting of 
a speech made by Ferrand during a parliamentary debate.“1 It is 
concerned solely with the appointment of acharity  inspector . From 
the passages I have marked, you will see the sort of things that are 
said to Pam’s face in Parliament but without ever penetrating his 
hippopotamus’s hide.
I deliberately avoided seeing Garibaldi during  his  stay  a t  London.c 
I wouldn’t mind visiting him at Caprera, but here in London h e
served  only  a s  a  peg  for  every  self -important  fool  t o  hang  his  carte de visile
UPON.
Warmest regards to the  wholf . family . My wife also sends her 
regards to you and  family .
Yours  truly ,
Ch. Marx