[Paris,] 31 July [1849] 

Dear Freiligrath, 

I must confess that I am much astonished by Lassalle’s 
behaviour. I had approached him personally and, since I myself 
had at one time’made the countess? a loan and was, besides, aware 
of Lassalle’s liking for me, it would never have occurred to me 
that he would compromise me in this way. On the contrary, I had 
impressed upon him the need for the utmost discretion. The 
direst straits are better than public begging. I have written to him 
on the subject. 

4 more or less - > meaning: follower of philosophical idealism - ¢ Yours ever - 
4 Sophie von Hatzfeldt 

I find the business unspeakably annoying. 

Parlons de politique,* since it will distract us from this private 
unpleasantness. In Switzerland things are becoming ever more com- 
plicated and now, as regards Italy, there is Savoy into the bargain. It 
would seem that, if needs be, Austria proposes to recoup her loss of 
Hungary at Italy’s expense. The incorporation of Savoy by Austria 
would, however, be the undoing of the present French govern- 
ment if tolerated by the latter. The majority in the French 
Chamber is clearly falling apart. The Right is splitting up into 
Philippists pure and simple, Legitimists who vote with the 
Philippists, and Legitimists pure and simple, who have recently 
been voting with the Left.°? What Thiers and company are 
planning is to make Louis Napoleon Consul for ten years, until 
the coming-of-age of the Count of Paris” who will then replace 
him. If, as is almost certain, the assemblée reimposes the droits© on 
drink,” it will arouse the antagonism of all the wine-growers. 
With each reactionary measure it alienates yet another section of 
the population. 

But most important of all just now is England. We must have no 
illusions about the so-called Peace Party,” of which Cobden is the 
acknowledged leader. Nor should we have any illusions about 
the ‘unselfish enthusiasm’ of the English for Hungary, which 
has resulted in the organisation of meetings throughout the 
country. 

The Peace Party is simply a cloak for the Free-Trade Party. The 
same content, the same object, the same leaders. Just as, at home, 
the Free Traders attacked the aristocracy in its material basis 
with the repeal of the Corn and Navigation Laws,?” so now in 
their foreign policy, they are attacking it in its European 
connections and ramifications—by seeking to break the Holy 
Alliance.?”! The English Free Traders are radical bourgeois who 
wish to break radically with the aristocracy in order to rule without 
let or hindrance. What they overlook is the fact that they are thus, 
malgré eux,’ bringing the people onto the stage and into power. 
Exploitation of the peoples, not by means of medieval warfare but 
solely by means of trade warfare—that’s your Peace Party. 
Cobden’s behaviour in the Hungarian affair had an immedi- 
ately practical nexus. Russia is now seeking to negotiate a loan. 
Cobden, the representative of the industrial bourgeoisie, forbids 

a Let us talk politics - > Louis Philipp Albert - © duties, taxes - @ willy-nilly. 

this deal of the financial bourgeoisie’s, and in England the Bank 
is ruled by industry, whereas in France industry is ruled by the 
Bank. 

Cobden’s attack on Russia has been more formidable than 
any of either Dembinski or Gérgey.* He revealed how pitiable was 
the condition of her finances. She is, he says, the most wretched 
nation. Each year the Siberian mines bring the State no more than 
£700,000: the duty on spirits brings it 10 times as much. True, the 
gold and silver reserve in the vaults of the Bank of Petersburg 
amounts to £14,000,000, but it serves as a metallic reserve for a 
paper circulation of £80,000,000. Hence, if the Tsar? dips into the 
vaults of the Bank, he will depreciate the paper money, and thus 
bring about a revolution in Russia herself. Consequently, the proud 
English bourgeois exclaims, the absolutist colossus cannot stir unless 
we make him'a loan, and this we shall not do. Once again we are 
waging, by purely bourgeois means, the bourgeoisie’s war against 
feudal absolutism. The golden calf is mightier than all the calves on 
the thrones in the world. Of course the English Free Traders also have a 
direct interest where Hungary is concerned. Instead of Austrian 
trade barriers, as hitherto, a trade agreement and some sort of FREE 
Trave With Hungary. The money, which they are now without doubt 
secretly remitting to the Hungarians, they will assuredly get back 
‘with profit and interest’ in retourS by way of trade. 

The English bourgeoisie’s attitude to continental despotism is a 
reversal of the campaign they conducted against the French from 
1793 to 1815. The importance of this development cannot be 
overrated. 

Kindest regards to you and your wife’ from me and my wife. 

Your 
K. Marx