London, 18 March [1857] 
9 Grafton Terrace, Maitland Park, 
Haverstock Hill 

Dear Engels, 

You must excuse me for not having acknowledged receipt of the 
£5 or of your letter before now. My wife is very unwell and our 
domestic arrangements generally are in such a state of crisis that I 
am quite bemused and cannot write. 

Guardians received today. No answer yet from the New-York 
Tribune. The only thing I could say to Olmsted, of course, was 
that if he had failed to place the article™ with Harper, he should 
send it back. 

Proudhon’s new book on economics, not yet to hand, has 
already run into 7 editions.* 

How Miquel could believe I could write for the Jahrhundert is 
beyond my comprehension—a weekly rag whose contributors are 
Ruge, L. Simon, Meyen, B. Oppenheim, M. Hess, etc. I haven’t 
read any of it but have seen the cover of No. 1, Vol. 2, on which 
is printed the following list of contents: ‘Nach dem Kriege, vor der 
Entscheidung. IV. Von Arnold Ruge’. ‘Briefe aus Paris, der 
Schweiz und London’ (i.e., L. Simon, Kolatschek, Meyen). ‘Der 
Geist unserer Zeit; zum Neujahrsgruss. Von Arnold Ruge’. 
‘Naturwissenschaft und Gesellschaftslehre. V. Von M. Hess’. 
‘Erziehung zum Glauben und Erziehung zur Humanitat’. 
‘Notiz’. 

Edgar Bauer is putting out a book, Englische Eindrücke” Should 
be splendid. 

I shall find out the price of Mieroslawski’s and Lelewel’s books 
(the latter’s first volume nothing but a children’s history).‘ 

Concerning the blackguard— Bob Lowe—I have no information 
at present, but might find out something this week. He’s the kind 

a P. J. Proudhon, Manuel du spéculateur a la bourse. -> E. Bauer, Englische 
Fretheit. -¢ L. Mieroslawski, De la nationalité polenaise dans l'équilibre européen; 
J. Lelevel, Histoire de Pologne. Tome I: 1. L’Histoire de la Pologne racontée par un oncle a 
Ses neveux. 

of fellow who would have been at home in the Société du dix 
Décembre. '** 

Every day brings fresh revelations about Pam’s ‘liberal’ foreign 
policy. First, the ‘secret Treaty’ with Austria. 8° Now, the fact that 
he has given Bonaparte his word to suppress any kind of 
revolution in Naples. The latter, however, wanted this done only 
in so far as a ‘Murat’ restoration '° was not subsumed under the 
heading ‘revolution’. It was this ‘misunderstanding’ which scuppered 
the Naples expedition.’ In the Commons yesterday Pam denied 
the charge in a very ‘ambiguous Manner’.* But this week is likely to 
see the appearance of further documents which will give him the 
lie. 

The Russians haven’t acted with quite their usual circumspec- 
tion this time. The first Continental paper since the crisis 
in Parliament'** to defend Pam as a ‘rruty British Minister’ ’*! 
is the Nord, which usually affects a fanatical hatred of Pam. 
Even the Neue Preussische Zeitung speaks of ‘unprincipled COALI- 
TION’. 

The Persian affair has fizzled out as I supposed: England has 
gained nothing, apart from a few nominal concessions; rather she 
has given way to the Persian court on the main issue. ’? Russia, on 
the other hand, has obtained a small piece of territory, as Layard 
yesterday confided to the gaping Cockneys. Needless to say, he did 
not have the courage to place these two Facts in their correct 
causal nexus. He also repeated the assertion (already made by 
Disraeli in the Lower House without eliciting a word from Pam in 
reply) that, during the war with Russia, Pam forbade the Persians to 
take an offensive stand against the Russians as had been their 
intention. For at the time the fellows had hopes of recapturing the 
provinces that had been wrested from them. He had had the same 
admonition conveyed to them at the time of the Polish revolution 
(1830). 

In order to assess correctly the Persian, as also the Chinese 
fracas, both should be compared with Pam’s earlier doings in these 
REGIONS, since both are merely repetitions. '*? So long as he was at 
the helm, the first Chinese war was conducted in such a way that it 
could have gone on for 100 years without any result save an 
increase in the Russian OVERLAND TEA-TRADE and a growth of Russian 
influence in Pekin. It was only under Sir Robert Peel that this war 
was given an ‘English’ twist by Ellenborough. 

a An account of Palmerston’s speech in the House of Commons was published in The 
Times, No. 22631, 18 March 1857. 

It is to be hoped—and is indeed probable—that this time a 
parliament will be returned which will pledge itself to nothing save 
passive obedience to Pam. The dissolution of the former parties 
expressed as a coalition ministry, like that of Aberdeen,” seemed 
rather to make the middle ciass feel able to rest on its laurels than 
to alarm it. This same dissolution expressed as Pam’s dictatorship is 
bound to lead, not only to the most gratifying fiascos and 
complications abroad, but also to the most violent agitation if not 
to revolution at home. The old boy, who was partly responsible for 
the Manchester ‘massacre en miniature and helped to draw up the 6 
‘caccine acts’, “* won’t so much as turn a hair. Mutatis mutandis, 
Pam’s dictatorship will be to the coalition ministry what the rule of 
the Royalists, who coalesced in the last French ‘Assemblée, was to 
the rule of Bonaparte. '*° In England, things will at last be brought 
to a head. 

Apropos Bangya. Since 1855 this same Bangya has been Sefer 
Pasha’s adlatus.* He has married the daughter of a Circassian chief 
(which must be equally gratifying to his lawful wife in Pest and his 
unlawful one in Paris), and is now himself a Circassian chief. 
Through his connections in London he has recruited 300 Poles 
and shipped them to the Brack Sea together with supplies of 
ammunition, etc. According to the news in the papers, they have 
run the gauntlet of the Russian cruisers and safely reached Sefer 
Pasha. WHat Do you THINK of THAT? The fellow, realising that his role 
was played out in the West, has embarked on a new one in the 
Orient. Whether again as a democratic mouchard” or in good faith 
is another question. 

Write soon, as your letters are now essential to [help me] ruck 
up. The situation is horrible. 

Salut (to Lupus as well). 

Your 
K. M.