In Paris  
London, 5 March 1870

Dear Laura and dear Paul,

You are surely very, and rightly, annoyed at my long silence, but you should excuse it, as it is firstly the consequence of my illness and secondly of the additional work to make up for the lost time.

The sad news from Paul did not surprise me. On the evening before the arrival of his letter, I had expressed in the family my serious concern about the little child. I have myself suffered too much from such losses not to be able to feel deeply with you. But I also know from the same personal experience that all the clever commonplaces and words of consolation that are uttered in such cases only increase real sorrow, instead of alleviating it.

I hope you will give us good news of little Schnappi, my very great favourite. The poor dear little fellow must have suffered severely from the cold, which is so contrary to “la nature mélanienne”. Apropos, a certain Monsieur de Gobineau published about ten years ago a four-volume work “Sur l’Inégalité des races humaines”, written above all to prove that “la race blanche” is a kind of god among the other human races, and naturally the noble families of the “race blanche” are in turn la crème de la crème. I strongly suspect that Monsieur Gobineau, who was at that time “premier secrétaire de la légation de France en Suisse”, is descended not from an old Frankish warrior, but from a modern French huissier. Be that as it may, and despite his hatred of the “race noire” (for such people it is always a source of satisfaction to have someone whom, in their view, they are entitled to mépriser), he declares that “le nègre” or “le sang noir” is the source matérielle of art, and that the entire artistic creation of the white nations depends on their mixing avec “le sang noir”.

I was quite delighted with the last letter I received from my sweet ex-secretary, and very amused by Paul’s description of the soirée at Moilin’s.

Ce “grand inconnu” seems at last to have fathomed the secret of how to hold on to “gloire”, which has until now always slipped so treacherously from his fingers just when he had caught it by the tail. He has found out that, if one wants to be successful in the world, everything depends on limiting the world to one’s own four walls, in which one can appoint oneself president and have a corresponding audience that will swear in verba magistri.

Here at home, as you well know, the Fenians are the supreme law. Tussy is their chief centre. Jenny writes on their behalf in the “Marseillaise” under the pseudonym J. Williams. I have not only treated the same subject in the Brussels “Internationale” and brought about resolutions in the General Council against their gaolers. In a circular addressed by the Council to our corresponding committees, I have explained the main points of the Irish question.

You understand, of course, that I was not guided only by feelings of humanity. There are other reasons besides. To accelerate the social development of Europe, we must accelerate the catastrophe of official England. To that end, we must strike the blow in Ireland. That is its weakest point. If Ireland is lost, the British “Empire” is done for, and the class struggle in England, until now sluggish and dragging, will assume violent forms. But England is the metropolis of landlordism and capitalism in the whole world.

What news of Blanqui? Is he in Paris?

You have, of course, heard nothing of my translator, Mr. Keller. I am in the same difficult situation.

Flerovsky’s book on “The Condition of the Working Class in Russia” is an extraordinary book. I am truly glad that I can now read it somewhat fluently with the help of a dictionary. This is the first time that the entire economic situation of Russia is set forth. A conscientious piece of work. For 15 years the author travelled from the western borders of the country to the eastern borders of Siberia, from the White to the Caspian Sea, for the sole purpose of studying facts and exposing conventional lies. Of course, he is caught up in certain errors, regarding la perfectibilité perfectible de la Nation russe, et le principe providentiel de la propriété communale dans sa forme russe. But let that pass. After studying his work, one is firmly convinced that a most terrible social revolution – naturally in the lower forms corresponding to the present Muscovite level of development – is inevitable in Russia and is close at hand. That is good news. Russia and England are the two great cornerstones of the present European system. Everything else is of secondary importance, even la belle France et la savante Allemagne.

Engels is going to leave Manchester and settle permanently in London at the beginning of August. This will be a great joy for me.

And now farewell, my dear children. Do not forget to kiss brave little Schnappi from his

Old Nick