London, 5 October 1877 

Dear Hermann, 

At the end of this month (31 October) I shall have to make 
payments of approx. £380 and should therefore be pleased if you 
would send me the corresponding amount pretty soon. Might I 
add that I should be grateful if it could be so arranged that the 
remittance is made payable here before the 31st (incl. the three 
days of grace, hence nominally payable on the 27th inst. at the 
latest), since I should otherwise be unable, local banking practice 
being what it is, to avail myself of it on the 31st and, for anyone 
not in business, discounting is always troublesome and sometimes, 
even, well nigh impossible unless one gets various other people 
moving; and I should imagine that the Barmen Bankers’ 
Association can make payment three days after date or sight as 
readily as ten. 

I’ve loafed about a great deal this summer, seven weeks at the 
seaside °° and then a fortnight in Scotland, but it has actually 
done me a tremendous amount of good. 

No doubt you will now admit that I was right in my assessment 
of the Turks’ power of resistance and the weakness of the 
Russians in attack.* Next year the Turks will be twice as strong 
because they will be able to train their men during the winter. 
Should the Russians not move their army across the Danube for 
the winter, and this I can scarcely believe, they may be in for a 
surprise. Ice floes on the Danube, for instance, have scant respect 
for pontoon bridges, even if they do belong to the Emperor of 
Russia. Still, come what may, Russia will have her Constitution 
before the end of 1878 and, with it, the second edition of the 
French Revolution of 1789-94. 

The man who has largely prevented the Turks from playing an 
altogether different kind of game with the Russians is the Sultan’s” 
brother-in-law, Mahmud Damad Pasha, friend of Ignatiyev and 
for years in the latter’s pay. Should you ever hear that he has been 
overthrown, you may rest assured that the vigour with which the 
war is conducted will be of a completely different order. He is also 
the man who brought about Mehemet Ali’s recall. 

Love to Emma,‘ the children, and all brothers and sisters, 

Your 
Friedrich