MARX TO WILHELM LIEBKNECHT ”™ 

[London,] 11 February 1878°” 

At least something worthwhile has bee1i achieved by the 
Russians; they have exploded England’s ‘great Liberal Party’ and 
rendered it incapable of governing for some time to come, while 
the Tory Party has gone to the trouble of officially bringing about 
its own demise through the medium of those traitors Derby and 
Salisbury (the latter being the real pro-Russian force within the 
Cabinet).* 

The English working class had gradually become ever more 
demoralised as a result of the period of corruption after 1848, and 
had finally reached the stage of being no more than an appendage 
of the great Liberal Party, i.e. of its oppressors, the capitalists. Its 
direction had passed completely into the hands of the venal Traprs 
Union leaders and professional agitators. In the wake of the 
Gladstones, Brights, Mundellas, Morleys, and the whole gang of 
factory owners, etc., these laddies ranted and roared in majorem 
gloriam” of that emancipator of the nations, the Tsar,° while never 

a See this volume, p. 296. - > to the greater glory - © Alexander II 

raising a finger on behalf of their own brethren in South Wales, 
condemned by the mine-owners to death by starvation.**’ The 
wretches! And to crown it all in worthy fashion, during the recent 
divisions in the House of Commons (on 7 and 8 February, when 
most of the chief dignitaries of the ‘great Liberal Party’— Forster, 
Lowe, Harcourt, Goschen, Hartington and even (on 7 February) 
the great John Bright himself—left their army in the lurch and 
made off during the division so as not to compromise themselves 
unduly by voting**’), the only labour representatives in the House of 
Commons and they, horribile dictu,* direct representatives of the 
miners, and themselves miners born and bred, namely Burt and the 
pitiful Macdonald, voted with those pro-Tsar enthusiasts, the rump 
of the ‘great Liberal Party’! 

But the rapid unfolding of Russia’s plans suddenly broke the 
spell, disrupting the ‘mechanical agitation’ (of whose mechanism 
five pound notes were the mainspring); at this moment it would 
have been ‘physically dangerous’ for Mottershead, Howell, John 
Hales, Shipton, Osborne and all the rest of the crew to make their 
voices heard at a public workers’ meeting; even their ‘corner and 
TICKET MEETINGS are forcibly disbanded and broken up by the 
populace. 

But it will take your ponderous ‘Anglo-Saxon’ too long to wake 
up~—in time, at any rate, for the next events... 

Russian diplomacy is very far from sharing the fatuous 
‘Christian’ prejudices against the ‘Crescent’. Turkey, reduced in 
Europe to Constantinople and a small part of Rumelia, but with a 
compact hinterland in Asia Minor, Arabia, etc., is to be shackled to 
Russia by means of an offensive and defensive alliance. 

During the last campaign the 120,000 Poles in the Russian army 
rendered sterling service **?; now the Poles are to be joined by 
Turks—and the Russians will have under their flag the two bravest 
races of Europe, who have to avenge themselves on Europe for 
their humiliation—not a bad idea! 

In 1829 Prussia—but at that time she was still no more than the 
biggest of Europe’s small states and the self-confessed protégée of 
Russia ***—acted just as she is doing now. 

The desperate situation in which the Russian army found itself 
after Diebitsch had led it over the Balkans (July 1829) has been 
well described by Moltke.” Only diplomacy could have saved it. 

The second campaign was on the point of turning out as badly 

@ horrible to say - > [H. K. B.] von Moltke. Der russisch-türkische Feldzug in der 
europdischen Ttirket 1828 und 1829. 

as the first ***—and then finis Russiae—it would be all up with 
Russia. That is why Nicholas, the Tsar, went to Berlin on 10 June 
1829, allegedly in order to attend the wedding of Prince William of 
Prussia (the present German emperor). He asked Frederick 
William IIT (he ‘of the conqueror’s crown*) to prevail upon the 
Porte to send him plenipotentiaries so as to open peace 
negotiations. At that time Diebitsch had not yet crossed the 
Balkans, the greater part of his army being pinned down outside 
Silistria and Shumla.” In concert with Nicholas, Frederick Wil- 
liam IIf officially ordered Baron Müffling to Constantinople as 
envoy extraordinary, the intention being, however, that he should 
act as Russia’s agent there. Muffling was of pure Russian stock, as 
he himself relates in Aus meinem Leben: he had drafted the 
Russian campaign plan in 1827 and indeed insisted that Diebitsch 
should march over the Balkans cotite que cotite (whatever the cost), 
while he, as peace mediator, conducted intrigues in Constan- 
tinople. He himself says that the Sultan,° alarmed by such a march, 
would appeal ‘to him as a friend’. 

Under the pretext of assuring the peace of Europe, he 
succeeded in getting France and England to eat out of his 
hand—in particular the latter country, by exerting influence 
through the Russophil English ambassador, Robert Gordon, on 
the latter’s brother, the Ear: or Aberdeen, and through him on 
Wellington—who was later bitterly to rue it. 

After Diebitsch had crossed the Balkans, he was gratified to 
receive a letter from Reshid Pasha dated 25 July (1829) inviting 
him to open the peace negotiations. On that same day, Miffling had 
his first discussion with Reis Effendi (Turkish Minister of the 
Exterior)©° whom he intimidated by the vehemence of his address 
(a la Prince Reuss 4); he also invoked Gordon, etc. The Sultan 
gave way to the pressure of the Prussian ambassador (who was 
supported by Gordon, the English, and Guilleminot, the French 
ambassador, both of whom had been briefed by Muiiffling) and 
accepted the following 5 peace terms: 1. Integrity of the Ottoman 
Empire; 2. retention of the former treaties between the Porte and 
Russia; 3. adherence of the Porte to the Treaty of London 
(concluded 6 July 1827) between France, England and Russia for 

a In the original ‘im Siegerkranz’. ‘Heil dir im Siegerkranz’— the initial words of the 
Prussian National Anthem written by Balthasar Gerhard Schumacher on the basis of 
Heinrich Harries’ poem Lied für den dänischen Unterthan. - > Bulgarian names: Silistra 
and Shumen (now Kolarovgrad). - © Mahmud IH - 4 F. C. F. Miffling, Aus meinem 
Leben, Berlin, 1851, p. 303. - © Pertev Reis Effendi -£ Heinrich VII of Reuss 

the regulation of Greek affairs**°; 4. firm undertakings as regards 
the freedom of shipping in the Black Sea; 5. further negotiations 
between Turkish and Russian chargés d’affaires relating to 
indemnification and any other claim either party might make. 

On 28 August Sadek Effendi* and Abdul Kader Bey, the two 
Turkish plenipotentiaries, accompanied by Kiister (attaché at the 
Prussian Embassy in Constantinople), arrived at Adrianople? where 
the Russians had set up their general headquarters about a week 
previously. Diebitsch opened negotiations on I September without 
waiting for the arrival of the Russian plenipotentiaries (Alexei Orlov 
and Pahlen), who had got no further than Burgas. 

But while negotiations were in progress, Diebitsch’s troops continued 
their advance on Constantinople. Insolent and overbearing (despite or 
rather because of the rottenness of his position), he gave the 
Turkish plenipotentiaries a week’s deadline by which to assent to the 
following points: 

The fortresses of Braila, Giurgevo‘ and Calafat to be razed and 
the places themselves to be incorporated into Wallachia. Anapa 
and Poti, on the Black Sea, to be ceded to Russia; also the Pashalik 
of Akhaltsikhe; reparations amounting to 700,000 ‘purses’ (some 
120 million francs), payment to be guaranteed by handing over 
Silistria and the Danubian principalities‘ as a pledge to Russia. 
Indemnification of Russian merchants to the tune of some 
15 million francs for losses sustained, payable on three appointed 
dates after each of which the Russian army would withdraw, first 
to the foot of the Balkans, then to the north of those mountains 
and, finally, across the Danube. 

The Porte objected to these terms which were so greatly at 
variance with the Tsar’s assurances of moderation. The new 
Prussian ambassador Royer (Miffling had absconded on 5 Sep- 
tember, after completing his fell assignment—he, the ‘friend to 
the Porte’ and the angel of peace), in company with General 
Guilleminot, Müffling’s dupe, and Sir Robert Gordon, supported the 
protests of the Porte, for insolence such as this ran counter to the 
agreement and was even too much for him ‘of the conqueror’s 
crown’. Diebitsch knew that militarily speaking he was in a tight 
corner and made bogus concessions: in the public peace treaty, the 
article concerning the amount of war reparations would be 
withdrawn; the first instalment of the indemnification of Russian 
merchants was reduced for, as the Turkish envoys said: “The most 

4 Mehmed Sadek -> Turkish name: Edirne. - © Romanian name: Giurgiu. - 
4Moldavia and Wallachia - € Nicholas I 

ignorant must know that the Porte could not pay.’ Peace was 
finally concluded on 5 September.**° 

Great sensation in Europe, great indignation in England; 
Wellington fumed; even Aberdeen drew attention in a despatch to 
the danger lurking in every single clause of the treaty, and 
endeavoured to bring about a general alliance whereby all the great 
powers (including Russia) would guarantee peace in the Orient. 
Austria was willing; but Prussia frustrated the project, and saved 
Russia from the dangers a European congress would present to 
her. (France, where Charles X was preparing his coup d’état, 
entered into a secret understanding with Russia; a secret treaty was 
also concluded, whereby France was to receive the Rhine Provinces. 

Under these circumstances there was no need for Nesselrode to 
beat about the bush; he sent an insolent and contemptuous 
despatch to the English Cabinet, i.e. a despatch addressed to 
Count Lieven (the Russian ambassador) in London. 

This is what Prussia did at the time and has now done again on 
a grander scale. Fine Hohenstaufens—these Hohenzollerns! 
Statesmanship presented no difficulties to Bismarck in the 
Austrian and French affair; against Austria, he had Bonaparte’s 
protection and the Italians, and against France, the whole of 
Europe. Moreover, the goal to which he aspired had been 
determined by the circumstances, which had paved the way to its 
attainment. 

Now that circumstances have become more complex, he is a 
genius no longer.?