London, 1 March 1879 

Dear Liebknecht, 

We have again tried to come to an arrangement with The 
Whitehall Review through Barry, if only in regard to the Reichstag 
reports, but the jackass insisted on the articles being signed; so we 
had to give him a flat refusal and let him go. The negotiations 
lasted a pretty long time and, until matters had reached the stage 
of oui ou non,” there was, of course, nothing we could tell you. 

The election in Breslau ** has made a splendid impression here 
too. Still more, however, the speed with which Bismarck is ruining 
himself. He really is coming ‘one cropper after another’ “°— going 
de chute en chute. He has now lost virtually all of his apologists in 
the English press—even The Times, which was very deeply 
involved with him, is trying to extricate itself.*”° Now that he’s 
become a protectionist, the English, of course, are all the more 
reluctant to have anything further to do with him. Even in 
Germany, come to that, a reversion to the protectionist system 
would be downright reactionary. Still, it’s excellent that Monsieur 
Bismarck should again be drifting towards dissolution.**””’ Only let 
him drive the German philistines really wild and even they will 
lose patience in the end, particularly if their pockets are affected. 

a William I -» yes or no 

And as for the muddle Bismarck is making in the field of foreign 
policy, that is altogether beyond compare. 

Most’s little paper* seems to be making good progress—he 
turns up from time to time, but not often, and we cannot, of 
course, accept any responsibility at all for its contents. But we wish 
it success, of course, as we do anything that is moving in the right 
direction, however imperfect its methods may be. 

Your 
F.