[London,] 4 January 1881 

Dear Longuet, 

With the immense agglomerate of old newspapers it would take me 
too much time to find out The Eastern Post which contains the contro- 
versy of the General Council (inclus. its Communard members) with 
the illustrious Bradlaugh. However, I suppose Lessner will have 
the Post ready at hand. This, however, is for you the least important 
thing. That Bradlaugh denounced the Communards, that he repro- 
duced the worst calumnies, as you told him then in the Post,’ of such 
papers as the Liberté, the Soir, that he fell foul of the manifesto of the 
General Council on ‘The Civil War in France’, * etc., this will hardly 
damage him in the eyes of the Paris bourgeoisie. Still the thing may 
be shortly hinted at as characteristic of the man. In an answer of the 
General Secretary of the General Council (it was Hales, but that 
man must not be honoured by naming him) to Bradlaugh (in The 
Eastern Post, September 1871), he said amongst other things: 

“,.. The wanton destruction of private dwellings (by Thiers’ bombardment) was the 
work of Mr Bradlaugh’s friends... Rochefort has been sentenced under the Republic to 
transportation for life for a press offence. Fancy Mr Bradlaugh being transported for 
life for his utterances!’ ¢ 

The important thing is that Bradlaugh was denounced by the 
General Council (extracts of whose sittings were reported by The 

* ‘Mr Bradlaugh and the International’, The Eastern Post, No. 173, 20 January 1872. - 
> “Mr Bradlaugh and the Communists’, The Eastern Post, No. 168, 16 December 
1871.-° K. Marx, The Civil War in France. Address of the General Council of the Interna- 
tional Working Men’s Association.-4 J. Hales, ‘To the Editor of The Eastern Post’, The East- 
ern Post, No. 158, 7 October 1871. 

Eastern Post) as a Courtesan of Plon-Plon (he was at London then) 
and because of his suspect relations in Paris.* In the sitting of the 
General Council of December 19, 1871 I (informed by the Frenchman, 
who wrote under the name Azamouth or another Turkish name, and 
who was informed by a lady—probably the Brimont, present at 
social gathering later on referred to) denounced a recent trip of Brad- 
laugh’s to Paris, where he associated with Détroyat and Emile de 
Girardin. In his honour the latter gave a dinner where equivocuous, 
i, e. Bonapartist, ladies assisted and where Bradlaugh rendered him- 
self ridiculous by the boastful display of his pretended London 
influence. 

If Bradlaugh says that the Brimont was a great patriot, at the 
time he made her acquaintance, he may be fully believed. Before the 
battle of Sedan all Bonapartists were so far patriots that they wished 
victory to their Emperor.” After the battle of Sedan they still re- 
mained patriots, because, from their standpoint, France could only be 
saved by Louis Bonaparte’s restauration, even if that restauration 
must be accomplished by the aid of Bismarck. 

It is self-understood that you must not name me. As to the details of 
Bradlaugh’s intimacy with the Brimont, Blanc (/e veux) «is the man to 
furnish them. 

In his controversy with the General Council Bradlaugh got the 
help — of the Soir (Paris journal). In the Council’s sitting of January 2, 
1872 Serraillier communicated: 

‘He had read an article in Le Soir written in defence of Bradlaugh. It said he (Brad- 
laugh) Aad honoured the Journal (Le Soir) by contributing to it and was a safe governmental 
man, and had nothing to do with demagogic intrigues.’ 

When Gladstone dissolved Parliament (the occasion on which he 
was overthrown by Disraeli), Bradlaugh’s lecturing room was decorat- 
ed by immense placards with the inscription ‘Farewell to Iconoclast, 
the People’s Redeemer! Welcome to the great dreadnaught of St 
Stephen’s!’?’’ But he had counted without his host. He was not el- 
ected member of Parliament, despite his public begging letters (for 
a good testimonial) to Bright and other leaders of the ‘great liberal 
party’, who replied in a very cool way. It was also no use boasting of 

having dined with a life-Bishop (of the church of England). 

* ‘International Working Men’s Association’, The Eastern Post, No.169, 23 December 
1871.-> Napoleon III-* old man 

In the last election* Bradlaugh was happier for this reason: He was 
one of the noisiest demagogic supporters of Gladstone’s pro-Russian 
campaign against Disraeli — in fact one of the most turbulent tools of 
the Party who wanted to get in ‘Place and Pelf” again, coüte que cotite. 
Moreover, no constituency was to be hazarded in the impending, de- 
cisive electoral battle. The prudery of the Whig and radical party 
had to be thrown overboard. Now Bradlaugh’s election at Nort- 
hampton was not safe, despite the strong contingent of shoemakers in 
that town who belong to his ‘sect’; but these shoemakers had before 
voted for him like one man, and he had failed. But then there was 
another liberal candidate, difficult to place, because notorious for his 
‘affaires véreuses en matiére de finances’ ‘ and moreover damaged by some 
scandals of another sort (des gifles regus).? This man was Labouchere. 
He is one of the three proprietors of The Daily News, hence the part- 
ner of that gros bonnet‘ of the liberal party — the pzetist capitalist Sa- 
muel Morley. Difficult as it was to carry through either Bradlaugh or 
Labouchere, it was feasible to do so by making a couple of them. Sa- 
muel Morley’s-— the pietist’s — public recommendation (by printed 
letter) of the atheist Bradlaugh secured him the religious element of 
Northampton, while Bradlaugh secured to Labouchere the infidel 
shoemakers of that town. Thus both together passed as members for 
Northampton. 

The utter meanness of Bradlaugh shines most in the manoeuvres by 
which he has succeeded to oust all the other popular preachers of free 
thought (the scientific preachers address themselves to other couches 
sociales‘) such as Mrs Law, who wanted not to be his personal séides, § 
by appropriating to himself all the funds of the party. He even suc- 
ceeded to have all lecturing halls in London shut to them, while he 
built out of the party’s funds a lecturing hall for his own personal use. 
Mrs Law etc. were so confined to lecturing in the provinces. If it inter- 
ests you (but I think it is not worth while entering into details), you 
can have full information on this point from the persons concerned. 

Salut 
K. M. 

(Verte) * 

 in 1880-° at any cost-° shady dealings in financial matters-¢ slaps in the face - 

* bigwig-' social strata-* henchmen-* (Turn over)