London, 29 February 1888 

Dear Liebknecht, 

If you people will allocate 100 marks a quarter to Mrs Pfander, I shall 
do the same, in which case she will have £40 a year and that will safe- 
guard her against extreme indigence. 

After Pfander’s death she had a little money, opened a lodging house, 
but was necessarily restricted to a very second-rate neighbourhood; she 
was also unfortunate in other respects (e.g. let rooms to several paed- 
erasts who were found out)—in short, it didn’t work. Next she took a 
little shop, whereupon the daughter died who alone understood how to 
manage a small business of that sort—in short, the money melted away. 
Pfander’s brother, whom the former had at one time bought out of the 
army and supported for a long period, and who is in New Ulm, 
Minnesota, insisted upon her going over there with her other daughter. 
On arrival they found they were to be treated as ‘poor relations’ and do 
domestic service. Mrs Pfander was not slow to decide; she returned 
forthwith, having been there barely a fortnight. That ate up what little 
resources she had left. Since then everything possible has been done for 
her over here, but I am the only person here who can provide for her in 
the long run, though not with a sufficiency in view of all the other calls 
upon me. But, as I say, if your proposal goes through, the worst will be 
taken care of. In any case, it won’t be for very long. 

I read the Daily News in the morning, the Evening Standard and Pall 
Mall Gazette in the evenings and the Weekly Dispatch on Sundays. At the 
moment, that is; I sometimes ring the changes. But if there is anything 
interesting in them, I send it to Paris for Laura and cannot very well depart 
from this. However, I shall see what I can send you. Provided you are look- 
ing for literary contributions rather than politics, the Weekly Dispatch is at 
all events better than the Saturday Review. Belongs to Mrs Ashton Dilke, 
editor Dr Al. Hunter, M. P. for Aberdeen. It’s bigoted, middle class-radical, 
but comprehensive so far as English news is concerned, has much parlia- 
mentary gossip during session time, and first-rate correspondence from 
Paris (Mrs Crawford of the Daily News, who can speak her mind much 
more freely here). I’ll send it to you sometimes. 

I have never heard of the Irish tricolour you mention. The Irish flags 
in Ireland and over here are simply green, with a gold harp, but no crown 
(in the British Empire’s coat-of-arms there’s a crown above the harp). At 
the time of the Fenians, 1865-67,74? many people wore green and orange 
to show the Orangemen of the North”*° that they didn’t want to smash 
them but to accept them as brothers. But there’s no question of that now. 

I don’t think Bismarck is so stupid as to believe that the Russians would 
bea party to his crushing France. Constant squabbling between France and 
Germany is, after all, their chief means of dominating Europe and this 
implies their holding the scales. That Bismarck desires nothing more 
ardently than to sink France, if possible, beneath the waves is, of course, 
undeniable. But it won’t be so easy to do. The new French fortifications— 
the Mass and Moselle Lines, the two groups of fortresses in the north and 
southeast (Belfort, Besancon, Lyons, Dijon, Langres, Epinal) and, finally, 
the wonderful new groups of forts round Paris—have taken the wind out 
of his sails; as things are now, Germany cannot get the better of France or 
France the better of Germany. And that’s a very good thing. If the worst 
comes to the worst, the frontier will probably be the scene of a static war 
with changing fortunes, which will instill respect for their opponents into 
both armies and make possible a reasonable peace. On the other hand, the 
Russians may suffer a formidable drubbing, and that would be best of all. 

It’s just begun to snow again—for the past 3 weeks nothing but snow, 
frost and east wind, with a bit of a thaw in between-whiles. You would 
also seem to be having really filthy weather where you are. 

Many regards. 

Your 

RE. 

Do you know a workingman called Carl August Nitzer from 
Lindenau, who was allegedly expelled from Leipzig (after being held for 
3 months on remand), but then allegedly spent another 3 months agitat- 
ing on behalf of Viereck before fleeing (which is why, he says, he cannot 
produce an expulsion order)? The laddie has come to me two or three 
times asking for money, but he gives the impression of being a case-hard- 
ened layabout and sponger.