AT LE PERREUX 
London, 12 July 1891 

My dear Laura, 

Paul sends me from Lille the enclosed.?7* As I do not know where 
he may be now, I return and reply to you. 

First I have absolutely no time to do un vrai travail* for Duc- 
Quercy, in order that he may make out of it wn article a sensation. | am 
finishing the Origin,” and then I shall go and recover a bit of nervous 
tension, as I do feel rather unstrung. And after that—the 3rd volume‘ 
and nothing else. That is settled long since and cannot and shall not 
be unsettled. 

If I was to write on such a ticklish question and for such a ticklish 
public as the French, I should certainly do it myself under my name; 
but never allow a journalist to turn my letter into an interview and 
put into my mouth, French fashion, not what I did say but what in 
his opinion I ought to have said. 

But finally I am not capable of writing on the 3 questions proposed 
in a style to please the French bourgeois and readers of the Figaro. 
I should have to remind them of the fact that by their submission, for 
20 years, to the adventurer Louis Bonaparte they laid the foundation 
for all the wars that have come over us since 1850, including the 
Franco-German war; that that war originated, en dernier lieu,’ in 
their claim to interfere in German internal affairs, a claim which 
they even now think they have a right to; that if they lost Alsace etc. 
cétait la fortune de la guerre’ and that I do most distinctly object 
to the whole fate of Europe and of the working class being made 
subordinate to the question as to who is to have that miserable 
bit of country. All this might be very useful to tell them, but would 
they even listen to it without accusing me of having stolen a 
pendule? 

a 

a great amount of work-" the fourth German edition of The Origin of the Family, 
Private Property and the State-° of Capital-“ eventually -° it was the fortune of war 

Engels to Laura Lafargue. 12 July 189} 219 

However that may be, I have no time and cannot submit to Duc- 
Quercy’s manipulations. These are the two decisive points. 

What Paul has written to me about Renard and his intended dec- 
laration, that Ae said the words attributed to Paul, he will have let 
you know even before me. I hope these things will help to smash up 
the verdict.?7° 

Edward * is at St Margaret’s Bay, he suffers from the kidneys again; 
so we shall have only Tussy and Sam Moore here. Wednesday” 
Louise intends going to Vienna, I expect Schorlemmer and then we 
will see what we may do. I have no fixed plans yet for the summer, 
but various nebulous projects are colliding in my brain. 

Another thing. I should not like just now to speak about matters 
connected with the Vollmar affair?’° while the thing is being 
thrashed out in Germany. Anything I said in France might be used, 
misused and abused against them in Germany, and render their posi- 
tion more difficult. And it is well known to them all that I have re- 
fused to do any work for anybody until after the conclusion of Volume 
IIL‘ 

I believe I sent you the second batch of Field-Burrows letters in The 
Star. Anyhow the matter has blown over—thanks to the accident 
of the Belgian Circular of 18th June.?! This complete submission of 
the Belgians to the Halle Resolutions so upset all Hyndman’s calcula- 
tions that he is now in a towering rage against them, threatens them 
with his vengeance, but still holds back. In the meantime he ruins his 
last hopes in the East End by attacking the Gas Workers (most of 
the leaders of whom are in the Social Democratic Federation 27°) and 
Tussy whom he calls Miss Marx. That’s the degree of lowness he has 
come to. 

Kind regards from Louise. 

Ever yours, 
F.E. 

Tussy and I have just been talking over Nimmy’s inscription. After 
various proposals of various epithets, to all of which objections may 

* Aveling-? 15 July-° of Capital 

be made, I incline to Tussy’s proposal to put nothing but the name. 
Then the inscription would run 

In memory of 
Jenny Marx 
and of 
Karl Marx 
and of 
Harry Longuet 
also of 
Helen Demuth 
Born January Ist 1823, Died November 4th 1890 
What do you think?