London, 6 October 1891 

Dear August, 

Herewith what you need in regard to the Cuno-Leibfried case.?°* 

But now I think you would be well-advised to stop bombarding 
poor Ede with letters about Lassalle '7*; he is becoming tremendously 
irritable because of them and so confused over what you people, on the 
one hand, are demanding and what ke, on the other, considers to be 
his duty, that this sort of thing can only make matters worse and he’ll 
end up by producing nothing but contradictory material. You are as 
much to blame as Ede for the fact that the note 3°° is in it at all, and to 

* See this volume, pp. 237-38, 248-49, 251.-° Engels’ jocular name. -° Paul Lafargue 

condemn this excellent work in its entirety because of one wretched 
note is surely not right. I told him not to let this deflect him from his 
purpose, but to continue wearing the velvet glove over the iron fist 
and I also said that you would be grateful to him in the long run for 
having criticised Lassalle in this way. For it’s clear to me that were 
you to re-read Lassalle’s stuff now, you yourselves would be surprised at 
what it contains and at the faith in the false hero which, out of cour- 
tesy, you forced yourselves to profess when consorting with the Las- 
salleans at the time of the Anti-Socialist Law.!! I’m positive that 
you, as also a whole lot of chaps who still cling to the Lassallean tradi- 
tion, no longer have any knowledge whatever of what the man said 
and wrote (indeed, said and wrote for the most part against his better 
judgment). And hence the new edition of Lassalle will have a tho- 
roughly beneficial effect on you people as well, provided only that 
you read the works of the prophet’s critic. 

Lafargue is not yet out of prison, but if the government doesn’t re- 
lease him during election time, he will probably be elected in 
Lille.*!? The prospects are rosy; Delory would have got in all right 
at the last election had not the by now routed Boulangists collared a 
whole mass of working men’s votes. 

In Paris there could easily be a government crisis. Rouvier is 
a shady individual, more so than is tolerable and, now that Boulanger 
has met his end, Constans is no longer needed and is detested by Car- 
not because he wants to step into the latter’s shoes. Freycinet & Co. 
also want to get rid of Rouvier and Constans and so it may easily 
come to a split when the Chamber assembles on the 15th. 

I’m glad to see that Dietz has paid you my fee. 

Louise asks me to tell you that the photographs have arrived; very 
many thanks from us all; she has taken one of the two identical ones 
and I the profile. 

Warm regards to your wife* and yourself from Louise and 

Your 
F. E.