Letter to Karl Marx, September 21, 1878

Author(s)	Friedrich Engels
Written	21 September 1878

First published in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 4, Stuttgart, 1913
Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 45

ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Littlehampton,^[1] 21 September 1878

Dear Moor,

I return Kaub's letter herewith. Hirsch would appear to have taken literally Mesa's assurance that, as a German, he would be invulnerable in Paris. Now he's likely to pay for it with a spell in jug, for they'll remand him in custody for as long as they can.^[2]

Barry's adventures really are killing. I, too, saw Levy's brilliant article⁶ at a pub where I went to shelter from the rain. The paper⁰ is worthy of the man.

It is high time there was a change in Constantinople, otherwise the numerous provincial insurrections will bring about a state of affairs conducive to the collapse of European Turkey—i.e. exactly what Bismarck and the Russians want so as to fish in troubled waters and not implement the Treaty of Berlin.^[3] Midhat's return to Crete and a bold coup on his part could give a different turn to things. If the present state of affairs continues, the Russians will stay there and the renewed prospects of plunder this will give them might also stem the natural course of things inside Russia itself.

We are just off to spend a couple of hours in Brighton.

Your

F. E.

↑ After Lizzy Burns' death on 12 September 1878, Engels left for Littlehampton (on 16 September).
↑ The second French workers' congress held in Lyons on 28 January-8 February 1878 decided that an international socialist congress would be held in Paris in September, during the world industrial exhibition. Its convocation was initiated first and foremost by Jules Guesde. The French government banned the congress, but on 4 September the delegates assembled in Paris met unofficially, since it was already too late to try and convene a congress in Lausanne. The police dispersed the participants and arrested 38 people, Guesde among them. They appeared in court on 24 October. Carl Hirsch, who was present at the meeting as a reporter, was arrested on 6 September, kept in custody until 9 October, and then deported.
↑ On 3 March (19 February) 1878, Russia and Turkey signed a preliminary peace treaty in San Stefano (near Constantinople). The treaty's provisions included the establishment of an autonomous Bulgarian principality which would be nominally dependent on Turkey, state sovereignty for Serbia, Montenegro and Romania and their territorial expansion. It consolidated Russia's position in the Balkans, which brought counteraction on the part of Britain and Austria-Hungary, who even resorted to a show of strength (a British squadron entered the Sea of Marmara, etc.). Russia was thus forced to agree to the convocation of an international congress to revise those sections of the treaty that involved 'common European interests'. The congress, in which Russia, Britain, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, Germany, France and Italy took part, was held in Berlin between 13 (1) June and 13 (1) July 1878. It resulted in the Treaty of Berlin which significantly amended the provisions of the San Stefano Treaty. The territory of self-governing Bulgaria was cut by more than half, and the Bulgarian territories south of the Balkan Ridge were to form Eastern Rumelia, an autonomous province that remained under the Sultan; the territory of Montenegro was also to be substantially curtailed. The Treaty of Berlin confirmed the provision of the San Stefano Treaty that Russia was to receive back the part of Bessarabia severed from it in 1856 and sanctioned the occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary. After the Berlin congress the Balkans remained a focus of conflict, which led to the First World War.

[1] After Lizzy Burns' death on 12 September 1878, Engels left for Littlehampton (on 16 September).

[2] The second French workers' congress held in Lyons on 28 January-8 February 1878 decided that an international socialist congress would be held in Paris in September, during the world industrial exhibition. Its convocation was initiated first and foremost by Jules Guesde. The French government banned the congress, but on 4 September the delegates assembled in Paris met unofficially, since it was already too late to try and convene a congress in Lausanne. The police dispersed the participants and arrested 38 people, Guesde among them. They appeared in court on 24 October. Carl Hirsch, who was present at the meeting as a reporter, was arrested on 6 September, kept in custody until 9 October, and then deported.

[3] On 3 March (19 February) 1878, Russia and Turkey signed a preliminary peace treaty in San Stefano (near Constantinople). The treaty's provisions included the establishment of an autonomous Bulgarian principality which would be nominally dependent on Turkey, state sovereignty for Serbia, Montenegro and Romania and their territorial expansion. It consolidated Russia's position in the Balkans, which brought counteraction on the part of Britain and Austria-Hungary, who even resorted to a show of strength (a British squadron entered the Sea of Marmara, etc.). Russia was thus forced to agree to the convocation of an international congress to revise those sections of the treaty that involved 'common European interests'. The congress, in which Russia, Britain, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, Germany, France and Italy took part, was held in Berlin between 13 (1) June and 13 (1) July 1878. It resulted in the Treaty of Berlin which significantly amended the provisions of the San Stefano Treaty. The territory of self-governing Bulgaria was cut by more than half, and the Bulgarian territories south of the Balkan Ridge were to form Eastern Rumelia, an autonomous province that remained under the Sultan; the territory of Montenegro was also to be substantially curtailed. The Treaty of Berlin confirmed the provision of the San Stefano Treaty that Russia was to receive back the part of Bessarabia severed from it in 1856 and sanctioned the occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary. After the Berlin congress the Balkans remained a focus of conflict, which led to the First World War.

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