Letter to Edward Spencer Beesly, September 12, 1870

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 12 September 1870


First published in The Social-Democrat, Vol. VII, No. 4, London, 1903
Published in English in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 44
Collection(s): The Social-Democrat

To Edward Spencer Beesly in London

[London,] 12 September 1870

My dear Sir,

Last Wednesday[1] A. Serraillier, a member of the General Council of the International Workmen's Association, went to Paris as the plenipotentiary of the Council. He thought it his duty to remain there, not only for taking part in the defence, but to bring his influence to bear upon our Paris Federal Council, and he is, in point of fact, a man of superior intellectual quality. His wife was to-day informed of his resolution. Unfortunately, she is not only sans sou,[2] she and her child, but the creditors of Serraillier having claims to the amount of about £12, threaten to sell her furniture and throw her on the street. Under these circumstances I and my friends have resolved to come to the rescue, and it is for this that I take the liberty to call, by this letter, also on you and your friends.

You will find that the Address[3] I laid before the General Council, Friday last, and which is in course of printing, coincides on many points almost literally with your pamphlet.[4]

My opinion is, that Paris will be forced to capitulate, and from the private letters I receive from Paris it appears that some influential members of the Provisional Government are prepared for such a turn of events.

Serraillier writes me to-day that the haste with which the Prussians march upon Paris, is the only thing in the world able to prevent a new Insurrection of June[5] ! Paris fallen, France will be far from lost if the provinces do their duty.

The Federal Council of Paris bombards me with telegrams, all to this effect: Recognition of the French Republic by England. In point of fact, it is most important for France. It is the only thing you can at present do for her. The King of Prussia[6] treats officially Bonaparte as the ruling Sovereign of France. He wants to restore him. The French Republic will not exist officially before its recognition by the British Government. But no time is to be lost. Will you allow your Queen[7] and your oligarchs, under the dictation of Bismarck, to abuse the immense influence of England?

Yours faithfully,

Karl Marx

Apropos. There is just now much useless talk in the English Press about 'our defences'. In case of a war with Prussia or the other military powers of the Continent, you have one, but this one an infallible, means of attack—to destroy their maritime commerce. You can do so only by re-vindicating your 'maritime rights', which by a Ministerial intrigue, not by any sanction of Parliament, were in the Paris Treaty of 1856 surrendered to Russia. Russia considers this point of such decisive importance, that she caused Prussia, at the very commencement of this war, to exaggerate those clauses of the Paris 'understanding'.[8] Prussia was, of course, but too willing. In the first instance she had no navy. In the second instance, it is, of course, the common interest of the continental military powers to make England, the only great maritime power of Europe, surrender the most telling means of maritime warfare on the plea of humanity! The privilege of inhumanity—and you can make no war in a 'humane' way—being reserved for the land forces! Besides, this diplomatic 'philanthropy' supposes that property—always on sea, not on land—is more sacred than human life. This is the reason why the stultified English manufacturers and merchants allowed themselves to be duped by the Paris clauses on maritime war—of no possible use to them, because not accepted by the United States. And only in a war with them such a proviso could be of any value to the moneymongers of England. The contempt with which England is at present treated by Prussia and Russia (the latter marching quietly to India) is only due to their knowledge that in an offensive land war she can do nothing, and that for a maritime war, where she could be everything, she has disarmed herself, or has been rather disarmed by the arbitrary act of Clarendon, acting under the secret instructions of Palmerston. Declare to-morrow that these clauses of the Paris treaty—not even drawn up in the form of treaty clauses—are waste paper, and I warrant you the tone of the continental bullies will change at once.

  1. ↑ 7 September
  2. ↑ penniless
  3. ↑ K. Marx, 'Second Address of the General Council of the International Working Men's Association on the Franco-Prussian War'.
  4. ↑ E. S. Beesly, A Word for France: Addressed to the Workmen of London.
  5. ↑ The reference is to the heroic uprising of Paris workers on 23-26 June 1848.
  6. ↑ William I
  7. ↑ Queen Victoria
  8. ↑ This refers to the'' Déclaration réglant divers points de droit maritime'' (Declaration Regulating Various Items of Maritime Law), a supplement to the Paris Peace Treaty of 1856 which marked the end of the Crimean War of 1853-56. It was signed on 16 April 1856 by the representatives of Austria, France, Britain, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia and Turkey. The Declaration formulated the rules of war at sea, incorporating the principles of armed neutrality, which were proclaimed in 1780 by the government of Catherine II and envisaged the abolition of privateering, immunity of neutral cargo in enemy vessels and of enemy cargo in neutral vessels (with the exception of war contraband), and the recognition only of a real blockade. Lord Clarendon, British representative at the Paris Congress, signed the Declaration on behalf of his country.