Enclosed is a Marseillaise, which should, however, be returned with the preceding one. I haven t read it myself yet. The article was written jointly by Jennychen and myself because she didn t have sufficient time. That is also why she hasn t answered your letter and sends Mrs. Lizzy her thanks for the shamrock provisionally through me. From the enclosed letter from Pigott to Jenny you ll see that Mrs. O Donovan, to whom Jenny sent a private letter together with 1 Marseillaise, took her for a gentleman, even though she signed it Jenny Marx. I answered Pigott today on behalf of Jennychen and took the opportunity to explain to him in short my views on the Irish question. ... The sensation caused by Jennychen s second letter (which contained the condensed translation of O Donovan s letter) in Paris and London has robbed the loathsome and importunate (but very fluent with gab and pen) Talandier of his sleep. He had denounced the Irish as Catholic idiots in the Marseillaise. Now he espouses their cause no less fullmouthed in a review of what has been said in the Times, Daily Telegraph and Daily News about O Donovan s letter. Since Jennychen s second letter was unsigned (by accident) he apparently flattered himself with the idea that he would be considered the secret sender. This has been frustrated by Jennychen s third letter. This fellow is du reste a teacher of French at the military school of Sandhurst.
Letters: Marx-Engels Correspondence 1870