Manuscript in Engels's hand, signed «Justitia», London, 7 August 1871; on the second page, below it, Marx's covering note to the editor of the same day. Manuscript preserved at the IISG (Karl Marx / Friedrich Engels Papers, inv. K 1673; Marx's note, on the same sheet, is C 785), transcribed from the digital facsimile by the Escuela de marxismo, 2026. Diplomatic transcription: spelling, capitals and punctuation as in the manuscript; underlining rendered as italics; deletions as text only where they can be read with certainty, otherwise [ilegible]; interlinear additions inserted where marked, with a note; [?] after an uncertain reading; [ilegible] for an illegible word. The facsimile of this sheet is of lower resolution than the others. Traducción al español

To the Editor of the Times

Sir — The note of the [ilegible] Journal Officiel, [ilegible] The remarks of the Times on the repeated postponements of the trial of the Communist prisoners at Versailles1 have undoubtedly [ilegible] hit the nail on the head & have expressed the feeling of the French public.2 This [ilegible] The angry3 note of the Journal Officiel in reply to these remarks is but one of the many proofs of the fact. [ilegible] In consequence of the article in the Times, many reclamations have been addressed to the Paris press, reclamations which, under the circumstances, had no chance of being4 [ilegible] published. I have before me [ilegible] the letter of a5 Frenchman whose official position [ilegible] enables him to know the facts he is writing about, [ilegible] & whose testimony as to the motives of this unaccountable delay may ought to have some value. Here are some extracts from this letter:

„Nobody as yet knows when the 3rd Court-martial will open its sittings. [ilegible] The cause of this appears to be that [ilegible] Captain Grimal, Commissaire de la République (public accuser) has been superseded by another & more reliable man; it had been found out [ilegible] at the last moment, [ilegible] on perusal of his general report wh. was to be read in court, that he was perhaps a little bit of a republican, that he had served under Faidherbe &c, in the Army of the North &c — well, all at once another officer, [ilegible] presents himself at his office saying: here is my Commission, I am your successor; the poor captain6 was so surprised that he went nearly mad . . . . .

Mr [?] Thiers has the pretention to do everything by7 himself this mania goes so far that not only has he called together, contrary to all rules of fairness8 [ilegible], all the juges d'instruction in his cabinet, but he pretends even to regulate, [ilegible] de St. Hilaire, the composition of the public to be admitted into the Court; he himself, through M. B. de St. Hilaire, distributes the tickets of admission . . . .

„In the mean [ilegible] time the prisoners at Satory die like flies — un[?]pitiless death works faster than the justice of these little Statesmen . . There is in the Versailles Cellular prison a big fellow who does not speak a word of French; he is believed supposed to be an Irishman. How he got into this trouble is still a mystery. — Amongst the prisoners there is a very [ilegible] honest man called ——, he has been9 [ilegible] in his cell for two months & has not yet been examined. It is infamous."

I am Sir
Your obedt Servt
Justitia.
London 7th August 1871.

  1. The underlining of this phrase, in two lines, is not quite certain in the facsimile. ↩

  2. «have expressed the feeling of the French public» written in small letters between the lines, partly in the left margin, after «head &». ↩

  3. «angry» written above the line. ↩

  4. «had no chance of being» written above the line, over the deleted words. ↩

  5. «a» written above the line. ↩

  6. «the poor» is struck through, but a row of dots runs beneath the words: the deletion is cancelled (stet); no other subject is written for «was so surprised». ↩

  7. «by» written above the line. ↩

  8. «fairness» written above the deleted word. ↩

  9. «has been» written above the line, over a deleted word. ↩