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Title: To the Editor of The Times, 7 August (1871)
Description: Letter by Engels, signed «Justitia», on the repeated postponement of the Versailles trials of the Communard prisoners, with extracts from a Frenchman's letter.
Author: Friedrich Engels
Date: 1871-08-07
URL: https://marxismo.school/archivo/marx-engels/originales/1871%20To%20the%20Editor%20of%20The%20Times%2C%207%20August
---


*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](https://marxismo.school/archivo/marx-engels/1871%20Al%20redactor%20de%20The%20Times%2C%207%20de%20agosto)*

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 Versailles*[^1] have undoubtedly ~~[ilegible]~~ hit the nail on the head & have expressed the feeling of the French public.[^2] ~~This~~ ~~[ilegible]~~ The angry[^3] 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 being[^4] ~~[ilegible]~~ published. I have before me ~~[ilegible]~~ the letter of a[^5] 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 captain[^6] was so surprised that he went nearly mad . . . . .

Mr [?] Thiers has the pretention to do everything by[^7] himself this mania goes so far that not only has he called together, contrary to all rules of fairness[^8] ~~[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 been[^9] ~~[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.