COLOGNE r 75At length she appeared before the magistrate who was astonished
that the police had not carried their attentions to the extent of arresting
the small children too. The interrogation could only be a farce since the
only crime of my wife consisted in the fact that, although she belonged
to the Prussian aristocracy, she shared the democratic opinions of her
husband. I will not enter into all the details of this revolting affair. I
will only say that, on our release, the 24 hours had just expired and we
had to leave without even being able to take away our most indispens-
able belongings.^5This whole affair caused widespread protests in Brussels which resulted
in questions being asked in the Chamber of Deputies and the dismissal
of the police commissioner concerned. On her release Jenny Marx sold
what she could, left her silver plate and best linen in the charge of a
friend, and the whole family was conducted, under police escort, to the
frontier. Travelling was difficult since in Belgium there were large-scale
troop movements while in France portions of the track had been torn up
by those who had been put out of business by the railway. The Marx
family eventually reached Paris the following day after a miserably cold
journey.
In the city, charred ruins and the debris of recent barricades were still
evident. The tricolour was everywhere, accompanied by the red flag. Marx
settled his family in the Boulevard Beaumarchais, near the Place de la
Bastille, and urged Engels (who had remained behind in Brussels) to
collect his old debts and use them to bring his silver and other possessions
over the frontier as far as Valenciennes. Revolutionary enthusiasm was
still strong in Paris, and Marx took an active part in the meetings of the
Society of the Rights of Man, one of the largest of the 147 political clubs
in existence in Paris in early 1848. The club had been sponsored by
Ledru-Rollin and Flocon, and Marx joined it the same day he arrived in
the city. Later he is known to have spoken in favour of deferring the
elections to the National Assembly and for the easier recruitment of
working men into the National Guard.^6 Marx's main activities, however,
were naturally among the expatriate Germans, many of whom were quite
carried away by revolutionary enthusiasm. Before Marx's arrival the
German Democratic Association had decided - as had the other main
emigre groups - to form a German Legion. Recruits soon numbered
several thousand and exercises were held on the Champ de Mars through-
out March. The Provisional Government, by no means unwilling to see
the departure of so many possible trouble-makers, placed barracks at the
disposal of the Legion and granted them fifty centimes a day per man
for the march to the frontier. Following the tradition of 1789 , the leaders
of the Legion - Bornstedt, who was a member of the Communist League,