THE 'ECONOMICS'^3 '1^74fanatical adherent of our doctrine and our two persons. He bores me
sometimes with his enthusiasm which is the opposite of his cold style in
medical matters. But he understands, and he is upright, reckless, unselfish,
and - what is most important - convinced.'^183
While in Hanover, Marx was amused to be invited by a messenger
from Bismarck to 'put his great talents to the service of the German
people'.^184 Two years previously Marx had received a similar invitation,
transmitted via Lothar Bucher, to write financial articles for the Prussian
Government's official journal. Marx subsequently published his correspon-
dence with Bucher, to Bismarck's embarrassment, at the height of the
anti-socialist agitation in 1878. The visit to Germany had a strange sequel,
which is worth telling in Marx's own words:The crossing from Hamburg to London, was ... in general fair. Some
hours before London a German girl whom I had already noticed for
her military stance, explained to me that she wanted to go on the same
evening to Weston Supra Mare and did not know how to deal with her
large amount of luggage. The situation was all the worse since on the
sabbath helpful hands are few in England. I got the girl to show me
the railway station that she had to go to in London; her friends had
written it on a card. It was the North Western, which I too would have
to pass by. So, as a good knight, I offered to drop the girl off there.
Accepted. On thinking it over, however, it occurred to me that Weston
Supra Mare was South West of London whereas the station that I
would pass by and that the girl had written on her card was North
West. I consulted the Sea Captain. Correct. The upshot was that she
was to be set down in quite the other end of London from myself. Yet
I had committed myself and had to put a good face on it. At two
o'clock in the afternoon we arrived. I brought la donna errante to her
station where I learnt that her train left only at eight in the evening.
So I was in for it and had to kill six hours with mademoiselle walking
in Hyde Park, sitting in ice-cream shops, and so on. It came out that
she was called Elisabeth von Puttkamer, Bismarck's niece, with whom she
had just spent some weeks in Berlin. She had the whole army list with
her.. .. She was a spirited, cultured girl, but aristocratic and black and
white to the tip of her nose. She was not a little astonished to learn
that she had fallen into 'red' hands. I comforted her, however, with the
assurance that our rendezvous would pass off without 'loss of blood'
and saw her off safe and sound to the place of her destination. You can
imagine what an uproar this would cause with Blind or other vulgar
democrats - my conspiracy with Bismarck.""Whether the meeting was really pure chance or a 'plant' is impossible to
say.
The printing went slowly and, although Marx was able to correct the