KARL MARX

3I8 KARL MARX: A BIOGRAPHY
when it finally collapsed after little more than three months, had to meet
the outstanding printer's bill himself in order to avoid a scandal. 73
Thus Vogt had no difficulty in identifying Marx as the source of the
attack on him and replied in kind in his own paper. The matter would have
rested there had not Liebknecht discovered the galleys of an anonymous
pamphlet repeating the accusations against Vogt which was being printed
on the same press as Das Volk and had, according to the typesetter, been
handed in by Blind whose handwriting he also claimed to have recognised
in the proof corrections. Liebknecht sent off a copy to the Augsburger
Allgemeine Zeitung, one of the leading conservative papers, for which he
was London correspondent. On publication, Vogt prosecuted the Augsburger,
which turned to Liebknecht for justification, who turned to Marx,
who turned to Blind. Blind, however, refused to admit authorship of the
pamphlet. Vogt's case against the Augsburger was dismissed on a legal
technicality, though the fact that the defence had been unable to substantiate
the accusations constituted a moral victory for him. This victory was
enhanced by the publication in the Augsburger of a statement by Blind
denying authorship of the pamphlet and supporting this with statements
from the printer and typesetter whom he had suborned. Marx managed
to secure an affidavit from the typesetter to the effect that the pamphlet
really was in Blind's handwriting, and threatened Blind with prosecution.
This produced a declaration in the Daily Telegraph that a friend of Blind's
family, named Schaible, had been the author of the pamphlet; and at least
Marx was exonerated.
There, too, the matter might have rested had not Vogt produced a
book entitled My Action against the Allgemeine Zeitung. This included all
the proceedings and documents of the trial followed by a commentary
that branded Marx as a forger and a blackmailer who lived off the
contributions of the proletariat while only having respect for pure-bred
aristocrats like his brother-in-law Ferdinand von Westphalen. The book
sold all its first printing of 3000 copies and immediately went into a
second edition. The Berlin National Zeitung published two long leading
articles drawn from Vogt's assertions, the arrival of which in London
towards the end of January i860 sent Marx into a panic. He tried to keep
the news from Jenny but of course she found out and was in a 'truly
shattering state'. 74 Marx also quarrelled violently with Freiligrath with
whom his relations had become increasingly strained: Freiligrath had
refused to heed his warning not to participate in the Schiller festival
organised by Kinkel in November 1859; and he had dissociated himself
abruptly from Das Volk when Liebknecht had mistakenly alleged that he
was one of its collaborators. Marx's rage boiled over when he was informed
- again mistakenly - that Vogt's book reprinted letters from Freiligrath