instinct and plebeian energy got the better of
his indefiniteness, and, therefore, indecisive political persuasion
and knowledge. In such moments he raised himself far above the usual
standard of his capacities.

Thus, in Vienna, he saw at a glance that here, not in the midst of the
would-be elegant debates of Frankfort, the fate of his country would
have to be decided. He at once made up his mind, gave up all idea of
retreat, took a command in the revolutionary force, and behaved with
extraordinary coolness and decision. It was he who retarded for a
considerable time the taking of the town, and covered one of its sides
from attack by burning the Tabor Bridge over the Danube. Everybody
knows how, after the storming, he was arrested, tried by
court-martial, and shot. He died like a hero. And the Frankfort
Assembly, horrorstruck as it was, yet took the bloody insult with a
seeming good grace. A resolution was carried, which, by the softness
and diplomatic decency of its language, was more an insult to the
grave of the murdered martyr than a damning stain upon Austria. But it
was not to be expected that this contemptible Assembly should resent
the assassination of one of its members, particularly of the leader of
the Left.

LONDON, March, 1852.

FOOTNOTES:

[8] "Die Neue Rheinische Zeitung" (The New Rhenish Gazette). After the
March revolution, 1848, Marx returned from Paris to Germany, and
settling down--for the time being--at Cologne, founded this paper.
Although the "Neue Rheinische Zeitung" never went in for propounding
"Communist schemes," as Mr. Dawson, e.g., says it did, it became a
very nightmare to the Government. Reactionaries and Liberals alike
denounced the "Gazette," especially after Marx's brilliant defence of
the Paris Insurrection of June. The state of siege being declared in
Cologne, the "Gazette" was suspended for six weeks--only to appear
with a bigger reputation and bigger circulation than before. After the
Prussian "coup d'etat" in November, the "Gazette" published at the
head of every issue an appeal to the people to refuse to pay taxes,
and to meet force by force. For this and certain other articles the
paper was twice prosecuted. On the first occasion the accused were
Marx, Engels, and Korff; on the second and more important trial, they
were Marx, Schapper, and Schneider. The accused were charged with
"inciting the people to armed resistance against the Government and
its officials." Marx mai