Private 13 Ball StKensington Gardens W.Sep. 15th 1871Dear Marx,

As a sort of sponsor to Mr M’Donnell I think it my duty to bring the enclosed extract of a letter addressed to me under your notice. I must explain that I was recently in Ireland & made it my business to go quietly amongst “the patriots” and estimate men & things. I was not struck with great admiration, for I found a deal of narrow-mindedness, egotism, selfishness, jealousy, & vulgarity. Amongst others I made the acquaintance of Mr Murphy the managing man of the the Irishman. I spoke to him about the International, its prospects &c. and discussed the good it might do for Ireland. When he heard that M’Donnell was Irish Secretary he went off into a Hibernian tirade against him. I let him blow off all his steam & then set to work to ascertain what he had precisely to say of Mac. I could really get nothing more definite out of him than that Mac. was mistrusted in Ireland, so far as he was known at all, that he had been so long out of the Country that he had no influence & was forgotten, that he had traded (in England) in Irish patriotism, & so forth.

At length (over the cup which cheers & at the same time inebriates) I got from Mr Murphy an account of a personal altercation of rather a comic character which he had had in England with Mac. It seems that he called upon Mac. to state the results of a certain secret mission he had been making, & Mac. declined most positively to do so & in an offensive manner. I believe he handed a lighted candle to Murphy and, presenting his head to him, requested him to be kind enough to examine his phrenological developments & see if he was a fool. It seemed to me that Mr Murphy had a strong prejudice & bitter feeling against Mac. & therefore I was in no hurry to communicate his sentiments to you. Miss Goulds letter, & the announcement that war is to be declared against Mac. in the Irishman, now makes it necessary that I should state the whole affair to you without bias. As I say I mistrust Murphy’s judgement of Mac., but still he may be right in some things—for instance in regard to Mac’s. want of influence in Ireland. If I might venture a suggestion I would say that I think it might be as well to try & conciliate Murphy a little. He is apparently a man of influence in Ireland, and he spoke about being able to firmly establish the International in that country. He might be allowed to try, & it might be a good arrangement to have Mac. as Irish Secretary in England, and Murphy or some one else Irish Secretary in Ireland. That would probably satisfy all parties.

For an individual who has an entire mistrust in your diabolical association I manifest a singular interest in it, n’est ce pas?

Anyhow I tender you my sincere congratulations on not being dead yetEine Falschmeldung über Marx’ Tod erschien zuerst in der Pariser Zeitung „L'Avenir“ (On annonce ce matin la mort... In: L'Avenir libéral. Paris. Nr. 376, 5. September 1871) und wurde anschließend von anderen internationalen Zeitungen übernommen; siehe hierzu auch N. Thieblin an Marx, 7.9.1871; Marx an Engels, 8.9.1871, J. R. Dakyns an Engels, 9.9.1871, J. Daly an Engels, 11.9.1871 und N. F. Daniel’son an E. Marx, 12.9.1871..

Kindly remember me to Madame Marx & your estimable daughters.And believe me to be,Dear DoctorVery sincerely yoursJ. D. Daly

I will call and see you and Mr Engels some day, if convenient to you. J. D.

Extract of a letter from Miss A. J. Gould, Ballymacoll House, Dunboyne, Co: Meath, Ireland; dated Sep. 14th 1871.

“I must not forget a massage from Mr Murphy (manager of the Irishman) to whom I was speaking yesterday. He asked me if you had left Dublin, and said that in talking with you of the International he had taken occasion to let you know that the Irish Secretary, Mr M’Donnell, is utterly distrusted in Ireland and considered a mere political trickster. He then asked me if I happened to be writing to you to mention that as Mr M’Donnells appointment had been notified in the Irish papers (the Mail amongst others) the Irishman considers it its duty now to express its opinion concerning the untrustworthiness of the Irish Secretary. I promised to repeat this to you &c. &c. &c.”.