up to the impatience of some people, let them not forget that it is the working-class which keeps alive the finest qualities of the English character, and that if a step in advance is once gained in England, it is, as a rule, never lost afterwards. If the sons of the old chartists, for reasons explained above, were not quite up to the mark, the grandsons bid fair to be worthy of their forefathers.
But the triumph of the European working-class does not depend upon England alone. It can only be secured by the co-operation of, at least, England, France and Germany. In both the latter countries the working-class movement is well ahead of England. In Germany it is even within measurable distance of success. The progress it has there made during the last twenty-five years is unparalleled. It advances with ever-increasing velocity. If the German middle-class have shown themselves lamentably deficient in political capacity, discipline, courage, energy, and perseverance, the German working-class have given ample proof of all these qualities. Four hundred years ago, Germany was the starting-point of the first upheaval of the European middle-class; as things are now, is it outside the limits of possibility that Germany will be the scene, too, of the first great victory of the European proletariat?
F. Engels.
April 20th, 1892.
