1861
Dear Frederick,
I have mislaid your letter received this morning[232] and hence cannot remember how much it would cost to send the Revelations" to Petsch. Those I still had in stock had already been sent to him last week.[24]'
Have heard from Siebel. He had just returned to Elberfeld after spending his honeymoon in Paris. Has distributed the 6 copies and ordered 6 more.6 It would be a good thing if you could give him some advice as to how it should be advertised.
Tobyc has let out a prolonged cry of pain in the Freischütz.[248]
The most ghastly misprint (not listed) in Herr Vogt, repeated 3 or 4 times, was 'Nationalrat' [National Council] for 'Ständerat' [Council of States]. I have got Petsch to send out a correction explicitly to the Genfer Grenzpost.
The King of Prussia'sd death is most opportune. Qu'en dites-vous?"
My wife is improving daily, although she's still very weak. On Saturday, I emptied the last medicine bottle.
Borchardt has yet to be hauled over the coals.f
Salut.
Your
K. M.
141. Marx to Carl Siebel. 3 January
T h e whole FAMILY asks me to send you their warmest greetings and best wishes for the New Year. My letter's so short because my brother-in-law and sister[1]' are here. They sail tomorrow for the Cape of Good Hope.
141
MARX T O CARL SIEBEL
IN ELBEREELD
London, 3 January 1861 9 Grafton Terrace, Maitland Park,
Haverstock Hill
Dear Siebel,
HAPPY NEW YEAR! T o you and your BETTER HALF. I must acknowledge with many thanks the arrival of my library,[211] ditto of your letter.
Of the 6 COPIES of Herr Vogt you ordered, will you kindly send one to the Kölner Anzeiger, one to the Zeitung für Norddeutschland (Hanover), 3 to any literary journals you please. The main thing is that you yourself should read through a copy and yourself do a notice of it.
As for the Kölner Anzeiger, you might use this little sheet as a weapon against the Kölnische Zeitung. Sales of the book are going so well that Petsch is 'contemplating' a second edition. In such an event, it would be of the utmost importance that you should, if possible, supply me with everything that appears about it in Germany (I see nothing here but the
Allgemeine Zeitung, the Neue Preussische Zeitung, and the Volks-Zeitung), and keep me au courante Ed. Meyen has already vented a heartrending 'cry of pain' in the Freischütz.'[248] Vivat sequens!'
142. Marx to Carl Siebel. 3 January
Next time, you might try and find time to write to me at somewhat greater length.
I have been very unfortunate of late. My wife was dangerously ill for 5 weeks and I had to lodge the 3 children elsewhere.
As regards Schily, we'll knock some sense into him again.
Salut.
Your
K. Marx
142
MARX T O CARL SIEBEL
IN BARMEN
[London,] 3 January 1861
Dear Siebel,
I have just noticed that a letter I sent you — in reply to the one received from you today — was wrongly addressed, namely, Elberfeld, poste restante, C. Siebel, jun. This I now rectify.
Again my best wishes. I have just heard from Engels [2 3 2] who tells me that the busybody Dr Borchardt is most annoyed because I refer in Herr Vogt to the '3 German physicians'[3] in Manchester as fellow SUBSCRIBERS to Das Volk.b POOR
Salut.
FELLOW, THIS FULL-MOUTHED WISEACRE.
Your
K. M.
143. Engels to Marx. 7 January
143
ENGELS TO MARX[249]
IN LONDON
Manchester, 7 January 1861
Dear Moor,
The Revelations* will be despatched from here today or tomorrow post-paid to Petsch. The fellow had best stick a small label on the title page — London, A. Petsch & Co., 1861 — so that people know where it is to be had.
Can't you get me Toby's cry of pain[2]''c? Shall write to Siebel. In none of the German papers save the Kölnische'[3] have I found so much as an advertisement — which is surely odd.
Our old enemies are not escaping the fate they deserve. The editor en chef of the late lamented Strassburger Correspondent was, according to the Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung,^ "a certain Mr Wolfers of Cologne"—the worthy Wolfers of Dumont's paper'd— couldn't you somehow convey this to Biscamp for transmission to the Augsburg A. Z.? Also, that the chap is not a Rhinelander but a beastly Belgian. Schwanbeck dead of delirium tremens, the worthy Brüggemann disappeared and consigned to oblivion, and Wolfers openly in the pay of Bonaparte — what more can you ask?
Doubtless King William I will now make a real ass of himself as well. When he tells the Berliners that much has happened that was unjust,(1) perhaps he is referring to the enforced dismissal of Stieber.[250] Apropos. Another friend, griffin Greiff would appear from a report in the Neue Preussische ZeitungK to be gravely ill as the result of an apoplectic fit. It's a good sign, these chaps being bowled over like ninepins. That the change of monarch[251] should go so nicely hand in hand with the Austrian revolution[252] of all things, is capital. Even the Wochenschrift des Nationalvereinsh now
144. Marx to Engels. 8 January
declares that, unless Prussia moves fairly quickly, Austria will inevitably gain ascendancy in Germany. Things are going famously in Austria. Nothing could be more favourable than that stubbornly irresolute jackass Francis Joseph. Things are going famously and will be getting too much for Mr Bonaparte as well as for Franzi.
In North America things are also hotting up. With the slaves the situation must be pretty awful if the SOUTHERNERS are playing such a risky game.[203] The least irruption of irregulars from the North might result in a general conflagration. At all events, one way or another, slavery would appear to be rapidly nearing its end and hence also COTTON PRODUCTION. What repercussions this will have on England we shall soon see. And with such powerful movements under way, a jackass like Bonaparte thinks he can go on fishing in troubled waters indefinitely.
Many regards,
Your
F. E.
144
MARX TO ENGELS[67]
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 8 January 1861
Dear Frederick,
I myself only had Toby's cry of pain[248] for rapid perusal. Last week, by the way, I ordered 2 COPIES through Petsch, one of which you shall have.
Siebel's present address is Carl Siebel jun., Barmen (Kleine Wertherstrasse, No. 25).
Petsch has already advertised the Revelations'(1) in the Buchhändler-Börsenblatt.h' I've forbidden him to do so elsewhere out of consideration for Schapper.
As regards booksellers' advertisements of Herr Vogt, I have so far seen them only in the Reform," the Publicist^ the Freischütz,' and the Grenzpost.A Incidentally, I got Petsch to write, under my supervision, to all the chaps concerned, and thus the mystère will resolve itself within the next few days. He thinks it doesn't depend on the newspapers but on the booksellers, who have been putting the thing off until after Christmas and the New Year. And the advertisement goes into the newspapers only through the agency of the bookseller who is responsible for local sales. Mais nous verrons!e
You can see what a hapless creature I am! Last Wednesday/ (JUST A WEEK AGO) I got a cold and cough accompanied by a stabbing pain in the region of the liver, so that not only coughing, but turning my carcass from one side to the other, caused me physical PAINS. This seemed to me to indicate an inflammation. It was the first time I had felt a dolorg of this kind, although Allen had often asked me searchingly whether I had. This time — particularly since I am already encumbered with a hair-raising DOCTORS BILL, not to mention other BILLS,— I have so FAR been treating myself. The treatment was simple — no smoking, CASTOR OIL, drink only lemonade, eat little, no spirits whatever, do nothing, stay at home (since the cold air at once sets me coughing). I'm not quite well yet and somewhat weak. By the by, you might sometime ask Gumpert what one ought to do about such acute attacks, should they recur. I shall ask Allen as soon as I can go out again and am once more completely fit.
Salut.
Your
K. M.
My wife (who is slowly improving, but still very weak) and the children send their regards.
145. Marx to Engels. 10 January
145
MARX T O ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 10 January 1861
Dear Engels,
Yesterday I received the enclosed scrap of paper and thus can no longer avoid paying the agents £2 5/- for the books.[254] In addition, the TRANSPORT thereof to my house will cost ABOUT 10/-. Duty has been waived. I'd certainly not write to you about this nasty matter, but dura nécessitas* since I haven't a farthing.
Overleaf you will find a copy of a scrawl penned by H. Beta at Gottfried Kinkel's behest on the subject of Herr Vogt.
Your
K. M.
Magazin für Literatur des Auslands. 1861. No. 2. 'Herr Vogt—by Karl Marx. In the early years of the "refugees", many a little sum was doubtless expended on getting secret police to smell out frightful secrets and conspiracies. While the labour was great, the yield was rather pitiful. But as regards the fear inspired in many a refugee by the secret police, it was indeed quite desperate. Some men actually went mad as a result. Others, it is true, liked to boast about this fear, and to let all and sundry know that almost every state in Europe had assigned special spies to them. Boasting it was, not hypochondria. The devil in person eluded the notice of these small fry, even when he had them by the scruff of the neck. They ate and drank with him, entertained him as a friend at their tea-tables, and never noticed that his only object was to betray them,—not for 30 pieces of silver, not he! He was prepared to pay, and pay a lot, for the printing of this pamphlet with his own money. For ten years now the said Mr Karl Marx would seem to have laboured and snooped and nabbed letters and copied them so that he might appear on his own account and for his own delectation as the first among all your Vidocqs and Stiebers. All the long-forgotten rubbish and mistakes perpetrated by the emigration ten years since have been made use of, copied, extracted from friends over a cup of tea — not that one would wish to pillory the latter. In the space of ten years, any man, whether a refugee or not, is liable to write something nonsensical or over-hasty in private, counting on the discretion of friends, on its being swept away in the flow of time. But when friends carefully glean these occasional slips and snippets and deck them out with whimsy, thus raising a cloud of dust and filth, as in Mr Marx's pamphlets, when, for example, things uttered in an agitated hour ten years sinceh — (voilà Godofredum)'—are printed in bold so that one sees Mr Marx's desire to make a ribaldry, a disgusting little anecdote out of
146. Marx to Ferdinand Lassalle. 16 January
them,—then indeed everyone deserves to be pilloried. Mr Marx is a master of constructive denunciation. Vidocq, Ohm, Stieber, etc., are mere lambs by comparison. Many will delight in wading through this churned-up filth, for it is masterly calumnya; but we would urge caution on our readers: in the simian wilderness there are malicious baboons who, for want of other weapons, resort to ordure with which they bombard friend and foe alike. Beware: Throughout almost the whole of his 190 pages Mr Marx engages in this type of strategy, a type which eschews all expenditure on ammunition. Read it, by all means, but keep close at hand a basin of water and strong soap, not forgetting your smelling bottle!
H. B.'
Such is Gottfried's Beta (Betziche), former editor of Drucker's How Do You Do, and Gottfried's eulogistic arse-crawler in the Gartenlaube, etc. A fine crew! What a style and what nonsense!
146
MARX TO FERDINAND LASSALLE[255]
IN BERLIN
London, 16 January 1861 9 Grafton Terrace, Maitland Park, H aver stock Hill
Dear Lassalle,
D'abord^ my best if belated wishes for a Happy New Year. My wife is now convalescing. Her illness resulted in my falling seriously ill myself; and, at present, I am suffering from inflammation of the liver. And a very nice New Year's gift too! Hitherto, the complaint has merely been chronic. Now it is becoming acute.
This is the explanation for my silence, despite the very close sympathy felt both by my wife and myself for your sufferings. I hope that when you next write you'll have a better account to give me of yourself. If you would care to send me a fairly detailed report on your illness, I shall consult a doctor whom I regard as a veritable aesculapian genius." However, he does not live here, but in Manchester.
24fi 1861
I was greatly tickled by the Royal Prussian Amnesty[2]'0 which in effect excludes all refugees from its indulgence. Gottfried Kinkel, who has recently joined the National Association,[2]'[7] could, however, return, if a correct interpretation were put on the 'act of grace'. As for Bucher, Freiligrath, Borkheim, Zimmermann of Spandau, and many others, they have long been 'naturalised Englishmen'.
Faucher, former London correspondent of the Neue Preussische Zeitung, afterwards co-editor of the (MANCHESTER SCHOOL"'") Morning Star,— a chap, by the by, with whom anyone can consort since he does not conceal but, indeed, openly flaunts, a lack of character typical of the Berliners, and who isn't actually taken politically au sérieux'' by any of his acquaintances,—believes that he can now play the Prussian Cobden. Good luck to him. Such, at least, was his plan when he left London.
One of my friends, f. Ph. Becker, is at present with Garibaldi in Caprera. He has written, telling me that the Mazzinists were almost exclusively responsible for the serious part of the south Italian movement, that Garibaldi does not exactly possess a superfluity of brains, and that the utmost confusion reigns in his friends' camp. Garibaldi, by the by, agrees with Mazzini in believing that Cavour isn't even well-intentioned with regard to Victor Emmanuel, that he is rather Bonaparte's direct tool and that the Gaeta intervention,"'[9] as well as Farina's appointment to Sicily and Farini's to Naples, etc., are nothing but carefully calculated moves to compel Vic. Em. to make fresh territorial concessions to France, and concessions in favour of Murat in southern Italy. Which will succeed, and soon become manifest.
The slavery crisis in the United States will bring about a terrible crisis in England in a year or two; the Manchester COTTON LORDS are already beginning to tremble.
I seldom read German stuff. Recently, however, I happened upon A. Bastian, Der Mensch in der Geschichte, etc. I think it's a bad book, formless and pretentious. His endeavour to explain psychology in terms of 'natural science' amounts to little more than a pious wish. His endeavour to explain history in terms of 'psychology', on the other hand, shows that the man does not know what psychology is, or, for that matter, history.
Darwin's workh is most important and suits my purpose in that it provides a basis in natural science for the historical class
147. Marx to Engels. 18 January
struggle. One does, of course, have to put up with the clumsy English style of argument. Despite all shortcomings, it is here that, for the first time, 'teleology' in natural science is not only dealt a mortal blow but its rational meaning is empirically explained.
I have lately had the opportunity of seeing rather more German newspapers. Ghastly stuff. And, withal, a self-satisfied mediocrity which is indeed NAUSEOUS.
Could you send me the 2nd volume of Eichhoff's Polizei-Silhouetten? Not to be had here.
Another thing I have just read is Walesrode's Totenschau? Has some nice tales! But lamely presented, though this is excusable in view of the time of its publication.
Wishing you all good health, and with regards from my wife,
Your
K. M.
Mieroslawski, who has just been in Paris, told my friend Schily that things looked 'bad'. At the same time, he expressed himself most unfavourably with respect to 'Klapka'. Yet I myself can't quite make up my mind about Mieroslawski.
147
MARX TO ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
London, 18 January [1861] Dear Frederick,
You must excuse my failure to acknowledge receipt of the £3 ere now. On Monday I had a relapse and, since there was no sign of improvement on Tuesday, I had to have recourse to Allen again, so that I am at present UNDER MEDICAL TREATMENT. Writing means that I have to stoop, which hurts, and so I kept putting it off. As you see, I am as tormented as Job, though not as god-fearing.
Siebel — whose time appears to be very valuable since there hasn't been a single line from him — has sent me 2 Cologne Anzeigers, containing two short reviews favourable to my book.3 The bookseller's advertisement was in the Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung supplement of 1 January.
I'd be glad if you would let me have for The Times a short critique in English of the Prussian amnestyb2S6 — because of Allen's orders that I should refrain altogether from writing for at least another week. The following are the main points to be emphasised:
1. That the amnesty is the lousiest to have been proclaimed in any country (not excluding Austria) since 1849; (mesquin^ typically Prussian);
2. That the state of the 'liberal' Prussian press may be judged by the plaudits it bestows upon this piece of ordure;
3. That, whenever a new government comes to power in Prussia, an amnesty is proclaimed in respect of certain minor mis-demeanours, resistance to gendarmes, insults to officials, etc., and that the present amnesty is in fact no more than this.
4. In effect all refugees—i.e. all who took part in the revolution of 1848/49 — are excluded from the amnesty. The prospect held out to those refugees 'liable to be sentenced by Our civil courts' and who are permitted 'to return without let or hindrance' (as though everyone had not always been 'legally' entitled to return), is that the Ministry of Justice will 'ex officio' lodge 'pleas for clemency' on their behalf. This, in effect, guarantees nothing. This absurd formula was chosen presumably because Prussia is a 'state under the rule of law' whose constitution precludes the king from suppressing any judicial inquiry. A pretty mockery in a state where, on the admission of the Prussian Gerichtszeitung (in Berlin), there has been no justice for the past ten years. Furthermore, sentences in absentia could be AT ONCE pronounced and quashed. This 'legal' coquetry is indeed deserving of recognition when Stieber, Greif, and Goldheim continue to be left at large — ditto Simons, Manteuffel, etc.
5. Beastliest of all is § 4 of the amnesty, whereby 'all those liable to be sentenced by military tribunals in the near future' must first 'appeal' for William's 'clemency', whereupon he 'will reserve his final decision until such time as he has received a report from Our Military Department of Justice'.
148. Marx to Engels. 22 January
Consider in this connection that, given the Prussian Landwehr's[41] constitution, it is most exceptional for a Prussian refugee to be outside the jurisdiction of a 'military tribunal'; that the 'plea for clemency' is categorically prescribed, and nothing positive is promised in return for this humiliating procedure; finally that, more than any refugee, William himself is in need of an 'amnesty' since, from a strictly legal standpoint, he had no business to intervene in Baden,[21]'b etc.
The Times will undoubtedly accept a critique of this kind with the utmost pleasure. I would send it simultaneously to other papers as well, just signing it, of course, 'A PRUSSIAN REFUGEE'. At the same time, I would write a personal letter to the Editor.[3]
It is the only way we can give these Prussian dogs, and the corporal[1]' in charge of them, their deserts.
Your
K. M.
148
MARX TO ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 22 January [1861]
Dear Frederick,
Today I promptly sent off two COPIES (one to The Times, one to the Standard) of the statement about the AMNESTY.'
What do you think of the statement by Bucher et cie?2b<
You will have seen in the Prussian press how Gottfried'd is again pushing himself into the foreground via the newspaper mob.
The advertisement (bookseller's) for my book has also appeared in the Neue Preussische Zeitung. This week it has again been sent to all the Berlin papers. The scoundrels on both sides intend to burke the thing.
As to my condition, Allen is of the same view as Gumpert. But, whatever it may be, it is a highly disgusting condition, which incapacitates one for work. There is also some attendant physical pain, though today it's much better. I'm still taking medicine and Allen calls every three days. He was here again today. Riding, CHANGE OF AIR, etc. But I can't, of course, tell him where the shoe pinches. I have wondered off and on whether I might not fix something up with a LOAN SOCIETY through Borkheim so as to put my affairs in some sort of order, these having become much disorganised as a result of medical expenses, the impossibility of drawing on the Tribune, etc. But each time I get to the point, my heart sinks into my boots, for Borkheim (despite all his GOOD QUALITIES) is a braggart and every day — or rather each time I see him — he goes on about the money he is owed by refugees.
If you could send me an article whenever you have the time and the inclination [it would](1) be very welcome. I am still INCAPABLE. Most welcome of all would be an article from you for Saturdayb
on French armaments,(2) or on things French generally.
In my view there is no alliance between Russia on the one hand and Prussia and Austria on the other. It's simply that Russia, who always protects herself on two sides, has concluded certain agreements (relating to Poland and the Danubian Principalities) with the chaps in Warsaw[262]; but it's also quite certain that she has struck a new bargain with Bonaparte against other 'contingen-cies'.
Apropos: It might, perhaps, be even better if you wrote about Schleswig-Holstein.d One point: the foul behaviour of the Berlin press, which constantly abuses Austria for 'impeding' Prussia's anti-Danish moves. Now that Austria has given its consent, it wails about 'snares', issues warnings, urges peace, etc. Vide Volks-Zeitung, Kölnische Zeitung, etc. See that you lay about the Berlin press. In the past I used to do so frequently in the Tribune. But it has to be constantly repeated.
Salut.
Your
K. M.
149. Marx to Ferdinand Lassalle. 28 January
149
MARX TO FERDINAND LASSALLE
IN BERLIN
[London,] 28 January 1861
Dear Lassalle,
I am writing to you today in some haste, not from home, but from the City. In a few days, you shall have a longer letter and a reply to all your inquiries. First, my thanks for your package. I have passed one COPY of the petition to Freiligrath. Engels will receive No. II; No. Ill will be retained by me. It is a truly splendid document and is part and parcel of the history of the present era.
Perhaps you would be good enough to see that the enclosed note is delivered to Mr Eichhoff without delay.[264]
Owing to the current state of your health, friendly duty precludes my spurring you on to fresh labours. OTHERWISE I would have declared an anti-Zabel pamphlet, such as you envisage, to be a political deed.
My wife sends her kindest regards to you and the countess.(1) Her convalescence is proceeding satisfactorily. I, for my part, expect I shall be able to forego all medicine for some time to come (I finished the last BOTTLE yesterday).
My best respects to the countess. In my next letter to you I shall take the liberty of enclosing a line or two for her.
Tout à vousb
K. Marx
150. Marx to Engels. 29 January
150
MARX TO ENGELS[67]
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 29 January 1861
Dear Engels,
When misfortunes come, they never come singly, as you will see from the enclosed letter from Dana. They have protested a bill for £30 I drew on them at 2 months' date on 10 December and, furthermore, have cancelled all articles for the next 6 weeks. Yesterday I went straight to Freiligrath, of course, and, if he is to have adequate security, about the only way out is for him to try and discount a bill which I shall give him on myself at 3 months. How I shall continue to make SHIFT here I can't imagine, for the rates, school, house, GROCER, butcher and God knows what else are denying me any further RESPITE. What a dirty trick it was of Dana's to refer in his statement of accounts to the critical period of 1858/59 when my contributions were reduced to 1 article per week purely as an exception*" an agreement that was in any case rendered null and void years ago per usum'' and, what's more, explicitly by letter. Now he is deducting all the articles they didn't print last year. Conversely, allowing his incorrect assumption that the agreement of 1858/59 remains in force, he would still not have the right to condemn me to IV2 months' idleness. And yet there's no action I can take against the chaps, since I'm entirely dependent on them. I really don't know what to do, though I have long seen this crisis looming up.
Lassalle's letter also enclosed. In his present missive, he shows no sign of remembering the impression Vogt's rubbish[2]" had made on him. Still, it is better to see the light late rather than not at all. As to his proposed revival of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung—la Hatzfeldt, about whom I enclose a memorandum[2]" for you, has 300,000 talers at her disposal — I would, circumstances being what they are, clutch even at this straw, but the tide in Germany hasn't risen high enough yet to bear our ship. The thing would prove abortive from the very outset.
Toby[1]' has again written to Borkheim, inquiring whether it was true that he had never heard about our £90 refugee affair. I was
iw.< despised in Germany, he said, hence the universal silence. Even
151. Marx to Engels. 31 January
the great L. Walesrode has declared that no one need reply to such scurrilities, etc. En passant, I should be grateful if you would send Borkheim — seeing that he contributed £12 to Herr Vogt—a reply to his letter. It is a point upon which he is very touchy.
Bücher and Rodbertus, who had been on the list of deputies for Berlin, were struck off by infuriated Little Germans[266] following the publication of their statement.[26]' The latter is bad, but the way Bücher serves G. K. (Gottfried Kinkel) in the last issue of the Hermann* is good.
Mr Kolatschek wrote yesterday asking for a complimentary copy of Herr Vogt in order to review it. This has been sent. There have been relatively large sales of the pamphlet in Petersburg and Riga; on the other hand, nothing (maybe 6 copies) in Cologne.
The story Lassalle tells about Zabel is a good one.
Salut.
Your
K. M.
The swinish Times didn't take your amnesty piece.b Nor did the Standard. Now get the thing into the Guardian, which you should send down here and from which I shall take it and arrange through Borkheim for it to appear in the swinish Hermann, etc., and elsewhere.
151
MARX TO ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 31 January [1861]
DEAR Frederick,
Letter containing £10[232] received with very many thanks. I must now be off, mainly for the purpose of paying the gas and rates, otherwise the fellows will send in the BROKER. AS for the other cads, I shall have to see how I can arrange matters with them.
152. Engels to Marx. 31 January
I shall write to you at greater length as soon as I hear from you tomorrow.
Salut.
Your
K. M. Enclosed Lassalle's memorandum.[26]'(1)
152
ENGELS TO MARX
IN LONDON
[Manchester, 31 January 1861] Dear Marx,
It's difficult to answer Borkheim's letter.[3] All local commission houses which buy GOODS • for the Italian market operate there themselves. Hence they would regard an order from London as the action of a competitor and duly ignore it. Reuss, Kling & Co. and A. S. Sichel are the main houses in this line, but they certainly won't accept small orders. At all events, make sure that whoever approaches these people does not mention my name; it would serve no purpose whatever and might make me look a complete ass. If the order is of any size and the intention is to start a regular connection, the buyer would do best to come up himself and go to the manufacturers direct. The people here who buy for the London houses are exclusively in the EAST INDIA TRADE or else small chaps whom I don't know.
That's all I have to tell you today. I can't imagine what fellows he is referring to who are up to all kinds of nonsense.
Your
Thursday.b
153. Marx to Engels. 2 February
153
MARX TO ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
London, 2 February 1861 Dear Frederick,
Yesterday I got the enclosed note from Freiligrath3 which doesn't make matters any more agreeable. You must write and tell me at once what I ought to do.
In fact, I've been so BOTHERED from all sides that my head is going round and round and, on top of that, there is the unpleasantness of having to annoy you with all my petites misères.
I have written to Dana, who is definitely in the WRONG legally, but with little prospect of success.b The fellows know that one needs them and that they, for their part, don't need one at this moment.
Weren't you going to send me the Nazione—certain letters of Mazzini's? Forgotten? You will shortly be getting the confiscated issue of the Courrier du Dimanche from me.
Bucher maintains — he asked Borkheim to tell me — that his review will still appear in the Allgemeine Zeitung. You will doubtless have seen that at every opportunity the scoundrelly Blind brings his name before the public as an homme d'état.'
The rotten book business has cost me more than £4 all in all. What a strange fate this LIBRARY has![244]
No news from Siebel? His connections certainly seem to be exceedingly limited.
Salut. Your
K. M.
Thimm told Petsch a day or two ago that Herr Vogt has been the object of some particularly malicious abuse in Manchester. Brass, expressly for his own personal satisfaction, has ordered new type to be cast so that Herr Vogt can be advertised in an even more conspicuous manner. Given the large number of Swiss in Manchester, is it not possible to sell at least 1 COPY of the Grenzpost there? First published abridged in Der Briefwech-Printed according to the original sei zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 3, Stuttgart, 1913 and in full in MEGA, Published in English for the first Abt. Ill, Bd. 3, Berlin, 1930 t l m e
154. Engels to Marx. 4 February ,
155. Engels to Marx. 6 February
154
ENGELS TO MARX
IN LONDON
[Manchester,] 4 February 1861
Dear Moor,
I can't manage more than a line or two today. Provided the tailor is prepared to discount the bill for £35 if I draw it and so arrange it that the money doesn't have to be paid until July or August, VERY WELL, I shall draw it. But I must be able to count on the utmost discretion, for it could cost me my position. If Gumpert has got some money in (I haven't seen him since Friday), I might even be able to arrange it without that.(1)
Your
F. E.
155
ENGELS TO MARX
IN LONDON
Manchester, 6 February 1861
Dear Moor,
You can write and tell Freiligrath that we don't need his tailor. Gumpert has obtained so much money in payment of his accounts that he can lend me the greater part of what is needed, to be repaid monthly £5 AT A TIME; the business has therefore been fixed up. Freiligrath can have the £30 any day and then he need only pay the expenses, which I shall likewise remit to him within 24 hours of my knowing the amount. As far as I'm concerned, he can write to me about it direct and you need not bother about this whole thing any more. I shall then make sure that I get at least part of the amount put down to the next financial year.
Your letters returned herewith. Not until my last had gone off,[2]'[2] did I discover that, according to Dana's calculations, you have drawn payment for 19 more articles than they printed. Nevertheless, the fact remains that it is a dirty rotten business and, in this respect, the Tribune is behaving in true PENNY PAPER fashion. Its socialism amounts to nothing more than the highly contemptible petty bourgeois mania for getting the best out of a bargain.
Lassalle has become Isidor P-B a again. What sort of politician is this who thinks he has reduced a government to pulp because he has demonstrated that it was guilty of inconsistency in so trifling a matter? He must have some fine notions of parliamentary rule and what stands for law and justice under that rule. The man is incorrigible. One can only wonder what his monumental work in two volumes[1]' will be about. At all events, anything can happen now that he has made such a complete volte-face in re Vogt.2a As to his little paper,' if I were you, I would advise him to start a weekly in opposition to the Preussisch.es Wochenblatt, Berliner Revue,
Wochenschau des Nationalvereins,'' etc. La Hatzfeldt's 300,000 talers, which both of them will hang on to very tightly indeed, and madame's Lucullan mode of life won't leave enough in the way of an income to keep a daily going. There'd soon be a dearth of cash. On the other hand, a weekly of this description doesn't cost much and it would certainly be a nice source of income for us. Lassalle would, of course, have to pay us properly, i.e., English rates, otherwise it's no go. Besides, the thing would come in very useful as a mouthpiece for us.
Our Prussian corporalc is suffering from a truly colossal attack of the shits. In every speech, the oaf talks of the impending life-and-death struggles.
The Volunteer Journal has published a revised version of my Tribune article on French armaments.[2]'* This evening I shall, if possible send off a dozen copies to all the newspapers; the thing may create a sensation. I am also sending you one; since the scoundrels in New York are not at all interested in it now, and in any case it has been much shuffled about, no harm can be
156. Marx to Ferdinand Freiligrath. 7 February
done. My pamphlet[269] comes out next week; all I have left to do is read a few proofs and write the preface.
Bücher seems to be behaving quite decently. Warm regards to your wife and children.
Your
F. E.
156 MARX TO FERDINAND FREILIGRATH
IN LONDON
[London,] 7 February 1861
Dear Freiligrath,
I have so arranged matters with Engels that you can obtain the £30 any day you like, ditto the expenses at 24 hours' notice. The tailleur(1)
thus becomes redundant, and I would ask you to let Engels know when he is to send the money.b'
I shall myself be obliged to go to Holland, since I won't otherwise be able to weather the current crisis. Would you be so good as to inquire from some business friend of yours what the position is in regard to passports in Holland — whether one has to have a passport? The Tribune's 'turpitude',c coinciding as it did with other misfortunes, was all the more disastrous for me in that it prevented me from making futher arrangements about my wife's convalescence in accordance with doctor's orders. Although I don't belong to the category of 'German martyrs' and have always been inimical to that category, I nevertheless think I have had my fair share of refugee-trouble.
Besides Lassalle's,d I have received offers of journalistic employment from 2 other quarters in Germany. However — and doubtless
157. Engels to Elisabeth Engels. 13 February
you share this view — I don't believe the tide has risen high enough for me to agree to anything of the kind just now.
Salut.
Your
K. M.
You can see what a HUMBUG OLD Ruge is by comparing Engels' Reichsverfassungskampagne* in the Revue with the version Arnold has palmed off on you.
157
ENGELS TO ELISABETH ENGELS
IN BARMEN
Manchester, 13 February 1861
Dear Mother,
I am returning herewith the contracts, 7 copies, duly signed, having kept the 8th here.[270] I must say that, if it hadn't been for your sake, I could have made up my mind to do so only with difficulty. It was hard for me thus to exclude myself for no valid reason or on no good pretext, or so it seemed to me, from the only family business that remains to us — remains with any certainty. I believe that I also had a right to it and that my brothers b had no right to assume that I should, without more ado and for no reason at all, relinquish that right in their favour. What I demanded was certainly not unfair; moreover, I had put forward that demand quite early enough for it to be taken into account during the deliberations. Emil Blank conceded as much when he was here. But I was told absolutely nothing more, and not till the others had settled everything did they approach me with the demand that I agree to forgo my claim, basing that demand — in EmilV letter — on reasons which may be very businesslike, but which J, for one, would not have cared to bring up in this way vis-à-vis my brothers; and, by way of consolation, / am left with Emil's assurance that Gottfr. Ermen, or so Emil is convinced, will not break his contract with me. This conviction is outweighed by that of our lawyer, who told Emil more than once that the contract qua contract affords me no legal guarantees. They have the business in Engelskirchen, and I have Emil's conviction.
Mother dear, I have swallowed all this and much more for your sake. Not for anything in the world would I contribute in the smallest way towards embittering the evening of your life with family disputes over inheritance. I believe that my conduct when I was at home,[141]' just like my letters, has amply demonstrated that I was very far from seeking to place obstacles in the way of any agreement and that, on the contrary, I gladly made sacrifices so that everything might be settled in accordance with your wishes. That is why I have signed the thing without more ado. Whatever the cost, I would not wish you to be plagued with such things any longer, or to worry about them. Nor shall I bear any grudge against my brothers, or so much as mention the matter to them, unless they absolutely force me to do so, for it has been settled, and I have no desire to parade my belief that I have made a sacrifice. But I considered it my bounden duty to tell you frankly what my motives were in this matter, and it goes without saying that I never remotely supposed you could, perhaps, have arranged matters more favourably for me. On the contrary, I know that, throughout the negotiations I, too, was always in your thoughts and that you did all you could for me.
The matter is now settled, and that is that. You are unlikely ever to hear another word from me about it, and I need not say that, when Emil comes over here, I shall, as always, give him a fraternal welcome; though our views may have differed in this case, he is, nevertheless, a fine lad, who has always taken my interests over here very much to heart.
The dressing-gown has arrived, and I am very glad of it as it's freezing again, but the red epaulettes are a trifle outré for local taste. By the way, I now have the company of a young ratter, who has strayed into the house.
158. Marx to Engels. 14 February
I hope you have got over your cold all right; it will also do you good to be freed from all the worry about the inheritance. But still, if possible, you should buy ihe Sieg.a
Warmest regards to Hermann, Rudolf, the Blanks and the Boellings.
With much love,
Your son
Friedrich
time
158
MARX TO ENGELS[67]
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 14 February 1861 Dear Frederick,
You must really forgive me for not having answered your very kind letter[1]' before now. In the meantime, you will have received a communication from philistine Freiligrath.
I have had, and still have, an enormous amount of running about to do. For I intend to go to Holland so as to put my affairs over here in order, otherwise they will get out of hand. There are two things I require for the purpose, a passport and money, both of which I shall manage to get hold of here d'une manière on d'une
autre.[1] (I may have to go as far as Aachen.)
I haven't written to Lassalle yet. No doubt something in the nature of a weeklyd would be best, but, then again, what a risk we should run, given the indiscretion of our friend, if he were there on the spot as editor-in-chief, and thus in a position to get us all into hot water! He would, of course, immediately stress that the thing was a party organ, so that we, too, should be held responsible for every imbecility and our position in Germany would be ruined before we had so much as regained it. This requires the most careful consideration.
The conspiration de silence in the German press is having a seriously adverse effect on sales of Herr Vogt. After a good start, they have accordingly come to a STANDSTILL. The Allgemeine Zeitung seems pretty well determined not to carry Bucher's review either. At any rate, we shall know one way or another in the next few days, for, if it intends to publish it at all, it can't go on putting it off much longer. Kolatschek is a certainty.
My wife recommends that you read Hans Ibeles by Johanna Mockel/' in which Willich figures as Wildemann, etc., Mrs von Brüningk as Platonina, and that blackguard Kinkel as Don Juan. I myself know nothing about the rubbish save for what my wife has told me. She says that the book provides irrefutable evidence that Johanna Mockel threw herself out of the window because she had been crossed in love. (BY THE BY, my wife's complexion is still far from smooth and probably won't be for some time to come.) At any rate, it's commendable in Parson Kinkel(1)'b that he should make money out of the late Mockel's CONFESSIONS by selling them to Cotta, and then consume it with Minna Werner, by whom he already has a child. Parsons are the cleverest of men. However, Johanna Mockel was an acrimonious body and her breath, for all her love of music, was acrid, too.
Have had the Nazione.c Very good. Ditto the Volunteer Journal. But not your pamphlet.[269]
Vogt will never forgive Vincke for having put him in the shade so completely. Incidentally, those Prussian swine are making fools of themselves IN EVERY RESPECT. Firstly, the blackguards ask Bonaparte to continue his intervention at Gaeta[272]; secondly, the rascals have joined Bonaparte and Russia in declaring themselves in favour of continued French intervention in Syria.[273] Austria opposes this, and, of course, so does Palmerston, FOR APPEARANCES SAKE. And the way they're carrying on at home! The rotten bunch is bound to come a cropper.
Wilhelm Liebknecht has been almost completely laid off by his American newspapers as well. One of the papers' for which he wrote was SACKED in New Orleans.
Salut. Your
K. M. First published abridged in Der Briefwech-Printed according to the original sei zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 3, Stuttgart, 1913 and in full in MEGA, Published m English m full for the Abt. Ill, Bd. 3, Berlin, 1930 f l r s t t l m e
159. Marx to Ferdinand Lassalle. 15 February
159
MARX TO FERDINAND LASSALLE
IN BERLIN
[London,] 15 February 1861
Dear Lassalle,
I did not, as I had intended, send off a second letter to you on the heels of my first," because, in the meantime, a crisis had supervened, i.e., a financial crisis. Dana wrote from New York, saying that it (the Tribune) had dismissed all its European correspondents, retaining nobody save myself, but that 1. the Cyclopaedia?1 was to be temporarily suspended; 2. my contributions were to be suspended for 6 weeks; 3. finally, that in future I was to write one article less per week.
Under these circumstances and in view of the expenditure arising out of my wife's illness, I have got to go to Holland and see my uncle Philips, if I am to put my financial affairs in some sort of order. Since I require money for the trip I have drawn a bill on you for £20 (ABOUT 34 talers) payable at 6 weeks' sight. I shall send you the required sum from Holland before the expiry date or else bring it to Berlin in person, for I may possibly come as far. I shall come, by the by, simply as a traveller if, that is, I cross the Dutch border and enter Germany. (If I were Karl Heinzen — Heineke the lusty knave[274] — I should say OVERSTRIDE.)
Your
K. Marx
160. Marx to Engels. 27 February
160
MARX TO ENGELS[275]
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 27 February 1861
Dear Engels,
I am leaving tomorrow on a passport made out not to me, however, but to Biihring,(1) valid for Holland. This created a vast amount of TROUBLE, as did raising enough money for me to get away at all. Have paid quite small sums on account to the most pressing creditors; in the case of others (e.g. GROCER), I invoked the American crisis and obtained a respite, but only on condition that my wife paid weekly during my absence. In addition, she has to pay £2 18/- in rates next week. Nota bene. I presume you got a letter from my wife (ABOUT a week ago) in which she thanked you for the wine? She is a little worried lest it should have fallen into the wrong hands. The children, too, are greatly obliged to you for the wine. They would seem to have inherited their father's fondness for the bottle.
I shall probably go to Berlin as well — without a passport — to look into the matter of a weekly(2) (Apropos — in Berlin William I is called Handsome William), and survey the dungheap generally.
In the last number of the Hermann, that swine Blind published a letter Mazzini had written him.b The importunate slimy creature clearly succeeded in convincing Mazzini that he represents the German émigrés. He uses the said Hermann as a receptacle for his filthy twaddle — patriotic — on the subject of Schleswig-Holstein, and also makes the latter an occasion for writing letters under his own name to the -Globe, etc. Through Bronner — with him and Schaible he constitutes the 'Association for Freedom and Unity'[276]—he extorted so much money from a Bradford merchant that he was able to start a rotten little rag in Hamburg — the
Nordstern—so as to throw his weight about in the North, while in 27 1861
the South, through Schaible's agency, he courts notoriety as 'Blind, man of iron' in the columns of the Stuttgart Beobachter (a kind of South German Volkszeitung). The purpose of all this business on the part of the wretched creature is, on the one hand, to shout down the disgrace inflicted on him in Herr Vogt[3] and, on the other, to become Hecker secundus. Le pauvre hère!"
The Cologne people have done my library proud.[244] The whole of Fourier stolen, ditto Goethe, ditto Herder, ditto Voltaire and, what to me is ghastliest of all, the Economistes du 18 siècle (brand-new, cost me some 500 fr.) and many volumes of classical Greek writers, many single volumes of other works. If I go to Cologne, I'll have something to say about it to that National Association man Bürgers. Hegel's Phenomenology and Logic ditto.
During the past fortnight there's been such a lot of confounded running around to do — real ingenuity was needed to prevent a complete break-up of the household — that I have read no newspapers whatsoever, not even the Tribune on the AMERICAN CRISIS. However, for recreation in the evenings I have been reading Appian's Civil Wars of Rome in the original Greek.' A most valuable book. The fellow comes of Egyptian stock. Schlosser says he is 'soulless', probably because he probes the material basis of the said civil wars. Spartacus emerges as the most capital fellow in the whole history of antiquity. A great general (no Garibaldi he), of noble character, a REAL REPRESENTATIVE of the proletariat of ancient times. Pompey a real shit; acquired spurious fame only by misappropriating, as Sulla's YOUNC MAN-, etc., Lucullus's victories (over Mithridates), then Sertorius's (Spain), etc. As a general, was the Roman Odilon Barrot. As soon as he was brought face to face with Caesar and had to show what stuff he was made of — a mere louse. Caesar perpetrated the most stupendous military blunders, deliberately crazy ones, to discountenance the philistine opposing him. Any ordinary Roman general — Crassus, say — would have annihilated him six times over during the battle in Epirus.[27]' But anything could be done with Pompey. In Love's Labour's Lost, Shakespeare would seem to have had some inkling of what Pompey was really like.'[1]
Salut.
Your
K. M.
161. Engels to Elisabeth Engels. 27 February
I shall write to you from Holland.[278] You will know without my telling you how grateful I am for the outstanding proofs of friendship you have given me.
161
ENGELS TO ELISABETH ENGELS
IN BARMEN
Manchester, 27 February 1861
Dear Mother,
I would have liked to answer your dear letter straight away, but with Emil's" being here, have been so taken up with current business that it has been quite impossible. Well, he left yesterday morning and will probably reach Engelskirchen tonight. Dear mother, you have no need to worry about the possibility of my bearing any grudge against my brothers'b over the matter of the firm; it wouldn't occur to me. It was extremely disagreeable for me to have to withdraw from the family business in this way, nor could I find it agreeable when something I looked upon as a right to which I was entitled was lightly passed over for all kinds of reasons that had no bearing whatever on that right, my assent being, so to speak, demanded as a matter of course.c I do not suggest that things haven't been arranged as well as, if not better than, they might have been had my claim been taken into consideration, but this is precisely what no one has taken the trouble to explain to me, and you cannot deny that, in the circumstances, it was expecting rather much of me to sign the thing. But having done so, I regard it as settled and you can count on me not to bear any of my brothers the slightest grudge about that. We shall need one another often enough and, besides, you know that I'm not in the least inclined to play the noble soul of whom no one takes note. I am sure Emil didn't notice any
162. Marx to Ferdinand Lassalle. 7 March
ill-temper on my part, still less any manifestation of annoyance towards himself, nor indeed could he have done, since I have now resigned myself to the thing and my only wish is that the business in Engelskirchen should yield good results for the four of us.
So, do not grieve over it, mother dear. For myself, the thing is over and done with, so much so that even the painful sensation I undeniably experienced, when I signed it, is likewise over and done with, disposed of and forgotten. If, I thought, this one aspect of the thing is disagreeable to me, then how many more such moments — far more disagreeable ones — must you have gone through in the course of the negotiations? And then I rejoiced at being able to put a stop to it all with one stroke of the pen. I might acquire a hundred other businesses, but never a second mother.
I am very well, by the way. Emil enjoyed himself here very much, and will have written to tell you that we have just about finished with Gottfr.,b so that that affair, too, will at last be in order. Well, goodbye, and mind you keep fit and look after yourself properly. My warmest regards to Hermann,c the Rudolfs,' the Blanks, and the Boellings.
With much love,
Your son
Friedrich
162
MARX TO FERDINAND LASSALLE[67]
IN BERLIN
7 March 1861 Zalt-Bommel, Holland (c/o L. Philips)
Dear Lassalle,
As I've already written and told you,d I intend to proceed from here to Berlin in order to discuss with you personally the possibility of joint politico-literary enterprises, but also and more especially to see you again.
Now, however, I should like you to tell me exactly how matters stand as regards the following point. The only passport I have is an old one issued by the French when I was expelled in 1849.[279] I could not bring myself to approach the Prussian Embassy in London. Nor did I wish to become a naturalised Englishman (like Freiligrath, Bucher, Zimmermann, etc.) and travel on an English passport. The following question arises: In 1845, when pursued in Belgium by the Prussian. government,[28]" I obtained through my brother-in-lawa a Prussian expatriation permit. On the pretext of my having ceased to be a Prussian subject, I was, as you know, expelled by the Prussian government in 1849. However, in the eyes of the law, all refugees who had spent 10 years outside the country would equally have ceased to be Prussian 'subjects'. I have never been naturalised abroad. Further, in accordance with the resolution passed by the Preliminary Parliament[281] of 1848 — a resolution that was regarded as virtually binding by all German governments on the occasion of the elections to the Frankfurt parliament[22]—all refugees, even though, like Vogt, etc., they might have been naturalised abroad, could avail themselves of their German citizenship and everywhere qualify for election to parliament. I invoked this when, in 1848, I requested that my Prussian citizenship be reinstated. This was refused by the Prussian ministry of the day, though they didn't venture to treat me as a foreigner until ail was up with the revolution.
ïn practice, the only importance that attaches to this question just now is vhether I shall be able to get to Berlin unimpeded. If only I car, succeed in crossing the border, I shall have nothing to fear in Berlin; on the periphery, however, it's a more ticklish matter.
As you know, I am here with my uncle[1]' (who looks after my mother's affairs and has, in the past, frequently made me substantial advances against my share of the inheritance) in order to put my parlous finances in order. He's a stubborn man, but the fact of nry being a writer greatly appeals to his vanity. So, when you write to me, you must refer to the success (lucus a non lucendoc)
163. Marx to Antoinette Philips. 24 March
of my recent anti-Vogt pamphlet, our joint plans for a newspaper, etc. and, above all, so couch your letter that I can demonstrate my 'confidence' in my uncle by giving him the letter to read. Nor should you omit to mention something about politics. Vous m'entendez, mon cher?
With kindest regards to you and the countess.b
Your
K. Marx
(Zalt-Bommel is near Nymwegen. I don't imagine that the name is familiar to you. However, it attracted some attention as a result of the recent floods.)
The conspiration de silence, with which the entire German press has greeted my last piece,c precisely as it did the previous ones, I really find most flattering, however detrimental it may be to sales. I trust your health has improved.
163
MARX TO ANTOINETTE PHILIPS
IN ZALT-BOMMEL
Berlin, 24 March 1861 13 Bellevuestrasse (Address: Dr F. Lassalle)
My dear Cousin,
I cannot thank you enough for your precious letter which fails only in being too short, although you have acted up to the English rule of packing the best things in the smallest compass.
I arrived at Berlin on Sunday last (17th Marchd), at 7 o'clock in the morning. My travel was not marked by any incident save a 6 V2 hours' delay at Oberhausen, an abominably tedious little place. Lassalle who lives in a very fine house, situated in one of the finest streets of Berlin, had everything prepared for my reception, and gave me a most friendly welcome. The first hours having been talked away and my railway-fatigue chased by some rest and some refreshments, Lassalle introduced me at once to the house of the countess of Hatzfeldt who, as I soon became aware, dines every day in his house at 4 o'clock p. m., and passes her evenings with him. I found her hair as 'blond' and her eyes as blue as formerly, but for the remainder of her face I read the words imprinted in it: twenty and twenty make fifty seven. There were in fact wrinkles full of 'vestiges of creation', there were cheeks and chin betraying an embonpoint which, like coal beds, wants much time to be formed, and so forth. As to her eyebrows, I was at once struck by the circumstance that they had improved instead of deteriorating, so that art had by far got the better of nature. On later occasions I made the general remarks that she perfectly understands the art of making herself up and of finding in her toilette-box the tints no longer derived from her blood. Upon the whole, she reminded me of some Greek statues which still boast a fine bust but whose heads have been cruelly 'beknappered' by the vicissitudes of time. Still, to be not unjust, she is a very distinguished lady, no blue-stocking, of great natural intellect, much vivacity, deeply interested in the revolutionary movement, and of an aristocratic laissez aller very superior to the pedantic grimaces of professional femmes d'esprit.(1)
On Monday, my friend Lassalle drew up for me a petition to the chief of the Prussian police for my restoration to the civil rights of a Prussian subject.b On Tuesday, Lassalle himself, who is a man of extraordinary audacity, carried the petition to Herr von Zedlitz (Polizeipräsident, partisan of the Junkerpartei and the king's" confidant) and, what with menaces, what with flatteries — Zedlitz considering this direct appeal to himself, instead of to the subaltern authorities, as a compliment paid to his person — he has so far succeeded that to-day the ministerial paper—Die Preussische Zeitung—announces my return to the 'fatherland'. Still I have not yet received an official answer in regard to my re-naturalisation.
On Tuesday evening Lassalle and the countess led me to a Berlin theatre where a Berlin comedy, full of Prussian self-glorification, was enacted.'c It was altogether a disgusting affair. On Wednesday evening I was forced by them to assist at the performance of a ballet in the Opernhouse. We had a box for ourselves at the side—horribile dictw'—of the king's 'loge'. Such a ballet is characteristic of Berlin. It forms not, as at Paris, or at London, an entrejeu,h or the conclusion, of an opera, but it absorbs the whole evening, is divided into several acts, etc. Not a syllable is spoken by the actors, but everything is hinted at by mimickry. It is in fact deadly — dull. The scenery, however, was beautiful; you assisted for instance at a sea-voyage from Livorno to Naples; sea, mountains, seacoast, towns, etc., everything being represented with photographical truth.
On Thursday Lassalle gave a dinner in honour of my return, gentlemen and ladies being invited. Among the celebrities there were the old general von Pfuel, 'Schlachtenmahler" Bleibtreu, Hofrath Förster (a known Prussian historiograph and formerly called the 'Hofdemagog','l he being a personal friend of the late king') and so forth. Hofrath Förster brought out a toast on my humble self. I was seated at table between the countess and Fräulein Ludmilla Assing, the niece of Varnhagen von Ense and the editor of Varnhagen's correspondence with Humboldt.e This Fräulein, who really swamped me with her benevolence, is the most ugly creature I ever saw in my life, a nastily Jewish physiognomy, a sharply protruding thin nose, eternally smiling and grinning, always speaking poetical prose, constantly trying to say something extraordinary, playing at false enthusiasm, and spitting at her auditory during the trances of her ecstasis. I shall to-day be forced to pay a visit to that little monster which I treated with the utmost reserve and coldness, giving her to understand by friend Lassalle that the power of attraction works upon myself always in a centrifugal direction and that, when I happen to admire a person very much, I am very apt to steal altogether out of its presence.
The state of things here is illboding for the powers that be. The Prussian Exchequer labours under a deficit, and all the old parties are in a movement of dissolution. The chamber of deputies will have to be re-elected during this season, and there is every probability that, during the process of its reconstitution, a great movement will pervade the country. This may, as my friend Lassalle thinks, be the proper moment for starting a newspaperf
here in the Prussian capital, but I have not yet come to a firm
164. Marx to Carl Siebel. 28 March
resolution. The necessity of waiting for the official answer of the authorities to my petition may prolong my sojourn beyond the term originally contemplated.
You see, my dear child, I have much seen during a few days, but still you may be sure that I always wish myself back to
Bommel."
With my best compliments to yourself, your father,b and the whole family, believe me always
Your most sincere admirer
Charles Marx
164
MARX TO CARL SIEBEL
IN BARMEN
28 March 1861 c/o (Letter to me to be enclosed in an envelope) 13 Bellevuestrasse, Berlin, Dr F. Lassalle
Dear Siebel,
The secret of my journey, which win. HAVE PUZZLED you to some extent, is as follows:
As a result of the crisis in America the Cyclopaedia Americana,[1] to which I was a contributor, has been completely suspended; similarly my contributions to the Tribune, my main resource, have been suspended until the end of April, and reduced by half for the period immediately thereafter (apart from myself all their European correspondents have been provisionally dismissed). This was compounded by a double misfortune: Herr Vogt, which, combined with the lawsuit, etc., cost me nearly £100, and a frightful stroke of ill-luck in that my wife (although twice vaccinated) caught small-pox and was ill for two months during which time I had to run two households, since the children couldn't remain at home.
165. Marx to Carl Siebel. 2 April
So, I had to look round for other resources. Party friends here had already proposed to me starting a newspaper[3] in the autumn. Hence my presence here. More in my next.
In the meantime, I have run into financial difficulties here (I shan't be staying much longer). If you could lend me 100-150 talers, you would oblige me.
Before returning to England I intend to see you at all events, if only on account of the newspaper project (for which 20,000 talers are READY). So, you must write and tell me, at all events, at which inn in Elberfeld I might best put up for 24 hours.
Your
K. Marx
165
MARX TO CARL SIEBEL
IN BARMEN
[Berlin,] 2 April 1861
Dear Siebel,
A letter, which arrived from Amsterdam today, brought the pleasant tidings that I shall be able to SETTLE my chief financial difficulties (which run to hundreds of pounds), since my uncle'b
(who looks after my mother's affairs) has declared himself agreeable so far as the main issue is concerned. I am thus rid of my chief worry, but as regards the secondary matter I wrote to you about,l I shall have to rely on you.
I am bored stiff here. I am treated as a kind of LION and am forced to see a great many professional 'wits', both male and female. C'est affreux.'d What is keeping me here (not for more than another week, I hope) is the circumstance that I refuse to leave until I have forced the Prussian government to recognise my REINIEGRA-ITON. (Prima facie,c' they are not making any difficulties about it, but are trying to shelve it.)
166. Marx to Antoinette Philips. 13 April
I shall be spending only one day in Elberfeld. Kindly write and tell me by return, how quickly one can get from Elberfeld to Aachen where I have an appointment.
For Part II of my political economy,[8] I have dismissed Duncker in favour of Brockhaus. (Not that the latter knows this yet, but I have a sure means of forcing his hand.)
Salut.
Your
K. M.
166
MARX TO ANTOINETTE PHILIPS
IN ZALT-BOMMEL
Elberfeld, 13 April 1861
To Miss Nanette
My sweet little Cousin,
I hope you have received the letter I sent you from Berlin(1)
although you were cruel enough to leave your admirer without one single word of acknowledgement. Now, my cruel little witch, how will you be able to defend such a line of conduct? Were you not aware that a world of Philisteans hemmed me in, and that half an army of antiquated beauties and detestable blue stockings, did their best to transform me into an ass? Old Circe, as you are aware, metamorphosed the companions of Ulysses into pigs.These modern Circes have so far civilised themselves as to take to the asinine line. And was it not your duty, under such circumstances, to come to my rescue? Beware that I take my revenge, and conspire with Waradje'2Si against the tranquillity of your heart.
'Art's Vaterland, das theure schliess' dich an'b is a very fine sentence, but, quite confidentially, I may tell you that Germany is a beautiful country to live out of it. For my own part, if I were quite free, and if, besides, I were not bothered by some thing you may call 'political conscience', I should never leave England for Germany, and still less for Prussia, and least of all for that affreux" Berlin with its 'Sand'b and its 'Bildung'' and 'seinen überwitzigen Leuten'.11
At Berlin everybody who has some spirit to lose, is of course extremely anxious for fellow sufferers. If the ennui, that reigns supreme at that place, be distributed among a greater lot of persons, the single individual may flatter itself to catch a lesser portion of it. For this reason the countess Hatzfeldt, Lassalle's Egeria, tried everything to prolong my sojourn in the metropolis of tschakose without heads. Yesterday she made her last effort, and we had the following scurrilous conversation:
She. 'This, then, is the thank for the friendship we have shown you, that you leave Berlin so soon as your business will permit?'
I. 'Quite the contrary. I have prolonged my stay at this place beyond the due term, because your amiability chained me to this Sahara.'
She. 'Then I shall become still more amiable.' J. 'Then there remains no refuge for me but running away. Otherwise I should never be able to return to London whither my duty calls me.'
She. 'This is a very fine compliment to tell a lady, her amiability is such as to drive you away!'
/. 'You are not Berlin. If you want to prove me the sincerity of your amiability, do run away with myself.'
She. 'But I fear you will abandon me at the first station.' I. 'I am quite sure of not "leaving the girl behind me" f at the next station. You know that when Theseus, having eloped with the Greek beauty/ abandoned her at some station or other, there at once the god Bacchus descended from the Olymp and carried the forlorne one in his arms to the abode of eternal pleasures. Now, I do not doubt but a god is already waiting for you at the first railway station behind Berlin, and I would be the most cruel of mortals to frustrate you of such a rendezvous.'
But enough of these fooleries. In true real earnest, I feel most happy in the idea of soon seeing again yourself and the whole Bommel family circle. Recommend myself to your 'rival',h and tell
167. Marx to Lion Philips. 6 May
her that the deepest sentiments are the most difficult of being expressed in words. In that way she ought to interpret my silence, the respectful silence I have till now observed.
And now, my little charmer, farewell and do not altogether forget
Your knight-errant
Charles Marx
167
MARX TO LION PHILIPS[284]
IN ZALT-BOMMEL
London, 6 May 1861b
9 Grafton Terrace, Maitland Park, Haverstock Hill
Dear Uncle,
First, let me express my heartfelt thanks for the great friendship you have again shown me and the delightful hospitality extended to me under your roof. So as to avoid all suspicion of flattery, I shall make only the most fleeting allusion to the enormous pleasure I derived from consorting with a man of your experience who, on the one hand, observes the passing world with so humane, unbiassed and original an eye and, on the other, has preserved intact the fire and impetuosity of youth.
My onward journey from Bommel went entirely according to plan. In Rotterdam I found Jacquesc' on the pier, spent a couple of hours chatting with him and then, the self-same day, hurried on to Amsterdam, where my business was speedily settled the next day. Augustd and family — this time with the addition of his wife's niece from Rotterdam — were well and happy. August entrusted me with a special mission, namely to shake up Monsieur Jacques a little on my return to Rotterdam, for he is suffering plus ou moinsA from 'world-weariness', an illness which may simply be attributed to the fact that, unlike the great majority of mankind, he is self-critical and has not yet succeeded in adopting any definite political standpoint such as might be satisfactory to himself. On my return journey from Amsterdam I got to Rotterdam at half past nine at night, and had to board the STEAMER for London at 7 o'clock the following morning (Sunday).'' In the short time I spent with Jacques it was not, of course, possible for me to answer all the questions he put to me or even touch very briefly on all the points he raised. Therefore, having previously consulted his employers, Jacques decided to continue our discussion in London. I arrived in the world capital on Monday and found the whole family well and cheerful. Jacques turned up last Wednesday'' and left again yesterday morning, to the great regret of my family who would have liked to keep him here longer. We have arranged to conduct a kind of political correspondence with one another.
You will recall, dear Uncle, how you and I would often remark in jest that nowadays the rearing of human beings lags far behind cattle rearing. Now, having seen the whole of your family, I must declare you to be a virtuoso at rearing human beings. Never in my life have I made the acquaintance of a finer family. All your children have independent characters, each one an individual, each with his own intellectual predilections, and all equally distinguished by their humane culture.
Here in London there is great consternation over the course of events in America.[285] The acts of violence which have been perpetrated not only by the SECEDED STATES, but also by some of the CENTRAI, or RORDER STAIES — and it is feared that all 8 BORDER STATES, namely Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Maryland, and Delaware, will side with the secessionists — these acts of violence have rendered all compromise impossible. There can be no doubt that, in the early part of the struggle, the scales will be weighted in favour of the South, where the class of propertyless white adventurers provides an -inexhaustible source of martial militia. IN THE LONG RUN, of course, the North will be victorious since, if the need arises, it has a last card up its sleeve in the shape of a slave revolution. For the North, the great difficulty
is t h e QUESTION [ o f ] HOW TO GET THEIR FORCES TO THE SoUTH. E v e n AN UNOPPOSED MARCH — in this season — of 15 MILES PER DAY, WOULD BE SOMETHING IRYING; but Charleston, the nearest attackable point, is 544 miles from Washington, 681 from Philadelphia, 771 from New York and 994 from Boston, and the three last-named towns are the main operational bases against the South. The distance of Montgomery, the seat of the SECESSIONIST CONGRESS,[286] from those same places is 910, 1,050, 1,130 and 1,350 MILES RESPECTIVELY. A cross-country march would therefore seem to be QUITE OUT OF THE QUESTION. (Use of the railways by the NORTHERN INVADERS would merely lead to their destruction.) Hence, all that remains is sea transport and naval warfare which, however, might easily lead to complica-tions with foreign powers. This evening the English government is to announce in the Commons what ATTITUDE it intends to adopt in such an eventuality.
For myself personally, developments in America are naturally RATHER damaging since transatlantic newspaper readers have neither eyes nor ears just now for anything save their own affairs. However, I have received an advantageous offer from the Vienna Presse which I mean to accept provided certain ambiguities are satisfactorily cleared up.[11] I should have to write for it from London. My wife has a specific objection to our moving to Berlin, as she does not wish our daughters to be introduced into the Hatzfeldt circle, yet keeping them out of it altogether would be difficult.
I have today had an extremely amicable letter from Lassalle. He has still heard nothing more from von Zedlitz, the Police President, regarding my RENATURALISATION. The conflict between police and public in Berlin has now, so Lassalle tells me, entered a new phase.
With warm regards to you and yours from myself and the whole family,
Your affectionate nephew
K. Marx
168. Marx to Engels. 7 May
168
MARX TO ENGELS[287]
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 7 May 1861 Dear Frederick,
Habes confitentem reum? But the circonstances atténuantes*' for my not writing were as follows: D'abordc I spent, as you' know, the greater part of my time in Berlin at Lassalle's house where it would have been impossible for me to write to you without my telling Lassalle what was in the letter, and THAT DID NOT SERVE MY PURPOSE. Later, I was continually en route, from Berlin to Elberfeld, Cologne, Trier, Aachen, Bommel,d Rotterdam, and Amsterdam. Lastly, my original plan, as I wrote and told my wife, had been to go from Rotterdam to Hull and from Hull to Manchester so that I could give you a detailed verbal report. This was frustrated by my cousin Jacques Philips. For, as I was about to leave Rotterdam, he told me he would be coming to London the following day, AND HE WAS AS GOOD AS HIS WORD. So, of course, I had to proceed direct to London in order to do him the honneurs there. He did not leave here until the day before yesterday.
In any case, I now hope that you will come to us for a few days at Whitsuntide. I heard in Elberfeld that you wanted to visit your family at Whitsuntide. Even if you do, you could so arrange matters that you spend at least a couple of days with us. I have much to tell you, and this can be done better by word of mouth than in writing. Moreover, it irks my womenfolk if you always give London a miss.
First, then, to BUSINESS. For a start, I squeezed £160 out of my unclèe so that we were able to pay off the greater part of our debts. My mother, with whom any discussion about cash is out of the question, but who is rapidly nearing her end, destroyed some I.O.U.s I had given her in the past. That was the distinctly pleasant result of the two days I spent with her. I myself said nothing to her about MONEY MATTERS and it was she who took the initiative in this connection. Further, when in Berlin, I paved the way for me to establish a connection with the Vienna Presse?[88]
should the need arise; in view of the present situation in America, this will doubtless prove indispensable. Finally, I have arranged through Lassalle for the second part of my political economy(1) to be published by Brockhaus instead of Duncker. As to Duncker, Camilla Essig (alias Ludmilla Assing) rightly remarked to me that, if one wants to keep a book secret, one must get Duncker to publish it. However, I do at least figure in the recent piece by Rau-Raub—the German Say.
Apropos. With regard to your Po and Rhine, etc., I am told by la Hatzfeldt — who converses with all the Prussian generals at the house of her brother-in-law, General von Nostitz, and whose nephew Nostitz is, furthermore, an aide-de-camp to 'handsome William'r—that your pamphlet is considered in high, if not the highest, military circles (including, inter alia, that of Prince Charles Frederick) to be the product of an anonymous Prussian general. The same thing happened in Vienna, or so I was told by assessor Friedländer (brother of the editor of the Vienna Presse). I myself have discussed it with General Pfuel, now 82, but still mentally alert and become very radical. Pfuel didn't know, of course, that we had conferred on him the honorary title of 'von Höllenstein'.[289]
He has, by the by, fallen out of favour and is ranked by the Court with the Jacobins, atheists, etc.
N O W t O POLITICAL BUSINESS. In Berlin there is, of course, no haute politique? Everything revolves round the struggle with the police (not that the latter are in the least presumptuous just now, being a model of civility and tolerance) in that people would like to see Zedlitz, Patzke, etc., removed from office and punished; secondly, round the opposition between the military and civilians. It is over these issues (in bourgeois circles, other particularly sore points are the military bills and tax exemption for the landowners) that matters will come to a head.[290] (Count Tavernier, an artillery officer, told me that they would like nothing better than to turn their batteries on the Garde du Corps.) The prevailing atmosphere is one of general dissolution, and people of every rank regard a catastrophe as inevitable. This would seem to be more the case in the capital than in the provinces. Curiously enough, military circles share the general conviction that the first clash with the crapauds(2) will result in a trouncing for the Prussians. Berlin is in a cheeky, frivolous mood. The Chambers are despised. In one theatre I visited, a comical ditty about Vincke was sung to the accompaniment of loud applause. Among a broad section of the public there is much dissatisfaction with the existing press. At the coming new elections (in the autumn) to the Second Chamber, there is no doubt that most of the fellows who sat in the Prussian National Assembly will be elected.[291] This is important, not on account of the said fellows, but because 'William the Handsome' mistakes them for red republicans. All in all, 'handsome William' has been dogged by the spectre rouge'1 ever since he became king. He considers his popularity as a 'liberal' to be a trap set for him by the overthrow party.
Now, under the circumstances it might, in fact, not be inopportune if we could bring out a paperb in Berlin next year, although I personally find the place unpleasant. 20-30,000 talers would have to be got together in association with Lassalle, etc. BUT hie facet' Lassalle put the proposal to me direct. At the same time, he confided that he would have to be editor en chef along with myself. And Engels? I inquired. 'Well, if three aren't too many, Engels can also be editor en chef, of course. Though you two ought not to have more votes than me, for other-wise I would always be outvoted.' As reasons why he, too, must take the helm he stated: 1. that he was generally regarded as being closer to the bourgeois party and hence could procure funds more easily; 2. that he would have to sacrifice his 'theoretical studies' and his theoretical tranquillity and ought, after all, to get something out of it, etc. If, however, we were unwilling, he went on: 'I would still be prepared, as before, to assist the paper financially and in literary ways; that would be an advantage to me; for I should have the benefit of the paper without the responsibility for it,' etc. This was just sentimental hot air, of course. Lassalle, dazzled by the esteem earned him in certain learned circles by his HeraclitusA and, in another circle, consisting of spongers, by his good wine and food, doesn't know, of course, that he is of ill repute with the public at large. And then his intractability; his obsession with the 'speculative concept' (the fellow actually dreams of a new Hegelian philosophy raised to the second power, v. hich he intends to write), his inoculation with early French liberalism, his arrogant pen, importunity, tactlessness, etc. If subjected to rigid discipline, Lassalle might be of service as one of the editors. Otherwise, we would simply make fools of ourselves. But, in view of the great friendliness he showed me, you can see how difficult it was for me to speak my mind. So, I was generally non-committal and told him I could settle nothing without prior discussion with you and Lupus. (That was the main reason why I didn't write to you from Berlin, for I didn't want to have a reply from you about this while I was there.) If we decide against it, the countess(3) and Lassalle intend to set out on a year's trip to the East or to Italy. BUT HERES THE RUB.b He now expects me to give him an answer, which I can't put off any longer. Qu'en dis-tu?(4)
He's a frightfully pompous fellow, and so I had no alternative but to be constantly ironical at his expense, which wounded his amour-propre, the more so in that it aroused in the countess, whom he has impressed as a universal genius, a disquieting urge to emancipate herself from this Buddha. At certain times, strangely enough, la Hatzfeldt's voice has a Jewish intonation that has been acquired from and instilled in her by him.
Lupus's reservations about the Prussian police are QUITE OUT OP PLACE. The only difficulty that still remains can at most affect those who had formerly taken the military oath of allegiance. Assessor
Friedländer tells me that Lupus is STILL THE MOST POPULAR MAX in Breslau and in another district of Silesia as well, I forget the name. Eisner has turned into a good-for-nothing on the Schlesische
Zeitung, just as Stein has on the Breslauer. Nevertheless, a go-ahead democratic party has again been formed in Breslau. The enclosed excerpt from the Preussische Gerichts-Zeitung was inserted at my instigation by its editor, Stadtrichter Hiersemenzel.d Actuarius Stein, who has returned to Berlin from Zurich, sends Lupus his kindest regards.
You shall hear of my negotiations with the Prussian government and/or police in my next letter.[292]
Apropos. I have a present for you from Lassalle, a fine military atlas, which you must come and fetch in person.
Salut to you, Lupus and Gumpert.
K. M.
169. Marx to Ferdinand Lassalle. 8 May
169
MARX TO FERDINAND LASSALLE[67]
IN BERLIN
London, 8 May 1861 9 Grafton Terrace, Maitland Park, Haverstock Hill
Dear Lazarus,
Post tot discrimina rerum." If anyone is responsible for my silence — during my travels, that is, for here in London I had to spend my first week playing Amphitryon13 to my cousin from Rotterdamc—it is the countess/ She had promised that I would find her portrait and a letter from her at Zalt-Bommel. Since neither of these materialised, and since I am a strict observer of the jus vindictae* I didn't write either. In addition, my time at Bommel was completely taken up. On the one hand, I had business with my uncle,' and on the other, I had to pay court to my cousin.8 So, YOU SEE, SIR, WRITING WAS OUT OF THE QUESTION. My stay in Trier was useful in as much as my mother destroyed some old I.O.U.s. Incidentally the old woman also intrigued me by her exceedingly subtle esprit and unshakable equanimity.
First, then, to the financial side. Herewith an interim payment of £20. You still have £10 to come. The concatenation of circumstances was as follows: My uncle gave me £150 in cash to pay bills due at the beginning of May. He promised to send a further bill to London a few weeks later. In the meantime, therefore, I borrowed the enclosed £20 from my cousin,r ditto some money for the household, and a third amount for the repayment of various small loans in Germany. If, however, you must have the outstanding £10 straight away, let me know at once.
I couldn't go to Manchester as I had originally planned h because my cousin from Rotterdam ' decided to travel to London hard on my heels. The pretext was his interest in discussing politics with me. IN FACE, however, I believe he wanted to make the acquaintance of his various female cousins. I wrote to Engels the day before yesterday about the plans for the newspaper' and shall doubtless have an answer from him in a day or so. Conditions in America will probably be such that, even if nothing comes of the newspaper enterprise, I may move to Berlin for a semester or thereabouts, ALWAYS SUPPOSED THAT I GET MY RENATURALISATION. London, I CANT DENY IT, possesses an extraordinary fascination for me, although, to a certain extent, I live a hermit's life in this gigantic place.
Apropos. Blanqui is still in Mazas prison[293] (Paris) where he is being physically maltreated by the gendarmes, etc., on the instructions of the examining magistrate. Taking advantage of the general amnesty, he had travelled from here to Paris — with no plans for conspiracy whatever — as an agent for a businessman. In England, as elsewhere in Europe, the scoundrelly press TRIES TO BURKE THE WHOLE AFFAIR. I have made an appointment for next Saturday with Simon Bernard, who knows more about the matter,[294] and we shall then discuss the subject thoroughly. We intend, possibly in concert with Ernest Jones, to hold a PUBLIC MEETING about this outrage. As soon as I have spoken to Bernard and am better informed I shall send a report to the countess. But I would ask you to see to it at once through one channel or another that an item about this guet-apens* appears in the Breslau papers. The German papers reprint one another's stuff, as you know.
To turn from tragedy to tragi-comedy, did you see in the newspapers that workers in Geneva boxed Fazy's ears in broad daylight?
Kossuth's behaviour here during the lawsuit[295] was lamentable. Having at first taken the floor with such swagger in his AFFIDAVITS, etc., he bowed and scraped during the hearing itself, assumed as insignificant and subdued an air as possible, disavowed all revolutionary designs or intentions on his own part and thus stupidly deprived himself of the sympathies of a public predis-posed in favour of such melodramatic characters.
I don't know whether you have followed the parliamentary debates on the MacDonald CASE.[296] Palmerston's provocative behaviour towards Prussia11 has, in fact, no other aim than to explode the idea (Schleinitz's) of an Anglo-Prussian alliance. I need hardly tell you to what purpose, for you know the story.
Toby Meyen, in a Berlin letter to the Hamburg Freischütz, has produced very curious explanations of my stay in Berlin.0 D'abord,6
170. Marx to Engels. 10 May
Countess Hatzfeldt is said to have offered me 20,000 talers to found a newspaper. Secundo, I had imagined that Herr Vogt had won me support among the middle classes, on which score, however, I suffered a bitter disappointment. And, ultimo, I gave the thing up in despair, since 'not one man of letters' wished to have 'anything to do' with me. Good shot, Toby!
Rodbertus's pamphleta is highly commendable as regards its tendency. Otherwise, what is good in it isn't new and what is new in it isn't good. Roscherb on the other hand is the true representative of professorial erudition. Fausse science," as Fourier would say.
Don't forget to knock at Brockhaus's doord; 10-20 sheets, for I can never estimate the length in advance.
And now, mon cher, I must conclude by most cordially thanking you for the kind and amiable way in which you took me in and entertained me and, more especially, put up with my incivilities. As you know, I was beset by worries and am also troubled with my liver. But the chief thing is that we laughed together a great deal. Simia non ridetf and thus we have shown ourselves to be truly consummate Buddhas.
I enclose two small photographs, one for the countess, to whom I would ask you to convey my best respects, and one for yourself.
Salut.
Your
K. M.
170 MARX TO ENGELS[67]
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 10 May 1861 Dear Frederick,
Herewith d'abord1 a photograph. Lupus and Gumpert shall each have ditto as soon as I have got some more prints. I had the thing done, partly for my cousin in Rotterdam,[3] partly IN F.XCHANGK for the photographs I had been given in Germany and Holland. Secondly, a cutting from a Düsseldorf paper about Herr Vogt. Lastly, I enclose a copy of the Free Press(1) which is admittedly somewhat out-of-date, since you and Lupus did not, perhaps, follow the parliamentary debate on the Afghanistan affair very closely. It. was the greatest CHECK Pam had experienced since 1848.[207]
What you say about the plan for a newspaper in Berlin corresponds precisely to my own view and I had already, mutatis mutandis,b intimated the main points to Lazarus.d And — though I had already told him positively in Berlin that I would undertake nothing of the kind without you and Lupus — I had, nevertheless, positively pledged myself to lay the matter before you 'seriously and objectively', and thus salvavi animam meam.e
Apropos Lassalle-Lazarus. In his magnum opus on Egypt,' Lepsius proved that the exodus of the Jews from Egypt was nothing other than the story Manetho relates of the expulsion from Egypt of 'the leper folk', with an Egyptian priest named Moses at their head. Lazarus the leper is thus the archetype of the Jew and of Lazarus-Lassalle. Save that in our Lazarus's case, leprosy has gone to the brain. Originally, his disease was secondary syphilis that wasn't properly cured. As a result, he developed caries in one of his legs, and something of this still remains, according to his doctor, Frerichf (I don't know how that famous professor spells it), in the form of neuralgia or SOMETHING OF THE SORT in one of his legs. To the detriment of his own physique, our Lazarus is now living as luxuriously as his counterpart, the rich man,h and it is this, I think, that is mainly preventing his recovery. He has acquired altogether too much refinement and would, for instance, regard going into a pub as an outrage. Curiously enough, he asked me at least four times whom I meant by Jacob Wiesenriesler' in Vogt. However, considering his vanity, which has now grown truly 'objective', this was only usus naturae) We are all to be sent his new legal masterpiece (Dharma).[298]
While in Berlin I also went to see Friedrich Koppen. I found him still very much as he always was. Only he's grown stouter, and 'grizzled'. I went out on the spree with him twice and it was a real treat for me. He made me a present of his two volume Buddha," an important work. Amongst other things, he told me how those scoundrels, Zabel et cie, had gained possession of the National-Zeitung. That paper was originally founded in 1848, with a fully paid-up share capital (but with no proper contract, IN A LOOSE WAY). Mügge, Koppen, and others, exerted themselves to that end. Rutenberg became editor-in-chief, with Zabel as his deputy, and, lastly, the Jew Wolffb as manager. The paper made rapid headway as a result of its pale-ale-swigging philistine moderation and its service to the parliamentary Left.[299] Rutenberg was elbowed out by his sociisc on the pretext, false or real, that he was adopting too conservative a line and was accepting gratifications from Hansemann. Zabel brought in a faiseurd who did his writing for him, while Zabel frequented sundry public houses where he conversed with pale-ale-swigging philistines and thus ensured the growth of the paper's popularity. The coup d'état (Manteuffel's) [30]° and the various arbitrary anti-press measures, the severity of which did not abate until the end of 1850, provided a welcome excuse not to convene the shareholders. Meanwhile, the paper, which, with the suppression of the revolutionary press and the rise of the Hinckeldey-Stieber régime, found itself for the first time in its true element, acquired stature in the eyes of the philistines. It became a going concern and, in ABOUT 1852, some of the shareholders grew importunate and demanded a statement of accounts, a general meeting, etc. The most refractory were then taken on one side by Jew Wolff and divinity student Zabel. It was divulged to them in confidence that, if the paper were not to be ruined, dead silence must be religiously kept in respect of its finances, since it was, in fact, bankrupt. (In fact, the shares, originally 25 talers, were by then already worth 100.) So, on no account must it be flushed, d'une manière ou d'une autre? out of its shy financial retreat. As a special concession, however, an exception would be made in their (i.e., the most troublesome shareholders') case and the amount they had invested would be returned to them in exchange for their shares. In this way, the most dangerous were indemnified. This farce was repeated on several occasions. The majority of those who were thus bought off, however, received — strictly in proportion to the passive resistance they put up — at the most 40, at the lowest 5%, of the sum they had originally invested.
To this day, a considerable proportion of the liberal milksops have not received a FARTHING, nor are they any more capable of extracting a statement of accounts. They keep silent for fear of the
Kreuz-Zeitung? Such is the escroquerieh that has enabled Jew Wolff and divinity student Zabel to become leading dignitaries of liberalismus vulgaris, with 'surplus money' at their disposal. A pity I hadn't heard this tale before!
Rutenberg has been handed over by Manteuffel to Schwerin as an expressly guaranteed item of stock-in-trade. With his scissors he is now snipping the Staatszeitung to rights — a paper nobody reads any more. A type of London Gazette. Bruno,c who is said to have fared hellish badly, vainly offered his services to the present ministry — i.e., in the form of continued contributions to the semi-official Preussische Zeitung. He is now the principal contributor to Wagener's (Kreuz-Zeitung) Staatslexikon. Besides, he's a FARMER at Rixdorf, or whatever the miserable hole is called.
One day, I witnessed a session of the second chamber from the press gallery. I had similarly witnessed a session of the Prussian Agreers[301] in the summer of 1848. Quantum mutatum ab illis!d Not that they were Titans either — far from it! A cramped assembly room. Nothing much in the way of visitors' galleries. The fellows sit on benches (as compared with the arm-chairs of the 'Gentlemen'),[302] an odd combination of government office and school-room. A Belgian Chamber is imposing by comparison. Simson or Samson, or whatever the president's name is, avenges himself— with all the grotesque and brutal magisteriality of a ministerial huissier"[303]—for the kicks dealt him by Manteuffel when dispens-ing discipline with his ass's jawbones among the philistines cowering below. In any other assembly this unspeakable SPECIES of servile insolence personified would already have had his ears boxed. In Berlin one is repelled, especially at the theatre, by the prevalence of uniforms (apropos, in the very first few days, la Hatzfeldt took me to a box close to that of 'handsome William' and company, in order to insult the royal family. Three hours of ballet. This was the only performance of the evening. Yet another aspect of Berlin), yet one cannot but rejoice when one espies, here and there among the crowd of kow-towing bureaucratic school-boys, some chap in uniform who at least holds his head erect and sits up straight. Vincke happened_ to be speaking — indeed, he never lets a session go by without doing so. I had, in fact, flattered the fellow. Had I heard him speak before, the portrait would have turned out very differently.[304] In an indifferent comedy, Die Journalisten, by Freytag which I saw in Berlin, one of the characters is a fat Hamburg philistine and wine MERCHANT named Piepenbrink. Vincke is the spit and image of this Piepenbrink. The most revolting Hamburg-Westphalian patois, a torrent of hastily gabbled words, not a sentence correctly constructed or complete. And this is the Mirabeau of Hasenheide!a The only figures in this gathering of pygmies who at least look decent are Waldeck, on one side, and Wagener and Don Quixote von Blanckenburg,b on the other.
Went to see Siebel in Elberfeld. Had supper with him in Barmen. Pretty, young wife, sings well, admires her Carl — found her not unpleasing. Siebel just the same as ever. Consorts mainly with a liberal journalist (formerly Münster correspondent to the
Neue Rheinische Zeitung)," poets, musicians, and painters. The best among them, I thought, was Seel. Siebel took me to the 'California' in Barmen, a boring bunch. They drank my health. I got Siebel to tell them I had lost my voice, and he replied on my behalf with a few boring jokes which, however, were in the RIGHT PLACE. Siebel says that his father copies everything he does— writing verse and drinking, so that he's said to be a block, off the young chip.
In Cologne I called on Schneider II and Dr Klein. Just the same as ever — if anything, have gone even further. Spent a couple of hours tippling with them. In one pub saw, also incognito, Stuhlgang Königswinter (Wolfgang Müller).d Called on Mrs Daniels. Not that ninny and National Association man Bürgers. But more about this later. I've indulged in so much chat that I haven't yet touched on essentials. Some more anon.
Totus tuuse
K. M.
171. Marx to Engels. 16 May
171
MARX T O ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 16 May 1861
DEAR Frederick,
I missed Gumpert. First, I went to Euston Square [3 0 5] at 5 in the afternoon and waited there till 6. Later on, at ABOUT 8 OCLOCK, I went to London Bridge Station. In neither case did I catch him.
Perhaps you would be so kind as to write and tell us when you are coming. [3]
As regards your own relations with Prussia,[13] let me begin by giving you the opinion of the leading jurists with whom I spoke in Berlin. Everything depends upon whether or not you were conscripted. If not, your CASE as a Landwehr[41] man is one for the ordinary civil courts. It would seem, by the by, that the Prussians are officially concerned only with your Elberfeld affair, not the one in Baden.[306]
I don't know if you have read the Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung of 19 April last. The final news item from Paris c reads (I quote):
'By way of a warning to booksellers, Herr Vogt by Karl Marx has been placed on the list of proscribed books, thus frustrating the appearance of a much abridged French version, which is now in press.'
I had intended to give you a further account of my journey today, but Mr Bühring has just come to see me, so I must get this note off.
Salut.
Your
K. M.
172. Marx to Ferdinand Lassalle. 29 May
172
MARX T O FERDINAND LASSALLE [3 0 7]
IN BERLIN
[London,] 29 May 1861
Dear Lassalle,
I have written to a friend a in Germany [4 2] who, I hope, will send you the remaining £ 1 0 (67 talers) within a week at the latest. I'm horribly put out by this business, but my uncle,b as is the wont of such old gentlemen,while on the whole doing what he promised, is at least creating difficulties for me.
Because of conditions over there,[308] my American articlesc
continue to be wholly in abeyance for the time being, and will so continue until circumstances in Europe again acquire some interest for the TRANSATLANTICS,
In Paris the workers are in a most sorry plight as a result of the American crisis. Ditto in Lyons.
T h e whole of the official press in England is, of course, in favour of the SLAVEHOLDERS. They are the selfsame fellows who have wearied the world with their ANTISLAVE TRADE philanthropy. But
COTTON, COTTON!
Engels has been here on a three-day visit. H e is not yet going to move. If he did so, he'd have to give u p his position, break his contract and incur severe financial loss, and this, he declares, he is unwilling to do SAVE IN DECISIVE TIMES, nor has he any intention of falling, perhaps before 3 months are out, into the clutches of Prussia's common law WITHOUT DOING ANY GOOD TO ANYBODY.d Circumstances, he thinks, are not yet ripe for the setting u p of a paper / H e thanks you very much for the MILITARY MAPS.
In my letter to the countess [3 0 9] which you passed on to her, I gave her a more circumstantial and accurate account of Bonaparte's infamy vis-à-vis Blanqui, indeed of the WHOLE CASE! No doubt she will have told you about it. Please convey my kindest regards to her. I hope she is now in better health.
I am curious to hear more about your TRANSACTIONS with the Prussian government. THANKS for the zeal you have displayed.
173. Marx to Engels. 10 June ;
To help overcome the intense annoyance I feel about my IN EVERY RESPECT UNSETTLED SITUATION, I am reading Thucydides.3 At least, these Ancients remain ever new.
Salut.
Your
K. M.
173
MARX TO ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 10 June 1861
Dear Frederic,
I have had a letter from Vienna today. To start with, Friedländerb wants me to send him 2 articles, 1 about the business in America (in which I am to provide a brief political and military résumé of the whole mess, for 1 or 2 leaders) and 1 on the situation in England. Later (i.e. when he has had these articles) he will let me have his further suggestions; and, in fact, I am to get £1 for each article, 10/- for mere news-letters. This is good pay by German standards and I shall have to agree to the thing, car il faut vivre.c Since I should like to get the 2 sample articles off this week, you must do^the military part about America for me.d I will then fit it into the political part.
A week ago I made a serious start on my book.[31]" Have heard nothing more of Lassalle, save • what his cousin Friedländere
(Lassalle does not and must not know anything about the transactions with the Presse) wrote and told me from Berlin, namely:
'Since his return from Breslau,' F. Lassalle has been partly busying himself with the affair of your naturalisation, whose satisfactory outcome I believe he prejudices
174. Marx to Ferdinand Lassalle. 11 June
by his excessive zeal and his memoranda tending to prove too much, and partly spending his time perusing and reading out loud the numerous letters that pour in from professors and privy councillors thanking him for a book so fine, so interesting and so witty, etc.[2] These letters provide him with a grand opportunity to make conversation about his "excellent" book, thus proving that he is quite insensible to little titillations of this kind and wholly immune to vanity. The poor countess,(1) who is fighting off a severe attack of influenza, finds it ever more difficult to play her official role of opposer, and I, too, am beginning to tire of acting as seconder.'
So much for Friedländer. As regards the goings-on in. the so-called National Association[257]
down here and Kinkel's consequent downfall, I shall write tomorrow, having still to write to Berlin and Vienna today.
Salut. Regards to Lupus. CAVOURS DEATH! Qu'en pensez-vous?b Garibaldi, the jackass, has made a fool of himself by a solidarity letter[311] to the Yankees.[312]
Your
K. M.
174
MARX TO FERDINAND LASSALLE[67]
IN BERLIN
[London,] 11 June 1861
Dear Lassalle,
Perhaps you would be so kind as to pass on the enclosed letter to the countess.[313]
Many thanks for your book," which arrived here a day or two since (I immediately sent the other copies to their respective destinations in Manchester). I began at the end, namely with the Pelasgian affair, and then went back to the law of succession at the beginning, having now progressed as far as p. 215. It is an important work in every respect. However, I cannot send you a criticism, assessment, etc., until I have read right through the
175. Engels to Marx. 12 June
whole thing. Merely en passant, then: In India, adoption is the prevailing form. English law has taken a course diametrically opposed to that of French law. Complete testamentary freedom (whereby no Englishman or Yankee is compelled to leave his family a farthing) dates back to the bourgeois revolution of 1688 and evolved in the same measure as 'bourgeois' property developed in England. Thus, it would seem after all that, aside from its specifically Roman origins, etc., complete testamentary freedom, indeed the making of wills generally, is a DELUSION, which, in bourgeois society too, must have roots of its own, independent of mythology, etc.
I have, alas, had a letter from Germany saying tha,t the £10 cannot be remitted to you before the end of this month. Until then, I must trust to your diplomatic finesse. As you know, I was disagreeably surprised by the fact that my uncle,(1) who honoured the bills I currently owed, put off giving me the additional amount I asked for until SOME MONTHS LATER. All the same, I couldn't help laughing at such a typically Dutch turn of events.
Whether or not I am accorded Prussian nationality there might still be some question of myself and FAMILY travelling to Berlin on my passport as a 'foreigner', and spending the winter there.
Salut.
Your
K. M.
175
ENGELS TO MARX[314]
IN LONDON
Manchester, 12 June 1861 Dear Moor,
Unfortunately, I haven't been keeping any newspapers on the American war, besides many of the places are not to be found on the map. The essential points are as follows:
The South had been quietly arming for years, particularly since the fuss over the presidential elections[203] and, at the very last moment, had received money and arms en masse as a result of the treachery on the part of Buchanan's ministers.[315] By 4 March, therefore, the North was completely crippled. Moreover, prior to the fall of Sumter,[285] Lincoln did not or could not do anything, save effect a somewhat greater concentration of his few regular troops (18,000 in all, the majority scattered about the West on anti-Indian duties) and refurbish their equipment. Now finally, after the attack on Sumter, the North was sufficiently aroused to silence all outbursts on the part of the opposition, thereby making powerful military action a possibility. 75,000 men were drafted and may now be serving, but it would seem that ten times that number were eager to volunteer, so that there may be up to 100,000 men now serving even though they won't by any means have been concentrated yet. A further call-up by Lincoln is expected daily and will take less time, for everything is better prepared now. The 75,000 men, or rather the element occupying positions in the Washington region, on the Ohio facing Kentucky, and in St Louis (Missouri) (i.e. not counting the reserves in Ohio and Pennsylvania), have been sufficient for the time being to restore the balance between the forces of North and South along the line of the Potomac and momentarily even to permit a limited offensive by the North.
For the South, just as for the North, the primary objective was Washington. The South's offensive in that direction was far too weak; beyond Richmond the main force was evidently not strong enough to put in a timely thrust. All they managed to do was send a mobile column to Harper's Ferry on the Potomac above Washington. This POSITION is ideally suited to an offensive against the North (Maryland and Pennsylvania), for it lies at the confluence of the Shenandoah, an important river, and the Potomac, is extremely strong tactically and commands both rivers completely. Seemingly, it was not without intent that the Federal Armory was sited up there by a government that foresaw and favoured future secession. The occupation of Harper's Ferry disrupts the control of the Potomac line by Union troops at a sensitive spot and will immediately afford the Southern troops complete command of both banks, assuming they advance en masse to this line.
The fate of Maryland and Delaware was dependent on Washington being held by the North; cut off from the South and occupied by Union troops, they at once fell to the Union. A second success for the North.
The reconquest of Missouri by the St Louis Germans[316] was the third success and one of enormous importance, for whoever holds St Louis blocks the Mississippi. The extent to which Kentucky's neutrality is favourable to North or South will probably depend on circumstances and events. For the time being, at any rate, it will restrict the theatre of war to(2) the area that lies further east.b
Result: Thus, for all its preparations, the South has achieved nothing, save that the North, after only 1 month's preparation, has already wrested from it the national capital and three slave states, while a fourth slave state doesn't dare secede;[317] also that the South's offensive on the Potomac has come to a halt, whereas the North has already advanced beyond this river, as yet without meeting resistance. For every man the South can still produce, the North will produce three or four. The seceded states have about 7'/[2] million inhabitants, of which more than 3 million are slaves; a minimum of 1 million whites must be deducted to guard the slaves, so that barely 2V2 million are left as the aggregate of the population available for war. If 10% of these are mobilised, probably the largest number ever mobilised for defensive purposes, this will produce at most 250,000 men. But there would certainly not be a muster of that order. Switzerland, with pretty well the same population — rather more than 2 millions — has on paper about 160,000 militiamen. By contrast the North — reckoning the free states alone — numbers nearly 20 millions, all of whom are available with the exception, perhaps, of California, Utah and the territories in the far West. If we say the available population amounts to 17 millions and if we assume that not 10% but simply one third of that, i.e. 3Vs%, are available for an offensive war, we arrive at over 500,000 men, more than enough to quell the South, even if it exerts itself to the utmost. Man for man, there is no question that the people from the North are markedly superior to those from the South, both physically and morally. Your pugnacious SOUTHERNER has a good deal of the cowardly assassin in him. Each of them goes about armed, but only because this will enable him, during a quarrel, to fell his antagonist before the latter expects to be attacked. That is the aver...
176. Marx to Engels. 19 June
176 MARX TO ENGELS[249]
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 19 June 3 1861
Dear Frederick,
I have put off writing for so long because Weber (the Palatine watchmaker) had promised me a report on the London National Association[257] meeting, which was the scene of Kinkel's strange experience and was attended by Weber as a guest. I did not receive the enclosed from him until today. You will have seen from the last Hermann what it was all about.b The final meeting has been adjourned until Saturday week.c In the meantime, Juch, having been given the necessary SUPPLIES by a German businessman in the CITY, has set off to Coburg with the intention of getting the central committee of the National Association there to expel Zerffi (and hence implicite6 Kinkel). It's really splendid that Gottfried's boot-licking attitude to the English should have inspired such fanatical rage in all the liberal bourgeois in the CITY.
Letters have even arrived from Bonn, threatening Gottfried 'with a drubbing' should he return. The secret behind the support given to MacDonald by Zerffi (no doubt acting on instructions) and Gottfried[318] is this: Gottfried holds an English appointment as lecturer at the Kensington Museum,[319] the good Zerffi likewise at an Ashley (Shaftesbury)" INSTITUTION. Gottfried's only ALLIES are the louts of the 'apolitical' choral and other drinking societies. Last week Gottfried bribed these people (probably with English money) to join the National Association en bloc. (For anyone can become a member of the beastly association by obtaining a card from Trübner, at a MINIMUM CONTRIBUTION of 3/-.) Again, Gottfried held a private meeting of his followers and sent a deputation to Heintzmann asking him to resign voluntarily (on account of the insult to Gottfried's dignity) from his position as chairman, failing which a motion would be proposed to that end.
BY THE BY, I should not forget to tell you that, while the row was going on, my friend Rheinländer joined the National Association (after talking it over with me), and brought in some fifty members (mostly clerks) from his Islington Choral Society; it was they more than anyone else who kicked up the anti-Gottfried row.
Rheinländer tells me that never before has the German business contingent in the City taken sides so fanatically over a political issue. How priceless it would be if Gottfried were forced to resign from the National Association because of his kow-towing to a foreign government! That would put paid to his status among the German MIDDLE CLASS riff-raff, and where would he be without them? Gottfried is aware that this is the issue upon which he will stand or fall, and is therefore busying himself after his own fashion. What particularly irks him just now is the way everyone is saying that 'the Volk and "Marx" had been right about him after all'.[320] He told an acquaintance of Hirschfeld's, the printer, that the 'Brimstone Gang[65] were the invisible leaders of the whole business'. Nice, is it not, that we, who haven't raised a finger, should be endowed by our enemies with such mystical 'powers'?
The second enclosure I am sending you (which please return as I have got to answer it) is a letter from la Hatzfeldt.[321] I shall keep her as my private correspondent in Berlin as she has incomparably more political nous (not to mention her good contacts) than 'the step that bears in itself the systematic principle of its walking'. (Lassalle, Vol. II, p. 545.)(1) (Apropos. I presume you and Lupus have had L.'s opus?) There are two passages in her letter I should explain to you. With regard to the Blanqui affair, I had arranged for a letter to be sent her from Brussels (from Denonville).b
Initially, it's a matter of obtaining money to print a pamphlet, emanating from Denonville, about the — infamous — Blanqui trial. (Debates, etc., and discussion thereof.) Blanqui himself has, through Denonville, expressed his heartfelt gratitude to me and to the parti prolétaire allemand (in partibus)c for the sympathy we have shown him.[322] I consider it a very good thing that we should again have direct links with the decidedly revolutionary party in France.
Second point: In the letter in which I notified Lassalle that there was nothing doing just now so far as the newspaper was concerned, I endeavoured to sugar the pill by saying that I might perhaps come to Berlin next winter.d La Hatzfeldt's assessments of official democracy in Berlin is perfectly correct. She doesn't, of course, come into contact with the genuine rank and file, nor, of course, is she familiar with the prevailing mood in the pubs — which is better.
Many thanks for your letter about America.3 If anything of importance (military) should happen, you will, I presume, not fail to write and let me have your views about it. From the picture I have gained of General Scott — now 76, to boot — from the Mexican War[323] (see Ripley1'), I would expect him to make tremendous BLUNDERS — if, that is, the old jackass isn't supervised by others. Above all, slow and irresolute. Incidentally, from the facts appearing in the Tribune I see that the North is now speaking openly of a slave war and the abolition of slavery/
Yesterday in the COMMONS, on the occasion of the Schleswig-Holstein affair, Lord Montagu, having previously given notice of his intention, raised the matter of Palmerston's London Protocol (on the Danish Succession) of 1850,[324] etc. The Old Mand had recourse to his usual method. Hardly had Montagu embarked on his speech than he was brought up short by a pre-arranged COUNT-OUT of the House.
On Saturday'' I have £2 to pay out in rates and should be most grateful if you could send this to me. At the beginning of July I shall be getting a bit more money. The fact that I have already spent what I brought back with me will not surprise you, since, besides the debts which occasioned the trip,[278] nothing has been coming in for nearly 4 months, while school and doctor alone ate up nearly £40.
What's this about L. Simon, of whom there is some mention in the last part of la Hatzfeldt's letter?[325] Was Simon in the Landwehr[41]? At any rate, you have sinned more[326] than Ludwig (who was nowhere in the field, etc.). I don't understand the business. Regards to Lupus.
Your
K. M.
177. Marx to Engels. 1 July
177
MARX T O ENGELS [2 4 9]
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 1 July 1861
Dear Frederic,
I was delighted to see Lupus here, as was the whole FAMILY. Despite his gout, the old man had quite a youthful air. H e immediately handed over-your letter,[232] and £2, which promptly went to the TAX GATHERER. I was expecting to get a SUPPLY from Germany this morning, but nothing has arrived yet. Since I am completely without REVENUE for the time being and yet IN A CONTINUAL COURSE OF CONSUMPTION (this being how some economists account for 'profit', which they see as deriving, not from the costs of production, but from the costs of consumption [3 2 7]), any supplies from Manchester would be most welcome.
Please write and tell me at once what you think about the moves (military) in Virginia. T h e BLUNDERS made by officers of the militia—-Brigadier-General Pierce, by nature a 'tailor' from the State of Massachusetts — will, of course, recur often enough on' both sides.[328] Is Washington still threatened? Do you believe that the SOUTHERNERS' position at Manassas JUNCTION is an offensive one? O r aren't the fellows engaged rather in a withdrawal? In Missouri the defeat of the SOUTHERNERS seem certain,[329] and who should now turn u p there but the terrible 'COLONEL Bernstein'? From a private letter to Weber it transpires that 'COLONEL Willich' is in command of a corps from Cincinnati. H e would not appear to have gone into action yet.
O n studying these American affairs more closely, I have come to the conclusion that the conflict between South and North — for 50 years the latter has been climbing down, making one concession after another — has at last been brought to a head (if we disregard the effrontery of 'CHIVALRY'S' fresh demands) by the weight which the extraordinary development of the NORTH WESTERN STATES has thrown into the scales. T h e population there, with its rich admixture of newly-arrived Germans and Englishmen and, moreover, largely made u p of SELF-WORKING FARMERS, did not, of course, lend itself so readily to intimidation as the GENTLEMEN of Wall Street and the Quakers of Boston. According to the last census (1860), it had grown by 67 p. c. between 1850 and 1860, in 1 1861
which year it numbered 7,870,869, whereas, according to the same census, the entire free population of the seceded SLAVE STATES was ABOUT 5 million. These NORTH WESTERN STATES lurnished not only the BULK of the ruling party, but also the President(1) in I860.[330] It was also this self-same area in the North that first came out unequivocally against any recognition of the independence of a SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY. They cannot, of course, allow the lower reaches and estuary of the Mississippi to pass into the hands of foreign states. Again, in the Kansas affair[3] (from which this war really dates), it was the population of these NORTH WESTERN [States] who came to blows with the BORDER RUFFIANS.
A closer look at the history of the secession movement reveals that secession, constitution (Montgomery), Congress ibid., etc., are USURPATIONS[286] without exception. Nowhere did they allow the people en masse to vote. This 'USURPATION'—which is concerned, not only with secession from the North, but also with consolidating and intensifying the oligarchy of the 300,000 SLAVE LORDS in the South vis-à-vis the 5 million WHITES — has been the subject of highly characteristic articles which appeared in the Southern PAPERS at the time.b
And now let us turn to high politics — Kinkel and the National Association in London.c You will no doubt recall that, a week ago last Saturday, Heintzmann had adjourned the meeting (a fact he advertised in the Hermannd), because Juch had been sent to Coburg, THERE TO MOVE A placitum patrum.e At the same time, the GREAT Heintzmann had convened an extraordinary meeting for Tuesday' to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo,[332] etc.
Foxy Gottfried, however, together with Zerffi, sent out secret circulars to their people (see last Hermann) summoning them to a meeting on Saturday.f Gottfried and his people, having now got the field to themselves, effectively held their meeting behind the backs of the others. Gottfried (as one of the vice-presidents of the National Association) took the chair, and Zerffi (as a member' oi the committee of the self-same National Association) acted as secretary. It goes without saying that the resolutions pertaining tc the MacDonald business,[318] etc., that were adopted at this meeting were agreeable to Gottfried and Zerffi. Now, on the following Tuesday, Heintzmann called for a reading of the minutes of the last meeting at which he had taken the chair, and acted as though he knew nothing whatever about the interim meeting held by Gottfried and Co. Nor did Gottfried and Zerffi, who were present, call for the reading of the relevant minutes or, for that matter, say a single word about the meeting they themselves had arranged. What Gottfried did do, however, was to write to Juch the following day, requesting him to reproduce in the Hermann the minutes of his, Gottfried's, meeting enclosed in his letter. He even ominously invoked an agreement which he had made with Juch on handing over the Hermann. The latter, however, said 'quod non'(2) (see last Hermann). The day before yesterday,b
it would seem, the row was discussed at a meeting of the National Association at Seyd's Hotel. But I haven't had a report on it yet.
This will give you some idea of what the 'Machiavellismus Gottofredi Magni"c is like. You will further see from the last Hermann's account of the meeting of the National Associationd
that Blind — who has as many little dodges up his sleeve as there are fleas on a dog — invited 'Dralle'e to join, in order to secure for himself a vote of thanks as the saviour of Schleswig-Holstein/ This was, however, CAPPED BY Heintzmann, who didn't even give Dralle's NOTION a chance to be put to the vote. This same summusf Blind got a third party to ask Weber, etc., whether he should 'appear as a speaker' at the MEETING to be held by the German communist association and the Frenchmen's associations in honour of the June insurrection.[333] Reply: If he wanted a drubbing— yes.
Ad vocemh Lassalle's work: ' Lupus has made me a present of his copy, for disposal as follows: to be sent by you to my cousin, addressed to: 'A. Philips, Advokaat,' Keizergracht bij de Westermarkt. L. L. 267, Amsterdam'
You must, of course, erase Lassalle's dedication to Lupus. My cousin is interested in the theory of jurisprudence.
178. Engels to Marx. 3 July
You yourself, in order to get a foretaste — both of what is insipid and what is good in Lassalle's book, should, for a start, read the foreword to Volume I and Chapter XLI in Volume II, beginning at p. 517.
Salut.
Your
K. M.
178
ENGELS TO MARX[249]
IN LONDON
[Manchester,] 3 July 1861
Dear Moor,
Your questions about the state of affairs in Virginia are easier put than answered. Is Washington still threatened? Not immediately, otherwise the SOUTHERNERS would not have eyacuated so much territory; but one doesn't know, of course, how the opposing sides compare in terms of strength. Should the first major attack by the Northerners be decisively repulsed, it's impossible to say what might happen, for there is no knowing where they would come to a halt again. However, the chances are three to one that, even in that case, the Potomac would form an adequate obstacle.
The position at Manassas JUNCTION is determined by the SOUTHERNERS' need to maintain communications with North-West Virginia along the railway to Paris and Strasburg. If M. J. is lost, their nearest railway communication with West Virginia (on the far side of the mountains) would be the line from Richmond via Gordonsville to Staunton — 80 miles to the south; they would lose the opportunity of rapidly moving their reserves, particularly those immediately to the rear of their dispositions, from west to east, etc., as need arose, while any elements in West Virginia could be cut off or forced to make a wide detour. Such is the significance of the position — whether it has any tactical importance I can't say, for no conclusions at all can be drawn from the maps. All in all, the war in West Virginia will now turn on the railway junctions.
The affair at Big Bethel[328] is of no significance. Tactically speaking, it was abominably MISMANAGED; a night attack carried out with volunteers like these and, what's more, with each column separated from the rest, could only end in confusion, mutual slaughter, and panicky flight.
On the other hand, the North would seem to be at fault in 2 respects: 1. the massive strength of the newly formed and fully mobile corps doesn't appear to have been called on at all; they were kept kicking their heels some 400-500 miles from the scene of the fighting, whereas on the Potomac they would have been worth their weight in gold, and 2. BRAVE OLD Scott would again appear to have made colossal plans for an encirclement[334] which can only lead to a colossal dispersal of his troops; to what extent this may lead to defeats, given the slack ways and unknown heroes of the South, it is impossible to determine.
What is this about not voting on secession?" According to all the papers up here, the resolutions at the conventions were ratified in each state by popular vote.
Let me know how il capitano che'l gran Sepolcro libera di Cristo, Goffredo il Magnanimoh subsequently got on in the affair.
Enclosed SL 62585, five pounds, Liverpool, 12 May 1860. I shall see if I can't send you some more towards the end of the week.
How did Lupus get on at the Prussian Embassy?[335]
Many regards to the LADIES.
Your
F. E.
179. Marx to Engels. 5 July
179
MARX TO ENGELS[249]
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 5 July 1861
Dear Engels,
Your letter enclosing £5 most gratefully received. For the past 3 days I have had a foul inflammation of the eyes which has prevented me from doing any writing or reading. However, I believe it will pass in a couple of days.
Lupus found Alberts extremely obstructive. (I would mention in passing that the latter is Bernstorff's factotum. Also chief police agent and chief pimp to the more select visitors from Prussia.) However, with his own particular brand of rudeness, he finally browbeat Alberts into entering a long scrawl on his Swiss passport to the effect that Lupus,- an exile, was availing himself of the amnesty, etc., to travel to Wiesbaden, etc., for such and such a purpose. Initially, he had been told that, because of his 10 years' residence abroad — so this is the story they dish out to everyone— he had lost his Prussian citizenship. He should therefore have himself naturalised as an Englishman and travel on an English passport.
Zedlitz, BY THE BY, told Lassalle shortly before his resignation that I had republican or, at least, anti-royalist views, and it was their unvarying principle never to renaturalise anyone of that couleur. They didn't want to set a praecedens in my CASE.[292] Winter, Zedlitz's successor, told Lassalle he could not reverse his predecessor's decision. Finally Schwerin, who was also being pestered by Lassalle and wanted to be rid of him, said he would refer the matter to the Berlin municipal council — which, however, he won't do. During the debate in the Chamber on the subject of refugees, Vincke et cie applauded loudly when Schwerin announced that the government would always reserve the right to decide each particular case as it thought fit.[336]
As to the secession business, the matter has been quite wrongly represented in the English papers.[3] Everywhere, with the exception of South Carolina, there was the strongest opposition to secession.
5
First: BORDER SLAVE STATES? A CONVENTION of the BORDER STATES w a s held in the winter of 1861.[337] Those invited were Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, Maryland, Delaware, Tennessee and North Carolina. For this purpose, further CONVENTIONS were held in each of the above states so that DELEGATES might be sent to the GENERAL
CONVENTION.
Delaware refused even to call a convention for this purpose.
Tennessee ditto. Its Democratic LEGISLATURE took it out of the Union by coup de main. Admittedly, an ELECTION was later HELD to ratify this INVALID ACT. This took place under A REIGN OF TERRORISM. More than l/[3] didn't vote at all. Of the,remainder, '/a were against secession, including the whole of East Tennessee, which at this moment is arming to oppose the secessionists.
Kentucky. 100,000 for the UNION TICKET, only a few thousand for secession.
Maryland declared itself in favour of Union, and has now elected 6 U NION MEN a S MEMBERS OF CoNGRESS. '
North Carolina and even Arkansas elected UNION DELEGATES, the former actually by a large majority. Subsequently terrorised.
Virginia. T h e people elected a UNION CONVENTION (by a majority). Some of these chaps allowed themselves to be bought. When the Southern fever was at its height — fall of Sumter [2 8 0]—an ORDINANCE
OF SECESSION was PASSED SECRETLY BY 88 TO 55. All other moves — while the ORDINANCE continued to be kept secret — aimed at the CAPTURE of the FEDERAL NAVY YARD AT NORFOLK and the FEDERAL ARMORY AT HARPERS FERRY were carried out secretly. Were betrayed to the FEDERAL AUTHORITIES before their EXECUTION. An alliance with Jefferson Davis' GOVERNMENT was concluded in secret, and a huge mass of CONFEDERATE TROOPS was suddenly pitched into the territory. Under their protection (truly Bonapartist, this), it now voted for secession. 50,000 UNION VOTES nevertheless, despite the SYSTEMATIC TERRORISM. A S you know, NORTH WESTERN VIRGINIA has now publicly broken with the secessionists.
Second: GULF STATES.[339] A popular vote proper was taken only in a few states. In most of them, the conventions, which were chosen to decide the attitude of the southern states to Lincoln's election (subsequently, at the Montgomery Congress,28fa it was they who formed the DELEGATES), usurped the power not only to decide on secession but also to recognise the Constitution, Jefferson Davis, etc. How this actually came about you will learn from the extracts below, taken from Southern American papers.
a See this volume, p. 277.
5 1861
Texas, where, after South Carolina, there is the largest SLAVE PARTY and TERRORISM, nevertheless 11,000 votes for Union.
Alabama. No popular vote either on secession or on the new Constitution, etc. The convention elected here PASSED the ORDINANCE
OF SECESSION by 61 votes to 39. The 39 were from the NORTHERN COUNTIES, peopled almost exclusively by whites, but they represented more FREE MEN than the 6 1 ; for, in accordance with the UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION, each slave-holder also votes for [3]/ [5] of his slaves.
Louisiana. More UNION VOTES than SECESSION VOTES were cast at the election for delegates to the convention. But the DELEGATES defected.
T h e interests of the mountain districts, the west of Carolina, the east of Tennessee, the north of Alabama and Georgia, are very different from those of the southern SWAMPS.
T h e 2nd Decembrist nature [3 4 0] of all this manoeuvring for secession (which is also why the fellows were compelled to provoke a war so that with the cry 'THE NORTH AGAINST THE SOUTH' they could keep the movement going), which will be apparent to you from the following excerpts, is also evident from the fact that the traitors in Buchanan's administration who were at the head of the movement — War Secretary Floyd, Navy Secretary Toucey, Treasury Secretary Cobb, Secretary of the Interior Thompson — together with the leading senators of the South, were deeply involved in the DILAPIDATIONS running to many millions which, in the course of December 1860, had been referred by Congress (House of Representatives) to a COMMUTÉE of ENQUIRY. For some of these fellows, it was, at least, a question of escaping the penitentiary. Hence they are the most willing tools of the 300,000-strong SLAVEHOLDERS oligarchy. It goes without saying that the concentration, status, and resources of the latter enable it TO PUT DOWN any opposition for the time being. Among one section of the 'POOR WHITES', they found the MOB that served them in place of Zouaves.[341]
Georgia. 'The Griffin Union'[3]:
'It is mere mockery for the same men who made the Constitution in Montgomery to come back to Georgia and ratify it under the name of a state convention.'
The Macon Journal:
•' Marx quoted American newspapers in English. Words in parentheses are Marx's and are written in German and English.
5 1861
'The State Conventions ... called for another purpose ... assume that they are the people, and under such an assumption of power can appoint delegates to a General Convention without consulting the people. All the acts of the Congress of their Confederacy are passed in secret session with closed doors, and what is done is kept from the people.'
The Augusta Chronicle and Sentinel (largest Georgia PAPER):
' The whole movement for secession, and the formation of a new Government, so far at least as Georgia is concerned' (and Georgia is the most populous of the slave states), 'proceed on only a quasi consent of the people, and was pushed through, under circumstances of great excitement and frenzy—by a fictitious majority. With all the appliances brought to bear, etc., the election of the 4th of January showed a falling off of nearly 3,000, and an absolute majority of elected deputies of 79. But, upon assembling, by wheedling, coaxing, buying, and all the arts of deception, the convention showed a majority of 31' (against Union). '...The Georgia Convention and the Confederate Congress have gone forward in their work, as none can deny, without authority from the people.'[3]
Alabama. 'The Mobile Advertiser':
'The Convention has adopted the permanent Constitution in behalf of the State of Alabama... The great fact stands forth that the delegates were not chosen for any such purpose.'
The North Alabamian:
'The Convention made haste to usurp the prerogative, and ratify the Constitution... It is a remarkable fact that the substantial, physical force of the country, the hardfisted, handworking men, expected to do all the fighting when the country calls, were from the beginning opposed to the Ordinance of Secession.'
Mississippi. Similar complaints about usurpation in the Jackson Mississippian and Vicksburg Whig.
Louisiana. 'New Orleans True Delta':
'Here secession succeeded only by suppressing the election returns... The government has been changed into despotism.'.
At the STATE CONVENTION of Louisiana (New Orleans) on 21 March 1861, OLD Roselius (one of the leading POLITICIANS in the UNITED STATES), said:
'The Montgomery instrument[342] ... did not inaugurate a government of the people, but an odious and unmitigated oligarchy. The people had not been permitted to act in the matter.'b
a Marx quotes J. Guthrie [Address to the citizens of Louisville, Kentucky, on 16 March in reference to the condition of the country]. His source was probably the New-York Daily Tribune, No. 6210, 21 March 1861. - b Ch. Roselius' speech in the Convention of Louisiana on 21 March 1861, New-York Daily Tribune, No. 6217, 29 March 1861.
180. Marx to Engels. 12 July
In Louisville, Kentucky, Senator Guthrie (PRO-SLAVERY MAN, Treasury Secretary under Pierce) said on 16 March 1861 that the whole movement was a 'PLOT' and 'USURPATION'. Inter alia:
'In Alabama a majority of the popular vote was cast against going out, but a small majority of the delegates were for secession, they took Alabama out, and refused the people to have any voice in the matter. The vote of Louisiana, too, was against secession, but the delegates suppressed it,' etc.
Your
K. M.
180
MARX TO ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 12 July 1861
Dear Engels,
Your last letter[232] together with enclosure, or rather the enclosure minus letter, most gratefully received.
The grand tragi-comedy of Gottfried Kinkel has come to a worthy end, and POOR Gottfried has been knocked on the head.
To put the grand goings-on into a nutshell, what actually happened was this: On 15 June, Gottfried and Co., as I have already related," had, off their own bat, held a special meeting, at which they passed resolutions agreeable to themselves. On 18 June, Heintzmann took the chair at an extraordinary meeting, whose agenda did not include the great point at issue, since they were still awaiting a reply from Coburg.
The crucial meeting finally took place on 6 July, an answer HAVING MEANWHILE ARRIVED from the oracle at Coburg.[343] Both parties were there in force, including the 35 members of the Association of German MenD bought by Gottfried for cash. However, before the day of the meeting there had already been a considerable
See this volume, pp. 301-02.
amount of agitation. For instance, the Association of German Men had been harangued by Heinztmann et cie and told about Gottfried's machinations. The chairman of that association, a SHIP AGENT by the name of Schmidt (a Hanoverian), went over to the 'patriotic' side, of course,
Heintzmann — BY THE BY — has, of course, a twofold interest in view: on the one hand, to appear pleasing to the Prussian government, on the other, perhaps to obtain hac via* from that government some important TRUSTIVE office connected with the forthcoming industrial exhibition.[344] From what I hear, the fellow has performed the office of chairman after the true heavy-handed fashion of your Royal Prussian Elberfeld prosecutor. Not that this isn't the right way to handle the melodramatic Gottfried.
Well then, after the meeting (on 6 July) had been declared open, Heintzmann called for the reading of the minutes of 1 and 18 June. Neither Kinkel nor Zerffi dared so much as suggest that their minutes of the 15th should be read. Thus, they admit the illegality of the meeting secretly organised by themselves. Next, Heintzmann read out the letter from Coburg. The oracle over there had written as follows: While expulsion from the National Association could, of course, only be effected by the senate at Coburg, expulsion from the comité (as in Zerffi's case) was a local matter and hence must be decided in London.
Now, it so happened that the election of new officials to the London National Association was in general due to take place on 6 July. Hence, when Schmidt moved that they proceed with the agenda and allow the elections to decide the case, his motion was carried.
Gottfried made a very long speech and generally conducted himself in a melodramatically excited manner. The few hairs he still possesses stood on end. He was by turns acrimonious and threatening and even, at times, had recourse to irony, a field that is quite foreign to him. Throughout his speech, the utmost disorder reigned. Hissing. Notably, too, reiterated shouts of 'Gottfried', which he always regards as a grievous outrage. But oddest of all, it seems, was the manner in which, during the succeeding debate, even though he no longer had the floor, Gottfried kept leaping to his feet in order to interrupt, whereupon Heintzmann, raising a menacing arm, caused him by a mere gesture- to subside into his seat.
181. Marx to Antoinette Philips. 17 July
At the elections Gottfried and his whole gang were thoroughly trounced. Heintzmann was elected chairman by 133 votes to Gottfried's 5. So, even the fellows he had suborned voted for the most part against him. No sooner had these results been proclaimed than he apparently adopted a most 'dignified' pose, a synthesis of the 'dying gladiator' and 'Christ crucified'. Has Gottfried deserved this of 'his beloved Germany'?
In the meantime, however, that creature Blind — who, as a 'republican', does not.of course,belong to the National Association-had succeeded by dint of obsequiousness, sharp practice, and intrigues of all kinds in having himself loudly acclaimed as the courageous and patriotic champion of Schleswig-Holstein at both the National Association meetings of 15 and 18 June.[3]
So much for this war between mice and frogs.b You will have seen that even the Kladderadatsch contained a joke or two at the expense of the noble poet.[1]
Salut.
Your
K. M.
Published m English for the first time
181
MARX TO ANTOINETTE PHILIPS
IN ZALT-BOMMEL
[London,] 17 July 1861
My sweet little Cousin,
I hope you will not have mis-interpreted my long silence. During the first time I did not exactly know where to direct my letters to, whether to Aachen or to Bommel. Then, there came a heavy pressure of business, and during the last 2 or 3 weeks I laboured under a most disgusting inflammation of the eyes which very much limited the time I had disposable for writing or reading. So, my dear child, if I must plead guilty, there are many attenuating circumstances which I trust you, as a gracious judge, will allow to influence your sentence. At all events, you would do me great wrong in supposing that during all that time one single day had passed away without the remembrance, on my part, of my dear little friend.
My Berlin affair has not yet been brought to a definite issue. You will remember that during my stay in the Prussian metropolis the Hohenzollern authorities seemed to yield, and even furnished me with a passport for one year. Yet hardly had I turned my back upon them, when Lassalle, to his utter astonishment, received a letter from the Polizeipräsident v. Zedlitz to the purpose that I could not be 'renaturalised' because of my 'politische Bescholtenheit'.* At the same time the Prussian government declared that all the Political Refugees, having been absent from Prussia for more than 10 years, had lost their right of citizenship, had become foreigners, and would, consequently, like all other foreigners, only be re-naturalised at the pleasure of the king. In other words, they declared their so-called amnesty1' to be a mere delusion, sham and share. This was a point I had tried to drive them to during my Berlin stay, and it was more than even the Prussian press and the Prussian chamber of deputies were able to bear silently with. Consequently, the case gave rise to bitter discussions in the journals, and to an interpellation of the cabinet in the Abgeord-netenhaus.c For the nonce the ministry escaped by means of some equivocous and contradictory statements, but the whole affair contributed not a little to disillusion people in Germany as to the 'new era' inaugurated by what the Berliners irreverently call the 'Schöne Wilhelm'/[345] Lassalle, with his usual stubbornness, tried hard to get the better of the authorities. First he rushed to Zedlitz and made him such a scene that the Freiherre got quite frightened and called his secretary for assistance. A few weeks later, Zedlitz having been removed from his post, in consequence of hostile demonstrations against him by the Berlin mob, Lassalle called upon Geheimrath' Winter, the successor of Zedlitz, but the "successor' declared that his hands were bound by the decision of his 'predecessor'. Lassalle, lastly, caught hold of Count Schwerin, the minister of the Interior who, to escape from the violent expostulations of my representative, promised him to leave the whole case to the decision of the Berlin magistrate — a promise he is, however, not very likely to keep.[336] As to myself, I have attained at least the one success of forcing the Berlin government to throw off its liberal mask. As to my return to Berlin, if I should think proper to go there before May 1862, they could not prevent it because of the passport granted to me. If I should delay my return, things will perhaps have so altered in Prussia, that I shall not want their permission. It is really ridiculous that a government should make so much fuss, and compromise itself so much, for fear of a private individual. The conscience of their weakness must be awful.
At the same time I had the good fortune of being honoured by the singular attention of the French government. A person at Paris whom I do not know, had a translation of my pamphlet Herr Vogt already in print, when an order on the part of M. de Persigny forbade him going on with the translation. At the same time a general warning was communicated to all the booksellers at Paris against selling the German original of Herr Vogt. I got only acquainted with this occurrence by a Paris correspondence published in the Allgemeine Augsburger Zeitung."
From the Gräfin Hatzfeldt I have received a letter filling 16 pages.b Take an example of this, my dear child. She has gone — of course, in company of Lassalle — to a bathing place near Frankfurt on the Main. Thence they will proceed to Switzerland, and, after a month's sojourn there, to Italy. She feels much ennuyée1 and thinks herself much to be pitied, because she has no other business on hand save that of amusing herself. It is in fact a bad plight for an active, stirring and rather ambitious woman whose days of flirtation are gone by.
A propos. I have sent from Manchester to Augustd the two volumes of Lassalle's new juridical worke and should like to hear whether the packet has found out its address. From Jacques' I have heard nothing.
I think not, my dear child, that Mrs Marx and her daughters will fina an occasion of paying this year a visit to Bommel, because the Doctor thinks a seabath during the hot season would be the
182. Marx to Engels. 20 July
best she could do for getting rid of the remainders of the terrible disease that befell her last autumn.[3] On the other hand, I hope you will not forget your promise to visit London where all the members of the family will feel happy to receive you. As to myself, I need not tell you that nothing in the world would give me greater pleasure.
I hope, my sweet little charmer, you will not prove too severe, but, like a good Christian, send me very soon one of your little letters without revenging yourself for my too long protracted silence.
Recommend me to your father, to my friend 'Jettchen', the Doctor,(1) your brother Fritz and the whole family, and believe me always
Your most sincere admirer
Charles Marx
I am quite astonished at the news of the attentat'' on his Prussian Majesty,[341]' alias 'Der schöne Wilhelm'.'b How could any person of common understanding risk his own head in order to kill a brainless ass?
182
MARX TO ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 20 July 1861
Dear Engels,
I do not believe that you can apply to the Prussian Embassy in London for a 'certificate of good conduct'[347] without presenting the fellows with a document most compromising to yourself.
Neither under Prussian nor international law is the Prussian Embassy a supervisory body obliged to issue testimonia as to the conduct of foreigners or Prussians. Only insofar as it issues passports does it have to consider whether someone's reputation, either as a result of a court decision or by rumor publicus, is that of a .criminal. As for the rest, it is SUPPOSED TO KNOW NOTHING about private INDIVIDUALS. What it does know, it knows per abusum* as a moucharderieb institution. Thus, a certificate of good conduct from that quarter would be tantamount to a certificate of good conduct from the illegal (and hence officially non-existent) secret political police, sub auspiciis' of Alberts, the Embassy clerk. But you cannot recognise such an -authority, and the chief of police in Barmen would be very hard put to it, were you to ask him to indicate the paragraph in the Prussian statute book according to which the Prussian Embassy in London possesses such attributes.
The same cannot be said of the Prussian consul in Manchester. Consuls are commercial, not political representatives of their state. Hence they are SUPPOSED to know the businessmen of their locality and, in particular, those of their own nationality. Hence the consul would be able to give a certificate to the effect that X. X. has lived in Manchester for 10 years as a respectable businessman and is known to be such. The Prussian government has no right whatever to demand any other kind of testimonial and would be too cautious to do so officially. But the former it can demand, because your request for renaturalisation has put you on the same footing as FOREIGNERS of whom suchlike testimonials, etc., may be required when they apply for naturalisation in Prussia.
The Prussian government has no more right to demand any sort of testimonial concerning your political conduct than, say, a confession of political faith executed by you yourself.
I have heard nothing more either from Viennad or from Dana, although the latter sends me the Tribune every week.
Brockhaus will not definitely make up his mindc until I have sent him the manuscript.'"f This is a far from pleasant condition since he will submit the manuscript to the judgment of his idiots of literary advisers over there. Come to that, I'm not progressing as fast as I should like, owing to much domestic TROUBLE.
Have you read any of Lassalle's book'? Have you sent the book to my cousinh? This last is of importance to me, since I am sorely in need of that youth's bons offices}*
Lassalle and the countess ' are at a spa near Frankfurt am Main.
183. Marx to Ferdinand Lassalle. 22 July
I was called upon by an emissary from the Poles, who at the same time brought me a whole bundle of J. Ph. Becker's letters, sent by Schily, which I haven't yet read. Hasn't paid me a second visit, probably because he didn't like the home-truths I told him about the poor outlook for any kind of CONSPIRACY in Prussia just now. You shall have the Becker letters as soon as I've read them; ditto a letter from Lassalle to me, as soon as I have answered it.a
Heard anything from Lupus? Salut.
Your
K. M.
183
MARX TO FERDINAND LASSALLE[348]
IN BERLIN
[London,] 22 July 1861b
Dear Lassalle,
You must attribute my somewhat prolonged silence to sundry 'ATTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES'. D'abord,' I have as yet not succeeded— despite the most positive assurances that have been given me in this respect — in putting my financial affairs in order and thus, which galls me more than anything else, letting you have the remaining £10.
Secundo: For a few weeks now I have been suffering from a horrible inflammation of the eyes (better just during the last day or two) which made all reading and writing exceedingly irksome.
Let me begin by thanking you sincerely for your endeavours with regard to my renaturalisation. At least, we have managed to compromise the Prussian government and demonstrate the emptiness of its so-called amnesty.d I believe that O. Becker's strange attempt at assassination[346] (it's not clear from the newspapers whether he's a Russian or a German) will greatly contribute to a frightful termination of the 'new era'.[345]
I have read the 2nd part of your work" (when I wanted to begin on the first, I was prevented by my eye-trouble) and have derived very great pleasure from it. I began with No. II because the subject was more congenial to me; not that this will prevent me from subsequently considering the thing in its totality.
You have misconstrued to some extent the very brief comments in my previous letterb—no doubt it was the way I put it that was to blame. D'abord, by 'testamentary freedom' I didn't mean freedom to make a will, but freedom to make it with complete disregard for one's family. In England, the will as such goes back a very long way, nor can there be the slightest doubt that the Anglo-Saxons adopted it from Roman jurisprudence. That the English, even at a very early date, considered testacy rather than intestacy to be the norm, is evident from the fact that as far back as the Late Middle Ages, if a pater familias died ab intestatof only the obligatory portions went to his wife and children, according to circumstances, whereas V3 or V2 fell to the Church. For the priests assumed that, had he made his will, he would for the salvation of his soul have left a certain amount to the Church. Generally, it seems to be in this sense that wills in the Middle Ages had a religious connotation and were made for the benefit of the deceased rather than the survivors. But the point I was trying to make (I am not, of course, concerned here with feud il property) was that, after the revolution of 1688, the restrictions governing family settlements, to which the testator had till then been legally subject, were lifted. That this was in keeping with the system of free competition and the society based thereon cannot seriously be questioned; nor that Roman law, modified to a greater or lesser extent, was adopted by modern society because the legal idea that the subject of free competition has of himself corresponds to that of the Roman person (not that I have any intention of enlarging at this juncture on what is a most important point, namely that the legal representation of certain property relations, though undoubtedly deriving from them, is not for all that, and cannot be, congruent with them).
You have shown that the adoption of the Roman will originally rested on a misconception (and still does, so far as the sagacity of learned jurists is concerned). But it by no means follows from this that the will in its modern form — no matter with what misconcep-tions of Roman law modern jurists may construe it — is the misconceived Roman will. If this were so, it might be said that every attainment of an earlier age adopted by a later one is a misunderstanding of the past. It is certain, for instance, that the 3 unities, as theoretically construed by the French dramatists[349] in Louis XIV's day, rest on a misconception of Greek drama (and of Aristotle as the exponent thereof). On the other hand, it is equally certain that they understood the Greeks in a way that corresponded exactly to their own artistic needs. Hence their continued adherence to this so-called 'classical' drama long after Dacier and others had provided them with a correct interpretation of Aristotle. It is also certain that all modern constitutions are largely based on a misconception of the English constitution, adopting as-essential precisely that which appears to be declining in the English constitution — and which continues to exist in England in name only per abusum*—e.g. a so-called responsible cabinet. The misunderstood form is precisely the general one. It is the one that lends itself to general USE at a certain stage in the development of society.
Whether, for example, the English would or would not have had the form of will they now have (which, although it derives directly from the Roman and corresponds to Roman forms is not the Roman) without Rome is, to my mind, neither here nor there. Now, let me put the question another way, e.g.: Might not legacies (and under the so-called will of today the chief beneficiary becomes, in fact, merely a universal legatee[350]) have arisen of themselves out of bourgeois society, even without any reference to Rome? Or, in place of legacies, just written instructions on the part of the defunctib as to the disposal of their assets?
What still seems to me not proven is that the Greek will was imported by Rome, although diere would admittedly seem to be every probability that this is so.
You will have seen that Blanqui's sentence — one of the most outrageous that have ever been pronounced — has been confirmed in the court of appeal.[293] I am now curious to see what his friend in Brusselsr will have to tell me.
My wife sends her kindest regards.
Your
K. M.
184. Marx to Engels. 3 August
As regards Brockhaus,b I shall consider the matter as soon as I have finished.l Hitherto I have never sent a manuscript out on spec.
184
MARX TO ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 3 August 1861
Dear Frederick,
This is to inform you in much haste that the £5 has been most gratefully received.
An odious little sheet was sent to me yesterday entitled Thusneldad—by Kinkel and Zerffi, attacking Heintzmann et cie. Rarely have I encountered such abysmally stupid juvenilia.
The worthy Heinrich Bürgers has made a pro-National Association[24] speech at the Gürzenich,[351] and there was a general frisson of pleasure when he breathed the name of the noble man of Gotha.'
Handsome William appears to be completely out of his mind. The fool is studying folio volumes on the coronation of Frederick I.
I am sending you the Thusnelda herewith. Look after it for me. Also enclosed an article on the COUNTING OUT OF THE HOUSE ON THE
OCCASION OF THE D A N I S H QUESTION.
Salut.
Your
K. M.
185. Marx to Antoinette Philips. 24 September
185
MARX TO ANTOINETTE PHILIPS
IN ZALT-BOMMEL
[London,] 24 September 1861
My sweet little Cousin,
You must excuse me for sending you today only a few lines. The fact is that I reserve to myself the pleasure of addressing you a real letter' in a few days. For the present, I wish only to learn, by your gracious interference, whether August" has at last received Lassalle's work!1 Lassalle bothers me with a new letter as to this subject, he considering of course 'his work' as something awfully important. He presses me to answer him by next post, and thus I must again call upon you. You will much oblige me by informing me as soon as possible of the real state of the case.
Apropos. The book was to be sent to August from Manchester, not from London, but I have been assured that it had been sent from Manchester to Amsterdam. Of course, I don't care a fig for the whole 'loss', if loss there be, since August would certainly not much miss 'the work'. But courtesy obliges me to make these researches.
In writing me, you will be of course so friendly to inform me at the same time of what you are doing arid so forth, knowing my deep interests in all that concerns you.
My best compliments to your father and the whole family. Believe me always your most sincere admirer
K. M.
186. Marx to Engels. 28 September
186
MARX TO ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 28 September 1861
DEAR Frederick,
Our youngest3 has had jaundice ever since I got back[352]; her condition had been unsatisfactory long before that. Yesterday the yellowness was gone from her eyes, and there is every indication that she is on the mend.
I sent one article to the Tribune the week before last and one this week.b In two weeks' time we shall know (meanwhile I am continuing with one article per week) whether things can go on in this way.
The Vienna 'Presse', or so I gather from what the Times CORRESPONDENT wrote yesterday,' has finally revised its attitude towards Schmerling and hence it may now be possible to establish a connection with the paper.
In the issue of Kolatschek's Stimmen der Zeit that arrives in London this Monday (or so Kolatschek has written and told Borkheim) there is a special supplement on Herr Vogt.A
Very many thanks for the Manchester Guardians (most useful to me just now) and the BRITISH ASSOCIATION PUBLICATION.[333]
At the beginning of this week, a young officer by the name of E. Oswald — dressed in Garibaldi OFFICER UNIFORM — called here with an introduction from Schily. A former Prussian lieutenant, he joined Garibaldi as a volunteer, and was promoted lieutenant under Medici. After the disbandment of Garibaldi's army, he went to Paris, where he took employment as a worker, in a factory to make ends meet. He is now over here and intends to go to America to join in the struggle. What he needs are funds to get him there. A sailing vessel leaves here every week for New York, and the fare is only £6. Borkheim is prepared to put up £5 on his own account and that of one or two acquaintances. So it's up to a few liberal philistines (Borchardt, etc.) in Manchester to raise a further small sum, partly to provide the passage money. The £6, however, does not include food. Borkheim turned d'abord* to Kinkel with a view to obtaining Oswald's travelling expenses from the revolutionary funds.81 But Gottfried said: quod non.b (When in Zurich, Borkheim had succeeded by this means in procuring the money for Anneke's passage to America.) Nor will the American Embassy give a single FARTHING. Oswald seems to me to be an excellent young man and entirely unassuming into the bargain. Once he got to New York, a recommendation from me to Dana would be very useful to him. However, something must be done about it quickly, for his stay in London simply means faux frais de production?
Oswald says that, as a soldier, Türr isn't worth twopence either. A mere intriguer. Garibaldi kept him on, primarily because he had been recommended by an Italian friend of Garibaldi's, previously associated with Türr, but more especially by virtue of his function as the 'REPRESENTATIVE OF HUNGARY'. Whenever Garibaldi employed him in any kind of independent military role, he was dissatisfied with him. Rüstow, too, evidently took little or no part in the affair. Officially his duty was that of 'historiographer' of the war. Oswald says of Garibaldi that he is essentially a guerrilla leader, but would be unable to cope with a larger army on a larger terrain. His strategical advisers are Cosenz and Medici.
When are you going to Germany?[354]
Best regards from all the family. Regards to Lupus, Gumpert, etc.
Your
K. M.
Have seen Meyen's sample issue of the Berliner Reform. Pure or rather filthy rubbish.
Apropos. Have just had a letter from my niece,d who says that August Philips in Amsterdam has still not received the Lassalle.e Perhaps you would find out whether it was sent off by the office.
187. Marx to Engels. 30 October
187
MARX TO ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 30 October 1861
Dear Engels,
Circumstances have finally CLEARED to the extent that I have at least got firm ground under my feet again and am no longer in a state of complete suspense. As you know, shortly after my return from Manchester[352] and as soon as I thought the moment opportune, I again started writing for the Tribune at weekly intervals. Last week included, I had sent them 6 articles.[355] Then, in the last mail, the first 2 articles" actually came back in print, the first of them (over 3 columns on English opinions on the UNITED STATES) in a PROMINENT PLACE and particularly REFERRED TO on the front page of the paper. To this extent, then, the matter is in order and hence I am assured of £2 per week.
Secondly: I had, as you know, already written to the Vienna Presse from Manchester, asking for 'information'.[35]'(1) About 3 weeks ago I got an answer which was politically entirely satisfactory to me. (In the meantime, the paper has modified its attitude to Schmerling.) At the same time, Friedländer (on behalf of Zang, the proprietor) asked for 2 sample articles. These(2) I sent off and yesterday morning I got an answer to the effect 1. that the articles had appeared with due prominence on the front page,[357] 2. that I was engaged on a regular basis from November, £1 per article, lOsh. per news-letter.
As regards the Tribune, I must first of all find some way of drawing bills, for it can hardly be arranged through Freiligrath in future.
For the rest, this twofold engagement holds out an assured prospect of putting an end to the harried existence led by my family over the past year, and also of finally completing my book.[310] Thanks to you, I was able to placate the more pressing of the blackguards at the beginning of September, but even so, the harassment was still quite intolerable, and in October it again reached a crescendo. I am writing today to my old lady" to find out whether anything can be squeezed out of her. I shall likewise see if I can raise something from a LOAN SOCIETY. My chief concern, of course, is to put my affairs into some sort of order, pending the availability of amounts WORTH DRAWING from New York and Vienna, and above all to have leisure in which to work during the interval that must necessarily elapse. In the MEAN TIME, we have pawned everything that was not actually nailed down and, what is even worse, my wife is seriously unwell. When it was simply a case of enduring the pressure of day-to-day adversities, she did this bravely, but she has been cast down by the complete absence of prospects. In the meantime, the favourable news from Vienna and New York has already evoked a favourable reaction.
Borkheim had strangely misled both himself and me over Kolatschek's Stimmen der Zeit. True, No. 39 carried a contribution running to a printer's sheet headlined 'K. Vogt und K. Marx', but it was written by the student Abt, the 'lowest of the low', whom you will remember from Geneva. Having taken due note of the actual content of my pamphlet(3) in the first 2 pages, he devotes the remaining 14 to railing in the most rabid and villainous fashion against me and, notably, Schily and Imandt, on account of the 'Bristlers'.b He concludes by saying that, if I don't recant, he will attack me 'at the only vulnerable spot he knows' and compromise me in a manner 'that I shall regret'. Needless to say, I didn't take the slightest notice of the scoundrel. But something very odd must have happened to put Mr Kolatschek at Abt's mercy, for, as Abt says, he had had the scrawl as far back as January and had refused to print it until September.
Salut.
Your
K. M.
Don't forget to send me as detailed a report as possible on the status quo in Manchester.
188. Marx to Engels. 6 November
188
MARX T O ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 6 November 1861 Dear Frederick,
You must excuse me for my failure to send a more prompt acknowledgement of the £ 5 , ditto the wine. Very many thanks for both. It so happened that I have been very busy of late, on top of which I have had a great deal of domestic BOTHER.
Once again, the Tribune's front page calls attention to an article of mine as 'MOST INTERESTING'.2 Odd the way these YANKEES312 hand out testimonia to their own CORRESPONDENTS. I had an answer from my old lady b yesterday. 'Soft' words, BUT NO CASH. She also tells me what I have long known, namely that she is 75 and is suffering from many of the infirmities of old age.
Up till now I have also been vainly trying to raise a LOAN over here. T h e guarantors I was able to produce were not, as I had in any case already suspected, sufficiently respectable. Many chaps have been more fortunate in this line. E. g. that scoundrel Beta got £ 5 0 out of a LOAN society on the guarantee of M r — Edgar Bauer!
Russia's goings-on in Poland aren't bad at all. No less nice are the GESTS and EXPLOITS of handsome William.3D9
You may perhaps have seen from the German, or also from some of the English newspapers, with what persistent importunity citizen and statesman Blind is 'blossoming' into a German Mazzini.c
Apropos. While you were away,3fi0 I received avisd from Holland that Lassalle's books [6] had not been received by my cousin.' Perhaps you would be so good as to make inquiries about it.
Write soon, for I have an especial need of your letters during what is still a highly critical interlude for me.
If you have a moment, could you write me a report on the Armstrong controversy [3 6 1] for the Presse?
Salut. Your
K. M. First published abridged in Der Briefwech-Printed according to the original sei zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 3, Stuttgart, 1913 and in full in MEGA, Published in English for the first Abt. Ill, Bd. 3, Berlin, 1930 t l m e
189. Marx to Watteau. 10 November
189
MARX TO LOUIS WATTEAU[362]
IN BRUSSELS
[London,] 10 November 1861
Dear Citizen,
My reply to your last letters has been delayed for so long because I was waiting from day to day for news from a lady you know.a At last I have learned that she left for Italy some months ago but will shortly be returning to Berlin.
If the first letter for L.b has not arrived, I imagine that the fault must lie in the address; it was marked via Gibraltar instead of via Southampton. After I had been advised of this mistake, I corrected the address on the second letter. This I not only franked but also registered. I enclose the receipt from the English post office.
The 50 francs I am sending you comes from a German working men's club.c In my next letter I shall send you a further contribution. Please be so kind as to acknowledge receipt and send copies of your pamphlet[363] in return.
It would be useful if you were to write me a letter I could send to Berlin and which would establish the monetary resources needed for a <rescue attempt>.d I should return it to the appropriate quarter.
Rest assured that there is no one more interested than myself in the lot of a mane whom I have always regarded as the brains and inspiration of the proletarian party in France.
Salut.
K. M.
190. Marx to Engels. 18 November
190
MARX TO ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 18 November [1861]
Dear Engels,
herum Crispinus!* Well, this is how matters now stand. On 9 November, I drew £16 on the Tribune for the 8 articles then sent. Out of this £16, I paid £3 apiece on account to butcher, baker, TEAGROCER, OILMAN, MILKMAN, and GREENGROCER. I spent 10/- on coal, which will all be gone by tomorrow. Your £5 went for the most part on the repayment of small cash loans. So, I'm broke, and there are further debts to be paid — the LANDLORD, school fees, the cobbler, and essential purchases for the family against the winter. I write for the Presse almost every day. With the Presse and the Tribune combined I might be able to make SHIFT. But in view of the constantly reaccumulating deficit (not a. milliard, admittedly[364]) and a whole year's loss of income this really can't be done.
Now there has been yet another disaster. As you know, I advanced Petsch & Co. £25 for the printing of Vogt, it being agreed that this was to be repaid out of the SALE of COPIES, before any other deductions. Moreover, they owe me a few pounds for Hinter den Coulissent the Communist Trial1 and the 18th Brumaire? etc.247
On the other hand, I obtained newspapers and books from the fellows to the value of £10 9/-, if only to be in possession of some security.
Koller (an associé*) has now had a row with Petsch, who is not in the business at present. There's a lawsuit pending between the two over the firm's liquidation.
The rascally Koller, whom I pressed about my claim, wrote instead advising me of his suit in the COUNTY-COURT 7 regarding the £10 9/-. I went to see Zimmermann. He told me that my suit
191. Marx to Engels. 20 November
would cost me about £30-£60 in a SUPERIOR COURT, and that it would be better if I established my claim in the form of a counter-claim in the COUNTY-COURT, to which I had been summoned by Koller. Nor does he himself practise in the COUNTY-COURTS. SO, to this end, I shall have to see an English SOLICITOR before the week is out (and as soon as possible), which I can't do without CASH.
If I were quit of this wretched situation and did not see my family oppressed by MISERABLE adversities, how overjoyed I would be at the fiasco of the Decembrist financial system, so long and so frequently prognosticated by me in the Tribune. So William the Handsome or handsome William has done some plain speaking in Silesia: 'If you elect democrats, we shall be ruined.' 'Soldiers are the only answer to democrats.' [3 6 3]
Salut. ,r Your
K. M.
191
MARX T O ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 20 November' [1861]
Dear Engels,
This is to acknowledge, in much haste, receipt of the £5, also the Manchester Guardians which arrived the day before yesterday. I am now going straight to a SOLICITOR." My wife is very much affected [...]b and I fear the thing will end badly, if there is a long
STRUGGLE.
Salut. Y o u r
K. M.
192
ENGELS TO MARX[249]
IN LONDON
Manchester, 27 November 1861
Dear Moor,
Have the YANKEES gone quite out of their minds, playing such a mad trick on the CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS? [366] The FACT that even over here in the Channel, a warship was lying in wait for the MAIL STEAMER shows that general instructions had gone out from Washington. There could be no clearer casus bellib than to forcibly seize political prisoners on board a foreign vessel. The fellows must be completely crazy to saddle themselves with a war against England. If war should really break out, you could send your letters to New York via Germany or Le Havre, under cover to a third party, but you'll have to take care that you're not aiding and abetting the ENEMIES of the QUEEN.c
I was delighted to hear that Bakunin had bolted. The poor devil must have been very much the worse for wear. What a way to make a journey round the world![36]'
Monsieur Bonaparte would also seem to get no money and Fould pretty well at his wits' end.[364] I can't help wondering what's going to happen there.
Things are going swimmingly in Russia and Poland, and now there's also a chance that good old Prussia may at long last be involved in a crisis, provided the electors don't allow themselves to be intimidated again.[368] But the purse, the purse! That may well serve to keep the few 'men of Progress' afloat a little while longer. In Cologne it is even rumoured that good old Heinrich Bürgers might stand for Parliament.
Varnhagen's Tagebiicherd must be quite interesting. All the same, the fellow was a scurvy, cowardly knave. There was quite a witty article about the thing in the Kreuz-Zeitung,—full of spite and malice, of course.'[1]
192. Engels to Marx. 27 November / 193. Engels to Marx. 2 December
On 1 December, I shall send you another fiver. Many regards,
Your
F. E.
193
ENGELS TO MARX[369]
IN LONDON
[Manchester, 2 December 1861]
I/Z 07595, Newcastle on Tyne, 14 August 1860 Dear Moor,
The above is the number of the enclosed fiver, which could not go off till today, as the first of December fell on a Sunday. Once again, I didn't register it.
During the past few days I have at last read some of the Lassalle.(1) His stuff about retroaction may be quite plausible, but doesn't hold water, as is apparent, e.g., in the case of divorce legislation, of which it might also be said, and has in fact been said by many a Berlin philistine: 'If I'd known how difficult it was to get divorced, I should never have got married.' By the way, it's grossly superstitious of the fellow to go on believing in the 'idea of law', absolute law. His objections to Hegel's philosophy of law are for the most part perfectly justified, but he hasn't yet really got into his stride with his new philosophy of mind; even from the philosophical standpoint he should have progressed sufficiently to regard the process alone, not just its momentary result, as the absolute, in which case no other idea of law could follow than precisely the historical process itself. The style's nice, too. 'The hand-wringing despair of the contradictions', etc., and then the introduction. Pure Ephraim Artful. I dare say I shan't get very much further, unless I find it might come in useful as a course in Roman law, in which case I shall read the whole thing. How,
194. Marx to Engels. 5 December
by the way, one could think it worthwhile to send so simple and,
au fond? insignificant an idea chasing right through the Corpus juris,3,10 applying it to every single point — as though it would gain weight in the process — is quite beyond my comprehension. But even nicer is the assumption that this WILD GOOSE CHASE, conducted in and around the 'plenitude of the concrete', is the proof of his pudding and he must therefore remain infallible ever after.
In Berlin things will now begin to hum. The new little Chamber's half-hearted 'progress' democracy[371] will prove too red for handsome William, after all, and by March they'll already find themselves in a state of mild chronic crisis. I am curious to see what happens. If only the chaps in the Chamber aren't too timid, they will yet succeed in toppling the handsome one, but I don't trust that democratic breed.
I hope your wife is feeling better. Cordial regards to her and the girls.
Your
F. E.
194
MARX TO ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 5 December [1861] Dear Engels,
Didn't send an acknowledgment sooner because afflicted by great TROUBLE. My wife is very indisposed. I shall write to you this evening, as I have to concoct an article today.b
Salut.
Your
K. M. First published in Der Briefwechsel zwis-Printed according to the original chen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 3, Stuttgart 1913 Published in English for the first time
195. Marx to Engels. 9 December
195
MARX TO ENGELS[372]
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 9 December 1861 Dear Engels,
From my PERTINACIOUS silence you may discern with what reluctance I write to you at all. Considering the great efforts— greater, even, than you can manage — that you make on my behalf, I need hardly say how much I detest perpetually boring you with my lamentations.
The last money you sent me, plus a borrowed pound, went to pay the school bill — so that there shouldn't be twice the amount owing in January. The butcher and épicier" made me give them I.O.U.s, one for £10, the other for £12, due on 9 January. Although I didn't know with what I should pay them, I couldn't risk being sued lest I bring the whole house tumbling about my ears. I owe the LANDLORD £15, and shall owe him £21 in January. Ditto the GREEN GROCER, the baker, the news agent, the milkman, and the rest c.f the rabble whom I had placated with payments on account after my return from Manchester,[352] lastly the TALLYMAN, since the onset of winter meant buying indispensable items of winter clothing, which therefore had to be got on tick.
The amount I can expect at the end of the month is £30 at most, since those scoundrels from the Presse are not printing some of my articles. I have, of course, first to accustom myself to keeping within the 'bounds of German reason'. (Incidentally, though, they are making quite a splash in their paper with my contributions.)
What I have to pay (including interest at the pawn-shop, etc.) amounts to £100. It is remarkable how, despite an occasional helping-hand, the loss of all income combined with debts that are never quite paid off invariably brings the same old muck to the surface again.
Today I have written to Dronke because he still owes me some money. But just gently nudging his memory, not urging; I made so bold as to tell him that, if he could make me an advance, you would guarantee its repayment.[373]
Once I'm out of this mess, New York and Vienna will allow me at least to jog along again.
196. Marx to Engels. 13 December
My wife was in a dangerous nervous condition, and for a few days Dr Allen was most alarmed. He knows, or rather suspects, where the shoe pinches, but is too tactful to say anything untoward. The poor woman is still very out of sorts, but so resilient is she by nature that, as soon as things take a turn for the better, I feel sure she will be all right again.
There isn't going to be war with America, as I have said from the very beginning in the Presse,[3] and I am only sorry I didn't have the means to exploit the boneheadedness of a Stock Exchange dominated during this silly season by Reuter and The Times.
I agree with your STRICTURES ON Izzyb (who writes from Florence to say he'has had a very interesting meeting' with Garibaldi, etc.). The 2nd volume is more interesting, if only by reason of the Latin quotations. Ideologism permeates everything, and the dialectical method is wrongly applied. Hegel never described as dialectics the subsumption of vast numbers of 'CASES' UNDER A GENERAL PRINCIPLE.
My writing is progressing, but slowly.[310] Circumstances being what they were, there was, indeed, little possibility of bringing such theoretical matters to a rapid close. However, the thing is assuming a much more popular form, and the method is much less in evidence than in Part I.c
Salut. Your
K. M. First published in Der Briefwechsel zwischen Printed according to the original F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 3, Stuttgart, 1913
196
MARX TO ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 13 December 1861 Dear Frederick,
Best thanks for your letter.[232]
IN COMPENSATION for services previously rendered,d Dronke sent £5 by return, and yesterday he himself came up to town where he had a meeting with one of his directors.
197. Marx to Engels. 19 December
He is going to try and discount the bills. I told him at once that an essential condition was that they should not be put into circulation before they fell due.
That bastard Koller has resorted to another manoeuvre. He has not allowed the case to proceed in the COUNTY COURT(1) but has brought it before the SHERIFF COURT[374] and increased the sum for which he is suing me to £20 — alleging that I had undertaken to be jointly responsible for all the costs of Vogt. This, namely, by way of a REPLY to my counter-claim.[3]
My attorney, Sidney Herbert, has deemed it formaliterb necessary to file a counter-suit at the same COURT. The whole difficulty centres on the fact that my AGREEMENT with Petsch was not made in writing.
My wife is feeling better. Salut.
Your
K. M.
197
MARX TO ENGELS[249]
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 19 December 1861
Dear Engels,
You know how the Dronke business came about.c I wrote to him, not because of the bill, but to dun him. In the circumstances, I was, of course, compelled to inform him of the critical situation I was in, a situation which he, like anyone else, must, and did, find quite natural in view of the American affair. As a result of this communication, he came to see me and, thus, the arrangement was made which, to begin with, I would never even have thought of, had you not expressly stated in your letter[232] that you would accept the bills if I was able to get them discounted through 19 1861
Freiligrath or 'some other person'. I say this much in order to absolve myself of any semblance of indiscretion.
T h e r e is nothing doing with F., as I already knew beforehand. H e only had the tailor and by the time of the Tribune affair he'd already lost him, because two of his clerks had obtained articles of clothing to the value of £ 7 0 on his recommendation and decamped without paying. Moreover, my RELATIONS TO F. were so CHANGED that, when he arranged to have even my bills on the Tribune discounted again by Bischoffsheim, he did so only with reluctance. But, even if he had wanted to, he couldn't particularly since the latent bankruptcy of his bank court par les rues de Londres?
This letter will go off at the same time as one to Dronke, informing him that I embarked on the TRANSACTIONS with him as a result of a misunderstanding and asking him therefore to regard them as non avenues.b I also told him that, if he could discount the bills on me personally WITHOUT ANY INTERVENTION OF OTHER PERSONS, this would be agreeable to me. I had to tell him that, because I can see no way out, and indeed my situation is one of the utmost peril.
His address, letters to be marked private, is 49 Oldhall Street, Liverpool. Judging by what Dronke says (though I believe he's in Newcastle and not in Liverpool at all), he would simply try to arrange the matter with his own BANKER.
Unfortunately, I couldn't help informing my wife of the contents of your letter, insofar as it referred to the bill transaction. And news of this kind always brings on a kind of paroxysm.
As to war with America, Pam may possibly succeed in bringing it about, but not without difficulty. H e has got to have a PRETEXT and it doesn't seem to me as though Lincoln will give him one. Some of the Cabinet, Milner Gibson, Gladstone, plus ou moins' Lewis, can't be so easily BEFOOLED as John Russell.
Taken by and large, the Americans have not been at fault, either materially or. formally, under English maritime law, which is in force there. [3 7 5] As TO THE QUESTION OF MATERIAL RIGHT, the English CROWN LAWYERS have themselves given a decision along these lines.[376]
They have therefore adduced, since Pam needed a PRETEXT, an ERROR in forma, a TECHNICALITY, A LEGAL QUIBBLE. But this, too, is erroneous. Under English maritime law one must distinguish between two cases. Whether A NEUTRAL SHIP CARRIES BELLIGERENT GOODS AND PERSONS or CONTRABAND OF WAR, either in the form of objects or persons. In the latter case, the ship with CARGO and persons is TO BE SEIZED AND BROUGHT INTO A PORT FOR ADJUDICATION. In the first instance — if
a is the talk of London - b null and void - c more or less 19 1861
it is established beyond doubt that the GOODS (properly speaking an impossibility in the case of persons) have not passed into the possession of a neutral, the BELLIGERENT GOODS or persons may be seized ON THE HIGH SEAS, while, the ship, etc., gets off scot-free. This sort of jurisprudence has — if we disregard the AUTHORITIES — been constantly asserted by England, as I have discovered for myself by consulting Cobbett's Register [3] on all the squabbling that has gone on with neutrals since 1793.
Conversely, since the English CROWN LAWYERS confined the problem to an ERROR in forma and thus conceded the Yankees the right to seize all English ships with BELLIGERENTS aboard and bring them into port FOR ADJUDICATION, the Yankees may very well — and in my view will — declare that they are satisfied with this concession, that in future they will commit no formal infringements in case of seizure, etc., and deliver u p Mason and Slidell FOR THE NONCE.
If Pam is absolutely set on war, he can, of course, bring it about. In my view, that is not his intention. If the Americans act in the way I imagine they will, Pam will have provided stupid John Bull with fresh proof that he is 'THE TRULY ENGLISH MINISTER'.87' The chap will then be free to do whatever he likes. H e will seize this opportunity,
1. to force the Yankees to recognise the Declaration of Paris on the rights of the neutrals [3 7 8];
2. to use this as a pretext for something he has hitherto not dared to do, namely request and prevail upon the English Parliament to sanction the abandonment of the OLD ENGLISH MARITIME LAW, the said abandonment having been subscribed to by Clarendon — on his (Pam's) instructions — unbeknown to the Crown and without the prior knowledge of Parliament.
Pam is an old man, and, since the time of Catherine II, the Russians have been trying to enforce the declaration published in Paris. T h e r e are still two things they lack: the sanction of the English Parliament and the accession of the UNITED STATES. O n this occasion, both would be achieved. It seems to me that these warlike alarums are simply theatrical props with which to make stupid John Bull believe that the definitive abandonment of his own MARITIME LAWS in favour of Russia is a victory over the Yankees won thanks to the
PLUCK of the 'TRULY ENGLISH MINISTER'.
Additional reasons for these warlike alarums seem to be: Diversion of attention from Poland (for at public meetings even fellows such as Conningham from Brighton are demanding the
a Cobbett's Weekly Political Register
198. Marx to Engels. 27 December
STOPPAGE Of FURTHER PAYMENT o f t h e DuTCH-RuSSIAN LOAN 9) a n d diversion of attention from Denmark where Russia is engaged at this moment in ousting Glücksburg, the HEIR PRESUMPTIVE appointed by herself.[380]
It is, OF COURSE, possible that the Yankees won't give way, and, in that case, Pam will be forced into war by his preparations and rodomontade to date. However, I would rate the odds at 100 to 1 against.
Salut.
Your
K. M.
198
MARX TO ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 27 December 1861
Dear Engels,
When the outside world first began to 'dun' me, I wrote — since I didn't want to be always pestering you — not only to my mother and other relations, but also to Siebel. Now that young man, as I see from his letter, has again written to you. Consider the matter as non avenue."
I am extremely vexed that you should have had to give Dronke an I.O.U. for my sake. Originally, he promised to arrange the matter in less onerous a form and to give longer TERMS.*[73]
I don't yet know quite how I am to weather this crisis. Whatever happens — since otherwise it would be plainly impossible — I shall write to my LANDLORD and tell him that he cannot be paid now, that I intend to give him a bill, etc.
The court case is also going wrong.b Since the point at issue turns on PARTNERSHIP, my LAWYER considers it necessary — if I am not
not having happened - h See this volume, pp. 327-28 and 334.
27 1861
to be made to pay the £ 2 0 — t h a t the case be removed from the SHERIFFS COURT 3 7 4 and taken before a SUPERIOR COURT. I am due to appear at the SHERIFF'S COURT on January 3rd. My mistake lay in not having concluded a written contract with A. Petsch. Sidney, my attorney, believes I should be pretty safe in the SUPERIOR COURT.
T h e rotten Presse is printing barely half my articles. They're jackasses. I wonder how they propose to pay, whether I'm expected to write individual articles on 'spec', or what?
In the meantime, may I wish you in advance every happiness for the New Year. If it's anything like the old one, I, for my part, would sooner consign it to the devil.
Salut.
Your
K. M.
1 8 6 2
199
Endnotes
[211] In September 1860, the press announced the forthcoming meeting of the Emperors of Russia and Austria and the Prince Regent of Prussia. It was held in Warsaw in October. See also Marx's article 'Russia Using Austria.—The Meeting at Warsaw' (present edition, Vol. 17).—189
[250] In May 1860, Stieber was tried on a charge of abuse of power. Although acquitted, he was forced to resign in November of that year.—241
[251] In January 1861, the Prussian Crown passed to William I, who from 1858 to 1861 had been Regent during the reign of Frederick William IV.—241
[252] The late 1850s saw a rise in the national liberation struggle of the peoples of the Austrian Empire and, as a result, an inner political crisis. In an attempt to contain the revolutionary and democratic forces, the government of Francis Joseph made a number of half-hearted concessions to the national liberation 1860. See Engels' article 'Austria — Progress of the movement late in Revolution' (present edition, Vol. 17).— 241
[254] A reference to Marx's private library (see Note 244).— 244
[255] A short extract from this letter first appeared in English in: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Correspondence. 1846-1895. A Selection with Commentary and Notes, Martin Lawrence Ltd., London [1934]. In 1979, the letter was published, considerably abridged, in The Letters of Karl Marx. Selected and Translated with Explanatory Notes and an Introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.— 245
[7] County-court—local judicial court for civil actions in England.—4, 327, 399
[9] On 26 November 1859, the Allgemeine Militär-Zeitung (No. 95-96) carried a review of Engels' anonymously published pamphlet Po and Rhine. It endorsed Engels' critique of the theory that Germany's security depended on German domination of Northern Italy.—4
[21] >] This refers to Fischel's pamphlet Despoten als Revolutionäre, published anonymously in Berlin in 1859. The same year it appeared in English under the title The Duke of Coburg's Pamphlet. See also p. 153 of this volume.—8
[262] An allusion to the negotiations held in Warsaw in October 1860 (see Note 211).—250
[264] In this note Marx presumably informed Eichhoff of his intention to translate into English the latter's pamphlet Berliner Polizei-Silhouetten, which appeared in 1860, and have it published, whole or abridged, and probably with his own commentaries, in The Times. In his letter of 16 February 1861, Eichhoff agreed to the project, but Marx was unable to carry it out.—251
[266] I.e., supporters of the German National Association (see Note 24).—253
[270] After the death of Engels' father in March 186U, his brothers proposed that he should renounce his title to the family concern in Engelskirchen in their favour. One of their arguments was that he had lived abroad since 1849. By way of compensation, he was to receive £10,000 to consolidate his legal and financial standing with the Ermen & Engels firm in Manchester, of which Engels hoped eventually to become a co-owner. His brothers' proposal infringed Engels' rights, since under English law the transfer of a deceased co-owner's title was highly complicated and problematic. Engels had lengthy talks with Gottfried Ermen on the terms of his continued collaboration with the firm (see this volume, pp. 134-35). It was not until 25 September 1862 that a contract was signed providing for Engels' eventual partnership. He became a co-owner in 1864 (see this volume, p. 548).—259, 548
[141] Marx obviously means his 'Declaration' of 15 November 1859 (see present edition, Vol. 17, pp. 8-9) which, however, did not appear in Die Reform. On 19 November 1859 Die Reform published Marx's 'Statement to the Editors of Die Reform, the Volks-Zeitung and the Allgemeine Zeitung (see present edition, Vol. 17, pp. 4-7).—105
[272] During the siege of Gaeta (see Note 259), French warships kept the fortress supplied with provisions and ammunition. They left the Gaeta roadstead on 19 January 1861.—262
[273] In January 1859 an anti-feudal uprising by Maronite peasants (the Maronites are a Christian sect recognising the authority of the Pope but retaining the ancient rites of the Eastern Church) erupted in Northern Lebanon. It spread to central Lebanon and, in the spring of 1860, led to bloody clashes between Maronites and Druses (a Moslem sect). The religious strife was fanned by British and French emissaries and the Turkish authorities. Napoleon III exploited the disturbances as a pretext for sending an expeditionary corps to Lebanon in August 1860. Pressure from Britain, Russia and Austria forced France to withdraw its troops the following year. For details see Marx's article 'Events in Syria.—Session of the British Parliament.—The State of British Commerce' (present edition, Vol. 17).—262
[274] Heineke the lusty knave is the hero of the German folk song Heineke, der starke Knecht, a parody of 16th-century grobian literature. In his work 'Moralising Criticism and Critical Morality' (present edition, Vol. 6) Marx compared Heinzen's journalistic writings with samples of grobian literature.—263
[275] First published in English, abridged, in: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Correspondence. 1846-1895. A Selection with Commentary and Notes, Martin Lawrence Ltd., London, 1934. A fuller English publication appeared in The Letters of Karl Marx. Selected and Translated with Explanatory Notes and an Introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1979.—264
[276] 2 , 6 Blind published pamphlets, Flugblätter des Vereins 'Deutsche Einheit und Freiheit' in England, on behalf of that Association in London.—264
[27] The Foreign Affairs Committees were public organisations run by the Urquhart and his supporters in a number of English cities between 1840s and 1860s, mainly with the aim of opposing Palmerston's policies.—10, 95
[279] Following an abortive coup by petty-bourgeois democrats on 13 June 1849, a state of siege was proclaimed in Paris, bringing in its wake reprisals against democrats and socialists. On 19 July, the French authorities notified Marx that he was being expelled from Paris to Morbihan, a marshy and insalubrious region in Brittany. Rather than go there, Marx decided to emigrate to England and settle in London. He left Paris on 24 August.—268 25 — 558
[28] This referts to the pamphlet Juchhe nach Italia!, written by Bamberger in Paris and published, with Vogt's help, anonymously by Reinhold Waist in Frankfurt am Main, but marked 'Bern und Genf, Vogts Verlag, 1859' on the title page. It contained no direct polemic against Engels' articles on the Italian campaign in the Volk (see present edition, Vol. 16).—10
[281] The Preliminary Parliament, or Preparliament met in Frankfurt am Main from 31 March to 4 April 1848. A council of representatives of the German states, it set up a Committee of Fifty to prepare the ground for the convocation of an all-German National Assembly (see Note 282) and produced a draft of the 'Fundamental Rights and Demands of the German People'.— 268
[22] 12 When writing this letter, Marx evidently had not yet received Vogt's pamphlet. What he calls the introduction was actually the second section. The first contained a verbatim report of the court proceedings against the Allgemeine Zeitung in Augsburg in October 1859. Vogt had sued the newspaper for reprinting, in June of that year, Karl Blind's anonymously published pamphlet Warnung zur gefälligen Verbreitung, which exposed him as a Bonapartist agent (Marx calls it, for brevity, Zur Warnung; for details of it see his polemic Herr Vogt, present edition, Vol. 17, pp. 111-32). Marx likens Vogt's piece to the petty-bourgeois democrat Müller-Tellering's libellous pamphlet Vorgeschmack in die künftige deutsche Diktatur von Marx und Engels (Cologne, 1850)!—9
[8] Marx means his work on the second instalment of A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (see also Note 35).—4, 17. 23, 274, 280
[284] An excerpt from this letter was first published in English in: Karl Marx, On America and the Civil War. Edited and translated by Saul K. Padover, New York, 1972. A longer extract appeared in The Letters of Karl Marx. Selected and Translated with Explanatory Notes and an Introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, 1979.—276
[11] 1 ' Marx followed the movement for the emancipation of peasants in Russia using a variety of sources, among them the Prussian Allgemeine Zeitung. In the present case, he presumably drew on an article 'Rußland und Polen', reprinted in the Allgemeine Zeitung of 6 December 1859 (No. 340) from the Neue Hannoversche Zeitung, and the article by the Allgemeine Zeitung's St. Petersburg correspondent 'Zur russischen Leibeigenschaftsfrage und die Finanz-Verhältnisse des Staats', Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 3 (supplement) and No. 5 (supplement), 3 and 5 January, 1860.—4
[287] An except from this letter was first published in English in: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Correspondence. 1846-1895. A Selection with Commentary and Notes, Martin Lawrence Ltd., London [19341. A longer extract appeared in The Letters of Karl Marx. Selected and Translated with Explanatory Notes and an Introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1979.—279
[88] Engels means Vogt's lawsuit against the Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung (see Note 22).—52
[289] 'frie reference is to General Pfuel's part in the suppression of the national liberation uprising in Posen, a duchy under Prussian rule, in the spring of 1848. On his orders the heads of the insurgents taken prisoner were shaved and their hands and ears branded with lunar caustic (in German Höllenstein, i.e. stone of hell). Hence his nickname, 'von Höllenstein'.—280
[290] xhj s refers to the 1860 military reform in Prussia (see Note 19) and the bill on the taxation of the estates of the higher nobility submitted to the Prussian Diet thai vear. Initially turned down bv the Upper House, trie bill was passed in May 1861. The debates over the reorganisation of the Prussian army gave rise, in the early 1860s, to a Constitutional conflict between the government and the liberal bourgeois majority in the Diet. The conflict stimulated the popular movement. Clashes with police and troops became more frequent. The Constitutional conflict was not resolved until 1866, when, under the impact of Prussia's victory over Austria, the Prussian bourgeoisie knuckled down before the government and endorsed its entire previous record.—280
[291] '-91 Agreers Assembly (Vereinbarlingsversammlung) was Marx's ironic way of referring to the Prussian National Assembly, which met in May 1848. Convoked to draw up a Constitution, it sought to do this not on the basis of its sovereign and constituent rights but 'by agreement with the Crown' (the principle formulated by the Camphausen-Hansemann government and adopted by the majority of the Assembly). The Crown used the agreement principle as a screen for preparing a coup d'état. On 5 December 1848, the Prussian National Assembly was disbanded.—281
[294] Marx met Simon Bernard cm Saturday, 11 May 1861. As follows from Bernard's letter to Marx of 13 May, Marx told Bernard during their conversation that Sophie von Hatzfeldt was willing to lend a sum of money to organise Blanqui's escape. Thanks to Marx's efforts and the campaign he had 25* launched, articles in defence of Blanqui appeared in the German, Italian and American progressive press (see also Note 309).—284
[295] This refers to the proceedings instituted on behalf of the Emperor of Austria against Kossuth and Messrs Day and Sons who had manufactured a large amount of Hungarian paper money in England. Applying to the English court, the Austrian government demanded an end to such actions and the destruction of the banknotes produced. On 27 February 1861, the Vice-Chancellor's Court granted the justice of this demand. On 12 June, the Court of Chancery turned down the defendants' appeal and confirmed the initial ruling.—284
[296] In September 1860, British Army Captain MacDonald, travelling in Germany, was arrested in Bonn on charges of disobeying the local authorities. He was kept in detention for six days, brought before a court and fined. The British government took advantage of the incident to whip up an anti-Prussia propaganda campaign. It was not until May 1861 that the conflict was resolved.—284, 354
[207] On 1 September 1860 or thereabouts, Engels wrote the article 'Garibaldi's Progress' and a few days later the article 'Garibaldi in Calabria' (see present edition, Vol. 17). On Tiirr see Marx's article 'Affairs in Prussia.— Prussia, France and Italy' (ibid;).—182, 184
[298] An ironic reference to Lassalle's book Das System der erworbenen Rechte; Dharma is a concept of Indian, particularly Buddhist, religion and philosophy. In religion, it denotes God, the Absolute. In philosophy, it stands for religion, morality, justice, law and order. In Buddhist literature it signifies, above all, Buddha's leaching.— 286
[299] This refers to the Left wing of the Prussian National Assembly (see Note 291), which consisted of bourgeois radicals and liberals.— 287
[30] Marx means the German Workers' Educational Society in London (see Note 3) whose offices were in Great Windmill Street, Soho, i" the 1850s.—11
[301] Marx means the Prussian National Assembly (see Note 291), one of whose sittings he attended somewhere between 7 and 10 September, during his trip to Berlin and Vienna in late August and early September 1848 with a view to strengthening ties with democratic and workers' organisations.— 288
[302] The reference is to the Upper and Lower Chambers of the Prussian Diet.—
[303] When the coup d'état was being plotted and carried out in Prussia (see Note 300), the Frankfurt National Assembly undertook to settle the conflict between the Prussian National Assembly and the Crown. With this aim in view, first Bassermann (a liberal) and later Simson and Hergenhahn arrived in Berlin as imperial commissioners. Their mediation benefited the counter-revolutionary forces because it diverted the democrats in Germany from giving effective support to the Prussian National Assembly in its struggle against the Brandenburg-Manteuffel Ministry. Marx ironically compares Simson to Samson, the Old Testament hero, who slew a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass (Judges, 15:15).—288
[304] Marx means the description of Vincke he gave in his Herr Vogt (present edition, Vol. 17, pp. 250-58).—289
[305] Euston Square is in front of Euston Station, London.—290
[13] '•^ In his letter of 16 December 1859 (it has not been found) Marx probably asked Szemere to help him out of his financial difficulties. In his reply of 29 December Szemere informed Marx that his efforts had been to no avail.— 5
[306] -p n e Elberfeld uprising of workers and petty bourgeoisie broke out on 8 May 1849 and served as a signal for armed struggle in a number of cities in the Rhine Province in defence of the Imperial Constitution. The immediate occasion of the uprising was the attempt of the Prussian government to suppress the revolutionary movement on the Rhine by armed force, destroy the democratic organisations and the press, and disarm the army units which disobeyed its orders and supported the Imperial Constitution. Engels played an active part in the uprising. At a trial held in April and May 1850, most of the participants in the Elberfeld uprising were found guilty and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. See Engels' article 'Elberfeld', (present edition, Vol. 9). In June and July 1849, Engels was fighting in the ranks of the Baden-Palatinate insurgent army (see Note 212).—290
[307] An excerpt from this letter was first published in English in Karl Marx, On America and the Civil War. Edited and Translated by Saul K. Padover, New York, 1972.—291
[42] This letter by Marx has not been found.—15, 17, 33, 34, 40, 71, 77, 104, 118,
[308] See notes 253 and 285.—291
[309] This letter to Sophie von Hatzfeldt has not been found. As can be seen from Hatzfeldt's reply, dated 14 June 1861, Marx had requested her assistance in drawing public attention to the harsh treatment of Blanqui in prison, and asked for money to finance the printing of a pamphlet by Louis Watteau on Blanqui's trial (see Note 293 and p. 295 in this volume). Marx also suggested organising meetings and the publication of a series of articles in Germany in connection with the trial. A number of articles on Blanqui appeared in the German and Italian press with the help of the German writer Ludmilla Assing.—291
[31] This refers to Vogt's pamphlet Mein Prozess gegen die Allgemeine Zeitung. On Tellering's 'concoction' see Note 22.—12
[311] In May 1861, in connection with the outbreak of the Civil War in the United States, the Federal Government offered Garibaldi a commanding post in the army of the North. The offer was made through the US Minister to Brussels, who went to see Garibaldi on Caprera Island. Garibaldi replied with a letter i expressing warm sympathy for the Unionists, but refused to accept the post in the belief that it was an ordinary internecine war with no bearing on the slavery issue. He said he would be willing to fight on the side of the Northerners if it was to become a war to end slavery.—293
[312] 3 , 2 Yankees was the nickname given by British soldiers to residents of New England in the eighteenth century. During and after the Civil War (1861-65) it was used to denote the Northerners.—293, 325, 368, 400, 416, 562
[313] This letter has not been found.—293
[314] The end of this letter has not been found. The available part was first published in English in: Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The Civil War in the United States, New York, 1937.—294
[315] In the four months between Lincoln's election and his inauguration (on 4 March 1861) the pro-Southern faction in Buchanan's Administration (Secretary of War Floyd, Secretary of the Treasury Cobb and others) used their powers to strengthen the South and prepare the ground for civil war. Troops loyal to the Union were transferred from the South to the Far West and dispersed to different garrisons. Arms and ammunition were shipped to the South and large sums of money sent there. Even before the outbreak of hostilities representatives of the slaveholders, with the connivance of the government, opened negotiations with Britain to obtain financial and military aid (on this see also p. 307).—295
[316] 3 , 6 In May 1861 four volunteer regiments, consisting mostly of German immigrants, were formed in St. Louis, Missouri. They encircled the Secessionists' military camp outside the city and forced them to surrender, thus preventing them from seizing the arsenal and coming out against the Union arms in hand.— 296
[317] 3 ' 7 This refers to the slave states bordering on the North which refused to join the Confederacy: Delaware, Missouri, Maryland and, later, Kentucky. For details see Marx's article 'The Civil War in the United States' (present edition, Vol. 19). On the border states see p. 277.— 296
[319] South Kensington Museum (now Victoria and Albert Museum) included a museum of ornamental and applied art, a national gallery of British art, an art library and a royal college of art.— 297
[320] This refers to the reviews Gatherings from the Press', which were directed against Kinkel's newspaper Hermann. They appeared in June and July 1859 in the weekly Das Volk, in whose publication Marx took a direct part (see present edition, Vol. 16).—298
[65] ''•'' The original Brimstone Gang (Schwefelbande) was a students' association in Jena University in the 1770s whose members were notorious for their brawls. Later the expression Brimstone Gang came to be applied to any group of ill repute. In Geneva in 1849-50 it was also the jocular name for a small company of German refugees, inoffensive and happy-go-lucky idlers. In his pamphlet Mein Prozess gegen die Allgemeine Zeitung, Vogt included Marx and his party associates in the 'Brimstone Gang', although they had nothing to do with it (for details see this volume, pp. 70-71 and Marx's Herr Vogt, present edition, Vol. 17, pp. 28-37).—28, 33, 42, 89, 121, 166, 179, 298
[321] A letter from the Countess von Hatzfeldt to Marx of 14 June 1861 (see also Note 309).—298
[322] In connection with Blanqui's prosecution (see Note 293) a correspondence developed between Marx and Blanqui's friend Watteau (Denonville) on how to launch a campaign in Blanqui's defence (see notes 294 and 309). In a letter to Watteau of 18 May 1861, which has not been found, Marx presumably offered help on behalf of German communists. In his reply (8 June) Watteau wrote that he had shown Marx's letter to Blanqui, who 'was deeply moved by the German proletarians' sympathy'. In the same letter Watteau requested Marx's aid in publishing a pamphlet on Blanqui's prosecution which exposed the unseemly methods of the Bonapartist police and judiciary. As follows from the correspondence between Blanqui and Watteau, and frorn Marx's letter to Watteau of 10 November 1861 (see this volume, p. 326), Marx sent the latter money for the publication of the pamphlet and took part in discussing plans for freeing Blanqui from detention. He informed Sophie von Hatzfeldt of these plans, and she agreed to provide money for the purpose.—298
[323] The Mexican War (1846-48) was caused by the expansionist designs of the US slaveholding planters and big bourgeoisie. As a result of the war, the USA seized nearly half of Mexico's territory, including Texas, Upper California, New Mexico and other areas.—299
[324] "fhe Schleswig-Holstein question was prominent in nineteenth-century European diplomacy. The Congress of Vienna (1815) recognised the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein to be possessions of Denmark in personal union with the Danish King. At the same time, Holstein was declared a member of the German Confederation. During the 1848-49 revolution, an anti-Danish national liberation movement developed in the duchies which was, however, defeated. At a conference in London attended by representatives of Austria, Britain, Denmark, France, Russia and Sweden, a protocol on the Danish succession was signed on 2 August 1850 which proclaimed the indivisibility of the Danish Crown possessions, including the two duchies. This document formed the basis for the London Protocol of 8 May 1852 on the integrity of the Danish monarchy (see Note 380). Denmark's attempts to fully subject the duchies aggravated Danish-Prussian relations and were exploited as a pretext for intervention by Prussia, which regarded the reunification of Schleswig and Holstein with Germany as the first step towards the union of Germany under Prussia's aegis.—299, 496, 501
[325] In her letter of 14 June 1861 Sophie von Hatzfeldt touched on the possibility of Engels' return to Germany following the amnesty proclaimed in Prussia (see this volume, pp. 247-49) and in this connection wrote that Ludwig Simon had been officially notified that he would only be allowed to return to Prussia if he petitioned the King for a pardon.— 299
[326] An allusion to Engels' participation in the Elberfeld and Baden-Palatinate uprisings (see Note 306).— 299
[327] A gibe at the vulgar economists who maintained that profit was merely an extra charge on the consumer over and above the price. Marx attacks this view in his economic manuscript of 1861-63 and in Volume III of Capital (present edition, vols. 32 and 37).—300
[329] This refers to the victory of the Northerners, commanded by N. P. Lyon, over the Missouri pro-Secessionist militia led by Governor Jackson at Boonville on 17 June.—300
[330] Marx means the victory of the Republican Party in the 1860 elections (see Note 231).—301
[332] At the Battle of Waterloo, on 18 June 1815, the Anglo-Dutch and Prussian forces, commanded by the Duke of Wellington and Blücher, defeated Napoleon's army.—301
[334] General Winfield Scott's strategy, later known as the Anaconda Plan, called for the encirclement of the rebel states by the Federal Army and Navy and the gradual contraction of the ring until the rebellion was crushed.— 304
[335] n v j e w 0f the amnesty of 12 January 1861 (see Note 256) Wilhelm Wolff, in 335 j the summer of 1861, applied to the Prussian Embassy in London for a passport to visit Wiesbaden.—304
[337] The Border Slave State Convention, or Washington Peace Conference, was held in February 1861, on Virginia's initiative. Attended by 21 states, with the border states playing the most active part, it was a last, unsuccessful, attempt to resolve peacefully the dispute between the Secessionists and the Union.—306
[280] Expelled from France by the Guizot government, Marx moved to Brussels on 3 February 1845. However, in December of that year the Prussian government, taking advantage of Marx's coming under its jurisdiction as a Prussian subject, demanded his expulsion from Belgium. As a result, Marx was forced to relinquish Prussian nationality. For details see the article 'The Conflict between Marx and Prussian Citizenship' and 'Marx's Statement on the Rejection of His Application for Restoration of His Prussian Citizenship' (present edition, Vol. 7, pp. 407-10, and Vol. 19, pp. 345-52).—268
[339] Gulf States—the states lying along the Gulf of Mexico (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas). They formed the core of the Secessionist Confederacy.—306, 349
[5] The Association of German Men was an organisation of German refugees in London set up after the defeat of the 1848-49 revolution in Germany.—4, 309
[340] An allusion to Louis Bonaparte's counter-revolutionary coup d'état in France on 2 December 1851.—307
[342] This refers to the Constitution of the Confederate States of America which was adopted by the Congress in Montgomery on 11 March 1861 (see Note 286).—
[343] Marx means Feodor Streit's letter of 2 July 1861, written on behalf of the National Association.—309
[344] This refers to the second Great Exhibition (world industrial fair) held in London from May to November 1862.—310, 353, 364, 365, 380, 384, 408, 414
[347] In view of the Decree on Amnesty (see Note 256) Engels' relatives were exploring the possibility of his return to Germany. In reply the police superintendent of Elberfeld stated that Engels had to send in an appropriate application and a certificate of loyalty issued by the Prussian Embassy in London.—314
[348] A brief extract from this letter was first published in English in: Marx and Engels, On Literature and Art, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1976. In less abridged form, the letter appeared in The Letters of Karl Marx. Selected and Translated with Explanatory Notes and an Introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1979.— 316
[346] On 14 July 1861 student Oskar Becker made an abortive attempt on the life of William I, King of Prussia, in Baden-Baden.— 314, 317
[349] This refers to one of the basic aesthetic principles of Classicism, the unity of time, place and action in drama. It was formulated in 1674 by the French theorist of Classicism, Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, in his poem L'art poétique.—
[350] A legacy (bequest) in Roman law was a stipulation by the testator in his will granting a person a certain right or oiher benefit based on the property bequeathed. A legatee was one to whom a legacy was bequeathed. As distinct from the legatee in this restricted sense, the heir under a will is the universal legatee, who assumes the liabilities of the deceased as well as his property and rights.— 318
[351] The Gürzenich is a reception building erected in Cologne in 1441-52, in the mid-19th century used as a venue for various functions and festivities.— 319
[354] Engels went on holiday to Germany on about 3 October 1861 and stayed with his family in Barmen till the end of the month.— 322, 375
[355] Marx means, in particular, the articles 'The American Question in England', 'The British Cotton Trade', 'The London Times and Lord Palmerston', and 'The London Times on the Orleans Princes in America' (see present edition, Vol. 19). The other two articles were evidently not published.—323
[35] Marx means the initial plan of his economic work, which envisaged the following books: 1) Capital, 2) Landed Property, 3) Wage Labour, 4) The State, 5) Foreign Trade and 6) The World Market (see Marx's Preface to his Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, present edition, Vol. 29). Book I was to comprise four sections: 1) Capital in General, 2) The Competition of Capitals, 3) Credit, 4) Joint-Stock Capital. The first instalment of Book I, A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, published in 1859, contained the two introductory chapters of the section 'Capital in General' (a chapter on the commodity and a chapter on money). The second instalment was to be wholly devoted to capital in general.—12, 435
[357] An editorial introductory note to Marx's article 'The North American Civil War', published in Die Presse on 25 October 1861, said: 'We have received from London a first communication on the North American Civil War from one of the leading German journalists, who knows Anglo-American relations from long years of observation. As events on the other side of the ocean develop, we shall be in a position to present communications, deriving from the same competent pen, which will outline the salient features of the war.'—323
[361] This refers to the rifled cannon invented by William Armstrong in 1854 and adopted by the British army in 1859. A try-out in the war against China gave rise to doubts about its resistance to wear and the convenience of its breech, and caused a controversy about its advantages over the Joseph Whitworth gun (see also Engels' article 'On Rifled Cannon', instalments III and IV, present edition Vol. 17).—325
[362] This is the only letter of the Marx-Watteau correspondence on the Blanqui case to have been found (see Note 322). The French original is in the collection of the Blanqui papers at the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris. The last paragraph of the letter was first published in Roger Garaudy's book, Les sources françaises du socialisme scientifique, Paris, 1948, p. 217. The letter was published in full, except for three obliterated words, in Vol. 30 of the Second Russian Edition of the Works of Marx and Engels in 1963 and in the language of the original in La Pensée, No. 125, Paris, 1966. The three obliterated words, since deciphered with the aid of modern technical facilities, read tentative de sauvetage and are evidence of Marx's involvement in the plans for rescuing Blanqui. The full text of the letter, including these three words, was published bv Maurice Paz in La Nouvelle revue socialiste. Politique. Culture, No. 20, 1976. In a letter to Marx dated 22 January 1862 Blanqui thanked him for what he was doing in his behalf.—326
[366] 36S The reference is to the detention of the British mail steamer Trent by the* Unionist warship San Jacinto on 8 November 1861 and the arrest, aboard the Trent, of James Murray Mason and John Slidell, Confederate emissaries going to Europe on a diplomatic mission. On this see Marx's articles 'The Trent Case', 'The Anglo-American Conflict', 'The News and Its Effect in London' and other relevant items in Vol. 19 of the present edition.—329, 363, 462
[36] 3(> In a letter written late in January 1860, Lassalle told Marx he considered it necessary to postpone the writing of his own work on political economy until the publication of Marx's book. Lassalle's book appeared in Berlin in 1864 under the title Herr Bastiat-Schulze von Delitzsch, der ökonomische Julian, oder: Capital und Arbeit.—12
[368] Th' s refers to the second round of elections to the Lower House (Chamber of Deputies) of the Prussian Diet, held on 6 December 1861.— 329
[369] p a r t o r this letter was first published in English in: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Correspondence. 1846-1895. A Selection with Commentary and Notes, Martin Lawrence Ltd., London, 1934.—330, 399, 403, 419, 422, 448, 453, 460,
[371] 871 Engels means the victory won by the Party of Progress at the elections- to Prussia's Chamber of Deputies in November and December 1861. The Party of Progress, formed in June 1861, spoke for the German bourgeoisie. Its slogans were the unification of Germany under the aegis of Prussia, the convocation of an all-German Parliament, and the formation Of a strong liberal Ministry responsible to the Chamber of Deputies. Fearing a popular revolution, the Party of Progress gave no support to the basic democratic: demands — universal suffrage, freedom of the press, freedom of association and freedom of assembly.— 331, 501
[372] This letter was first published in English in part in: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Correspondence. 1846-1895. A Selection with Commentary and Notes, Martin Lawrence Ltd., London, 1934, and in full in: The Letters of Karl Marx. Selected and Translated with Explanatory Notes and an Introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 1979.— 332
[373] In December 1861 Dronke lent Marx £50, repayable on 30 March 1862.—332,
[374] Sheriff—the chief executive officer of a shire or county, charged with the execution of the laws and the serving of writs, and in some cases having judicial powers.—334, 338
[375] 75 This refers to the Trent incident (see Note 366) which was exploited by the textile manufacturers and some members of the Palmerston Cabinet for stepping up the anti-Unionist campaign in Britain. Lord Russell demanded the release of Mason and Slidell within a week's time on pain of a declaration of war by Britain. But other Cabinet members refused to support this line. (See Marx's articles 'Controversy over the Trent Case' and 'Progress of Feeling in England' and other relevant items in Vol. 19 of the present edition.)—335
[376] 76 Marx means the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General, the two highest-ranking legal officials in Britain. For their decision on the Trent case see Marx's articles 'The Anglo-American Conflict', 'The News and Its Effect in London' and 'Controversy over the Trent Case' (present edition, Vol. 19).—335
[378] 78 This refers to the Declaration on the principles of international maritime law adopted by the Congress of Paris on 16 April 1856. It banned privateering and safeguarded merchantmen of neutral states against attack by belligerent powers. The adoption of the Declaration was a diplomatic victory for Russia, which from 1780 had opposed Britain's claims to the right to inspect and seize the ships of neutral states.— 336
[380] 80 Under the London Protocol of 8 May 1852 on the integrity of the Danish monarchy, signed by Austria, Britain, Denmark, France, Prussia, Russia and Sweden, the Emperor of Russia, being a descendant of Duke Charles Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp, who had reigned in Russia as Peter III, was one of the lawful claimants to the Danish throne, who waived their rights in favour of Duke Christian of Glücksburg. This provided an opportunity for the Tsar to claim the Danish Crown in the event of the extinction of the Glücksburg dynasty.—337, 497, 543
[73] 3 On Lassalle's criticism of Liebknecht see Note 33.— 35
[2 3 2] This letter by Engels has not been found.—211, 238, 240, 253, 257, 300, 309,
[24] 14 The German National Association (Deutscher National-Verein) was the party of the German liberal bourgeoisie favouring the unification of Germany (without Austria) under the aegis of the King of Prussia. The Association was set up in Frankfurt am Main in September 1859. Its supporters were nicknamed Little Germans.—10, 160, 164, 192, 200, 319, 342, 383, 393, 511, 580
[248] This refers to Eduard Meyen's libellous article 'Die neue Denunciation Karl Vogt's durch K. Marx' in the Freischütz, Nos. 155 and 156, 27 and 29 December 1860, and No. 1, 1 January 1861.—238, 239, 241, 242
[1] An excerpt from this letter was first published in English in: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Correspondence. 1846-1895. A Selection with Commentary and Notes, Martin Lawrence Ltd., London [1934]. Marx began his letter on a form of the General Bank of Switzerland under the letter from Freiligrath, who was manager of the bank's London branch.— 3
[3] The German Workers' Educational Society in London was founded in February 1840 by Karl Schapper, Joseph Moll and other members of the League of the Just (an organisation of German craftsmen and workers, and also of emigrant workers of other nationalities). After the reorganisation of the League of the Just in the summer of 1847 and the founding of the Communist League, the latter's local communities played the leading role in the Society. During various periods of its activity, the Society had branches in working-class districts in London. In 1847 and 1849-50, Marx and Engels took an active part in the Society's work, but on 17 September 1850 Marx, Engels and a number of their followers withdrew because the Willich-Schapper sectarian and adventurist faction had succeeded in temporarily increasing its influence in the Society and caused a split in the Communist League (see present edition, Vol. 10, pp. 483 and 632). In the late 1850s, Marx and Engels resumed their work in the Society. It existed until 1918 when it was closed down by the British government.—3, 94, 103, 232, 342, 517, 533
[249] An extract from this letter was first published in English in: Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The Civil War in the United States, New York, 1937 — 241,
[2] The Cologne trial (4 October-12 November 1852) was organised and stage-managed by the Prussian government. The defendants were members of the Communist League arrested in the spring of 1851 on charges of 'treasonable plotting'. The forged documents and false evidence presented by the police authorities were not only designed to secure the conviction of the defendants but also to compromise their London comrades and the proletarian organisation as a whole. Seven of the defendants were sentenced to imprisonment in a fortress for terms ranging from three to six years. The dishonest tactics resorted to by the Prussian police state in fighting the international working-class movement were exposed by Engels in his article 'The Late Trial in Cologne' and, in greater detail, by Marx in his pamphlet Revelations Concerning the Communist Trial in Cologne (see present edition, Vol. 11).— 3, 22,
[203] This letter was written in reply to the one from Mrs Marx of 14 August 1860 (see this volume, p. 568).—179
[67] An excerpt from this letter was first published in English in The Letters of Karl Marx. Selected and Translated with Explanatory Notes and an Introduction by Saul K. Padover, Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1979.—32,
[41] The Landwehr was part of Prussia's armed forces and consisted of men who had done their term of active service and service in the reserve. Under Prussia's laws, it was only raised in the event of war or the threat of war. The Prussian government's order to call up the Landwehr in the Rhine Province, issued at the beginning of May 1849, precipitated a popular uprising in Rhenish Prussia. In Elberfeld, Iserlohn, Solingen and a number of other cities, the Landwehr joined the movement in support of the Imperial Constitution. After the defeat of the uprising, many of the insurgents were forced to emigrate. Landwehr members guiltv of breaches of army discipline were subject to the jurisdiction of courts-martial. This applied also to ex-members of the Landwehr returning to Prussia from exile.—15, 249, 290, 299
[26] 2e In 1859 and 186W, Fischel was editing in Berlin Das Neue Portfolio. Eine Sammlung wichtiger Documente und Aktenstücke zur Zeitgeschichte, a collection of diplomatic documents modelled on The Portfolio, or a Collection of State Papers, published by Urquhart in London from 1835 to 1837. Excerpts from Marx's Lord Palmerston (see present edition, Vol. 12, pp. 341-407) appeared in Fischel's Portfolio, Hefte I and II, 1859-60.—10, 152
[244] A list of the books of this library, compiled by Daniels and with notes by Marx, has been preserved.—228, 239, 255, 265
[269] xhis refers to the pamphlet, F. Engels, Essays Addressed to Volunteers, London-Manchester, 1861. It included five articles published in The Volunteer Journal in 1860 and early 1861: 'A Review of English Volunteer Riflemen', 'The French Light Infantry', 'Volunteer Artillery', 'The History of the Rifle', and 'Volunteer Engineers: Their Value and Sphere of Action' (all five will be found in Vol. 18 of the present edition). The pamphlet appeared on 16 March 1861.—258, 262
[278] M a rx stayed at Lion Philips' in Zalt-Bommel, Holland, from 28 February to 16 March 1861. Thence he went to Berlin, where he stayed until 12 April. During that visit to Germany, he also went to Elberfeld, Barmen, Cologne and Trier. He returned to London on 29 April.—266, 299, 574, 577, 579
[6] An ironic reference to Gottfried Kinkel, who had named the weekly he was publishing in London Hermann after Arminius (Hermann), chieftain of the old German tribe of Gheruscans.—4
[285] In 1861 the conflict between the capitalist North and the slaveowning South of the USA (see Note 253) assumed the form of armed struggle. On 12 April rebel Southern troops bombarded Fort Sumter (South Carolina) thus unleashing a civil war that lasted until 1865. After the outbreak of the rebellion, four more states — Arkansas, Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee — seceded from the Union. For details see this volume, pp. 294-309 and Marx's articles 'The North American Civil War' and 'The Civil War in the United States' (present edition, Vol. 19).—277, 295, 306
[286] This refers to the Congress of the secessionist states (see Note 253) which met in Montgomery, Alabama, on 4 February 1861. Attended by representatives of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina, it proclaimed the establishment of the Southern Confederacy, adopted a Constitution and formed a government. On 18 February, Jefferson Davis was elected President of the Confederate States.—278, 301, 306
[292] During his stay in Berlin in the spring of 1861 (see Note 278) Marx took a series of steps to have his Prussian citizenship restored. The Berlin Police Presidium turned down his application, based on the Supreme decree on amnesty, for the lights of a Prussian subject, and suggested that he should rather seek to be naturalised in Prussia. However, his application to this effect was refused by the Berlin Police President, von Zedlitz, in June 1861, and by Prussia's Minister of the Interior, Schwerin, in November (see present edition, Vol. 19).—282, 305, 579
[293] j n March 1861, Blanqui, who had returned to France after the amnesty of 1859, was arrested on charges of organising a secret society. On 14 June, he was sentenced to four years in prison, despite the absence of incriminating evidence.—284, 318
[257] This refers to the London branch of the German National Association (see Note 24). The branch was set up with Kinkel's help in I860.—246, 293, 297
[318] Marx means Zerffi's Kinkel-inspired articles in defence of MacDonald published in the English press (see Note 296). This aroused acute discontent within the National Association and caused a split in its London branch.—297,
[328] Marx means the abortive attempt of Unionist troops under General Francis Edwin Pierce to capture the Confederates' fortifications at Big Bethel near Fort Monroe, Virginia, in the small hours of 10 June 1861. One Unionist column opened fire on another by mistake. Later the Confederates compelled the Unionists to retreat in disarray.— 300, 304
[333] ßy t n e German communist association and the Frenchmen's associations Marx means the German Workers' Educational Society (see Note 3) and the numerous French refugee societies in London. The June insurrection—the uprising of the Paris proletariat of 23-26 June 1848.—302
[336] M a rx cites these facts from Lassalle's letter of 1 July 1861.—305, 313
[341] The 'poor whites'—the landless free population of the Southern slave states. On their part in the Civil War see Marx's article 'The North American Civil War' (present edition, Vol. 19). Zouaves was the name given to French infantry regiments raised in Algeria from the Berber tribe of Zouaves.—307
[345] When Prince William of Prussia (King of Prussia from 1861) assumed the regency in October 1858, he dismissed the Manteuffel Ministry and entrusted power to moderate liberals. The bourgeois press hailed this 'liberal' course as a 'New Era'. William's actual aim, however, was to consolidate the monarchv and Junkers.—312, 317
[352] Marx was Engels' guest in Manchester from the end of August to the middle of September 1861.—321, 323, 332
[310] This refers to Marx's work on the second instalment of A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, which he started on completing his polemic writing, Herr Vogt (see Note 38). In the period 1861 to 1863 he produced a vast manuscript (200 sheets of print), the second rough draft of Capital—292, 315,
[363] Watteau's pamphlet failed to appear as no publisher had been found for it.—326
[364] An allusion to the financial crisis experienced by Bonapartist France in the autumn of 1861, when the national exchequer was one milliard francs in the red. On this see Marx's articles 'Monsieur Fould' and 'France's Financial Situation' (present edition, Vol. 19).—327, 329