Letter to Friedrich Engels, about July 17, 1851

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 17 July 1851


First published in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. I, Stuttgart, 1913
Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 38


[London, about 17 July 1851] 28 Dean Street, Soho

Be so kind as to post enclosed letter for Schulz[1] in Manchester without delay.

Herewith you will find Freiligrath's letter to Ruge, which I would ask you to return, and Bermbach's letter to me. Also a letter from Miquel.

A certain 'Ulmer', a shoemaker, fled from Cologne at the time of the recent house searches. He gave a Straubinger[2] at Scharttner's a letter to take to his relations. Immediately afterwards this Straubinger was caught with the letter at the Dutch border. The only people to be compromised by this are those who set him free. So well organised are the police at the Scharttner place.

Weydemeyer has got across the border. We are expecting him here.

That wretched pair, Heinzen and Ruge, claim to have received all kinds of stupid tittle-tattle about the events in Cologne, allegedly from Germany. To judge by the total inaccuracy of the contents they are acting as their own correspondents.

Let me hear from you soon.

Your

K. M.


P.S. It has just occurred to me that it would be better if you were to send the letter to Bermbach yourself. On the outside namely: Louis Schulz, 2 Schildergasse, Cologne. Inside, the sealed letter to Bermbach. Of course you will see to it that the inside address is quite invisible, and seal the letter as a merchant does.

  1. ↑ Marx's letter to Louis Schulz, written on about 17 July 1851, has not been found. It follows from the text below that Marx may have used this address when writing to the lawyer Adolph Bermbach on matters concerning the Cologne accused.
  2. ↑ Straubingers—travelling journeymen in Germany. Marx and Engels used this term for German artisans, including some participants in the working-class movement of that time, who were still largely swayed by guild prejudices and cherished the petty-bourgeois illusion that it was possible to return from capitalist large-scale industry to petty handicraft production.