| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 27 October 1851 |
To Marx in London
[Manchester, about 27 October 1851]
If I didn't at once reply to your letter of the 19th inst., this was because I was expecting Weerth here within a few days and wanted to settle matters with regard to Haupt; and also because I wanted to be done with the Proudhon screed.[1] That will be today and tomorrow evening, and Weerth was here on Saturday and Sunday; he will be remaining in Bradford for some time yet, and hence cannot take the letter over himself and refuses to do so even if he could, present conditions in Germany being so brilliant that one is liable to summary arrest on the slightest provocation, and he has no desire to be in any way mixed up in this League matter.[2] This cannot au fond[3] be held against him. He will, however, certainly see for me that a letter reaches Haupt, and only asks to be kept out of the thing completely. He told me, moreover, that he had come across Haupt on several occasions of late, but that, each time he had gone up to him, the man had, with a considerable show of embarrassment, suddenly avoided him and made off. It could be that, while in jug, Haupt was to some extent talked round by his family, etc., etc., and made certain admissions which now weigh heavily upon him. For the rest, Weerth is also of the opinion that those other stories emanating from Willich-Stechan are downright calumnies, since Haupt could have had no reason to sell himself.
I shall now write to Haupt anonymously[4] , since he knows my hand, and leave the conveyance of the letter to Weerth. I shall call upon him to declare himself openly and shall suggest that the Berthold business may well have been the cause of all the rumours. However, I shall omit the further suggestion that Willich might have gone shares with Berthold, because 1) Haupt will take care not to put his name to such insinuations, 2) the story is too improbable, Mr Berthold not being the man to go shares with distant acquaintances, particularly with Willich whom au fond[5] he detests, and 3) within the week the others would write to all the newspapers, describing this as a fresh calumny put about by Mr Marx, and appealing to philistine sentiment on behalf of that calumniated worthy Willich. The fellow's already enough of a rogue without our trying to make him into a greater one, or spreading lies about him which he can refute.
I must say that the Fischer letter is the stupidest thing I have seen in a long while. But I was expecting something of the kind and believe, moreover, that it will get no further than promises of money. The democratic jackasses can hardly be asked to send us money when their own people are coming in person to beg it from them, and the most they can be persuaded to do is, as Fischer himself says, to accord us some say in the disposal of the money, if we are prepared to consent to sit in conclave with such rabble and as a minority at that. The borrowing scheme a la Mazzini, with an imperial guarantee[6] (the German Empire guarantees the Republic!), isn't bad at all, and it did at least require the combined efforts of all the most exemplary mendicants to produce it. Now that this has been invented, no other course remains open to our party than to withdraw completely from the democratic money market. THIS IMPUDENCE BEATS US HOLLOW. Such money as we have received from the democrats for political purposes has in any case come our way purely per abusum[7] and, now that the great men have themselves appeared on the market as a JOINT STOCK COMPANY, this illusion entirely ceases to be. All we should incur by our requests would be refusals[8] and humiliation unless, of course, Weydemeyer should succeed in achieving something in New York, and even then it would only be among the workers.
Weerth will be writing to you shortly. He is very undecided about what he should do. He has had some splendid offers, but none of them really suit him.
Like the Apostle Paul, Mr Kossuth is all things to all men.[9] In Marseilles he shouts Vive la République, in Southampton GOD SAVE THE QUEEN. What remarkable and hyper-constitutional moderation the fellow now parades! But Mr Pettie and the Harney clique are happy enough that he should have no intention whatever of attending their banquet. Even Mr Mazzini would be given a very cool reception—at least in public. Yet another one about whom we weren't mistaken. Should there be no écousses[10] next year, how long before Mr Kossuth, too, stoops to common, tub-thumping demagogy a la Mazzini?
Proudhon tomorrow or the day after. If possible, I shall send Fischer the Revue but only of the last issue have I more than one copy. Can you still get hold of Nos. 1-4 for me?
Your
F. E.