| Author(s) | Karl Marx |
|---|---|
| Written | 23 February 1852 |
MARX TO ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
[London,] 23 February [1852]
DEAR Frederic,
I must again chivvy you about the Tribune since I am myself being chivvied daily by Johnson.[1] I would also ask you to send me such documents as you may have received from Weydemeyer. The address you gave for Weydemeyer was perfectly correct.
Apropos. By Pfänder's account the Straubinger[2] Richter is a creature of Willich's.
E. Jones has been puffing your article for all he is worth without, of course, mentioning your name.[3] He has been compelled thus to cry his wares by competition from Harney who has got hold of some money, the devil knows where from, and has large advertising waggons driving round the CITY, with the legend 'READ THE FRIEND OF THE PEOPLE, the paper being displayed and on sale in all socialist SHOPS.
I shall search out and send you the issue of the Tribune in which Mr Simon blows his own trumpet.[4] The incompetent nincompoop! He still goes on signing himself 'Simon von Trier'. The fellow can't make up his mind to dispense with his parliamentary nobility title. Seiler has read the translation of the crap in the Staatszeitung. You know how garbled his accounts always are. So far as I could gather it went something like this: Ludwig Simon von Trier, speaking on behalf of the Swiss émigrés, treats the great controversy between 'Agitation' (the name used by Ruge and Co. to conceal the dullness of their still-life) and 'Emigration',[5] with the most prodigious pomposity, as Europe's question brûlante from his 'Alpine height'. At this juncture—and here Willich is also cited as a man of the utmost importance, all manner of diffuse reflections being proffered concerning the acquisition of this hero—he comes to the third of the dangerous parties in London, 'the party of imposition, the leaders of which are Engels and Marx. For we seek to impose 'liberty' on the peoples by force. We are worse tyrants than the Emperor of Russia. We were the first to treat 'universal franchise', etc., with 'scorn and contumely'. And even before that, we ruined everything with our 'lust for imposition'. Le pauvre garçon![6] Did we impose the Prussian Emperor,[7] the 'March Associations'[8] or the Imperial Regent Vogt, on the Germans[9] ? On him we shall impose a coup de pied![10] So far as these jackasses are concerned, Bonaparte has lived in vain. They still go on believing in 'universal franchise', and are solely preoccupied with paltry calculations as to how they can again impose their rotten personalities on the German people. One can hardly believe one's ears when one hears the fellows indefatigably bawling out the same old tune again. They are proper blockheads, incorrigible blockheads. As to how the vain little rogue found his way into the Tribune, I am in no doubt. Le citoyen Fröbel aura été l'homme intermédiaire.[11] He has long been connected with Dana.
Enclosed a letter from Reinhardt, which contains some pretty cancans.[12]
Russell has been overthrown in the drollest possible manner.[13] I can ask nothing more than that Derby should take the helm. During this short session you will have seen how pitiable the Manchester men can be when not driven by la force des choses.[14] I don't hold it against these fellows. Each successive democratic victory, e.g. the BALLOT,[15] is a concession which, of course, they make to the workers only en cas d'urgence.[16]
Yesterday I was talking to a French MERCHANT just come from Paris. Business wretched. And do you know what the jackass said? Bonaparte fait pire que la république. Les affaires allaient mieux.[17] It is truly fortunate that the French bourgeois should always hold their government responsible for commercial crises. No doubt Bonaparte is also to blame for the unemployment in New York and the bankruptcies in London.
Another very interesting piece of information (tu sens ici l'influence de l'illustre Seiler[18] ) about Bonaparte. Bangya, as I have already told you, is connected with Szemere and Batthyâny.[19] He is an agent of the latter's. He confided to me that Batthyâny and Czartoryski are in collusion with Bonaparte and see him nearly every day. He wants to secure allies behind the backs of Russia and Austria amongst the aristocratic émigrés and those streaming in from Poland and Hungary and has, moreover, definitely told them that, in spite of Nicholas and all the rest, he is going to invade Belgium and perhaps Baden as well, and this in the near future.
Ewerbeck has sent me 12 copies of his bulky work, L'Allemagne et les Allemands. One for you. Nothing quite like it has ever been seen or heard of before. The historical part, which begins ab ovo,[20] is copied from out-dated primers. You may judge how competent he is as regards more recent history from the following particulars: F. List introduced the doctrine of Free Trade, and Ruge that of social science, into Germany. Hegel has immortalised himself by (literally) enlightening the Germans on the categories of quality, quantity, etc., and Feuerbach has proved that men cannot extend their knowledge beyond the range of human understanding. Pedro Düsar (brother of the Struve woman) is one of the greatest German men of liberty, and Freiligrath made his name as a collaborateur on the Neue Rheinische Zeitung. On top of that a style à pouffer de rire,[21] e.g. how Jason's warriors grew from dragon's teeth, which is why the German tribes are perpetually at odds with one another. Romulus Augustulus était un jeune homme doux et agréable[22] and for three hundred years Germans have been used to hearing themselves referred to by their neighbours as des bêtes.[23]
Have you read Mazzini's simple-minded infamous speech?
Your
K. M.