Letter to Karl Marx, September 19, 1853

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 19 September 1853


First published abridged in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 1, Stuttgart, 1913 and in full in MEGA, Abt. III, Bd. 1, Berlin, 1929
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 39


To Marx in London

Manchester, 19 September 1853

Dear Marx,

What has hitherto been stopping me from working and writing has been the presence of the 'old gent'[1] who is temporarily encamped with me. There was no berth to be had on the SCREW-STEAMER and Borchardt was also very much in favour of his trying to get lessons here first; moreover, there were prospects for him in Liverpool as well. Anyway, he intends to try his luck here and, in view of his curmudgeonly behaviour towards you in London,[2] I would sooner not let him see how the Tribune articles sometimes come into being. There are a few openings here and, after confabulating with Borchardt and me yesterday, he has set out today to look around, which means that I shall have the evening to myself and hence will be able to concoct for you an article on the state of business hereabout, which will go off by the second post.[3] The Russian one will follow as soon as possible—I believe the author[4] to be a German Bait or half Pole; clearly the chap has a great deal of material, so we must be cautious, but all the same we may very well be able to catch him out. Or might it even be Löwe, who wrote to Nesselrode in the Deutsche Londoner Zeitung?[5] To judge by the occasional prolixity and the tittle-tattle, here and there, this could well be so.

The Reform is arriving very irregularly. Have you heard anything from Cluss?

N. B. Since Lupus, as I see from your letter[6] today, made off without any kind of leave-taking, he will naturally not be allowed to set eyes on anything you send me— il reste parfaitement en dehors de tout[7] and, were it not for Borchardt, who got together £10 for his journey and is showing him kindness in other ways, my behaviour towards Monsieur Lupus would be somewhat cooler. Especially since the fellow, though as stubborn as ever, has lost his stoicism and become very dependent on those from whom he derives some advantage. Il est même devenu un peu flatteur[8] —and how!

However, we shall see whether a better position, if such is to be found here, doesn't soon bring the old gent to his senses again, in which case he'll have to ask your forgiveness as well.

Now I am off home to work.

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ Wilhelm Wolff
  2. ↑ See this volume, pp. 364-65.
  3. ↑ Engels' article on the military operations in the Caucasian theatre of war sent in by Tuesday, 19 September 1854 (witness entry in Marx's notebook: 'Dienstag. 19 September') was lost, having been dispatched by the Arctic which sank in the Atlantic on 27 September 1854
  4. ↑ Adam Gurowski (see this volume, p. 365).
  5. ↑ 'Junius II' [Löwe], 'An den Graf Nesselrode', Deutsche Londoner Zeitung, Nos. 264 and 266, 19 April and 3 May 1850.
  6. ↑ See this volume, p. 369.
  7. ↑ he's left out of absolutely everything
  8. ↑ He's even become a bit of a flatterer