| Author(s) | Karl Marx |
|---|---|
| Written | 3 June 1854 |
MARX TO ENGELS
IN MANCHESTER
London, 3 June 1854 28 Dean Street, Soho
Dear Frederic,
I am back on my feet and the children out of bed again, if not yet out of the house, but now my wife has become very unwell, probably as a result of the night vigils and nursing, and the worst of it is that instead of consulting the doctor which she refuses to do, she is dosing herself—on the pretext that two years ago when she was similarly indisposed, Freund's medicines only made her worse. If matters don't improve I shall finally have to resort to force. Thus I shan't be able to do the correspondence on Tuesday, for on that day Pieper's lessons prevent him from acting as secretary and, with my wife in her present state, I can't bother her with any writing. As you can see, I've become a regular Peter Schlemihl.[1] But over the years we have all enjoyed very good health on the whole and will, I hope, do so again when this crisis is past. Au fond,[2] we can be thankful that we've all gone down one after the other.
I wrote an article[3] yesterday deriding the plan of campaign published in Thursday's Times.[4] However, if the French papers are to be trusted, it would not appear to be an official one. The Moniteur reports that Omer Pasha is hurrying to relieve Silistria.[5]
Perhaps this is simply a device to keep the Parisians in good humour and to counteract the great Boichot's presence in Paris.[6] I can make little of the Russian reports or of Napier's in today's paper.[7] Au bout the English would again appear to have achieved nothing.
Yesterday a great raw-boned chap, a democratic loafer, intro- duced himself to me as Dr Otto. Danish by birth. Ostensibly now expelled from Schleswig-Holstein. Took part in the 1848/49 Schleswig-Holstein and 'Thuringian' movement. Does Lupus, by any chance, possess any particular information about the man?
Have finished reading the Archivio delle cose d'Italia. The man's Considerazioni[8] at the back of the book endeavour to demonstrate the opposite of what emerges from his collection of documents, namely that the Giovane Italia,[9] and CONSEQUENTLY Giuseppe Mazzini, were the soul of the 1848 movement. What is particularly amusing is the final section in which he proves that the movements [must] shed their narrow, national character: FRATERNISA- TION among the various nations that came to grief in 1848/49 as a result of their isolation; Russia or the UNITED STATES OF EUROPE. At this point comes the following revelation:
'La servitù d'Italia è patto europeo: l'Italia non può esser libera che in seno a una libera Europa. Allora apparve manifesto doversi sancire, contro l'alleanza dei pochi oppressori, l'onnipotente alleanza degli oppressi.' [Archivio, Vol. I, 560]
And this ' l'onnipotente alleanza degli oppress?' was effectuated by Mazzini as follows:
'Allora Mazzini compié l'ardua sua missione, dettando con Ledru-Rollin e Darasz e Rüge, un nuovo patto che stringa Italia, non solo alla Polonia e alla Francia, ma alla stessa Germania, serva volente finora, e quasi sacerdotessa della servitù. E cosi, dalle opposte parti e dalle più nemiche genti giungono i peregrini al santuario commune della libertà.'[10] [I. 560]
Have received newspapers from America, but still no letter. 'Ruge', who has concluded the nuovo patto with Mazzini, declares in Dulon's little sheet[11] that, as a result of the war against Russia, there is now a prospect of 'liberal' development in Germany and that, even though no more may be achieved than 'freedom as in England', one ought to participate in it. To adopt a pessimistic view is 'base, idle and Russian'. As you can see, the prospect of his private fortune being exhausted within the year has made the noble man ready to attach himself to any form of 'progress' and, au cas de besoin,[12] become 'constitutional'.
Your
K. M.