Letter to Friedrich Engels, January 28, 1859

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 28 January 1859


First published in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 2, Stuttgart, 1913
Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 40


MARX TO ENGELS

IN MANCHESTER

[London,] 28 January 1859

DEAR Engels,

All manner of TROUBLES prevented me from writing to you yesterday. Today is article day.[1] Till tomorrow, then. But I enclose the 'joke'.

I am writing today about Clotilde mild, angelic child.[2] I expect an article from you on Tuesday. Couldn't you write about the cotton trade, industrial prospects, etc., in Manchester? I deliberately left this field open in my economic article on Tuesday.[3]

Salut.

Your

K. M.

Freiligrath showed me your letter. It's splendidly written.

  1. ↑ 28 January was a Friday. On Tuesdays and Fridays Marx sent articles to New York.
  2. ↑ Marx's description of Princess Clotilde, daughter of King Victor Emmanuel of Piedmont (Sardinia), as a 'mild, angelic child' is clearly ironic. When writing about her forthcoming marriage to Napoleon Ill's cousin, Jerome Bonaparte (nicknamed Plon-Plon), in his article 'Louis Napoleon's Position' mentioned in this letter, Marx notes that Clotilde, 'despite her young years, is very strong-minded' (Vol. 16, p. 169).—373
  3. ↑ The letter is not dated. The approximate time of its writing has been established on the basis of a reply letter from Engels. The article mentioned below was not published by the editors of the New-York Daily Tribune.—371, 373