Letter to Friedrich Engels, March 10, 1859

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 10 March 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,] 10 March 1859

Dear Engels,

Pamphlet[1] received. Will run to about 4 printed sheets if not more, considering the way pamphlets are printed. Have read it all; EXCEEDINGLY CLEVER; the political side is also splendidly done and that was damned difficult. THE PAMPHLET WILL HAVE A GREAT SUCCESS.

I've deleted nothing but one short sentence about Reuss-Schleiz; not where you discuss the 'natural frontiers' of that state[2] but in the first passage where it makes for double emploi[3] and detracts from the effect.

I suggest that the subtitle 'Military Studies' detracts from the effect and should be deleted.

Should you be writing to Lassalle tomorrow I'd like you to do something in your own name which I can't do in mine. The FACTS are as follows: Last Monday (7 March) something arrived from Berlin! What do you think it was? The first proof-sheet[4] and since then I have not had another. Contrary to what Mr Duncker expressly said in his letter, they did nothing at all about my manuscript for 6 weeks and would now seem to be printing 1 sheet a week. When your manuscript arrives they'll perhaps break off again and thus the thing may drag on for months. I find this quite deplorable,

and you might DROP SOME WORDS in your own name to Lassalle about the matter. Do the fellows want to put the piece off until the very eve of war,[5] thereby ensuring that it comes to nothing and giving Mr Duncker an excuse to refuse the sequel?

Besides, I was counting on the money, and this delay has rendered intolerable my already distressing mode of existence. On this occasion Freiligrath (who is seeking IN EVERY WAY to reestablish himself)[6] was decent enough to try and negotiate bills for me here in London. However the thing came to nothing.

Apropos the Tribune. For the past 6 weeks they have not published one article either of yours or mine. The intrigues associated with a presidential election are already BEGINNING. In the light of experience I should say that the omission of our articles was a preliminary manoeuvre enabling them to notify me that they will only be requiring one article per week for the time being.

Salut.

Your

K. M.

I believe there will be war. However, a diplomatic intermezzo is necessary, partly on account of the clamour in Germany, partly on account of the vociferousness of the French bourgeoisie, lastly on account of the English Parliament; perhaps also in order that Russia may in the meantime extort sundry concessions from Austria. The Russians have achieved one main object. In 1846, when, for the first time, Austria's finances showed no deficit, Russia used the Cracow affair[7] to plunge her back into the most appalling financial predicament. In 1858 the Austrians appeared to have got their finances in some sort of order and announced an immediate payment by the Bank, which is why Bonaparte was promptly sent into the field and Austria's finances are back where they were in 1848. The dissolution of Parliament, the absence of government here in the interim, and subsequently Palmerston as FOREIGN MINISTER[8] are similarly moves required by Russia for the purpose of war.

  1. ↑ F. Engels, Po and Rhine.
  2. ↑ See present edition, Vol. 16, p. 250.
  3. ↑ duplication
  4. ↑ of K. Marx's A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
  5. ↑ This refers to the war preparations of the Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont) and France against Austria. The war (29 April to 8 July 1859) was launched by Napoleon III, who under the banner of the 'liberation of Italy' strove for aggrandizement and needed a successful military campaign to shore up the Bonapartist regime in France. Piedmont ruling circles hoped that French support would enable them to unite Italy under the aegis of the Savoy dynasty. The war caused an upsurge of the national liberation movement in Italy. The Austrian army suffered a series of defeats. However Napoleon III, frightened by the scale of the liberation movement in Italy, abruptly ceased hostilities. On 11 July, the French and Austrian emperors concluded a separate preliminary peace in Villafranca. France received Savoy and Nice; Lombardy was annexed to Sardinia; the Venetian Region remained under the Austrians.—380, 399, 401, 405, 462, 537
  6. ↑ See this volume, pp. 360 and 366.
  7. ↑ A reference to the national liberation and anti-feudal uprising in the city of Cracow, which had been under the joint control of Austria, Russia and Prussia from 1815. The insurgents seized power on 22 February 1846 and pet up a National Government, which issued a manifesto abolishing feudal services. The uprising was put down in early March 1846. In November 1846, Austria, Prussia and Russia signed a treaty incorporating Cracow in the Austrian Empire.—401
  8. ↑ Further events showed that Marx's forecast was true. In April 1859 the British Parliament was dissolved and new elections in June 1859 brought to power a government headed by Palmerston, who had been in opposition until then. The ideas expressed by Marx in this and other letters of that period concerning the situation in Europe in view of the maturing military crisis, were developed in his article 'The War Prospect in France' written for the New-York Daily Tribune (see present edition, Vol. 16).—401, 405, 429