Letter to Friedrich Engels, August 3, 1861

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 3 August 1861


First published in MEGA, Abt. III, Bd. 3, Berlin, 1930. Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 41


MARX TO ENGELS

IN MANCHESTER

[London,] 3 August 1861

Dear Frederick,

This is to inform you in much haste that the £5 has been most gratefully received.

An odious little sheet was sent to me yesterday entitled Thusnelda[1] —by Kinkel and Zerffi, attacking Heintzmann et cie. Rarely have I encountered such abysmally stupid juvenilia.

The worthy Heinrich Bürgers has made a pro-National Association[2] speech at the Gürzenich,[3] and there was a general frisson of pleasure when he breathed the name of the noble man of Gotha.[4]

Handsome William appears to be completely out of his mind. The fool is studying folio volumes on the coronation of Frederick I.

I am sending you the Thusnelda herewith. Look after it for me. Also enclosed an article on the COUNTING OUT OF THE HOUSE ON THE OCCASION OF THE DANISH QUESTION.

Salut.

Your

K. M.

  1. ↑ Thusnelda. Teutonisch satyrisch humoristisches Klatschblatt
  2. ↑ The German National Association (Deutscher National-Verein) was the party of the German liberal bourgeoisie favouring the unification of Germany (without Austria) under the aegis of the King of Prussia. The Association was set up in Frankfurt am Main in September 1859. Its supporters were nicknamed Little Germans.
  3. ↑ The Gürzenich is a reception building erected in Cologne in 1441-52, in the mid-19th century used as a venue for various functions and festivities.
  4. ↑ See this volume, p. 299.