Letter to Karl Marx, February 28, 1862

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 28 February 1862


First published in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 3, Stuttgart, 1923
Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 41


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Manchester, 28 February 1862

Dear Moor,

Today I am sending you, CARRIAGE PAID, a case containing: 8 bottles of claret, 4 bottles of old, 1846, hock, 2 bottles of sherry. I haven't any port that would suit the circumstances. I trust it will do Jenny good. Poor child! However, I don't imagine that the

[1]

thing is of any consequence. She has grown a lot and, with care and exercise, will doubtless regain her strength.

I shall get the £2 for Koller[2] off to you tomorrow or on Monday.[3]

This year, I am spending more than my income. The crisis is affecting us badly,[4] we have no orders, and, starting from next week, shall be working merely half-time. Nevertheless, I have to get hold of the £50 for Dronke within 4 weeks and next week there's a year's rent to be paid for my lodgings. I'm moving out; this morning that damned Sarah[5] stole the money from my coat pocket. So, don't address anything more to Thorncliffe Grove. I'm living with Mary nearly all the time now so as to spend as little money as possible; unfortunately, I can't dispense with my LODGINGS, otherwise I should move in with her altogether. I haven't got any new lodgings as yet and shall have to go and look for some.[6] Write again soon and let me know how things are going. What is the Tribune up to?[7]

Would you like a military article on America for the Presse?

The numbers of The Free Press I am short of are October- February 1861/62.

Best wishes to your wife and the girls.

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ See this volume, pp. 290, 313.
  2. ↑ See this volume, p. 340.
  3. ↑ 3 March
  4. ↑ Engels means the cotton crisis produced by the interruption in the supply of American cotton during the US Civil War (1861-65) as a result of the blockade of the southern ports by the Union's navy. The cotton shortage came on the eve of, and interlocked with, a production glut.
  5. ↑ Sarah Parker
  6. ↑ At the time, Engels was hiring lodgings for Mary and Lizzy Burns at 252 Hyde Road, Ardwick. He kept his own lodgings at 6 Thorncliffe Grove until 1864.
  7. ↑ In September 1861 after a six-month interval, Marx resumed for a short time his contributions to the New-York Daih Tribune.