Letter to Friedrich Engels, February 25, 1864

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 25 February 1864


First published in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 3, Stuttgart, 1913
Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 41


MARX TO ENGELS

IN MANCHESTER

London, 25 February 1864

DEAR Frederick,

Just a few lines for the present to let you know of my return.[1]

As soon as the weather permits, I shall come up to Manchester for 2 days so as to see you in person again and, at the same time, give you an account of my AFFAIRS.

I have completely recovered and only one or two spots (specially on the upper part of my leg), which are in the final stages of healing up, continue to trouble me A LITTLE.. I haven't grown thin, but stout, despite my illness. True, I have given up smoking completely.

Pieper's sudden appearance on our doorstep was a real surprise. He's here to settle in his sister as a GOVERNESS. He spent 4 yrs as a schoolmaster in Bremen. Last year 'he ate the bread of the National Association','[2] and even went to Italy at Augustenburg's[3]

expense. He's the same bore and lout as he always was.

With kind regards to you and Lupus.

Your

K. M.

  1. ↑ Marx left for Trier on 7 December 1863. From there he went to see his relatives in Frankfurt am Main and then travelled on to Zalt-Bommel to stay with Lion Philips, his mother's executor (see this volume, pp. 500-01). Marx was taken ill in Zalt-Bommel and did not return to London until 19 February 1864.
  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. ↑ Friedrich of Augustenburg