Letter to Karl Marx, July 12, 1866

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 12 July 1866


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 42


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Manchester, 12 July 1866

Dear Moor,

I have written about your history to Gumpert, who is in Wales; as I do not know his address, the letter will first have to go to his home here, hence certainly some delay. As soon as I have a reply, I'll write to you, but meanwhile I should advise you to take arsenic at once and put off everything else, so as to stop the damned carbuncle. Put an end to this abomination at any cost.

Bonaparte's little plan and his intervention are in part probably a consequence of an earlier agreement with Bismarck, but certainly also—the new Confederation of the Rhine, etc.—are threats in his direction. But how the fellow can be so stupid as to make this plan public is beyond my comprehension[1] : as with Schapper—that he could be so stupid, etc.— It will assuredly drive the whole of South Germany into the arms of the Prussians and even the old philistines at the Exchange here are quite beside

themselves about it. One old man from Frankfurt told me: it's worth more to the Prussians than a reinforcement of 100,000 men.

You see how the stupid South Germans are letting themselves be picked off one by one without even taking the trouble to close ranks.[2] It'll soon be the old, old story, we've been betrayed, we'll be led like lambs to the slaughter![3] 1849 all over again. I feel sorry for the fellows, they're good soldiers. Only now does one understand how the French were able to score such successes against the 'Empire', but not how the Empire was able to hold out for so long against a concentrated monarchy like France.[4]

I will try and produce the stuff about the mass-murder-industry for you.[5]

Many regards.

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ A reference to the projected settlement of the Austro-Prussian conflict that was proposed by the government of Napoleon III on 11 July 1866 in response to Prussia's peace terms. According to the project, an independent South German Confederation was to be formed, consisting of states lying south of the Main, similar to the former Confederation of the Rhine. In this way Napoleon III hoped to prevent the unification of Germany and to subordinate South German states to his protectorate.
    The Confederation of the Rhine (Rheinbund)—a confederation of states in Southern and Western Germany that was formed in July 1806 under the protectorate of Napoleon I. Napoleon's creation of this military and political stronghold in Germany was made possible by his defeat of Austria in 1805. Initially the Confederation incorporated sixteenth states (Bavaria, Württem berg, Baden and others), and later on another five states (Saxony, Westphalia, and others), which virtually became vassals of France. The Confederation fell apart in 1813, after the defeat of Napoleon's army.
  2. ↑ Certain South German states (such as Bavaria, Württemberg, and Baden) took part in the Austro-Prussian war of 1866 on the Austrian side.
  3. ↑ Engels uses the South German dialect here: 'Man will uns uf die Schlachtbank fihre!'
  4. ↑ A reference to the war that France fought against the Holy Roman Empire in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
  5. ↑ See this volume, p. 291.