Letter to Karl Marx, July 10, 1868

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 10 July 1868


First published abridged in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 4, Stuttgart, 1913 and in full in MEGA, Abt. III, Bd. 4, Berlin, 1931
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 43


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Manchester, 10 July 1868

Dear Moor,

Enclosed 2 fivers, S/K 93 518 and 19, Manchester, 14 January 1867, to pacify the CHEESEMONGER and other Manicheans.

Everybody here was overjoyed by your good news about the patients.[1]

Hopefully you will really be able to calm down the FRENCH BRANCH.[2] Once again there appears to be sufficient confusion in that nation to guarantee the mess-up of any revolution that may break out. Wherever you look among these fellows, nothing but stupidity.

[3]

Ad vocem[4] Pyat, Blind must not be forgotten. I believe I told you that the Bradford Schiller Society (id est Dr Bronner) approached the Schiller Institute[5] here, in order to organise there, here, and in Liverpool 'Readings by famous Germans living in England'. I told the people right away that the whole thing revolved round Karl Blind; all the same they should, as far as I was concerned, agree to the plan sous réserve[6] in order to see for themselves. So, last week a letter arrived from Bradford with further information. It said approaches had been made to Prof. Goldstücker, Max Müller, K. Blind and A. Ruge. The first two had accepted, yet only sous réserve with regard to their time and health, but the latter two had accepted immediately and unconditionally, and Ruge had immediately asked whether an historical or philosophical theme would be preferred. In short, the bomb had burst, and the gentlemen received the reply that Goldstücker and Max Müller would be quite acceptable here, but there could be no question of Blind and Ruge. And this puts paid to the attempt.

Beust[7] has once again made himself suspicious in my eyes. The serious attempt of the Russians to have the Eastern business explode this spring, in spite of the fact that their railway was not yet finished, only appears explicable in that they wished to exploit the presence of a Palmerston as Austrian Prime Minister as long as it lasted. According to one version, he told the Czechs, incidentally, that he was in possession of plans which had been agreed between Prussia and Russia for the eventuality of the dissolution of Austria, and that under these plans Bohemia would not become Russian, but would be sacrificed by the Russians.

I have read the conclusion of the Prussian war of 1866 (Main campaign).[8] According to it, the South Germans were even more stupid than one had thought and known; the blame is, incidentally, distributed more evenly, so that Charlemagne of Bavaria[9] appears as at least as great an ass as Alexander the Great of Hesse.[10]

Best greetings to your wife, the girls and the Lafargues.

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ Marx's daughters Eleanor and Jenny
  2. ↑ A reference to the French Section of the International in London, founded in the autumn of 1865. Besides proletarian elements (Eugène Dupont, Hermann Jung, Paul Lafargue), the branch included representatives of the petty-bourgeois emigres (Le Lubez, Pierre Vésinier and later Félix Pyat). See also this volume, p. 62 and Note 89.-45, 62, 63, 75, 78, 83, 91, 173, 272, 481, 488, 497
  3. ↑ in good faith
  4. ↑ Regarding
  5. ↑ The Schiller Institute, founded in Manchester in November 1859 in connection with the centenary of Friedrich Schiller's birth, was conceived as a cultural and social centre of the city's German colony. At first Engels was critical of a society notorious for its tendency towards formalism and pedantry, and he kept aloof from it. But after certain amendments had been made to its Rules, he became a member of its Directorate in 1864, and later its President, devoting much time to it and exercising a considerable influence on its activities. In 1867-68, Engels was particularly occupied with its affairs since a new building was under construction. While Engels was away from Manchester in 1868, the Directorate invited Karl Vogt, who was connected with Bonapartist circles and had been casting aspersions on the proletarian revolutionaries, to give a lecture at the society. In view of this Engels decided that his political reputation would be compromised if he remained President (see this volume, p. 100 and present edition, Vol. 21, p. 18). On 2 October the secretary Davisson approached Engels on behalf of the Directorate asking him to reconsider his decision, but Engels refused. In April 1870 he was again elected member of the Directorate, but did not take an active part in its work.
  6. ↑ with reservations
  7. ↑ Friedrich Ferdinand Count von Beust, then Chancellor of Austria
  8. ↑ Der Feldzug der preussischen Main-Armee im Sommer 1866 (The Campaign of the Prussian Main Army in Summer 1866)
  9. ↑ Karl Theodor Maximilian August
  10. ↑ Alexander Ludwig Georg, Prince of Hesse