Letter to Karl Marx, March 13, 1870

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 13 March 1870


First published in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 4, Stuttgart, 1923
Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 43


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Manchester, 13 March 1870

Dear Moor,

MR J. Williams[1] has certainly had a bang-up and well-earned success. The dodge by the Marseillaise in printing the letter as an original[2] has got the whole English press into a fine pickle, and has finally forced The Irishman to admit its debt to the Marseillaise and the Internationale. The hushing-up is at an end, and MR Bruce—although in the lousy Daily News he again has O'Donovan Rossa described as 'ORDINARY CONVICT AND NOTHING ELSE'—will probably sing quite a different tune in answering the interpellations that are to come. Bravo Jenny! Lizzie is particularly grateful to you for the articles in the Internationale,[3] which pleased her enormously.

The two letters enclosed came to me from Solingen. I had addressed this Moll[4] as 'thou', assuming him to be the brother of Jupp,[5] and an old member of the League[6] ; thus the intimate tone. You will also note that we have also fallen prey to myth-formation. I know nothing about either the Schapper business, which looks very fuddled, or the business with my old man.[7] My old man would have taken care not to let me pay out wages or anything like that; for this, I could not count well enough for his taste. Since I have to answer the fellows soon, you might let me know whether you have heard anything concerning Menke in the meantime.

The whole week I have been standing ready to have to go away because of my mother, but luckily things are getting better.

The following passage[8] suffices to characterise gentle old Gladstone's whole long LAND BILL as pure muck:

'THE LEASES IN QUESTION' (namely, as they are given today, now and then, in Ireland by the LANDLORDS to the TENANTS) 'ARE QUITE AS PRECARIOUS AS TENANCIES AT WILL. THEY HAVE NO EFFICACY WHATEVER IN REMOVING THE SENSE OF INSECURITY. A LEASE TO BE OF ANY AVAIL FOR THAT PURPOSE, SHOULD, SAVE IN THE PARTICULARS OF SUBDIVIDING AND SUBLETTING, BE FREE AND UNFETTERED—ABOVE ALL, IT SHOULD PUT NO OBSTACLE TO THE SALE OF THE TENANT'S INTEREST. BUT MODERN LEASES ARE THE REVERSE OF THIS—THEY ARE ENCUMBERED WITH CLAUSES AND COVENANTS PRESCRIBING THE MODE OF CULTIVATION AND THE DISPOSAL OF THE PRODUCE, NEGATIVELY AND AFFIRMATIVELY REGULATING THE ACTION OF THE TENANT AND ENTIRELY FORBIDDING THE ESSENTIAL POWER OF FREE ALIENATION. EVERY LINE IN THESE DOCUMENTS MAY WITHOUT MUCH EXAGGERATION BE SAID TO CONTAIN A LEGAL PITFALL FOR THE UNWARY AND THERE ARE FEW, INDEED, IF ANY, WHO CAN ESCAPE THE EFFECT OF THE LAST CLAUSE WITH WHICH THEY WIND UP, MAKING VOID THE LEASE IN CASE OF THE BREACH OF ANY OF THE FOREGOING COVENANTS. SUCH LEASES AFFORD NO SECURITY. THEY ARE QUITE AS PRECARIOUS AND MORE DANGEROUS THAN TENANCIES AT WILL.'

And who says this? MR Gallwey, AGENT (11) OF THE Kenmare ESTATE, AT THE Killarney BOARD OF GUARDIANS, 4 November, 1869. And the Kenmare ESTATE belongs to MARQUIS OF Landsdowne, whose general agent for all his Irish ESTATES is the honourable 'REALITY' Trench[9] One could not hope for a better authority. And these LEASES are the contracts BY WHICH, AFTER THE PASSING OF THIS BILL, EVERY IRISH TENANT IS TO BE HELD BOUND according to the noble Gladstone.

Have you had news from the Lafargues?

Best greetings to all of you.

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ Marx's daughter Jenny
  2. ↑ See the previous letter.
  3. ↑ K. Marx, The English Government and the Fenian Prisoners.
  4. ↑ Friedrich Moll
  5. ↑ Joseph Moll
  6. ↑ the Communist League
  7. ↑ Frederick Engels' father
  8. ↑ See this volume, pp. 452-53.
  9. ↑ An allusion to Trench's Realities of Irish Life; see this volume, p. 356.