Letter to Ludwig Schorlemmer, June 30, 1892

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 30 June 1892


First published in: Marx and Engels, Works, First Russian Edition, Vol. XXIX, Moscow, 1946. Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 49


ENGELS TO LUDWIG SCHORLEMMER

IN DARMSTADT

Manchester, 30 June 1892 203 High Street, Oxford Road

Dear Mr Schorlemmer,

The first news of Carl's death on the 27th of this month will already have reached you from Gumpert. I got here yesterday and learnt that a post-mortem had been carried out at the request of the doctors and that the earlier diagnosis — cancer of the right lung — had been fully confirmed by the findings. In accordance with the wishes of the faculty who, along with the students, would like to attend but would be prevented from so doing by an important examination on Thursday, the funeral will not take place until Friday[1] at 11.30 a. m. Gumpert has already seen to the wreath you ordered by telegram and its ribbon will bear the words: 'To their dear Carl — his mother, brothers and sisters.'

I myself shall be laying a wreath on behalf of the Executive of the German Social-Democratic Party.

This afternoon I put his papers into some sort of order, in so far as they have to do with business matters, so that I shall be able to discuss the more important points with the executors[2] . I have also put his manuscripts in order so far as I could; there is a fair number of them, but I dare say a good many are already in print.

I did not see Carl again. By the time I got there this morning the coffin had already been screwed down.

There is one matter upon which you may all set your minds completely at rest — nowhere could he have received better care than the care that was given to him and no one could possibly have had a more painless illness or a more peaceful end. It only remains for us to keep his memory alive in our hearts and in the world at large. Tomorrow I shall send an obituary to the Vorwärts[3] . The excellent obituary in the Manchester Guardian which Gumpert sent you was by Dr Schuster, a former student of his and more recently a colleague as lecturer in physics.

So good-bye for today. You will be with us in spirit on Friday and I shall certainly be thinking of his mother, brothers and sisters. It is a grievous and bitter loss to us all, but was a foregone conclusion months ago. With that we must console ourselves.

With warm regards to your mother and all his brothers and sisters.

Yours,

F. Engels

I shall write again after the funeral.[4]

  1. ↑ 1 July
  2. ↑ Philipp Klepsch and Ludwig Siebold
  3. ↑ F. Engels, 'Carl Schorlemmer', Vorwärts, No. 153, 3 July 1892.
  4. ↑ See next letter.