Manchester, 4 November 1859 

Dear Moor, 

Freiligrath really deserves to be severely chastised for once and I 
hope that an opportunity will present itself before the Schiller 
nonsense is over (or its after-pains).“° Such poet’s vanity and 
literary presumption combined with toadyism is altogether too 
much, and on top of that the Augsburger” credits him with political 
virtue! 

I suppose you read about Vogt’s law-suit*” in the Augsburg 
Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 297 et seq‘? The thing went quite well, but 
Biskamp’s letter is shockingly discreditable. The fellow could 

0 

a In compliance with this request, Engels wrote, at the end of January and beginning 
of February 1860, the article ‘Military Reform in Germany’. - > Allgemeine 
Zeitung - ¢ The Allgemeine Zeitung carried reports on the case on 25 October 1859 
and on the following days. 

perfectly well have dealt with his private affairs in a separate note 
but, as things are, it is exceedingly distasteful that the editor of the 
Volk should send the Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung a testimonial, 
begging to be taken on as correspondent, and that this should 
appear in print.* Vogt will make a great noise about it. Why do we 
always have such tactless idiots hanging round us? 

But most satisfactory is the discrediting of Blind. The statement 
in your letter? and the document ”’ have now obliged the worthy 
diplomat to come creeping out into the open, if only to save 
himself being discredited still further. He has boasted about the 
evidence he possesses and, if he holds his tongue, will seem an 
unmitigated har. 

Vogt is in no less nice a mess. Case dismissed for lack of 
jurisdiction, ordered to pay all the costs, and referred to a 
jury——what can he do? 

He will have to sue either the Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung 
before a Bavarian jury—in which case he will be doomed in 
advance—or the Volk—and then Blind will be suspornazp—or else 
Blind himself. In any case, it will turn out badly for him, and I 
don’t see how he can do anything but discredit himself still more. 

All this is most consoling. 

Garibaldi would seem to be playing a somewhat ambiguous role. 
A general of that ilk is in a difficult position. Once he had been 
forced to compound with the devil, there was no turning back. For 
Victor Emmanuel the obvious thing is, of course, first to exploit 
Garibaldi and then ruin him. Altro esempio‘ of how far you get 
with a ‘practical attitude’ in a revolution. It’s a pity about the chap, 
though. Excellent, on the other hand, that Piedmont should lose 
its spurious character as representative of Italian unity.“ 

I shall do you an article about army reform in Germany when 
this affair has progressed a little further. Far-reaching things are 
happening in the sphere of military organisation, not only in 
Prussia but elsewhere, in Austria, etc. Everywhere the French style 
of uniform, etc., is being adopted, and in many respects this even 
means quite definitely putting the clock back. But so far 
everything’s still rather confused; as soon as I can clarify my ideas 
a little I'll do the article for you.* 

I also hope that soon there’ll be something further for me to 
report on in China and the Far East ceneratty. Likewise Morocco.*” 

a Biskamp’s letter, dated 20 October 1859, was published in the Allgemeine Zeitung, 
No. 300, on 27 October 1859. - > to the Editor of the Allgemeine Zeitung - ¢ Another 
example - 4 Somewhat later Engels wrote an article on the subject, entitled ‘Military 
Reform in Germany’. 

But none of this has come to a head yet. About Morocco next 
week perhaps.* Have you already written about it, or could you, 
perhaps, let me have some political information ad vocem> Pam on 
the subject so that I am au fait. 

At the moment I’m deep in Ulfilas.*” It was really high time for 
me to polish off that damned Gothic, which I’d always been so 
desultory about. To my surprise I find I know far more than I 
thought; if only I can get hold of another reference book, I think 
I shall polish this off completely in a fortnight. Then I shall go on 
to Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon, with which I’ve never been on 
more than nodding terms. So far, I’ve been working without a 
dictionary or other reference book save the Gothic text and 
Grimm.° However, that old fellow is really splendid. 

What I need badly here is Grimm’s Geschichte der deutschen 
Sprache. Could you let me have it back? © 

I think I shall see Lupus this evening. 

We are having a Schiller festival up here too (programme 
enclosed). Needless to say, 1 have nothing whatever to do with the 
thing. Mr Alfr. Meissner is sending a prologue, and Siebel will do 
the epilogue, straightforward recitation, of course, but done in 
proper form. In addition, this flaneur is producing a performance 
of ‘Wallensteins Lager’ 4; I’ve been to two of the rehearsals and, if 
the chaps keep their nerve, it might be quite passable. The 
committee members are, without exception, a bunch of fools; 
among the public Borchardt plays at being in opposition. He’s no 
less negatively pompous than the others are positively so, except 
that his negation is based on the same point of view as the position 
of the others, i.e. he admits that he is essentially one of their 
number. 

Salut. 
Your 
F. E. 
Nil novi ab Ephraim Artful?‘