London, 16 June 1871 

Dear Mother, 

I was just sitting down to write to you when your letter from 
Leutesdorf arrived, which moved me to take out the map from 
which I was fortunate enough to discover the place. It must be 
very prettily situated, just there where the mountains come right 
up close to the Rhine again, with a view of the plain which 
stretches from Andernach to Koblenz. I am sure that the air there 
will have been very good for you. 

You have done well to take a whole party of lively young girls 
home with you to Engelskirchen. Relations between the two 
adjoining houses” must be rather tense and embarrassing under 
the circumstances, and the presence of the girls will make sure 
that it is not talked about too much. Moreover, since the matter 
has now been settled it would be only right and proper for both 
sides to leave you in peace; it cannot do any good to keep raking 
over the ashes. As far as I am concerned, it was extremely 
unpleasant for me to find myself suddenly asked by Rudolf to do 
a favour for him, Hermann and Emil which I could not carry out 
without taking sides against Adolf. As you know, Rudolf is as 
honest as the day is long and is quite unable to dissemble, so that 
his letter did not leave me in the slightest doubt that the whole 

a Marx’s family nickname -> An allusion to the relations between Engels’ 
brothers — Rudolf, Emil and Hermann—on the one hand, and Adolf von Griesheim, 
the husband of Engels’ sister, on the other. 

thing was to be arranged behind Adolf’s back. However, Adolf 
had just as great a right to the information requested as the three 
others. I found the whole business so unpleasant that at first I just 
neglected it, but when they bombarded me with letters, I had to 
take a decision and in my view I could not do otherwise than to 
inform Adolf of the matter as well, since it was of great 
importance to him. To leave them time to make amends, I wrote 
to them* saying that I would write to Adolf and I did not in fact 
write to him until some days later.” I am at a loss to understand 
why they did not at once tell Adolf they had approached me and 
inform him of my reply. Had they done so all would have been 
well. But for them to obtain information behind Adolf’s back 
which could be used against him, was something I could not be a 
party to. And that this was the intention is proved by Rudolf’s 
subsequent letter to me. And in general Rudolf thought it a crime 
that Adolf should want to leave the firm at all, and since I had 
myself resigned only a short while earlier,” this seemed to me to 
go too far. Fortunately, the whole business is now settled and I 
hope they will soon make it up. I am writing to Adolf who has 
asked me for an account of the disagreements in Manchester and 
shall say to him that the most rational thing for them to do would 
be, either at the signing of the definitive contract, or even sooner, 
to give back to each other all the letters exchanged on the subject, 
throw them into the fire and drink a bottle of champagne. 

As for my coming on a visit, that is a separate problem. As you 
know, ever since the business in Paris, there has been general 
hounding of us “Internationals”; we are supposed to have incited 
the whole revolution here from London, which is much the same 
as if someone were to accuse me of having stirred up the 
ill-feeling between Adolf and my brothers. But the hue and cry is 
on and we have definite information that Marx, who was expected 
in Hanover, would have been arrested there. True, they could not 
do me any serious harm if J did go over, but there could be minor 
conflicts, and I wouldn’t have it for the world that they should 
take place in your house. Furthermore, the wretched Belgians still 
insist on passports. I think therefore that it would be best to wait a 
while until the police and the philistine heads have calmed down a 
little. 

That is a strange business with Emma. You seem to have 
curious accoucheurs in Barmen. 

4 See this volume, pp. 119-20. - > Emma Engels 

We have also had a lot of east wind here, but not until late 
May, so that the weather was often very fine and not excessively 
cold. Nevertheless, a fire had to be lit a few times early in June. It 
has been sultry since the day before yesterday, and there has been 
heavy rain which was very good for the plants, and it looks now as 
if we shall soon have fine weather. On the whole we had a very 
pleasant spring here, much better than in Manchester. I often 
have visitors from there. The day before yesterday, Dr Gumpert 
and his wife were here. She was puzzled about what I did with 
such a large house but was full of praise for the good order in 
which it was kept. Otherwise I have my usual good health and 
appetite, am now trying to accustom myself to an afternoon nap, 
am visibly greyer in the beard, and suffer, as always, almost only 
from thirst. I hope that you are also well and still able to take your 
walks in the linden avenue on the Agger, where I hope quite soon 
to be able to lie down again on a bench after a meal and fall 

asleep. 
Affectionate greetings to all from your faithful son, 
Frederick