London, 2 December [1850]
64 Dean Street, Soho

Dear Engels,

For several days I have been seriously unwell and hence this
letter, together with advice of receipt of the two Post Office Orders,
will reach you later than I would have wished. I have remitted
7/6d to Seiler. As regards the Indépendance* we neither of us owe
him anything for the time being, as he opportunely got himself
thrown out by his landlord, leaving behind in return for the £10
he owed him nothing but unsold copies of the Indépendance,
personal effects to the value of 18 pence, and 2 or 3 books which
he had borrowed from myself and others. Truly, he possesses in a
HIGH DEGREE the ability to liquidate, American-fashion, the excess
of his expenditure over his revenue.

The great Heilberg has arrived here with a young wife,
soi-disant” I have not yet had the honour of seeing the legendary
Tuck, who has been cast back across the ocean, considerably
aggrandised, of course—a dangerous rival for Seiler. He completely monopolises Bamberger, calling him ‘little brother’, and the
old Amschel, ‘auntie’.

As yet I have neither seen nor heard anything of our Revue.‘ I
am negotiating with Cologne about the publication of the
quarterly.“

Partly because of ill-health, partly on purpose, I never
foregather with the others at the Pulteney Stores**° except on the
official days. Since these gentlemen have so extensively debated
whether or not this company is ennuyante,° I, of course, am leaving
them to agree amongst themselves upon the solace to be derived
from their discourse. I, however, make myself scarce. As we have
both of us experienced, one loses these people’s esteem to the
same extent that one is liberal with them. Moreover, I’m tired of
them and wish to employ my time as productively as possible.
Friend Schramm,’ who for several weeks has been playing the
malcontent and has finally come to the conviction that no one is in
the least inclined to place obstacles in the way of the natural
course of his emotional ups and downs, is gradually readapting
himself to the type of humour compatible with the MODEL-LODGING-HOUSE.

At the Great Windmill considerable annoyance reigns over the
loss of £16 as a result of a court ruling.**'! Lehmann, in particular,
is seething. His rage will not abate until Bauer and Pfander are
publicly branded as thieves and miscreants by every newspaper in
Europe. Now, of course, little Bauer maintains with suppressed
moral fury that the payment of a single penny, whether to the
Great Windmill or to a public poor box, would be an unpardonable affront to the English courts and ‘recognition of the
bourgeoisie’.

Meanwhile the great men of Great Windmill Street have
experienced a triumph, as the following’ shows:

‘Aux démocrates de toutes les nations!

Citoyens! Proscrits Refugiés en Angleterre et mieux placés par cela méme pour
juger des mouvements politiques du Continent, nous’ (note well! An out-and-out
solecism in this single phrase which they have daringly tacked on to subject, copula
and predicate, and should in any case read: et ainsi mieux placés que vous autres
pour) ‘avons pu suivre et surveiller activement toutes les combinaisons des
Puissances coalisées se préparant 4 une nouvelle invasion de la France, ow’ (very
naice!) ‘les Cosaques du Nord sont attendus par leurs complices, pour’ (yet again
attendus pour) ‘éteindre dans son foyer méme’ (the birthplace of Barthélemy and
Pottier) ‘le volcan de la Révolution Universelle—Les Rois et les aristocrates de
l'Europe ont compris qu’il était temps d’élever des digues pour arréter la marée
populaire’ (should read: le marasme populaire) ‘qui menace d’engloutir leurs trônes
ébranlés.—Des troupes nombreuses levées en Russie, en Autriche, en Prusse, en
Bavière, dans le Hanovre, dans le Würtemberg, en Saxe et enfin dans tous les états
de YAllemagne, sont déja réunies.’ (Des troupes ... sont déja réunies!) ‘En Italie
130 000 hommes menacent la frontiére suisse. Le Vorarlberg est occupé par 80 000
hommes. Le Haut Rhin est couvert par 80 000 hommes, Wurtembergeois, Bedois et
Prussiens. Le Main est gardé par 80000 Bavarois et Autrichiens. Tandis que
370 000 hommes occupent les points que nous venons d’indiquer, la Prusse a
mobilisé 200000 soldats qu’elle tient disponible’ (sic) ‘pour étre lancé sur les
frontiéres de la Belgique et de Ja France: Ia Hollande et la Belgique, contraintes
par les coalitions, soutiendront le mouvement d’invasion avec une armée forte de
150 000 hommes. En Bohéme 150000 hommes se tiennent préts et n’attendent
qu’un ordre pour se réunir a l’armée du Main, qui serait alors forte de 230 000
hommes. Autour de Vienne sont concentrés 80000 hommes. 300000 Russes
campent en Pologne, et 80 000 dans les environs de St. Petersbourg: ces armées
réunies composent une force d’un million trois cents trente mille combattants, qui
n’attendent que le signal de l’attaque. Derriére ces troupes se tiennent aussi (!)
préts 180000 Autrichiens, 200 000 Prussiens, 100000 hommes fournis par les
principautés de lAllemagne, et 220000 Russes. Ces armées forment ensemble,
comme troupes de réserve 700 000 hommes; sans compter les hordes innombrables’ (sic) ‘de Barbares que |’Attila Moscovite ferait surgir du fond de l’Asie, pour
lancer, comme autrefois (!) sur la civilisation Européenne. Des journaux allemands’
(here a note is appended with a piffling sentence from the Neue Deutsche Zeitung to
put Lüning in a good mood) ‘et nos renseignements particuliers nous font connattre les
secrétes intentions des Puissances dont les Plénipotentiaires se sont réunis 4 Varsovie le
25 Octobre dernier.332 Il a éé décidé, dans la (!) conférence, qu’une guerre feinte’
(My God! what diplomats!) ‘entre la Prusse et Autriche, servirait de prétexte au
mouvement des soldats que la volonté du Czar transforme en instruments aveugles
et en sicaires féroces contre les défenseurs de la liberté.’ (Bravo!) ‘En présence de
ces faits, il n’est plus possible de douter: on organise en ce moment le massacre,
déja commencé (!!) de tous Jes Républicains. Les journées de Juin 1848 avec leurs
exécutions sanglantes et les proscriptions que les ont suivies—la Hongrie dévastée

et asservie par l’Autriche—I'Italie livrée au Pape et aux Jésuites, aprés l’égorgement de la République Romaine par Jes soldats du Gouvernement de fa France
n’ont point assouvi la rage de nos ennemis: ils révent l’asservissement de tous les
peuples qui combattent pour le triomphe de la liberté commune. Si la démocratie
n’y prend garde, Ja Pologne, la Hongrie, Allemagne, l’Italie et Ja France seront
bientét encore vouées aux fureurs de la soldatesque sauvage de Nicolas qui, pour
exciter les Barbares au combat leur promet la dévastation et le pillage de l'Europe.

Devant ce danger qui nous menace, debout! Debout!... Républicains Francais,
Allemands, Italiens, Polonais, et Hongrois, sortons de cet engourdissement’
(Toping Schapper and Willich!) ‘qui énerve nos forces et prépare une victoire facile
a nos oppresseurs. Debout!... Aux jours de repos et de honte du présent, faisons
succéder les jours de fatigue et de gloire, que nous prépare Ja guerre sainte de la
liberté! En examinant ces dangers que nous vous signalons, vous comprendrez,
comme nous, qu'il y aurait folie d’attendre plus longtemps l’attaque de l’ennemi
commun; nous devons tout préparer et aller au devant du péril qui nous
environne.’ (Just try au devant d’une chose qui vous environne!) ‘Citoyens
Démocrates Socialistes, notre salut n’est qu’en nous mémes: nous ne devons
compter que sur nos propres efforts; et éclairés des exemples du passé, nous
devons nous prémunir contre les trahisons de l'avenir. Evitons, évitons surtout le
piége qui nous est tendu par les serpens (!) de la diplomatie. Les émules des
Metternich et des Talleyrand méditent en ce moment d’éteindre le flambeau de la
Révolution, en suscitant 4 fa France, par invasion qu’ils préparent, une guerre
nationale dans laquelle les peuples s’égorgeraient au profit des ennemis de leur
affranchissement. Non, Citoyer’s! plus de guerre nationale! Les barriéres que les
despotes avaient élevées entre les nations qu’ils s étaient partagées, sont désormais
tombées pour nous, et les peuples confondus’ (really: .confondus) ‘n’ont plus qu’un
drapeau, sur lequel nous avons écrit avec le sang fécond de nos martyrs: République
Universelle Démocratique et Sociale.’

Pour Leurs Sociétés: ‘Les membres du comité de la société des proscrits
Démocrates Socialistes Francais a Londres: Adam (Cambreur), Barthélemy
(Emmanuel), Caperon (Paulin), Fanon, Gouté, Thierry, Vidil (Jules); les délégués
de la commission permanente de la section de Ja démocratie polonaise 4 Londres:
Sawaszkiewicz, Warskiroski; les membres du comité démocrate socialiste des
refugiés allemands et de la société ouvriére allemande: Dietz (Oswald), Gebert (A.),
Mayer (Adolphe), Scharttner (A.), Schapper (Charles), Willich (Auguste). Les
délégués de la société démocratique hongroise 4 Londres: Molikoy, Simonyi.
Londres le 16. Novembre 1850.’ 4333
If that’s not champion drivel, then I really don’t know what is.*
Having read the Rollin, Mazzini, Ruge, etc. manifesto addressed to
the Germans,” wherein they are invited to sing the Bardiet© and
reminded that their forbears were called ‘Franks’, and wherein the
King of Prussia? had already agreed to be whacked by Austria, I
thought I had plumbed the depths of stupidity. Mais non! For here is
the Fanon- -Caperon- -Gouté manifesto, as the Patrie calls it,” of the di
minorum gentium' with, as it rightly remarks, the same content but
devoid of chic, devoid of style, with the most pathetic rhetorical
flourishes such as serpents and sicaires and égorgements.” The
Indépendance, quoting a few sentences from this masterpiece, relates
that it was composed by the soldats les plus obscurs de la
Démocratie' and that these poor devils had sent it to the London
correspondent of that paper, despite the latter’s conservatism.
Such was their longing to appear in print. In retribution it names
no names, and similarly the Patrie names only the three
mentioned above. To compound the misére they gave one of the
Straubingers ** here (yesterday this same person told Pfander the
sorry tale) 50 copies to take to France. Just off Boulogne he
hurled 49 of them into the sea; on reaching Boulogne Brother
Straubinger was sent back to London for lack of a passport, and
declares ‘that he is now off to Boston’.
Farewell and write by return.
Your
K.Marx

Apropos! Do write sometime to the worthy Dronke telling him
to reply about League matters and not to write only in the case of
begging letters. The gentlemen in Cologne’ have sent no news.
‘Haude’, who is now back, having lost all his worldly goods in
Germany,” is described by Weydemeyer as an ‘otherwise stout
lad’.

You must seriously consider what you are going to write
about.*** England won’t do, there being 2 articles on the subject
already,’ perhaps 3 with Eccarius.‘ Nor is there a great deal to say
about France. Could you not perhaps, in conjunction with
Mazzini’s latest things, tackle the rotten Italians along with their
revolution? (His Republic and Monarchy etc., as well as his religion,
the Pope, etc.)*

[From Jenny Marx]

Dear Mr Engels,

Your kind sympathy over the heavy blow dealt us by fate through the loss of
our little darling, my poor little child of sorrow,” has been a great comfort to me,
the more so as, in the last few sorrowful days, I have found cause for the most
bitter complaint in our friend Schramm. My husband and all the rest of us have
missed you sorely and have often longed to see you. However, I am very glad that
you have left and are well on the way to becoming a great COTTON LORD. See that
you entrench yourself firmly between the two warring brothers; their tussle is
bound to place you in a position of indispensability vis-a-vis your respected Papa,
and in my mind’s eye I already see you as Friedrich Engels JUNIOR and partner of
the SENIOR. But of course the best thing about it is that, notwithstanding the
COTTON TRADE and all the rest, you are still the same old Fritze and, in the words
of those three arch-democrats, Frederick William the First,g Kinkel and Mazzini,
you will not become ‘estranged from the sacred cause of freedom’. Karl has told you
something about the mummery here. I might add some nova. That obese ruffian,
Haude, shed all his fat during his muckraking tour of the German provinces and
trips over his own legs whenever he sees anyone. It would seem that a little
hippopotamus of dubious origin has joined the dictator hippopotamus,» and that
the Great Windmill Knight, Hohenzoller Willich, has reinforced his guard of
nobles with a few qualified footpads and blackguards. Our own people dawdle
along from one day to the next with the help of a few borrowed pence. Rings is
now earning something as a claqueur with the Duke of Brunswick, who is once
more loudly pontificating before the courts.

The last Polish banquet, at which were foregathered the French, German,
Hungarian and Polish crapauds¢ (Willich, Fieschi, Adam, etc.),336 ended up in a
free-for-all. Apart from that we’ve heard nothing of the crew. Last night we
attended Ernest Jones’ first lecture on the history of the papacy. His lecture was
marvellous and, by English standards, advanced, though not quite a la hauteur? for
us Germans who have run the gauntlet of Hegel, Feuerbach, etc. Poor Harney was
dangerously ill of an abscess of the windpipe. He is not allowed to speak. An
English doctor has made two incisions without finding the affected spot. His Red
[Republican] has turned into The Friend of the People. Well, enough for today. The
children chatter a great deal about Uncle Angels and, thanks to your estimable
tuition, dear Mr Engels, little Till¢ now gives a splendid rendering of the song
about the ‘journeyman’s pelt and the nimble broom’.

I hope we shall see you at Christmas.

Yours
Jenny Marx

Notes

a Conrad Schramm; see this volume, p. 242.- The Red Republican, to avoid
persecution, in December 1850 changed its name to The Friend of the
People. - © Rudolf Schramm - ¢ consideration
a L’Indépendance belge -» so-called - © Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Politisch-Gkonomische
Revue, No. 5-6. - 4 See this volume, pp. 251-52. - ¢ dull - £ Conrad Schramm
* Published in Le Constitutionnel, 18 December 1850.
“ ‘To the democrats of all nations!

Citizens! Proscribed refugees in England who, for that very reason, are in a better
position to judge the political movements on the Continent, we’ (note well! An
out-and-out solecism in this single phrase which they have daringly tacked on to
subject, copula and predicate, and should in any case read: and hence in a better
position than the rest of you to) ‘have been able actively to keep track of and
observe all the combinations of the coalition powers preparing for a fresh invasion
of France, where’ (very naice!) ‘the Cossacks of the North are awaited by their
accomplices to’ (yet again ‘awaited to’) ‘extinguish at its very centre’ (the birthplace
of Barthélemy and Pottier) ‘the volcano of the Universal Revolution — The kings
and aristocrats of Europe have realised that it was time to put up dykes to arrest
the popular tide’ (should read: popular stagnation) ‘which is threatening to engulf

their tottering thrones.--Large numbers of troops raised in Russia, in Austria, in
Prussia, in Bavaria, in Hanover, in Württemberg, in Saxony and, in short, in all
the states of Germany, have already mustered’ (troops ... have already mustered}).
‘In Italy 130,000 men are threatening the Swiss frontier. The Vorarlberg is
occupied by 80,000 men. The Upper Rhine is covered by 80,000 men,
Wirttembergers, Badeners and Prussians. The Main is guarded by 80,000
Bavarians and Austrians. While 370,000 men occupy the localities indicated above,
Prussia has mobilised 200,000 soldiers which she is holding available’ (sic) ‘for
launching against the frontiers of Belgium and France. Holland and Belgium,
constrained by the coalitions, will support the invasion move with an army 150,000
strong. In Bohemia 150,000 men are holding themselves ready and only await the
order to join up with the army of the Main, which will thus be 230,000 strong.
80,000 men are concentrated round Vienna. 300,000 Russians are encamped in
Poland, and 80,000 in the neighbourhood of St. Petersburg: all together these
armies make up a force of one million three hundred and thirty thousand
combatants who are only awaiting the signal to attack. Behind these troops and also
(!) holding themselves ready are 180,000 Austrians, 200,000 Prussians, 100,000
men provided by the German principalities, and 220,000 Russians. Taken together
these armies form a reserve of 700,000 men; not counting the innumerable’ (sic)
‘hordes of barbarians which the Muscovite Attila will unleash from the heart of
Asia to be launched, as of yore (!), against European civilisation. From German
newspapers’ (here a note is appended with a piffling sentence from the Neue
Deutsche Zeitung to put Lüning in a good mood) ‘and from our own sources of
information we learn the secret intentions of the Powers whose Plenipotentiaries
foregathered in Warsaw on 25 October last. It was decided, in the (!) conference,
that a feint war’ (My God! what diplomats!) ‘between Prussia and Austria would
serve as a pretext for the movement of troops whom the will of the Czar is
transforming into blind instruments and ferocious bravoes to combat the defenders
of liberty.’ (Bravo!) ‘In the face of these facts, there can no longer be any possible
doubt: at this moment they are organising the massacre, already begun (!!), of all
republicans. The days of June 1848, with their bloody executions and the
proscriptions that followed them— Hungary devastated and enslaved by Austria—
Italy delivered up to the Pope and the Jesuits, after the Roman Republic had been
butchered by the soldiers of the French Government, have in no way assuaged the
fury of our enemies: they dream of the enslavement of all those people who are
fighting for the victory of common liberty. If democracy is not on its guard,
Poland, Hungary, Germany, Italy and France will soon again fall victim to the fury
of the brutal soldiery of Nicholas who whets the barbarians’ appetite for battle with
the promise that they may devastate and pillage Europe.

In the face of this danger by which we are threatened, arise! Arise ... French,
German, Italian, Polish and Hungarian republicans, let us emerge from this torpor’
(Toping Schapper and Willich!) ‘which debilitates our strength and paves the way
for an easy victory for our oppressors. Arise/... Let us ensure that the present
days of inactivity and shame are succeeded by the days of fatigue and glory which
await us with the holy war of liberty! On examining these dangers we have pointed out to you, you will realise, like us that it would be folly to wait any longer for our common enemy to attack; we must make every preparation and go
out to face the peril which surrounds us.’ (Just try going out to face something
which surrounds you!) ‘Citizens, Socialist Democrats, our salvation lies only with ourselves: we cannot count on anything but our own efforts; and, enlightened by the
examples of the past, we must provide against the betrayals of the future. Let us
avoid, let us avoid above all, the trap that has been laid for us by the serpents (!)

If that’s not champion drivel, then I really don’t know what is.*
Having read the Rollin, Mazzini, Ruge, etc. manifesto addressed to
the Germans,” wherein they are invited to sing the Bardiet© and
reminded that their forbears were called ‘Franks’, and wherein the
King of Prussia? had already agreed to be whacked by Austria, I
thought I had plumbed the depths of stupidity. Mais non! For here is
the Fanon- -Caperon- -Gouté manifesto, as the Patrie calls it,” of the di
minorum gentium' with, as it rightly remarks, the same content but
devoid of chic, devoid of style, with the most pathetic rhetorical
flourishes such as serpents and_ sicaires and égorgements.” The
Indépendance, quoting a few sentences from this masterpiece, relates
that it was composed by the soldats les plus obscurs de la
Démocratie' and that these poor devils had sent it to the London
correspondent of that paper, despite the latter’s conservatism.
Such was their longing to appear in print. In retribution it names
no names, and similarly the Patrie names only the three
mentioned above. To compound the misére they gave one of the
Straubingers ** here (yesterday this same person told Pfander the
sorry tale) 50 copies to take to France. Just off Boulogne he
hurled 49 of them into the sea; on reaching Boulogne Brother

of diplomacy. The emulators of the Metternichs and the Talleyrands are at this
moment contemplating how they may extinguish the torch of the Revolution by
instigating in France, through the invasion they are preparing, a national war in
which the peoples will butcher each other for the benefit of the enemies of their
liberation. Nay, Citizens! No more national war! For us the barriers, set up by
despots between the nations they had shared out among them, are henceforward
fallen, and the peoples, confounded,’ (really: confounded), ‘have only one flag
upon which, with the fertile blood of our martyrs, we have written: Universal
Democratic and Social Republic’

On behalf of Their Societies: ‘The members of the Committee of the Society

of Exiled French Socialist Democrats in London: Adam (Cambreur), Barthélemy (Emmanuel), Caperon (Paulin), Fanon, Gouté, Thierry, Vidil (Jules); the delegates of the Permanent Commission of the Polish Democracy Section in London: Sawaszkiewicz, Warskiroski; the members of the Socialist Democratic Committee of German Refugees and the German Workers’ Society: Dietz (Oswald),
Gebert (A.), Mayer (Adolphe), Scharttner (A.), Schapper (Karl), Willich (August).
The delegates of the Hungarian Democratic Society in London: Molikoy, Simonyi.
London, 16 November 1850.’
a Marx adapts here a saying current in the Mark. -> ‘Le Comité central
démocratique européen, aux Allemands, 13 novembre 1850’ published in La Voix
du Proscrit, No. 4, 17 November 1850 and other papers. - © Teutonic war
song - 4 Frederick William IV - ¢ G. de Molinari, ‘Un nouveau manifeste rouge’, La
Patrie, 28 November 1850. - £ second-rate luminaries (literally: gods of minor
nations) - & assassins - » butchery -' the most obscure soldiers of Democracy
(L’Indépendance belge, No. 323, 19 November 1850); the newspaper has: ‘soldats ... de
la démagogie’.
a members of the Cologne Central Authority of the Communist League -
6 F. Engels, ‘The English Ten Hours’ Bill’ and K. Marx and F. Engels, ‘Review.
May to October [1850]. -¢ J. G. Eccarius, ‘Die Schneiderei in London oder der
Kampf des grossen und des kleinen Capitals’, Neue Rheinasche Zeitung. Politischökonomische Revue, No. 5-6, 1850, -4 J. Mazzini, Republic and Royalty in Italy
published in several issues of The Red Republican in June-November 1850;
G. Mazzini, Le Pape au dix-neuvième siécle. - © Heinrich Guido - f Gottfried and Peter
Ermen - & August Willich