247 

Manchester, 9 September 1862 

Dear Moor, 

You have no idea how I’ve had to buckle to during the past few 
days. Cotton, blast it, has risen fivefold on average, and you really 
wouldn’t believe how much work is involved in keeping all the 
customers informed of these successive increases. 

I trust the Lassalliad over that wretched bill has been cleared up 
and that you’re in possession of the money. I’ve at last reached a 
point at which I can go to Germany for a fortnight, leaving on 
Friday *; unfortunately, 1 won't be able to stop in London as the 
time at my disposal is very short and everything I’ve heard about 
that idiotic exhibition*** has made me hate it so much that I’m 
downright glad I shan’t be seeing it. But drop me another line to 
say how things went with the bill and how little Jenny is getting 
on—before I leave. : 

What with the cotton pother, the theory of rent* has really 
proved too abstract for me. I shall have to consider the thing 
when I eventually get a little more peace and quiet. Likewise the 
question of wear and tear” where, however, I rather suspect you 
have gone off the rails. Depreciation time is not, of course, the 
same for all machines. But more about this when I get back. 

Individual chaps up here have made a hell of a lot of money 
during this rise. None of it will stick to ourselves, partly because 
the good Gottfried‘ is indeed a breech-wetter and partly because 
spinners in general haven't made a sou during this period. It’s all 
gone into the pockets of the commission houses. 

The Bull Run affair No. If was a splendid little show by 
Stonewall Jackson who is by far the best chap America has. Had he 
been supported on his front by an attack on the part of the main 
Confederate army, and had everything gone right (or only 
partially so), then Monsieur Pope would doubtless have been done 
for.* But as it was, the affair came to nothing, save that the 
Confederates gained an important moral advantage—respect for 
their spirit of enterprise and for Jackson—and a few square miles 

“ See this volume, pp. 394-98, 403-04.- > ibid., pp. 411-12.- © Gottfried Ermen 

of ground; on the other hand, however, they have speeded up the 
unification and concentration of the entire Federal army before 
Washington. The next steamer will most probably bring us news of 
fresh engagements, in which the Federals might well be victorious 
if their generals weren’t so bloody stupid. But what can you expect 
of such rapscallions! Pope is the lousiest of the lot; all he can do is 
brag, countermand, lie, and keep quiet about his reverses. Indeed, 
that know-all of the General Staff, McClellan, now strikes one yet 
again as being positively intelligent. What is more, the order that 
all future major-generals are to sit the exam for the Prussian 
ensign’s sword-knot.** It’s too pitiful and, in contrast to the 
spineless goings-on in the North, the chaps in the South, who, at 
least, know what they want, seem to me like heroes. Or do you still 
believe that the gentlemen of the North will suppress the 
‘REBELLION’? 

Adieu! 
Your 
F. E.