MARX TO ENGELS” 

{London,] 4 December 1863 

Dear Frederick, 

Very many thanks for the £10. Ditto, retrospectively, for the 
port. It has done me a power of good. Besides the wine, ] have 
(up till now) been having to swill 1'/, quarts of the strongest 
London stout every day. It struck me as a good theme for a short 
story. From the front, the man who regales us inner Man with port, 
claret, stout and a truly massive mass of meat. From the front, the 
guzzler. But behind, on his back, the outer man, a damned 
carbuncle. If the devil makes a pact with one to sustain one with 
consistently good fare in circumstances like these, may the devil 
take the devil, I say. Incidentally, I still feel light-headed and my 
knees are those of a broken-down hack, but I imagine the journey 
will put a stop to all this. Little Tussy told me apropos the outer 
man: ‘Bur rr 1s your own FLesu!’ By the by, I can’t speak too highly of 
Dr Allen’s behaviour towards me. He remarked, by the by, 
apropos the operation, that German philosophers were always 
self-consistent. 

As regards the ‘sea-girt’,* by and large, I agree with you.” 
Obviously, the whole succession business is merely of diplomatic 
significance. As to Denmark, she is not, I think, bound by the 
Treaty of London in as much as the Danish Parliament was 
intimidated by Russian warships when the vote was taken. I 
enclose herewith Urquhart’s nonsense,° R. Schramm’s nonsense,“ 
lastly a Danish pamphlet, which is of interest on at least two 
counts, 1. with regard to the fellows from whom the Schleswig- 
Holstein movement originally stemmed; 2. with regard to the 
stand taken by the peasants in Holstein. 

In today’s Times you will find under the heading ‘Schleswig- 

* Schleswig-Holstein is meant. ‘Schleswig-Holstein meerumschlungen’ are the 
opening words of a patriotic song popular at the time of the Duchies’ struggle 
against Danish rule in 1848-49. -> See this volume, p, 496.- © Presumably the 
material on the Schleswig-Holstein question published in The Free Press, Vol. XV, 
No. 12, 2 December 1863. -4 R. Schramm, Die rothe Fahne von 1848 und Die 
schwarzweisse Fahne von 1863, Berlin, 1863.