ENGELS TO JOSEPH WEYDEMEYER ” 
Manchester, 23 January 1852 

Dear Weydemeyer, 

I hope that in the meantime you will have received my first 
letter, which I posted on 18 or 19 December in time for the 
STEAMER Africa.* It contained an article written in haste and a letter, 

a See this volume, pp. 19-20. - > The scoundrel! - © Notes to the People - 4 This 
letter has not been found. 

likewise written in haste. You should have had it long before the 
5th, but it may have only gone with the next steamer. Meanwhile, 
last week I sent you by the Niagara an article unaccompanied by a 
letter,” but doubt whether I posted it in time; if it was too late, it 
will arrive with this one, by the Europa, in which case you will have 
some material in hand. You'll have already had several things 
from Marx, an anti-Kinkel poem from Freiligrath* and also, 
perhaps, something from Lupus and Pieper. Weerth is very busy 
just now and has not really settled down in Bradford (Yorkshire); 
however, he has promised me he will send something by the next 
steamer. I shall probably see him here tomorrow and prod him yet 
again to make him keep his promise. Unfortunately Marx has 
been seriously ill for the past fortnight as a result of an almighty 
binge when I was in London over the New Year, and I was 
prevented from working until last week, partly because of the 
fortnight spent in London and partly because of various snags that 
subsequently cropped up. However, I think I shall be able to send 
you something regularly each week now, and shortly, perhaps, 
something for a feuilleton by way of a change. 

I am settled here in Manchester for the present, luckily in a 
position which, besides much independence, affords me various 
advantages; Marx and other friends occasionally come up from 
London to see me and, so long as Weerth is in Bradford, we 
arrange a regular shuttle-service between here and there, as the 
railway journey only takes 2'/, hours. But now he will probably 
leave; he cannot abide that beastly hole, Bradford, and he’s never 
happy anywhere if he has to spend more than a year sitting on his 
backside in the same place. I am considering a trip to the States, 
either next summer or, if there are no political changes in the 
meantime, the summer after that; to the States, New York, and 
particularly New Orleans. But this depends on my old man,” not 
me, and also on how things go in the cotton market. 

Fifty copies of the Revolution is too much and the cost will 
probably be enormous, i.e. four shillings or more each time. In 
view of the wholesale arrests, dispersion, etc., and the German 
press laws, we can count on only a few subscribers here and, in 
Germany, only one or two at most in Hamburg, hence specimen 
numbers will be of no use to us. Newspapers, one or more to a 
wrapper, open at the sides, cost 1d (2 cents) per sheet. So send 4 
to me and 6-8 direct to London, for otherwise I have to restamp 

a ¥. Freiligrath, ‘An Joseph Weydemeyer’, I. - > Friedrich Engels senior, Engels’ 
father 

them from here to London and I can hardly saddle the business 
with these massive postal charges. Ten to twelve copies will suffice 
for us and, if there seems to be any prospect of subscribers here, 
we can organise a regular agency in London to which the back 
numbers can be sent all at one time and under the same cover to 
complete the series. I shall discuss the matter with the people in 
London and see what can be done. 

In France, things are going splendidly. Yesterday evening the 
Patrie reported that the creation of a Police Ministry for de 
Maupas would be announced in today’s Moniteur.* De Morny who, 
along with Fould and a few others, represents the material 
interests of the bourgeoisie (but not their participation in political 
power) in the Cabinet, will be thrown out, and the reign of those 
died-in-the-wool adventurers Maupas, Persigny and Co. will begin. 
That will be the start of imperial true socialism 30. the first socialist 
measure will be the confiscation of Louis Philippe’s property,” for 
the Act of 6 August 1830, by which he left his property to his 
children instead of to the State as ancient custom demanded, is 
invalid. The portion of the Condé estates inherited by Aumale is 
also to be seized. The news might even arrive by next 
Saturday’s sreamer if things develop quickly enough. In the 
southern départements, the insurgents are still being hunted like 
game.” 

The English Press is now the only reliable one for French news, 
and occasionally too, the Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung. The paper 
in which you will find the best news about France is the London 
Daily News, which I therefore specially commend to you. The 
Tribune takes it, and you will certainly also be able to lay hands on 
it elsewhere, it being far too expensive to take. You will, I am 
sure, have no difficulty in finding it in the coffee houses of the 
city’s commercial quarter. 

Dronke may soon be paying you a visit; I hear that anyone who 
has to leave Switzerland is sent via France only to America, not to 
England. But now he will be compelled to leave; as we have heard 
nothing whatever from him he must be in hiding. 

Gnam, a former Baden artilleryman and brewer, who went over 
on the same ship as Heinzen, is a sterling fellow. With them went 

a The decree of 22 January 1852 on the creation of a Police Ministry under de 
Maupas and the decree of 22 January on the resignation of the Minister of the 
Interior de Morny and appointment of Persigny were printed in Le Moniteur 
universel, No. 23, 23 January 1852.-> The decree of 22 January 1852 on the 
confiscation of Louis Philippe’s property was printed in Le Moniteur universel, 
No. 23, 23 January 1852. 

Rothacker, a student from Upper Baden; he used to be a good 
chap but he may have changed and is, moreover, dangerous on 
account of his versifying. Little Schickel of Mainz, whose address 
you can get from Cluss (away in the Alleghenies), will exert 
himself on behalf of the Revolution. Please send him my kind 
regards, which may be done through Cluss. 

Below, a few supplementary notes on my remarks concerning 
the prospects for an invasion of England,” which will explain 
things to you: 

1. Any landing west of Portsmouth runs the risk of being forced 
into the wedge formed by Cornwall—hence impracticable. 

2. Any landing too far north of, or too close to, Dover faces the 
same hazard between Thames and sea. 

3. London and Woolwich—the first buts d’opération.* Detach- 
ments to be sent against Portsmouth and Sheerness (Chatham). 
Strong occupation force in London, strong guard posts between 
the coast and London. Out of a landing force 150,000 strong, at 
least 60,000 needed for this purpose (and that not enough). Thus 
continuation of operations could proceed with 90,000 men. 

4. Birmingham the second objective (on account of the arms 
factories). Secure the area south of the Bristol Channel and the 
Wash, i.e. a line from Gloucester to King’s Lynn; in addition, a 
strong spearhead aimed at Birmingham. However weak and 
broken the opposing army might be, I consider this impossible 
with the 90,000 men available. But assuming it succeeds, no 
tenable defence position will have been won, particularly if the 
English Navy bestirs itself. The line will be too long and too weak. 
Hence it will be necessary to resume the advance. 

5. Manchester the third objective; all country south of Mersey 
(or Ribble) and Aire (Humber) to be secured and this line to be 
held. It is shorter and more tenable, but here again the forces 
greatly weakened by the need to detach troops. Hence, since the 
defenders still have room and resources enough to reorganise, 
either the advance must continue, or else there must be an early 
retreat. 

6. The first tenable line in the relatively narrow part of 
northern England, either the Tees or even better the Tyne (the 
line of the Roman wall against the Picts**) from Carlisle to 
Newcastle. But then the agricultural, industrial and commercial 
resources of the Scottish Lowlands still remain in the hands of the 
defenders. 

a objectives