Letter of the Cologne Commandant Colonel Engels to the Oberprasident of the Rhine Province

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 17 February 1849


First published in the Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft No. 5, 1969
Printed according to the journal
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 8
Collection(s): Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft

To Your Excellency the Oberpräsident of the Rhine Province Herr Eichmann

The editor of the Rheinische Zeitung, Herr Marx (!), is becoming increasingly more audacious now that he has been acquitted by the jury, and it seems to me high time that this man was deported, as one certainly does not have to put up with an alien who is no more than tolerated in our midst, befouling everything with his poisonous tongue, especially as our own home-grown vermin are doing that quite adequately.

This morning I again demanded his deportation from Police Superintendent Geiger. He asked me to submit my request in writing, which I did, and it ran as follows:

"About nine months ago (!) the Commandant's Department was obliged to refuse Marx, the editor of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, permission to be accepted as a citizen of Cologne and to become a naturalised Prussian[1] on weighty and adequate grounds. This man's behaviour has since then been such that it seems to me highly dangerous to continue to tolerate him here any longer. He takes the liberty to insult in any way he thinks fit our Constitution, our King[2] and the highest government officials in his increasingly popular paper, constantly seeking to promote even greater feelings of discontent and indirectly calling upon the people to revolt. The Commandant's Department therefore demands, in the interest of the security of the fortress of Cologne, that the Police Department order the deportation of Marx, whose presence has been tolerated hitherto."

I have the honour of informing Your Excellency immediately of this matter, as in the final instance an appeal might be addressed to you regarding this case. The deportation of this man would strengthen the position of the police and restore to them greater respect, and I request Your Excellency's support in this matter and beg you to confer with the General Headquarters should you deem it necessary.

I remain, with the deepest respect,

Your Excellency's most obedient servant

Engels, Colonel

Cologne, February 17, 1849

  1. ↑ On his arrival in Cologne on April 11, 1848, Marx, who was compelled to renounce his Prussian citizenship in 1845, petitioned the Cologne City Council to grant him the right of citizenship and received a favourable reply. But this decision had to be confirmed by the royal provincial government, which early in August 1848, after four months of delay, informed Marx that his petition had been turned down. Marx lodged a complaint with the Minister of the Interior, Kühlwetter, but on September 12, 1848, the latter confirmed the decision of the provincial government (see present edition, Vol. 7, p. 581). Though the campaign of protest prevented the reactionaries from immediately carrying out all their intentions towards the editor of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, the threat of expulsion from Prussia as a foreigner hovered over him. Later the Prussian Government expelled Marx from Prussia under the pretext that he "had abused hospitality". Due to this act and repressions against other editors, the newspaper ceased publication in May 1849.
  2. ↑ Krederick William IV.—Ed.