| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 26 February 1851 |
TO MARX IN LONDON
[Manchester,] Wednesday, 26 February [1851]
Dear Marx,
Your letter of the 23rd, postmarked the 25th, arrived this morning. In future you should always write to me 'care of Messrs Ermen & Engels, Manchester'. Your letters will reach me more surely and quickly since my homecomings are often irregular, and in any case the letters addressed to my lodgings are sometimes delivered by the post to the office—where I go at least once a day anyway. If possible send them by the first evening post from London—up till 6 from Charing Cross, or half past five from the smaller offices, and the letters will certainly reach the office by ten the next morning.
You forgot to enclose the letter from Dronke. Send it soon, as I want to write to him, particularly so as to resume my correspondence with Lupus, of whose whereabouts I know nothing, as I receive no reply to any of my letters.[1] If you would rather not bear the cost of postage of overseas letters and of pre-paid replies, send them, or have them addressed, to me, and I shall charge it to the firm.
According to the Constitutionnel, d'Ester has been banished from Switzerland and has already left—en sais-tu quelque chose?[2]
Your atlas[3] has been saved. In the end I refused to sell it and am keeping it here for the time being as I need it badly; I am now reading the history of the Consulat and Empire in the works of French and English historians, particularly military. The best I have found so far in this LINE is W. P. Napier (now General), History of the War in the Peninsula. Like all Napiers, the fellow has his quirks but also an enormous amount of COMMON SENSE and, what is more, shows a very true eye in evaluating Napoleon's military and administrative genius. A Frenchman would be utterly incapable of writing such a book. So far as historical reliability and even correct judgment are concerned, Thiers[4] is no whit better than that wretched Tory, Southey, late POET LAUREATE, who has also written a history of the Peninsular War replete with invective and rodomontade.[5] Napier, however, gives too much prominence to his commander-in-chief, Wellington, but I haven't yet read enough of his account to be able to give a definite opinion.
I shall take due note of the information on citoyens[6] Blanc and Harney. As yet I have heard nothing from the latter. I rather suspected that his Spiritus familiaris[7] had a finger in this pie. She has unbounded admiration for great men, and has become generally increasingly disagreeable. He must, incidentally, be made to feel this when he turns up again. As for that little man Blanc, it could do no harm if we were to go over his oeuvres complètes[8] at the earliest opportunity—you the Organisation du travail and the Histoire de la révolution, I the Dix ans, sauf à critiquer ensemble l'association du travail mise en pratique après février, et les 'Pages d'histoire'.[9] I shall be coming to London at Easter and something might be done then. The things themselves should be obtainable here cheaply in a Belgian reprint. Since my ploy with my old man has proved wholly successful, at least up till now, I can definitely settle down here, and shall in any case be sending for my books from Brussels. If you by chance have anything to be sent for from Cologne, let me know; I shall be writing to Daniels about my things in the next few days, and then it could all be sent in one parcel. NB. Everything, except English books reprinted on the Continent. How matters are developing with my old man, and the new ploy I had to think up, firstly, to prolong my indispensability here and 2, to spare myself undue work in the office, I will tell you when we meet; in any case Easter is only six weeks away and it's an involved story. What is certain is that my old man is going to pay through the nose in cash to compensate me for everything, especially once he's been here and I've got him even further embroiled. The difficulty is this: to be given an official appointment vis-à-vis the Ermens as my old man's representative, and yet to have no official appointment within the firm here, which would involve working for and drawing a salary from the firm. I hope, however, to bring it off; my old man is enchanted with my business letters and he regards my remaining here as a great sacrifice on my part. Ceci me vaut, ou me vaudra sous peu, £5 additionelles par mois, sauf additions futures.[10]
Your
F. E.
Don't forget to send me the titbits from Cologne with which to solace my loneliness, as soon as you have received and read them.[11]