Letter to Karl Marx, May 19, 1851

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 19 May 1851


First published: in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. I, Stuttgart, 1913
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 38, pp. 356-359

To Marx in London

[Manchester,] Monday, 19 May 1851

Dear Marx,

I'm glad that nothing untoward happened to the letters, it's always better thus. The postmaster here also gave me a satisfactory explanation for the late arrival of the letter. In future, when writing the address, put street and number above the name of the town, so that 'Manchester' is right at the bottom. It's what the post office clerks are used to and, because the name of the street was at the bottom, they overlooked the 'Manchester' in that particular letter and sent it back to London as a local London letter.

The latest is that you have been utterly worsted. You believe you have discovered the correct theory of land rent. You believe you are the first to demolish Ricardo's theory. Malheureux que tu es:[1] you have been outflanked, destroyed, beaten, overwhelmed, the whole foundation of your monumentum aere perennius[2] has crumbled away. Hearken: Mr Rodbertus has just brought out the third volume of his Sociale Briefe an v. Kirchmann—18 sheets. This volume contains a 'complete refutation of Ricardo's doctrine of land rent and the exposition of a new theory of rent'—last week's Leipzig Illustrierte Zeitung.[3] That's cooked your goose for you!

The great Kinkel's efforts to extricate himself from the disreputable society known as the European Committee without getting into bad odour are most entertaining.[4] You'll have seen in Saturday's Sun[5] that a handful of wailing democrats have succeeded in organising a meeting and some little riots near Elberfeld, at which they distributed these proclamations. This was made possible through German-Catholic connections[6] of Ronge's. Neither Kinkel nor any other member of the chorus would have done anything there.

The Cavaignac business is unfortunate in all respects; if Girardin regards him as having the best prospects, it must be true. Besides, the fellows are coming increasingly to realise that a revision[7] is impossible—by legal means. And, if illegal, it would be a coup d'état, and whoever first embarks on coups d'état will be crushed, the Débats[8] declares. Napoleon is beginning to grow horriblement threadbare. Changarnier's done for, permanently pensioned off; however nice coalition may be, it can have no immediate practical results—il n'y a que Cavaignac.[9] Whether or not the fellow postpones the revolution would after all be of no great moment; a few years of determined industrial development, a crisis surmounted and a new era of prosperity could do no harm at all, particularly if accompanied by bourgeois reforms in France, etc. But in France Cavaignac and bourgeois reform mean tariff reform and an alliance with England and, at the first opportunity, war against the Holy Alliance,[10] with English help, with due time to arm, with a long prepared invasion of Germany, and that might cost us the Rhine frontier which is, in any case, the best means of quieting crapaud[11] socialism with a part-payment in gloire.[12]

The Débats, by the way, has fallen so low that it sees no salvation for society except in upholding the new electoral law.[13]

The Faucher and Meyen affair is truly splendid. All I have seen of the German Illustrated London News is the front page of the first number in a shop window, so I was rather curious to know who the 'leading German writers' of this pompous nonsense might be.

The Frankfurter Journal purports to have heard from Cologne[14] that things are now tolerable for the refugees in London, with the exception of those in the barracks, amongst whom is Willich. The Augsburg Allgemeine actually believes that the Aliens Bill[15] is still in force and pictures the refugees—those Wandering Jews of the nineteenth century—creeping round London in mortal terror of this Bill.

I'll say nothing about the Portuguese revolution.[16] Except how remarkable it is that, as a purely individual insurgent, as ôte-toi de là, Costa Cabral, que je m'y mette,[17] Saldanha should have achieved absolutely nothing, but that from the moment he was compelled to ally himself with the liberal bourgeoisie of Oporto and bring to his side an omnipotent representative of this bourgeois power in the person of Manuel[18] Passos, the whole army should then have rallied to him. The position accorded to Passos, and what happens next, will show whether or not Saldanha and the Queen[19] will immediately set about trying to cheat the bourgeoisie again. Lisbon is nothing, Oporto being the centre of the constitutional bourgeoisie, of Portugal's Manchester School.[20]

You can thank your stars that Mr Goegg didn't call on you. Le diable emporte toutes ces médiocrités gonflées.[21]

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ Wretch that you are
  2. ↑ memorial more enduring than bronze (Horace, Carmina, III, 30, 1)
  3. ↑ Illustrierte Zeitung, No. 410, 10 May 1851.
  4. ↑ See this volume, p. 309.
  5. ↑ The Sun, 17 May 1851.
  6. ↑ 'German Catholicism'—a religious movement which arose in a number of German states in 1844 and spread to a considerable section of the middle and petty bourgeoisie. 'German Catholicism' did not recognise the supremacy of the Pope, rejected many dogmas and rites of the Roman Catholic Church and sought to adapt Catholicism to the needs of the German bourgeoisie.
  7. ↑ In 1851 Bonapartist circles strongly advocated a revision of the Constitution of the French Republic adopted on 4 November 1848, in particular the articles defining the presidential powers. Under that Constitution the president of the Republic was elected for four years and could not be reelected till four years after his term of office had expired.
  8. ↑ 'France. Paris, 15 May', Journal des Débats politiques et littéraires, 16 May 1851.
  9. ↑ there's no one but Cavaignac
  10. ↑ Note 271 not found in the notes file
  11. ↑ philistine
  12. ↑ glory
  13. ↑ This refers to the law adopted by the French Legislative Assembly on 31 May 1850 abolishing universal suffrage. It introduced a veiled property qualification of three years' permanent residence in the given locality and payment of personal tax.
  14. ↑ 'Cologne, 8 May', Frankfurter Journal, No. III, second supplement, 9 May 1851.
  15. ↑ The Aliens Bill, enacted by the British Parliament in 1793, was renewed in 1802, 1803, 1816, 1818 and, finally, in 1848 (An Act to Authorise for One Year, and to the End of the Then Next Session of Parliament, the Removal of Aliens from the Realm). In 1850 public opinion obstructed the renewal of this Bill despite Conservative efforts.
  16. ↑ The reference is to an uprising which began in April 1851 against the reactionary dictatorial regime established in Portugal by the Costa Cabral Government representing the extreme monarchist bourgeoisie and the landowners. The uprising ended in May, with Costa Cabral fleeing from the country and Marshal Saldanha, a representative of the liberal-constitutional section of the big bourgeoisie, coming to power.
  17. ↑ get out, Costa Cabral, so I can take your place (Saint-Simon, Catéchisme politique des industriels)
  18. ↑ The original has: Jose.
  19. ↑ Maria II da Gloria
  20. ↑ The Manchester School—a trend in economic thinking which reflected the interests of the industrial bourgeoisie. Its supporters, known as Free Traders (the centre of their agitation was Manchester), advocated free trade and non-interference by government in the economy. In the 1840s and 1850s the Free Traders formed a separate political group which later constituted the Left wing of the Liberal Party.
  21. ↑ Devil take all these inflated mediocrities.