| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels |
|---|---|
| Written | 22 May 1852 |
ENGELS TO MARX
IN LONDON
Manchester, 22 May 1852
Dear Marx,
I am writing to you today simply to make sure you know that yesterday I sent direct to you by the first post 1/2 a £10 note, and that the 2nd half went off at the same time under cover to Lupus for transmission to you. I trust you have received it all right.
There is now great ELECTIONEERING ACTIVITY here—two of the WHIG FREE TRADERS[1] were put up by the Tories with the intention of ousting Bright and Gibson, and nothing goes on here but canvassing and boozing. Of course the fellows don't stand a chance, but it's going to cost them a mint of money.
Three weeks ago, as I anticipated, there was a flush of speculation on the cotton market; but since opportunities are not yet sufficiently pronounced and the spinners and merchants here were operating against it, the thing momentarily subsided again. However, it will recur before very long, as soon as the whole weight of the American crop has been delivered. Wool, too,— because of the sudden ruin of the Australian sheep-farmers— lends itself splendidly to speculation and, all things considered, there is every prospect that by the autumn speculation will be in full spate. Railway stocks, etc., etc., are again beginning to rise—the better ones continue to yield more than the 1 to 1½% now still to be had from the banks in respect of deposits. In America, speculation in cotton has been well under way for the past six weeks, and the proliferation of strange new joint-stock companies now being announced all over the place indicates the extent to which capital is feeling around for debouchés[2] in all the big money markets. Après tout[3] the straws in the wind may now