| Author(s) | Karl Marx |
|---|---|
| Written | 20 September 1852 |
ENGELS TO MARX
IN LONDON
[Manchester,] 20 September 1852
Dear Marx,
I didn't know that you were in such a hurry for the translation[1] and let the thing slide for a bit because, as I said,[2] I wasn't well, and also because I wanted to tease Pieper a little for having been so pressing. However, I immediately set to work yesterday and would have finished had not the aging Mr Schily[3] walked into my room at about 2 in the afternoon. He wishes to open a factory in Liverpool for the production of a purported patent soda which would yield 400-500 per cent clear profit and might, depending on circumstances, produce 4 Va million talers a year. He wanted to discuss this fantastic plan with me—and was all ready to fall for the swindle with a few thousand talers which his brother says he will procure for him. Mr Heise is in it too, but is investing nothing but his talents. After the dispassionate advice he has received here, the noble Schily will probably keep his hands off the thing and will take advantage of a possible opening as Liverpool human cargo agent for a fleecer of emigrants in Le Havre. Mr Heise once had a natty little plan whereby the funds of the National Loan were to be used for this soda swindle; the work was to be carried on democratically and the millions thus raked in[4] devoted to the liberation of Europe. It is a pity that nothing came of this scheme, which would seem to have foundered largely on the impossibility of mustering thirty refugees able to hold their tongues.
I was, of course, under an obligation to get the noble Schily tipsy—il n'yavaitpasmoyenàyéchapper![5] It's some time since I encountered such an innocuous beast. The stupidity and ignor- ance and thoughtlessness of such a man of principle has to be seen to be believed. "When he had become a little tipsy—I was engaged in an argument with a third German, Charles'[6] cousin—he shouted incessantly, although very good-humouredly: Don't you believe that; Engels believes in nothing, there's nothing at all Engels believes in, none of the fellows of the N. Rh. Z. believe in anything, no one can fathom them. There's nothing at all Engels believes in! I, of course, replied that the fellows of the N. Rh. Z. did not find it in the least difficult to fathom the likes of him. This morning the worthy fellow, after a sober handshake, set course for Liverpool' again, and by tonight the translation will be finished. But I get dreadfully held up over the thing since I have to make a new translation of all the more difficult bits without exception— Pieper makes shift with a literal translation in every case, the result being utter nonsense. There are, by the way, some bits which are almost impossible to translate.
However, I will do my utmost to have finished by tonight so that you can have it tomorrow.
Your
F. E.
If at all possible, I shall send you another pound within the next few days.